Has anybody successfully got a refund from Ryanair?

[TheGreatSoprendo]

I have some flights booked with Ryanair over the weekend, which I was unable to take due to illness. According to their website, you cannot get a refund in these circumstances (fair enough) but you can get your taxes and charges refunded.

So, I called them last week before I was due to fly to inform them of the situation and ask them what the process was for getting the refund. This was a fairly expensive process in itself as you either have to phone a premium rate number or make an international call to Ireland. I was told that I couldn't make a claim until the flights had gone, so to call back this week.

So I called back again this morning only to be told that you can only claim a refund by fax (nice way to earn a few more pennies out of your premium rate number there, but not telling people that in the first place!). I was given a fax number after which I went away and composed my fax (something I haven't done in aaaages!) and tried to send it. In fact I tried several times, but it kept coming back as no answer, so I scoured Google and found a few more Ryanair fax numbers. Unfortunately, they're coming back as no answer as well.

I'm loathed to get back on the phone to them, so any suggestions as to how I can go about getting my money out of the gits?

[TheGreatSoprendo]

Bueller?... Bueller?... Anyone?

[TheGreatSoprendo]

RVVUNM said:

Put it down to experience and NEVER use them again.

I can't tell you how much I'd love to do that, but sadly (for the time being at least) they're the only airline that fly's to where the in law's live, so I'm kind of stuck with them. My solution would be simply not to bother visiting the outlaws, but the missus tells me that's not an option.

bazking69 said:

There is literally no way to contact them if you want to shout either.

There is as long as you are willing to pay for the privilege.

Is there some kind of airline regulator who these sort of complaints can be escalated to?

Edited by TheGreatSoprendo on Wednesday 9th September 11:03

[TheGreatSoprendo]

After a bit of research, I have managed to find 5 seperate fax numbers for Ryanair, and guess what? Yep, they're all continually coming back as "no answer". Here are the fax numbers in any case, for anyone interested:

00 35 318 121 676
00 35 318 121 671
00 35 315 081 702
00 35 318 121 230
00 35 318 121 213

Ryanair are famously retiscent to publish any of its e-mail addresses, so much so that the issue of getting hold of Ryanair has been raised in Parliament, who have helpfully published an e-mail address and a non-premium rate phone number:

http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDM...

I've also found a quite amusing site which seems to be dedicated entirely to the hopelessness that is Ryanair:

http://www.ryanaircampaign.org/

On there they have a list of e-mail addresses for Ryanair which reads as follows:

Ryanair Campaign said:

[e-mail] = Reservations Manager (Michelle Penston)

[e-mail] = Reservations Team Leader (Gemma Walsh)

(A recent message suggests that the Gemma Walsh address has been bouncing.)

[e-mail] = Head of Customer Service (Caroline Greene)

[e-mail] = possible contact for website problems

[e-mail] = Head of Communications (Stephen McNamara)


Also, we are told, some email addresses that customers got a response from, having only been able to contact Ryanair thanks to this site, were

[e-mail]

[e-mail] (Recently, automated replies have been received from this address saying "Unfortunately, replies to this email address cannot currently be processed. Please send your query to our fax [phone]".)

[e-mail] (after reports that this address was bouncing, we've had a report on 27 February 2009 that it seems to be working, and another on 22 August 2009 that it is bouncing again)

[e-mail] (we've had a report that an email was deleted unread, in which case it must have been received)

We've been told that there was a reply from Gemma walsh, with the reply address [e-mail].

also [e-mail] Deputy Head of Customer Services (Siobhan O'Neill)

and [e-mail]

I have now sent a seperate, suitably cutting e-mail to every address on that list, but so far all I've had back is one Out of Office reply.


I'll keep you posted on progress.

Edited by TheGreatSoprendo on Thursday 10th September 14:13

[TheGreatSoprendo]

Podie said:

So the lesson here, is do not use Ryanscare.

Avoid like the plague!

[TheGreatSoprendo]

Adrian W said:

So go to the companies house website, get Michael O'leary's home address and sent your claim to him there, by registered post of course.

Now that will realy piss him off

An undeniably excellent idea and one I would very much like to pursue. Unfortunatley UK Companies House has no listings for Ryanair, and the Irish Companies Registration Office does, but does not list director's details as far as I can tell.

Does anyone know how I can get hold of this information?

[TheGreatSoprendo]

Snoggledog said:

Good luck with getting your money back. Would I be correct in assuming that the outlaws are in central Europe perchance?

Yep - Poland. Still, I'm sure I can work this up into a suitable excuse not to visit them half as often in the future.

[TheGreatSoprendo]

Dupont666 said:

Did you get read reciept on your emails?

I'm not sure that's do-able in Googlemail?

[TheGreatSoprendo]

Well, somewhat surprisingly, I've just got a reply from them via e-mail:

Ryanair said:

Without Prejudice.


<My address>


Our Ref: XXXXXX


Dear

Following your recent request for a refund of the government taxes paid on your unused Ryanair booking confirmation number XXXXX

In accordance with Ryanair's General Conditions of Carriage, we wish to confirm that government tax refunds are subject to a deduction by us of a reasonable administration charge of £17/20EUR.

We also refer you to our General Conditions of Carriage in this regard in particular Article 4.2.1 which states:-

4.2.1 Government taxes imposed in respect of a flight to be operated by us and undertaken
by you shall be payable by you at levels prevailing at the time you make your reservation. If
you do not travel, you may apply in writing within one month for a full refund subject to a
reasonable administration fee.

In this case, the administration fee exceeds the total amount of government taxes paid per passenger, so unfortunately no refund is due in this instance. Please note that all other fees and charges, such as passenger service charge, aviation insurance and handling fees are non refundable, as per our Terms and Conditions of Travel, agreed to at the time of purchase.

Yours sincerely,


Ryanair Customer Services

The taxes and charges on this booking were well over £40, so their reply doesn't make much sense, even taking account of their "reasonable" admin charge of £17.

I'm also wondering why they always head their correspondence with the words "Without prejudice".
Does this serve any purpose other than to make them look dodgy as hell?

Edited by TheGreatSoprendo on Friday 11th September 14:08

[TheGreatSoprendo]

robm3 said:

There's something called a Tipping Point. This is the point at which a deal/product/brand whatever becomes unpopular or unviable.
I suspect Ryanair is rapidly closing on this point.

For me personally I use air travel weekly. I actually won't use Ryanair specifically as the cabin staff are the rudest you've ever met. So I use a combination of Easyjet, Air France and Lufthansa instead.

Exactly right. I've given up trying to get my money back from them now - I've got better things to do with my time - but I simply won't fly with them again. Even on the rare occasion they (genuinely) do flights for £1, it's simply not worth it to be treated by the Ryanair Stasi like something they've just stepped in.

[TheGreatSoprendo]

This coming Monday, BBC1 are showing this at 8.30pm:

Panorama
Why Hate Ryanair? Vivian White presents a report on the reputation of no-frills airline Ryanair. Passengers, suppliers and insiders offer their opinions, with a contribution from the company's chief executive Michael O'Leary. Jeremy Vine presents.