Defective third-party booking - what action to take?
 

I booked a ticket through eDreams who usually gives me a fictitious email address to use. For the first time ever, that email address didn't match with what Ryanair has for the booking.
As eDreams washed their hands, merely telling me to check in at the airport (I told them there's a hefty fee, but I seriously might as well have been talking to the wall), I contacted Ryanair, who of course would provide zero assistance without the correct email address...which is precisely what I don't know.
I made a second identical booking, and this time the email address I was given was correct and I've already added the booking to my myRyanair account.

So I've now emailed Tracy Kennedy and the Ryanair Fraud Department explaining the situation in detail AND attaching screenshots of my chat with eDreams. I asked for a refund of the first, defective booking, and then asked whether, in case they won't do this, they'd be OK with me doing a chargeback against eDreams, seeing as chargebacks against Ryanair results in a temporary ban from future travel until the funds are repaid.

My questions are: if I don't get any assistance from anyone at Ryanair, can I do a chargeback against eDreams without Ryanair then blocking me from travel?
Secondly, if I cannot safely do a chargeback, whom do I take to court? eDreams for failing to give me the correct email address, or Ryanair for refusing to work with me in any way whatsoever to access my booking?

Who did you pay for the original ticket?

eDreams

In that case, eDreams is who you have to work through to resolve the situation.

Right, OK! The question then remains whether doing a chargeback against them will flag me with Ryanair like when a chargeback is done against Ryanair. Because if so I have to go to court instead.

On a sidetrack, why would eDreams use a ficticious email address on bookings, why not use the passengers actual email address? Sounds like a rather shady booking procedure....

I agree it's weird, though it's never been a problem up until now.

Was the eDreams ticket price substantially lower than offered direct with Ryanair? What was the advantage?

For Prime members it's normally EUR 7-12 cheaper, which for a weekly flyer really adds up.
Like I said, I'm still stuck because I don't know whether doing a chargeback against eDreams will cause Ryanair to blacklist me. If not, I'll do it, otherwise I'm taking one of the parties to small claims court.

Considering that Ryanair don't have your actual email address only your name and a ficticious email, and since you could make a second booking with the same name and different email address there is little link based on the name only. So next time you book with a ficticious email there will likely still be no link to past bookings

Indeed, as I said, I now have a second identical booking and a completely different email address was generated, which also was correct and so I've added that booking to my myRyanair account. So what I'm trying to do is get the first one refunded due to being defective.

I seriously doubt that doing a chargeback will lead to you being blacklisted with Ryanair (FR). FR couldn't care less if you made a chargeback against eDreams (assuming that it was indeed eDreams and not FR thar charged your card).

As I recall it there has been several reports/complaints against eDreams in other threads.

UPDATE: the Ryanair Fraud Department got back to me and agreed to refund the defective booking.

Who are they refunding?

eDreams sadly; unlike Customer Services for a 5+ hour delayed flight, they refused to refund to my bank account although I sent them the details, so I'll have to chase it with eDreams (which I'm going to do anyway regarding a number of easyJet bookings for which I asked for a tax refund)