Opodo agrees a refund after my flight was rescheduled, on one condition: I book with them again!

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/jan/07/opodo-booking-flights-cancelled-refund

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When my flight from Manchester to Istanbul was rescheduled, leaving insufficient time to get my connecting flight to Mombasa, I tried to cancel the return tickets which I’d booked through Opodo. It insisted I made an alternative booking before it would cancel the original flight. I did so and, after chasing, was promised a refund of £1,222.60 for the cancelled booking. Opodo warned it would take up to 12 weeks, which I feel is unacceptable. Six weeks on, I’m still waiting and urgently need that money. JB, Tyn-Y-Gongl, Anglesey

Although you paid Opodo, your contract is actually with the airline and it’s the airline that would stump up refunds. Chances are, Opodo was waiting for the airline to return the money before it passed it on to you, but that’s no excuse. Its insistence that you rebook through it before exercising your right to cancel under the Denied Boarding Regulations is extraordinary. Even if this requirement were specified in its terms and conditions, which it does not appear to be, it would almost certainly fall foul of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations.

Opodo, which unsurprisingly is not a member of travel agents’ association Abta, which imposes a code of practice, refuses to communicate with me directly over the numerous complaints I have sent it. But, after I chase its press office for a second time – and 10 weeks after you first claimed your refund – the money arrives in your account with an apology and a self-congratulatory epistle about how much customer services means to it. You’ve learned the hard way how much. Book direct through the airline in future.

If you need help email Anna Tims at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include an address and phone number.