Help! It’s Been More Than 2 Years and I Still Don’t Have the Refund

In many cases, travel companies refunded their clients speedily; others never did. But while it is worth noting that the massive wave of cancellations that pummeled the travel industry in early 2020 caused vexing problems for all, third parties like travel agencies that serve as middlemen were hurt especially. These companies were waiting on refunds from railways, airlines, hotels and car rental agencies, and were thus faced with the challenge — as Mr. Cunha lamented to me — of getting repaid to be able to refund their own customers. Cash flow issues could become overwhelming, and sometimes it’s even more complicated than that, as agencies must follow the widely varying cancellation, credit and refund policies of the companies they buy from, and interpret those for the consumer.

Many smaller agencies, like Euro Railways, succumbed to the financial pressure and closed. Mr. Cunha told me that his staff had honored 68 percent of refund requests from customers despite rail companies — like Spain’s Renfe and Germany’s DB, he said — only honoring 23 percent of refund requests from Euro Railways. Mr. Cunha noted that in many cases he had received credit from the companies for future train travel but reimbursed customers in cash. (When I separately contacted these rail companies, a Renfe representative said all tickets had been refunded regardless of conditions and DB did not respond to a request for comment.) That left Euro Railways with a negative cash flow, Mr. Cunha said, even as it still owes $128,000 to people like you.

If that is true, you had particularly bad luck. Age-Christoffer Lundeby, the communication manager for Vy, the Norwegian rail company that runs the Bergen to Oslo trains, sent me documentation showing Vy had refunded Euro Railways for the value of your tickets, money that obviously never made it to you.

Unfortunately, you are not the first person to have problems with Euro Railways. The company has a history of complaints online, from this TripAdvisor thread that began 10 years ago to those registered with the Better Business Bureau. The state of Florida administratively dissolved Euro Railways in 2018 for failing to provide an annual report, and never reinstated it in the two years or so before Mr. Cunha stopped operating.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/18/travel/covid-refunds-delays.html