Easyjet-Child in Great Ormand St.refusing to refund

[determined-to-win]

Hi to all,
This is the basics..
Cousin books flights with easyjet to her parents timeshare in Spain beginning of April to fly out in the May half term
Approx 1 week later her 7 yr old son isnt feeling too well. She took him to the doctors
Next day he's in Grt Ormand St after being diagnosed with Leukaemia
Last thing on her mind was the holiday which of course she knew she had to cancel
Easyjet wouldnt refund her..not a penny
She left it..too much else matters
She told me and I'm
I cant ring them on anything apart from a premium line..
The irony is when I look at the charity they have nominated this year its the 'Anthony Nolan Trust' (a leukaemia charity)
OK so she cant deal with this BUT I DONT WANT TO ALLOW THIS TO GO AWAY
Anyone want to help me to handle this the best way I can??

[mahala]

my brain's a bit frazzled at the moment, so I don't know what to suggest. I just wanted to say that I think it's disgusting treatment from Easyjet.

I did some digging and found this number 01293 426554. It's for baggage claim, but apparently pressing the option to speak to an easyjet employye and then asking really nicely will get you put through to customer services.

Alternatively, I have read that ringing them in the Netherlands will get your call put through to Luton and costs less than the premium rate numbers. 0031 235684880

[caro]

I had an old programme on about easyjet (think it's called Airline?) and someone was moaning and said they were going to email Stalios or Stavros or whatever his name is to complain. Try contacting easyjet for his email address. You never know.

I presume you have thought of this, but did your cousin have insurance?

Hope the little boy is responding well to treatment. GOSH are fantastic so he is in the right place.

[Shanks]

Hi Determined to win

Your best bet is to probably go straight to the top - you could start here http://news.cheapflights.co.uk/fligh...t_boss_wa.html

Not only does it give Andy Harrison the Chief Executive's email address but you can post a complaint on the messages tab for all the internet to see Wait till your anger has settled a bit then compose a short letter outlining the situation and state what you would like them to do to remedy it for you/your cousin.

His snail mail address is Mr Andrew Harrison, Chief Executive, easyJet Airline Company, Luton Airport, Luton, LU2 9LS

Stelios Haji-Ioannou is no longer the Chairman but is still a major shareholder, it may be worth contacting him to see if he will comment on the situation - I will post back if I can find a current address for him.

Best of luck to you and your family

Shanks

[Rich44]

This is disgusting but all too common with the low cost airlines they seem to think low cost should mean low customer service too.

I hope the little boy concerned recovers well from this heart goes out to all of you at a time like this.

As for Easyjet dont let the swines off the hook as has been stated I always find jumping straight to the top helps everytime go get em!

Good Luck

[determined-to-win]

Thankyou everybody for your good wishes and your help

Ive sent an email to Mr. Harrison (copied below)
Tried my best not to sound toooo angry Let me know what you think..

Dear Mr. Harrison,
I'm writing to you on the behalf of my cousin Mrs. xxx regarding a very distressing situation that was brought to my attention recently.

On the .....she booked flights with Easyjet booking ref .......
24th May-2nd June Luton to Malaga
2 children 1 Adult.

In April my cousins 7 year old son was taken ill, the next day he was admitted to Great Ormand Street Hospital - diagnosed with Leukaemia.
Given the devastating news she realised the much longed for Holiday for her and her 2 children had to be cancelled.
This she did however, NO REFUND WAS OFFERED!!
In situations such as these I am suprised to discover that your nominated charity is a Leukaemia based charity, whilst your Company is causing further upset to a family already devastated by this terrible illness.
She has requested a refund of the £356.96 paid for these flights and was consequently told this 'wasnt your policy'.
As you can imagine her time with her son is precious and she barely ever leaves Great Ormand Street Hospital where her son is, to deal with this matter herself.

Therefore I would like to request that you look again at this decision and contact me on xxxxxxxxxx to discuss this matter with me should you need to.

I hope that this matter can be resolved swiflty.

Many Thanks,

[Shanks]

Looks good determined-to-win, it will be very interesting to see how they respond.

Good luck with this and again best wishes to your family.

Shanks

[caro]

If that doesn't bring an immediate refund they don't deserve to be in business.

