I recently booked accommodation using Wotif - big mistake. As we were travelling to our destination, the hotel rang to advise that, due to recent flooding, the place was inaccessible. They were very apologetic and confirmed that, as the cancellation was theirs, they did not expect any money. I then received a cancellation notice via the Wotif platform, initiated by the hotel. After some hasty rearranging, we returned home - a very long drive. Note: We did not cancel the booking.
Trying to get a refund from Wotif under these circumstances is a nightmare. After numerous runarounds with chat-bots and virtual agents (it is impossible to talk to anyone directly), we were finally advised a refund had been processed. That was 30 days ago. We are now in a situation where Wotif say they have processed the refund, but it has not shown up in our account after 30 days. The hotel also confirms they have not received payment.
So it appears Wotif has washed their hands of this matter, and no one has received the money they took when I booked. The virtual agent has given me a transaction number from 30 days ago that my bank tells me is meaningless. Never again!
Hi @Rusti, welcome to the community.
It is unfortunate that you didn’t accept the cancellation request generated by Wotif as this would have simplified the process to get a refund. The refund would have been issued automatically rather than having to make contact and try and resolve the issue with Expedia/Wotif.
From memory, one has 24 hours to accept the hotel instigated cancellation request.
I would contact the hotel and ask if they can log onto to the Expedia Partner Portal and check that the reservation is showed as cancelled and also that there is no payment showing against the booking. If the portal shows this, then the refund has been actioned.
It is worth noting that many businesses refund once a month. Expedia/Wotif closes it’s monthly account on the 5th of the month, so it is possible that the refund won’t be processed by them until the 5th of the next month from when the cancellation was made and refund processed. Check your account over the week (following the 5th) and hopefully the refund will appear. Let us know when it appears.
Hi phb,
A couple of further comments to help clarify the situation:
- The cancellation occurred less than 24hrs before scheduled checkin. We had already travelled 800kms, and received the call from the hotel as we arrived at nearby town. The restricted access occurred very quickly due to heavy overnight rain. The Wotif cancellation notice we received, soon after the phone call, did not offer the option to accept or reject the cancellation. It was simply a notification that the reservation was cancelled. We were left with little choice but to stay the night nearby, then drive home the next day.
- When we contacted Wotif, it was very hard for them to accept that we didn’t cancel the reservation. They kept assuming that we cancelled, and were therefore a no-show.
- We have contacted the hotel three times, and they have confirmed they did not process any payments from Wotif. They also confirmed that they have contacted wotif, and confirmed with them the circumstances of their cancellation due to flooding and lack of access to the hotel. The hotel has been very helpful.
- After much effort and hassle, Wotif finally accepted the cancellation, and advised us the refund had been processed, and could take up to 15 days. It is now close to 30 days. As you suggest, we will wait until after the 5 November to see if it arrives. If they’d told us 30 days (or 60!), I would not be raising this issue.
- Wotif keep telling us the problem is with now with our bank. But I have contacted the bank, explained the situation, and they assure us they have not blocked the refund.
My main reason for posting is to let Choice members know how difficult it is to resolve unusual issues with booking platforms. It’s a nightmare. If I’d read a few more reviews, I’d never have used Wotif in the first place.
Thanks for your assistance and advice.
Hi phb, it’s now 6 weeks since the cancelled booking, and 4 weeks since Wotif claim they processed my refund. It’s also a few days past the 5 November, and still no sign of a refund in my account. I’ve been to my bank and they assure me there is no pending credits, and the transaction numbers provided by Wotif are meaningless to the bank. The chatbots won’t talk to me anymore and I’ve given up on the virtual agents. In fact, I’ve pretty well given up on seeing any money returned as well, which seems plain wrong.
It appears NSW Fair Trading do not apply in these circumstances and the ACCC do not look into individual cases. Unless there are some other avenues I’m not aware of, it seems like game over. Pretty frustrating. We did get a reply when we posted on their public Facebook page, but it now seems that’s been referred back to their virtual agents, and nothing new has been provided to us.
If anyone has any suggestions on how to proceed, it would be appreciated.
I would assume they have a case management system that knows about you and the status of your refund.
Maybe the old fashioned phone call is needed. You have the transaction details.
1800 796 850 is their published support number.
Your posts imply you made an EFT transfer. Is that how you paid? If so it is usually a bad idea to pay by EFT because it puts you as the customer at the mercy of the ‘seller and any intermediary agent’ such as Wotif if things go wrong.
If you paid by card you could lodge a chargeback on your credit card for the original billing - assuming it is still within your issuer’s time requirement, accompanied by your ‘written’ history about the refund being due and processed.
@Gregr’s advice to use the phone is a gold standard, assuming they have people, not bots, who answer.
Following on from that, you could send Wotif (an Australian company) a Letter of Complaint with say 14 days to reply with proof they sent a refund including the destination account details, and if not your account a requirement for them to correct their error within another week or so. If that goes nowhere you can then take them to NCAT for recompense, assuming the amount is sufficient for the trouble or you do not want to write the amount off on principle.
