Strike refunds

[Screagle]

I was caught up in an intercity bus driver strike on Friday. I had bought a timed return ticket on Wednesday with no mention of the action. The service was cut to a minimum so my bus did not show up and I had to catch a local bus then a train to make it in time for my return flight to the UK - all very stressful.

My question is - what financial redress, if any, am I entitled to from the intercity bus company? I've kept all my receipts and will be returning in a couple of weeks.

Saludos

[costakid]

I wouldn’t hold your breath. It was all over the press re shortened schedule so i guess their argument will be you should have planned better. Annoying I know but I think that will be the way it goes.

[Screagle]

Thanks, costakid - had a prompt reply from customer services asking me to request a refund at the ticket office presenting proof of payment by credit card.

Saludos

[markwilding]

As it should be. I have always found customer service to be good here in Spain. In this situation where you haven’t been provided with the service you paid for, then companies will give a refund.
There will always be bad companies but most have good customer service these days.

[Lavanda]

Last Summer, on Thursday 27th July to be exact, the Iryo 6319 train from Málaga to Madrid did not run at 13.30 as scheduled and as per our tickets. It had broken down somewhere. The next Iryo train would be too late for us to catch our connecting bus from Madrid to Extremadura with us needing an overnight hotel in Madrid and onward complications. I explained all this to the person in the Iryo office who told us to catch any next available train and keep all receipts and they would honour the refund plus the difference in price.

Except they didn't.

The total extra amount was €180 but Iryo simply ignored the whole situation even though I had names, photos, their messages to my phone and numbers and everything. A month later, I asked our local gestor to chase it up and basically the response from Iryo is one word I can't write here. Charming! Iryo may be cheaper than Renfe but there is a reason for that. Buyer beware.

[markwilding]

I tend to buy a lot of tech and services. I say this because I assume on the basis of proabilty now and again things go wrong so undersand that it's just a fact of life. On most occasions it gets sorted with a phone call or most shops will comply with consumer law. However, there have been a few instances of companies not doing so.

Oddly enough, most have been with very large companies.Carrefour, Zara and my internet provider are three that come to mind.

asked our local gestor to chase it up and basically the response from Iryo is one word I can't write here. Charming! Iryo may be cheaper than Renfe but there is a reason for that. Buyer beware.

I have to say I am not very impressed by your gestor because the route to complain is with your local government consumer office using an 'hoja de Reclamaciones' Iryo's hoja is here https://iryo.atlassian.net/servicedesk/ ... /create/89

This is how we go about it.
First try directly through conversation making sure you stay calm throughout. If you don't get satisfaction, ask for a more senior person, keeping a record of all converstions or mailings. Take a sreenshot of any online chat but anyway, most will offer you a copy.

secondly, if none of that works, ask for the Hoja,( they can be got online as well as all companies must provide one if needed), fill it out and send it to the complaints department with a copy going to the consumer office and another going to the CEO of the company.

Thirdly, if need be, visit you consumer office, which are usally connected to the diputation, (Just in case the word is different in other parts of Spain, It's the provincial government)

In my opinion just saying that Spain is somewhat slack on consumer law is poor advice. The problem is usualy with individuals within companies or maybe even a rougue company. Nothing to do with Spain as this is a problem in the UK as well. Finally, I suspect the bigger companie have a procees which is in place to put people off. For example, I had a problem with an Amazon echo and the person I was chatting too was telling me it was over a year old so out of its manafactuters guarantee. True but as a retailer, it was reponsible for 2 years and I insisted he was wrong and that 2 years is the rule. After about 20 minutes he got advice from his senior and sent me a replacement so do not give up.


It is important to read up on your rights because there are limitions and there a difference between something that is 5 months old and a 7 month old product.

[Lavanda]

Wow! Lots of advice. Thank you, Mark. I shall follow this. It’s no longer the money but just to get it resolved.