Bravofly - refund owed - anyone have experience?
 

Hi FT gang,

This is my first post. I am putting it out here as I've run out of ideas.

On March 31st, 2020 I booked a flight for 12 Dec 2020 via Bravofly (part of Last Minute group). This was a flexible, refundable ticket. In November it became clear that the trip wouldn't be possible so I called in the refund, which Bravofly said they were processing.

I know these take time lately so I did not follow up until last week, after 2 months had gone by.

On my Bravofly account it said they were still waiting on the airline. I contacted the airline, who told me that had sent the money back to Bravofly on 16 November, 2020. So they've been sitting on it for over 2 months with no update.

The problem is that it is literally impossible to speak to anyone at Bravofly. All of the phone numbers listed have automated messages, you cannot get anyone on the phone. Even their customer service email has an autoresponder that says "we are not reading these mails and will not reply to you".

I bought it via PayPal, so I tried to push it via that route but PayPal will not do anything about transactions that are greater than 180 days old (which triggered a big debate on my side).

Short of picketing outside their offices, I don't know what else to do. Has anyone successfully gotten through to them?

Appreciate any advice...

Thanks

You can file a chargeback with your credit card issuer. Presuming that it is a US-based card issuer (bank), the card issuer must process the chargeback if it is made within 60 days of the day when the service was not delivered, e.g., the date your requested your refund. That may or may not have passed, but most US card issuers will process a chargeback for a significantly longer period of time, particularly when the goods or services were not received.

For the benefit of others, do not wait on refund requests. This refund ought to have been processed within 14 days (as it was made through a third-party vendor). On the 15th day, start a chargeback and supply the backup reflecting that the ticket is refundable and that the request was made.

Not only are you making an interest-free loan, but you run the risk of letting deadlines pass.

For the sake of anyone else reading this, book direct with the airline, in Covid times especially. And pay with a credit card..

This.

The least expensive e-ticket may not be the cheapest journey.:)

As this is much more related to the OP's booking agent, Bravofly, I'll move this thread to the more apt forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Senior Moderator.

I had a trip back in April booked with Bravofly. It was cancelled around March. They emailed me with refund options in May, and the refund came through in October via bank transfer (minus some fee Bravofly charged). Like you, I didn't have any way to contact them, so had to follow instructions on their email in order to get my money back. Good luck!

Rule One of all refund requests is not to let time pass. There is nothing wrong or negative about a chargeback and it ought to be sought as soon as it is permissible to do so. The time requirements are roughly the same under both EC 261/2004 and US DOT rules, e.g. 7 days for tickets issued by a carrier and 14 for those issued by a third-party. Thus, on Day 8 or 15, hit "SEND". Be certain to properly document the request so that it cannot be refuted. Even if you deal with a carrier or third-party by phone, always confirm everything in writing, even if that is sending an email to a customer service address which won't respond with a substantive answer.