Luxury Escapes - beware!

[glasszon]

tldr: Luxury Escape refused to provide a refund even though the hotel is closed and the hotel is happy to issue a refund.

I am posting this as a PSA and to highlight their behaviour, it was really awful and I can't emphasise enough to steer clear of them.

I have a luxury escapes package in April, and I received an email from the hotel on Friday saying they will be closed from April to June and I can either change the dates with no charge or they are happy to refund via luxury escapes.

I then called Luxury Escapes today, and without even looking up my record (he didn't ask anything from me beyond that I told him I have a package next month and the hotel say they are closed during that time), insist regardless of what the hotel says, all bookings are non-refundable under any circumstances and the most I can get is a deferral of travel to that exact hotel at a later time, even though the hotel cancelled on me because they are closed during April.

Based on this I assume they have a blanket policy to never allow a refund in the current situation even if the hotel itself is closed, I am sure I will end up spending hours trying to claim back the money from my travel insurance.

 

[Pushka]

tldr: Luxury Escape refused to provide a refund even though the hotel is closed and the hotel is happy to issue a refund.

I am posting this as a PSA and to highlight their behaviour, it was really awful and I can't emphasise enough to steer clear of them.

I have a luxury escapes package in April, and I received an email from the hotel on Friday saying they will be closed from April to June and I can either change the dates with no charge or they are happy to refund via luxury escapes.

I then called Luxury Escapes today, and without even looking up my record (he didn't ask anything from me beyond that I told him I have a package next month and the hotel say they are closed during that time), insist regardless of what the hotel says, all bookings are non-refundable under any circumstances and the most I can get is a deferral of travel to that exact hotel at a later time, even though the hotel cancelled on me because they are closed during April.

Based on this I assume they have a blanket policy to never allow a refund in the current situation even if the hotel itself is closed, I am sure I will end up spending hours trying to claim back the money from my travel insurance.

Yes, already discussed at length in the Cancellations thread. LE will not refund even when the Hotel is happy to do so, they will only defer. We are supposed to be on a LE package in Bali right now.

 

[glasszon]

Yes, already discussed at length in the Cancellations thread. LE will not refund even when the Hotel is happy to do so, they will only defer. We are supposed to be on a LE package in Bali right now.

Even though the hotel is closed? I understand if we can't get to the destination, but I can't see how Luxury Escapes can refuse a refund if the hotel aren't actually open during my period of stay.

Edit: I am sure I was in that thread earlier but can't seems to locate it anymore, do you have a link?

 

[Pushka]

Even though the hotel is closed? I understand if we can't get to the destination, but I can't see how Luxury Escapes can refuse a refund if the hotel aren't actually open during my period of stay.

Edit: I am sure I was in that thread earlier but can't seems to locate it anymore, do you have a link?

Yep. LE have lost themselves a lot of customers me included. I'll try find link as it's buried in the thread. It's a long thread.

Its littered throughout this thread. Here is my first post. If you do a search using my name and Luxury with a date after 1st March you will get a listing of all the posts.

Have you had to change/cancel travel due to COVID-19 (involuntarily or voluntarily)?

I thought I would start a thread as a resource for AFFers who have changed or cancelled travel plans directly or indirectly due to 2019 n-CoV. Did the airline/cruise company cancelling or change your flight/cruise? Or, did you proactively or reactively cancel or change it on your own (and...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[drron]

I think we should all sent a complaint to the Consumer affairs bureau in our State.I will be also sending them an email after my last LE package has been taken or cancelled saying stop sending any more emails as I am never going to use them again.

 

[TheRealTMA]

...

Based on this I assume they have a blanket policy to never allow a refund in the current situation even if the hotel itself is closed, I am sure I will end up spending hours trying to claim back the money from my travel insurance.

That’s what a chargeback on credit card is for? Failure to provide goods or services means full chargeback up to 3 months after payment.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

That’s what a chargeback on credit card is for? Failure to provide goods or services means full chargeback up to 3 months after payment.

So if a travel item (hotel, flight etc) is say bought 6 months ago on a credit card, but is only renegged on say next week a credit card chargeback cannot be used to recover the payment?

 

[TheRealTMA]

So if a travel item (hotel, flight etc) is say bought 6 months ago on a credit card, but is only renegged on say next week a credit card chargeback cannot be used to recover the payment?

I don’t know the absolute answer to that. Depends on the credit card merchant T&C. Not sure of the absolute time limit but we’ve had chargebacks for product sold 4 months earlier which card holder now says was not delivered or was fraud.

You‘d need to make a claim and see.

 

[Pushka]

So if a travel item (hotel, flight etc) is say bought 6 months ago on a credit card, but is only renegged on say next week a credit card chargeback cannot be used to recover the payment?

It depends I think on the goods/services purchased. Travel is I believe calculated at the date the travel would have occurred and not the purchase date.

 

[p--and--t]

No idea on the current rules, and the rules vary company to company and also change on what seems to be a regular basis.

What I do know for a fact is that at the time (10 years ago) I had booked and paid for 2 tickets on a very expensive rail experience in the rocky mountains and the travel agent (that sold the tickets and collected the money but not on-forwarded the funds to the rail operator) went bankrupt six weeks before my journey. The purchase was made on my Visa card maybe 6-8 months prior to the date of expected departure.

I lodged a charge-back under, the then, rules for ANZ Visa and the funds were returned to my account in full within a few days.

