I’m still waiting for a Kiwi flight refund from March 2020

My son was traveling in Australia in March 2020 when the pandemic started.

The Prime Minister there told all travelers to leave the country, so we started booking flights for him to come home.

He didn’t have a credit card at the time, so I booked them on his behalf, thinking we’d be better protected if the flights were cancelled, which was probably because many airlines stopped travel.

We booked a total of six flights – five that were canceled and the one that finally got him home. Four out of five canceled flights were refunded on time.

Not so the fifth flight, which was booked through the agent Kiwi and cost £695. It has now been almost three years since this happened, and despite both my son and myself repeatedly contacting the company, we never got the money back.

Kiwi previously blamed delays but recently told my son it would not refund the money and would not give a reason.

I also contacted my credit card company, but they said they couldn’t refund me because I wasn’t the ‘beneficiary’ of the flights.

I desperately need the money for day to day living expenses. Can you help? FM, by email

Helen Crane from This is Money replies: I am sorry to hear about the airfare predicament that you and your son are in.

Your son went on an Aussie adventure in early 2020 and no doubt enjoyed the country’s warm weather and laid-back culture – but the trip ended up being anything but relaxing when the world was plunged into the pandemic and he had to return home.

With the threat of being stranded down under, I can understand why you both panicked and bought a handful of plane tickets in the hope that one of them would fly.

In the end, one did and managed to get home safely. But it was a costly endeavor, with each failed flight costing you hundreds of pounds. Fortunately, most airlines and agents were quick to give you the money back.

All except Kiwi. The third-party flight booking website has been guiding you around for almost three years and you’re still left with nearly £700 out of pocket.

‘The quickest and easiest way to cancel your booking is online via our refund and cancellation form,’ proclaims Kiwi’s website – but you didn’t find this quick or easy. You say it’s almost impossible to speak to anyone on the phone, emails take a long time to answer, and the company doesn’t respond to social media messages.

After years of back and forth, your son was recently told that he would not be refunded the money for the flight, but he says there was no explanation.

Kiwi has since said it was because the airline had not refunded the money – except £54 in airport tax – because the flight had gone as planned.

That is true, but your son was denied boarding by airport staff and was therefore unable to travel.

This happened at a time when Covid rules and regulations were new to everyone and the world was in a panic.

The flight you booked with Kiwi was a connecting flight to London via Hong Kong, and Kiwi said it believed the reason you were denied boarding was because Hong Kong had introduced new entry restrictions on the day of the flight – which also applied to people transferring at the airport.

The rules seem to have changed between you booking the flight and your son trying to board – which is extremely unfortunate and muddies the waters when it comes to your right to a refund.

However, when I contacted Kiwi, it said that due to the staggering amount of time it took to process your claim (even the £54 airport tax was only refunded to you last month) and poor communication, the full ticket would be refunded if a sign of good will.

A spokesperson for Kiwi said: ‘We would like to apologize that amid the pandemic and subsequent aftermath, our response rate was severely impacted. We’ll be in touch [the customer] and as a goodwill gesture for the outstanding amount not reimbursed by the airline.’

This story, and the pandemic in general, has highlighted the risk of booking flights and holidays with a third-party agent rather than going directly to the airline.

I have had many readers write to me with similar issues where the agent refuses to refund the customer until they get their money back from the airline.

With a huge backlog of Covid canceled flights still going through, those booking through a third party could be waiting twice as long as their refund is processed first by the airline and then by the booking agent.

It might save you a few quid, but readers should be aware that if things go wrong, getting a refund from a third-party site rarely comes by plane.

Burnt by Aldi over a pizza oven

Reader Tony recently emailed me to tell me about supermarket giant Aldi’s half-baked response to its complaint about a substandard pizza oven.

He and his wife ordered the oven online in August for £400. As well as looking forward to plenty of mozzarella-packed treats, the gadget was also relatively energy efficient and they wanted to use it instead of their main oven whenever possible to save money on bills .

But unfortunately it arrived with several parts chipped and scratched so Tony called Aldi to ask for a new one.

Oddly enough, it told him to contact the makers of the oven for replacement parts – and when he called them, he didn’t get very far as they only spoke German.

He then called Aldi back and asked for a new oven again. This time it agreed and the defective one was picked up a few days later.

But when the new pizza oven didn’t arrive in two weeks, Tony had had enough and decided to ask for a refund and order one elsewhere.

Aldi finally agreed – but almost three weeks passed and the money never arrived. So much for German efficiency.

When he called customer service he was told that the oven had never been received back at the Aldi warehouse and that he would have to wait until it was marked ‘lost’ on their system.

In mid-November, he finally got his money back, after waiting two months and spending a lot of time chasing the supermarket and getting the wrong information.

Worryingly, he was also told at one point by customer service that there was no way to escalate his complaint.

When I asked Aldi why it was taking so long, an Aldi spokesperson said, “We’re sorry to hear that [Tony’s] experience and have apologized to him for the poor service he received. We also arranged for a full refund.’

This service sounds shocking and I’m glad I was able to help Tony get Aldi a pizza.