If EFT was used, the ‘pay anyone’ variety, for the refund, then one mistake in the account details could have it disappear into the banking world for ever.
Take a close look at the transaction details Wotif have given you. Is there a mistake there?
Hi Gregr, case management is a weird experience with Wotif. After my third exchange with a virtual agent, I insisted on a case number (I was sick of going over the same details again and again). I was told it would take 15 minutes to generate a case number. I waited 15 minutes, and was provided one. When I quoted the case management number on my next session, they claimed it didn’t exist.
I have tried the number you provided, and it shuffles you to a person similar to a virtual agent, who cannot provide any further details on my matter.
The situation now is that Wotif claim they have processed a refund, but there is no sign of it after +30 days. As far as Wotif is concerned, the matter is closed.
Hi PhiT, the original booking was made with a credit card. As posted below, the phone number provided is about as helpful as the virtual agent system.
Then just go to your CC provider and demand a chargeback.
If Wotif claims they have issued a refund, then both you and your card issuer can clearly see that it isn’t there.
So, go the chargeback, and the money will be taken out of Wotif’s merchant account and put back into yours.
Temporarily. Wotif could dispute the chargeback, but they are going to have to provide a hell of a lot more details to the banks and CC company than they consider they have to provide to you.
Thanks Gregr, will give this a go.
Don’t delay.
The period of time of claiming a chargeback is limited for CCs.
I get the feeling that companies try to string out dealings with things like refunds in order to reach the point where chargebacks cannot be considered.
Hi Gregr,
Unfortunately, the chargeback time of 120 days has expired. I feel like I’ve run out of options at this stage, which is frustrating. I might just sit tight, and one day I’ll wake up and my refund will miraculously materialise! Thanks for your help and advice.
Ah well. Maybe one day your refund will turn up.
Better to get on to issues like this straight away and demand action, rather than hope that a business will do the right thing and believe what spin they give you.
With CC chargebacks, once a request is in the system, the time limit clock stops. So even if the business told me that a refund would be processed in, say, a month, I would still initiate a chargeback request.
Thanks Gregr, my problem is that the money was withdrawn back in March, so even if I’d actioned it straight away in early October, it was well beyond the chargeback limit of 120 days. It’s been an interesting experience. Chatbots, virtual agents, money that disappears into the ether, no way to actually speak to someone that can help, a case number that takes 15 minutes to generate then become useless and not recognised by the system that generated it. Endless runarounds and wormholes that go nowhere. I find it hard to believe a business like this can operate in Australia without at least having a dispute resolution process. Lesson learnt.
Well there is the danger of paying in full for some goods or services that are agreed to be delivered well into the future.
I would NEVER do that. By all means a deposit, but not in full.
See if you can get the accommodation provider to follow up on your behalf. They might have more luck in trying to find where the refund is at than you have been able to. They should be able to check in the Expedia Extranet if there are monies still attached to the reservation. They should also be able to see from their statements that the booking is shown as cancelled and also $0 assigned to the booking as the payment amount. Both these are very easy for an accommodation provider to do and something they are likely to do monthly to reconcile commission statements with Expedia.
The other thought is have your had a new credit card/Debit Card issued since you booked - or changed banks. If you have, they might be trying to refund to a invalid card.
The time limit can be extended up to 540 days in some cases. The usual 120 days may start from when the service was actually expected eg a person books a trip for 6 months time, during this waiting time a problem arises that causes a reason to raise a chargeback even though it is past the 120 days that the trip was paid on; this may be accepted as a valid reason.
Talking with your financial institution may result in a time limit increase, don’t delay asking though.
There are reasons and a website (Guide to credit card chargeback time limits | GoCardless) discusses a travel expected in the future reason.
“When deciding if chargeback is the right approach for a purchase, consider how long ago it was made. The Visa chargeback time limit, also used by other card providers, means it has to be used within 120 days of purchase. An exception to this, confirmed by Visa and Mastercard, is when the payment is for a future-dated item, such as a flight or concert tickets. In cases like this, the 120-day limit is counted from the day the service was due to be delivered”
From Mastercard US is the following advice for this sort of chargeback issue
“Credit Not Processed
Chargeback Condition. The cardholder contacted the issuer claiming one of the following:
• The merchant agreed to provide a refund and failed to process that refund.
• The merchant failed to disclose its refund policy at the time of the transaction and is unwilling to accept a return or cancellation of goods or services.
• The merchant has not responded to the return or the cancellation of goods or services.
• The merchant posted a credit for a reduced amount without proper disclosure.
• The merchant failed to issue a Value Added Tax (VAT) credit.
Dual Message System Chargebacks Credit Not Processed
©1988–2022 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.
Chargeback Guide —Merchant Edition • 26 April 2022
page 67
Time Frame.