 

[p--and--t]

A second incident for comparison.

I booked online 2 tickets end 2011 with a Philippine Airline (2P) for a domestic flight in that country several months before the journey. The airline charged my ANZ Visa account twice for the same tickets.

I lodged a claim with the airline who promised to refund the money, just approach the desk at Manilla on arrival and they would arrange immediately. On arrival in Manilla they gave me a form to fill out and said nobody had the authority to refund but admin would put it back into my account within 8 weeks. I proceeded on holiday and eight weeks after returning to AU once again contacted the airline via email where they promised to refund but it might take some time.

Fed up with the runaround I lodged a charge-back request & faxed copies of the emails and my original statement to ANZ showing the double charge of the same amount within 2 minutes of each other. This was now 3-4 months after the journey was due to occur. The funds were returned to my account a couple days later.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Just checked our Westpac merchant agreement. FYI

How long after a transaction is processed does the cardholder have to dispute it?
Chargebacks may be processed to your account up to 12 months after the date of the original transaction.

 

[Edge]

I received a credit voucher from them. Accommodation was supposed to be 22 - 25th March. Initially they suggested I could re-book the hotel for another set of dates but I said it wasn't possible because we were supposed to be there for an event (which has been cancelled) and they instead gave me a credit voucher.

I contacted them via Facebook messenger. Only took a couple of messages and a day or two to sort out. Happy with the result.

 

[glasszon]

That’s what a chargeback on credit card is for? Failure to provide goods or services means full chargeback up to 3 months after payment.

Good point, I have reached out to Amex and they say lots of people has raised a chargeback against Luxury Escapes, although they say there's no promises on whether the chargeback will be successful, but I guess it doesn't hurt given the hotel is actually closed during my period of stay.

 

[MarcB]

Sounds odd that LE are taking this approach. Their own refund policy states:

LUXURY ESCAPES WILL PROVIDE A REFUND WHERE:

• We are required by law to do so; or
• prior to the redemption of the offer and during the validity period (as provided in the fine print of the offer) the provider of the offer ceases trading or ceases to provide the accommodation outlined in the offer.

Is there not an argument that the provider has ceased to provide the accomodation outlined in the offer?

 

[Guvner]

I like this "clause" in their Refund Policy:
CHANGE TO POLICY
Luxury Escapes may change this Policy at any time at our absolute discretion by posting the revised policy on this Website. It is your responsibility to review the terms of this Policy regularly. Your continued receipt of our daily emails will constitute acceptance and acknowledgment of the terms of this Policy.

a) I'd like to know how they could prove I received any email..
b) If I unsubscribe but still receive emails (which is a function they control) of any type from LE, then apparently I acknowledge and accept any terms of the refund policy which may change at any time..

Good luck with getting that upheld in court LE..

Post automatically merged: Mar 30, 2020

Sounds odd that LE are taking this approach. Their own refund policy states:

LUXURY ESCAPES WILL PROVIDE A REFUND WHERE:

• We are required by law to do so; or
• prior to the redemption of the offer and during the validity period (as provided in the fine print of the offer) the provider of the offer ceases trading or ceases to provide the accommodation outlined in the offer.

Is there not an argument that the provider has ceased to provide the accomodation outlined in the offer?

Pertinent part in bold... redemption of offer = confirmed booking.

 

[MarcB]

I like this "clause" in their Refund Policy:
CHANGE TO POLICY
Luxury Escapes may change this Policy at any time at our absolute discretion by posting the revised policy on this Website. It is your responsibility to review the terms of this Policy regularly. Your continued receipt of our daily emails will constitute acceptance and acknowledgment of the terms of this Policy.

a) I'd like to know how they could prove I received any email..
b) If I unsubscribe but still receive emails (which is a function they control) of any type from LE, then apparently I acknowledge and accept any terms of the refund policy which may change at any time..

Good luck with getting that upheld in court LE..

Post automatically merged: Mar 30, 2020

Pertinent part in bold... redemption of offer = confirmed booking.

Classic bush lawyer drafting by the looks. Unilateral change provisions are also captured by the ACL and usually unenforceable.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Sounds odd that LE are taking this approach. Their own refund policy states:

LUXURY ESCAPES WILL PROVIDE A REFUND WHERE:

• We are required by law to do so; or
• prior to the redemption of the offer and during the validity period (as provided in the fine print of the offer) the provider of the offer ceases trading or ceases to provide the accommodation outlined in the offer.

Is there not an argument that the provider has ceased to provide the accomodation outlined in the offer?

They would seem to be required by law and the T&C imposed by the Merchant Agreement with the CC since they charged for a service that they didn't deliver. They can't argue with chargebacks from credit card companies. (well they can but it's a waste of ink).

Should not but it may take a while to get the refund from the CC Company.

But there's no really further point in us debating the issue. We need real like situations where people have made chargeback requests.

 

[MarcB]

Although not expressly required in all cases, it will usually assist with a chargeback if you can produce evidence that they are required to refund you but are refusing. If you were to email LE pointing out that their policy requires them to issue the refund and they still refuse, then sending that to your back might speed things up.

 

[glasszon]

Although not expressly required in all cases, it will usually assist with a chargeback if you can produce evidence that they are required to refund you but are refusing. If you were to email LE pointing out that their policy requires them to issue the refund and they still refuse, then sending that to your back might speed things up.

The problem is LE is not replying to emails, I have sent multiple emails since ten days ago and all of those emails have been ignored.