‘My Ryanair £352 compensation cheque bounced – and now the airline are refusing to give me another one’
Passenger Chris Parker had his stag do in Krakow 'ruined' when Ryanair cancelled his flight home
A RYANAIR passenger claims he was sent a compensation cheque by the airline that then bounced – and Ryanair is now refusing to give him a replacement.
Passenger Chris Parker, 39, who works in marketing, was on his stag do in Krakow in September 2017 with five friends when his flight back to the UK was cancelled.
Four of his friends also had their flights cancelled, which Chis said “ruined” the weekend.
The airline cancelled around 2,000 flights last September after it “messed up” on pilot holidays.
Chris said: “I got a text when I was out there in Poland to say my flight had been cancelled.
“We were effectively stranded and it ruined my stag do."
He continued: “We were faced with a race against time to organise flights back to the UK, and as it was at the last minute the flights were £300 to £400 each.
“We eventually found some flights for £400 each to come back on the same day we were due to come back.”
Once Chris got back to the UK, he started the process of claiming compensation from the airline, along with his four friends, through complaints website Resolver.
Chris also tried Ryanair directly himself.
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He said: “There wasn’t really a proper number to call, you had to email, which I noticed everyone else complaining about on Twitter. I called Ryanair around seven times in total.
“After weeks of waiting I got an email which said my claim had been looked at.
“After another few week’s wait I was sent a compensation cheque, along with three of my friends. The amount was for £352.”
Chris took the cheque along to his bank, HSBC, in January, to be paid in, but says he was “alarmed” by what happened when he got there.
He said: “I tried to cash it, but it was spat back out by the machine with a message that said ‘refer to drawer’.”
The “drawing bank” means the bank of the business or person that has provided the cheque, in this case, Citibank, which is Ryanair’s bank.
Chris said: “I went to the bank and they said that when a cheque comes back with a note like that it means that the person paying doesn’t have the funds.
“I later got a letter from HSBC, which confirmed that the cheque had been ‘returned unpaid by the issuer’s bank.’”
It advised Chris to get in contact with Ryanair to arrange a new cheque or an alternative payment.
Chris said: “I wrote to Ryanair to say the cheque had bounced but when they replied they told me it had been cashed.
“Ryanair are saying that they won’t send me another one.
“But the money never came into the account as the cheque bounced."
Ryanair banks with Citibank and they have refused to comment on the matter.
Chris’s case is still live with Revolver.
Chris added: “I would really like to get my compensation, but it doesn’t seem like Ryanair are prepared to give it to me.”
Of the rest of the stag party, Chris said: “Two of us still waiting for compensation, while three have received it.”
Earlier this month Ryanair sent out almost 200 compensation cheques to passengers that weren’t signed – meaning that customers were unable to cash them.
However Chris’s situation is different, as while he encountered a problem with his cheque, his was signed.
He was not among the Ryanair passengers earlier this month to received a cheque that wasn’t able to be cashed.
Chris said: “To say I was shocked would be an understatement.
“To have all the stress and confusion from the original flight cancellation to the long wait for a response and finally some compensation.
“Then to have the cheque bounce felt like a cruel joke."
He continued:“I feel like I have nowhere to turn after Ryanair stated they were effectively washing their hands with the claim, despite the clear evidence of the returned cheque which was to the contrary.”
Ryanair told Sun Online Travel: “This customer’s flight, in Sep 2017, was cancelled and a refund of the fare was issued automatically on the same day.
“In October 2017, the customer submitted a compensation claim, which was processed in November.
“A signed cheque for the correct amount was issued and cashed in January 2018 by the bank.”
A spokesperson for HSBC said: “The cheque was processed at our end and was returned to us as ‘refer to drawer’.
“This decision came from the drawing bank (Citibank), and they didn’t give any further information."
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HSBC continued: “Our cheque processing company has advised that they didn’t receive the funds.”
A spokesperson for Citibank said: “We are unable to comment on client matters.”
Sun Online Travel previously revealed that a Spanish report says that Ryanair may be breaking the law by not allowing free hand luggage on board.