For China domestic transactions, one of the following:
• Between 15 and 90-calendar days from the date on the credit documentation, or the date the service was canceled, or the goods were returned.
When waiting the 15-calendar days would cause the issuer to exceed the 90-calendar day time frame, the issuer may chargeback the transaction earlier than 15-calendar days.
When the credit documentation is dated, the 90-day chargeback time frame counts the date on the credit documentation as day zero.
When the credit documentation is undated, the 90-day time frame counts the date on the cardholder letter, email, message, or Dispute Resolution Form—Cardholder Dispute Chargeback (Form 1221) as day zero.
When the cardholder letter is undated, the chargeback time frame counts the receipt date of the documentation by the issuer as day zero.
• The issuer can immediately charge back the transaction upon receiving one of the
following forms of credit documentation:
– A letter from the merchant advising the issuer to obtain credit using a chargeback
– Proof of an improperly disclosed in-store credit
– A TID voided by the merchant
For all other transactions, one of the following:
• Within 120-calendar days of the transaction date for a VAT credit.
• Between 15 and 120-calendar days from the date on the credit documentation, or the date the service was canceled, or the goods were returned.
When waiting the 15-calendar days would cause the issuer to exceed the 120-calendar day time frame, the issuer may chargeback the transaction earlier than 15-calendar days.
When the credit documentation is dated, the 120-day chargeback time frame counts the date on the credit documentation as day zero.
When the credit documentation is undated, the 120-day time frame counts the date on the cardholder letter, email, message, or Dispute Resolution Form-Cardholder Dispute Chargeback (Form 1221) as day zero.
When the cardholder letter is undated, the chargeback time frame counts the receipt date of the documentation by the issuer as day zero.
• The issuer can immediately charge back the transaction upon receiving one of the following forms of credit documentation:
– A letter from the merchant advising the issuer to obtain credit using a chargeback
– Proof of an improperly disclosed in-store credit
– A TID voided by the merchant
©1988–2022 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.
Chargeback Guide —Merchant Edition • 26 April 2022
page 68
Dual Message System Chargebacks Credit Not Processed
• 4853 (Cardholder Dispute) for Dual Message System transactions and China domestic transactions
• 53 (Cardholder Dispute-Defective/Not as Described) for Debit Mastercard transactions processed on the
Single Message System
The following message reason codes may continue to be used; however, they will eventually be eliminated. The following message reason codes must not be used for China domestic transactions.
• 4860 (Credit Not Processed) for Dual Message System transactions
• 60 (Credit Not Processed) for Debit Mastercard transactions processed on the Single
Message System
Supporting Documents. One of the following:
• A cardholder letter, email, message, or Dispute Resolution Form-Cardholder Dispute Chargeback (Form 1221) describing the cardholder’s complaint in sufficient detail to enable all parties to understand the dispute. This means that the cardholder email, letter, message or completed Dispute Resolution Form-Cardholder Dispute Chargeback (Form 1221) must document how each Chargeback Conditions was met.
• Merchant documentation to support a credit is due to the cardholder.
• Proof of an improperly disclosed in-store credit and cardholder explanation.
Message Text.
For improperly disclosed partial credit only:
• For China domestic transactions: Include NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN in comment field as documented in China Switch User Guide – Customer Portal.
• For all other transactions: Include NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN in DE 72 (Data Record).
For all others: None
Dual Message System Chargebacks Credit Not Processed
Message Reason Code. One of the following:
©1988–2022 Mastercard. Proprietary. All rights reserved.
Chargeback Guide —Merchant Edition • 26 April 2022”
Hi Grahroll, thanks for that, this information is much appreciated. I’m going to have another meeting with my bank to discuss chargeback options in more detail. I’ve been to my bank three times now armed with as much info as possible, and to date they’ve been unable to help. Wotif say the refund has been processed, I’ve seen nothing after 40 days since the stated process date, my bank and credit card provider has no record of any transactions, and appear unable to help. It all seams a bit surreal. Thanks again for your advice.
If all else fails?
There is always a court action.
For NSW.
Note it requires a commitment of time and some money to proceed.
‘https://www.lawaccess.nsw.gov.au/Pages/representing/Local_courts_small_claims/owed_money/starting_your_case/completing_soc.aspx
To serve the notice of claim you would need to first identify the correct address and business entity. There’s a possibility that without actually filing, the simple act of approaching the Chatbot or call centre requesting that information may unlock the doorway to a staff team member who can resolve your refund. It could be as simple as a keying error at their end. Only a real person with access to their system can determine what has gone wrong.
That Expedia Australia and its procedures have not delivered in your instance, or found a way to open the door to resolution is a worrying sign.
Expedia Australia (all brands) cut staff aggressively through Covid. Your experience suggests the business is not so adept at responding to the return of increasing demand. IE placing increasing revenue ahead of expenditure on delivering services. Qantas is currently leading the way locally demonstrating how single minded a travel dependant business can be.