[determined-to-win]

Many Many Thanks once again to you all,
Lets hope it works, it's a situation that shouldn't have arison and Im so angry about it, the pathetic thing is these tickets were cancelled about 6 weeks before they were due to fly, they were for the school holidays, so whats the likelyhood they were re-sold...pretty high I reckon..so not only are they taking her money they are then making money out of her. They havent lost anything, they didnt provide her with anything.Shame on them. Ive been thinking a lot about my next step with this, should this not work, was tinkering with the idea of contacting Easyjets Charity, The Anthony Nolan Trust.

[Rich44]

You could ask for that information under the freedom of information act of course it would strengthen any claim in court if easyjet can be shown to have NOT lost out financially

[caro]

I wouldn't be so sure, because they won't want to lose their sponsors. By brother wanted to raise money through his business for Guide Dogs for the Blind, but they declined the offer because Andrex were sponsoring them at the time.

[determined-to-win]

Good idea..
just found this quote from Andy harrison Chief Exec...''
Harrison has vowed to double the amount he makes per passenger - in a bid to triple profits to £225million by 2008''

[crusty git]

Just a thought

THere are over 27000 members of this forum. From what I have observed over the past few weeks I guess that most of them are kind,compassionate people and hate injustice of any kind.

On the other hand I think that easyjet would hate publicity of any sort, whereas the it would not unduly worry forum members.

I Idly wonder how many mebers would feel strongly enough to Picket the easy jet offices in Luton and what the effect may be

as I said its just an idle thought

[determined-to-win]

Well, I've had no response to my email, which I re-sent AND also posted recorded delivery. I rang today the 'customer services' ...only a 22 minute wait before i was put through to a representative. Absolutely no way will they refund this flight, it says in their ''t & c's'' she said, that ''the flights are sold on the basis that we are a non refunding company'' I questioned the likelyhood that the flights were re-sold given that they were cancelled 6 weeks before they were due, I was told they do not re-sell their flights. I dont believe that .. I KNOW ive seen this on the 'Airport' programme they did,that passengers would often pick up cancellations at the airport. I just dont know what to do now, how to progress, Ive looked at statutory rights regarding allsorts of things that may or may not be relevant. I just dont understand how a big company like this can take her money and keep it without prioviding her with anything and get away with it. Im just so angry. She's a single parent for gods sake with a VERY sick child, she cant afford to give this money away, she cant and shouldnt be taken advantage of THE ONLY reason this was cancelled was because her son got Leukaemia, and they cant find it in themselves to give a ****

[Shanks]

Hi Determined to win, Sorry to hear about the response you got from their 'customer services dept' althouh tbh I am not at all surprised.

Sadly I don't think they are under any obligation to refund the money and all you will get from the first level 'phone monkeys' will be the company line, it's all they are allowed to do and even if they wanted to they wouldn't have the authority to issue a refund at that level. Unlike the banks featuring on this site, easyjet are simply applying their t and c's. What you need is to access someone who is willing to listen to your story and then have the power to flex the system a bit to refund you.

You can either just keep asking to speak to their line mamanger, don't be put off by the ones who say "they will only tell you what I have told you already" keep requesting to speak to someone higher until you eventually get someone who has the authority to deal with it in a reasonable manner. Or keep your hopes out for a response from Mr Anderson. To be fair if you only sent your first email out last Friday it is perhaps a little early to be hoping for a response. Give it to the end of this week then chase up for an answer if you havn't got one.

Be strong, Shanks

[BotB]

Yes I agree completely with Shanks. Don't give up yet - give those with the power to make the decisions a chance to have a look at the situation. If they still don't respond positively, it would be worth your while to contact one of the national newspapers consumer columns, they often get good results when they take up individual cases.

Let us know what happens - good quality companies will generally do the right thing, it hurts their image not to - unless they really want to come across as cheap in a way they didn't intend. Some years ago I booked a non-refundable scheduled flight to the States on Virgin Atlantic but before I got round to buying insurance for the trip, my father died unexpectedly a few days before I was due to fly out. The funeral was arranged for the day of the flight. I had to cancel and was resigned to losing the money but I was advised by whoever in Virgin I was speaking to that if I would send in a copy of the death certificate, they would see about giving me a refund anyway - this info was volunteered to me. I sent in the certificate and a while later received a full refund and a very nice letter of condolence.
So lets hope Easy-jet have as much integrity.