A question about : FULL payout won from BMIBaby
Hi all,
I am now proud recipient of a letter from BMIBaby offering the full payout of what I was claiming from our little adventure in Portugal last April. Here's a brief synopsis of my tale...
My volcano experience probably matches something similar to what a lot of people will have experienced with BMIBaby (or other airlines). That being:
No BMIBaby representatives at the airport to support.
No attempt to contact me via phone or email at any stage.
A photocopied letter provided for BMIBaby passengers at the airport claiming no liability for such 'extraordinary' circumstances. Nice touch this!
Therefore, no facilities offered - no transfer, no meals, and no accommodation. We were fending for ourselves.
To cut the first part of the story short, when we eventually got back to the UK on a BMIBaby flight seven days later, we had collected receipts for meals, accommodation and taxi's to the tune of approx Ј1100, which for a family of five (including a baby) for a week is very reasonable expenditure.
29th April 2010: On return immediately wrote to BMIBaby to ask for recompense in line with EC 261/2004.
13th July: Eventual response from BMIBaby saying they weren't liable and referring me to my travel insurer. I had already spoken to them and they said that it was the liability of the airline in the first instance.
18th August: Sent letter before action, threatening legal action in the small claims court.
1st September: Reasonably quick response from BMIBaby asking me to provide proof that my travel insurers weren't willing to pay out (a definite delaying tactic - I wasn't expecting this).
6th October: I duly obliged and I forwarded a letter to this effect enclosing a letter from my insurers reminding BMIBaby again of their obligations and failures and again threatening legal action.
13th October: Received a patronising letter containing a cheque for Ј300 towards my expenses, but still denying any culpability. At this point life and a busy Christmas period took over, but at no point was I tempted to bank the cheque. It was also in this letter that they started making odd claims of having provided adequate support to their customers, e.g. flights leaving with empty seats (this wasn't apparent from their website which was showing flights full), an extra call centre had been opened (I tried many times to get through without success), messages on Twitter (I do not use Twitter), updates on their website (minimal and sporadic), and an email was sent (this is an outright lie).With a family of five including an infant I hadn't been prepared to sit around and wait at an airport for hours on the off chance of being able to get on a flight. If they had contacted me saying there was a flight, we would have been down there in a shot. I am sure they mentioned this to put me off proceeding further in a small claims court.
7th February 2011: After some delay and consideration (and after reading many, many posts on here from Cityboy, e-slick, Sheringham and others) I finally sat down at my pc and filed my claim on 'moneyclaimonline'. I also sent a letter confirming my actions and increasing my demands to include the court costs (Ј70). I decided not to claim interest given I too had contributed to the long delay, and in the event of it going to court I did not anything to be raised that could count against me.
11th February: A very quick response from BMIBaby denying liability but offering an extra Ј300. It was at this point that was fairly sure I had won and a court action was the last thing they wanted. They also reminded me of the fantastic support that they had offered all their customers!!
14th February: I responded politely declining their offer and reiterating my argument.
15th February: Incredibly quick response (it was getting nearer the court deadline) stating that they will give me the full amount plus costs if I close the case with the County Court. I had won!
Please note, at no stage did I bother with the apparently toothless AUC.
This was a real adventure for us as a family, though quite stressful and expensive at times, but it did mean we got seven extra days in the sunshine and we got to see another part of what is a beautiful country. Now - even better - it was all at the expense of BMIBaby. I do not feel guilty for doing this at all as they clearly shirked their responsibilities as laid down by EU Law and left a lot of passengers in the lurch when even the smallest amount of support would have been appreciated. They indeed deserve everything they get in this regard.
What is clear though is that they have probably saved a very large amount of money by adopting the 'minimal customer service' line and making it quite complex and daunting to actually chase them for monies owed down the small claims route. Their name has been tarnished on this site and on others for this lack of support, but people will continue to use them (I am flying to Edinburgh next week with them on business) because there are few alternatives - and they are cheap! It may be that their lack of activity in this matter has meant that they were able to continue trading at this price point in the market.
I wish you all the best if you read this and it spurs you on to take further action against BMIBaby or your own airline. I can't guarantee it obviously but chances are they will not contest any fair action taken against them. I am sure there is a pot of money set aside (and probably written off) for payment of these claims and I would imagine it is far from being exhausted.
Kind regards to all MoneySavers,
Karl
Best answers:
- mmmmmm..... but the telling words are these:- "but it did mean we got seven extra days in the sunshine and we got to see another part of what is a beautiful country. Now – even better - it was all at the expense of BMIBaby." Disgraceful - Dishonest
- Cityboy,
Notice that Tigge is a new poster! Wonder if he is the MD of BMI, or perhaps Geoff Atkinson from Monarch Airlines..............
That aside, Well done Glendo. I'm just about ready to issue a LBA to Monarch if i don't get any joy out of Mr Atkinson @ Monarch Airlines for Denied Boarding.
HXDave - What i think Tigge means is that anyone affected by the ash cloud should have booked themselves accommodation and stayed in their hotel room 24/7, until such a point that the airline advised the passenger that a flight was now available, and to make their way immeadiately to the airport.
HXDave - Hmmmm... Troll alert!
- Well done you!
- Thanks all
(Tigge - I am assuming you were just trolling for a reaction but feel free to try to justify your comment) - Well done! Did you say i want the money before i cancel the court date?
- Update - Full payout received from BMIBaby yesterday in the form of a cheque, so I can call off the dogs down at Northampton County Court.
- 293 reads