Ryanair Refund Rip-Off

[ACP63]

I booked a one way flight online for my wife and I with Ryanair in December '19 for a flight from Spain to UK in August '20. The flight confirmation showed that the cost of the flight was €145.68 and that my card had been debited £133.01.  I don't recall being given the option of choosing to pay in euros or GBP but it is possible that I was.

 

On 5/2/20 they contacted me to advise that "Due to the non-delivery of the Boeing Max aircraft this summer, please be advised that there has been a significant time change to your Ryanair booking". It was in fact much more than a significant change in that it was a cancellation of a flight on that day from that airport which had been tailored to fit our preceding travel plans so I just asked for a refund, as I could not find a suitable alternative with Ryanair.

 

The refund was processed and Ryanair sent me an email stating, "We confirm that your refund request has been processed back to the form of payment used to pay for your booking. Your issuing bank will take 5-7 working days to process this refund amount back to your account. The amount refunded to your credit/debit card is GBP 133.01"  When I checked my bank account I saw that they had refunded me €145.68 which when exchanged left me £119.58 leaving me £13.43 out of pocket.  On contacting Ryanair they said it was my bank's fault and not theirs as they refunded the full amount paid.  My bank advised that Ryanair debited my account originally in GBP therefore they should have refunded this amount in GBP.

 

I made an official complaint to Ryanair which they have rejected stating that I was in breach of their General Conditions of Carriage by not selecting the correct payment option.  I feel that because they did a currency conversion on payment and debited my account in GBP that they should have refunded the GBP amount that they took.

 

I also wonder how many others has this happened to and I smell a large rat.

Could anyone offer any views on this, and/or if I have any comeback and where I could take it please?

[BankFodder]

I don't have any doubts but that if they have breach the contract then they must leave you in the position that you would have been if the breach hadn't occurred. This means that the very least that you shouldn't be out of pocket at all – and in fact if you incurred extra losses having to remedy their breach – by making other arrangements then I think you should be entitled to this as well.

[FTMDave]

Were you in Spain in December when you booked the flight?

[ACP63]

No, I booked it from home in the UK

[FTMDave]

OK, I think I've worked out what has happened, through looking at my own past bookings with RyanAir.

 

When you booked they will have converted EUR to GBP ("Total paid in card holders currency" as they write on the bottom of the booking confirmation mail) at a made-up rip-off rate they invent themselves.

 

The refund will have been at the proper bank conversion rate.

 

It's not the bank's fault, the £119 figure is about right, it's the fact RyanAir ripped you off in the first place and made you pay £133.  There is no choice about the matter, there is no payment option, they do the conversion themselves at the rip-off rate they decide on.

[ACP63]

Yes you’re right of course. My bank told me that when Ryanair did the conversion at the payment stage and debited my account by 133.01 GBP, then that should have been the sum refunded to me. 
 

And in fact they sent an email stating that that was the amount of the refund they made. 
 

I think it’s bordering on deception and heaven knows how many people they’re doing it to. 
 

I wonder if there is any legal redress over this and of course their failure to keep their end of the contract I made with them over the flight. I seem to recall issues with the Boeing Max aircraft way before December 2019 when they accepted my booking. 

[FTMDave]

Have you still got your booking confirmation e-mail?  The last part of mine is attached.  That would be the proof that it is RyanAir, rather than your bank/debit card provider/credit card provider making up the fictitious exchange rates.  So if they debited you with £133 they should have credited you with £133.

 

It's not really worth suing them for £13 but there may be other options (which I'm afraid I don't know about).

 

RyanAir booking.pdf

[ACP63]

Yes I have the same confirmation email as that Dave. I had come to the conclusion myself that a legal tussle over 13 quid would be a complete waste of my resources. 
 

I do however want to do something to highlight it to consumer watchdog groups etc if I possibly can. 
 

C