How to reclaim your lost Wizz Air funds.

// May 12th, 2010 // frontpage

mouse-trap-with-money-300x199The number 1 post on our Wizz Sucks forum is “how do i get my money back.”  So I thought i’d address it in a post.

The only way to reclaim money from Wizzair is directly from your Credit Card provider.

You can usually make a disputed claim online, or at worst, you’ll have to write a letter.  You can usually find the details of disputing a charge on the back of your monthly statement.

The best credit card provider for this is American Express. – No longer accepted, ostensibly AMEX pulled the plug on Wizz Air.

Credit Cards are generally good at giving your money back if you didn’t take the flight and say they didn’t follow through on their various terms of service (ie they stranded you in some random airport, or deleted an entire flight route the day before your vacation) which is what leads 90% of people to this website.

Wizz Air has an extremely poor reputation with credit cards, so they are usually eager to help in your plight.  Trying to get your money back from Wizz Air directly is not possible.  I have “heard” of only one such person who was successful, and it has yet to be confirmed.  Contacting Wizz Air by email is pointless beyond description.

You’ll get a series of canned responses such as “We’ll get back with you in 30 days” followed by an indeterminate amount of time which far exceeds 30 days by several months, then you might get a canned apology and denial regardless of your claim or it’s merit.

The end result can only be described as an exercise in futility which only Kafka could fully appreciate.  Their phone numbers are all approx. €1 per minute, if they work at all.  If you paid thru bank transfer or debit card, you are out of luck.  We suggest finding religion.  It might not help get your money back, but it might just numb the pain if only slightly.

If you have gotten your money back or have a similar experience please share it with us by commenting directly on this post!

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27 Responses to “How to reclaim your lost Wizz Air funds.”

  1. lin_zee says:

    15.5 hours!!!! delay from Luton to Prague on the 20th of May. No hotel provided, couldn’t get one ourselves because all the hotels were full.
    no apology and I heard a never ending list of excuses for the delay, each one complete different from the next.
    When I asked for the European Rules they gave me a RYANAIR document?!?!?!?!?!?! what the?!?!

    completely hopeless, never again!

    • Minime says:

      You should know that Wizz air like many other low cost company has contracts with handling companies. That means they do not deal with the passengers but the handling companies do. In your case that company may serve for both wizz and ryanair – so they just gave you a copy of European Rules with ryan air logo because they didn’ t care to print one with wizz.

    • MR R says:

      Wizz have not provided their handling agent with a copy of the european regulations or hadnt when i worked there 1 yr ago. Meaning they gave you a ryan air one as they handle ryan air as well. No airlines at luton will book your hotel room for you but they will refund a 1 night stay at a resonable price(dependant on how far you live from the airport if you live close enough to drive home then they wont). I book hotels every day and every hotel being fully booked in luton has not happened in the last year since i changed jobs. As for the getting different answers I can believe it the managers tell a couple iof staff the reason and that has to filter down across a staffing team of about 100 so chinease whispers do come into effect. Wizz is handled by someone else at the airport now so maybe they are better…

  2. Denis says:

    I got my money back plus apology!!
    I did it all via E mail
    It took 35 days.
    They admitted that they shouldnt charge for bags on a flight that had past. They admitted to a system cock up which left me double booked.
    For those of you said it couldnt be done,
    He, with a chuckle, replied,
    Maybe it couldnt but he would be one,
    Who wouldnt say so till he’d tried!!!

  3. Alek says:

    I booked a flight from Paris Beauvais to Prague on August 18 and after few days they cancelled that flight.

    After that I filled in a form on their website asking how would I be refunded.

    Then I found this website and after reading the article I didn’t expect I would hear from them.
    It took them a week, but finally fortunately they called me and offered several possibilities. And I got refunded today.

    So I can’t say anything bad about them.

  4. Ger says:

    In my case, Wizzair Ukraine cancelled my flight to Kiev because of a schedule change, and didn’t tell me with the time the EU states (14 or 7 days)

    I got back my money first, after sending hard copy documentation to Kiev and a letter saying that they tried to advice me, which wasn´t true, so I kept mailing and finaly I filed a complaint which ended up in them paying the 250 euro compensation that I claimed. I suggest people to follow the normal procedure written in the EU portal.

    I don’t think they don´t follow the rules less than other airlines, to say the truth. Saying that the ONLY way to get the money back is from you credit card provider is definitely not true.

    This said, I also think this airline sucks, as Ryanair or many others, but they keep flying more and more people every year

  5. gnirpen says:

    I got my money back too.

    I had ordered flights between Oslo Torp airport and Kiev. The flights got canceled long before departure date and I received emails stating that I had to follow a complicated procedure to receive a refund. I spoke with the airline a couple of times telling them that they should simply refund the money back to the debit card I had used to pay. On the phone they kept repeating I had to file a written claim.

    I was to lazy to file the claim, and about a month after the flight date, they simply refunded the money with no further information.

    I have not yet been able to fly Wizz Air, and I am sure the service is basic in all ways. However, they are, together with Ryanair and the others breaking new ground in providing low cost air services to Europeans, so I wish them best of luck! :)

  6. IK says:

    I got full refund from WizzAir as well.
    I bought 2 return tickets Belgrade-London for my relativese.
    The flight was cancelled 2 hours before the scheduled flight time.
    About 10 days afterwords I emailed WizzAir directly asking for a full refund, stating that they had cancelled the flight and offered no reasonable re-routing or accommodation (all true).
    About a month later I just got an email from them asking me technicalities about refund methods and 3 days afterwards I got full refund for the 2 return tickets.
    While their flight service tends to stay bad, it appears that their complaints departments is somwhat operational…

  7. Customer says:

    I have successfully got my ticket price back *and* 250 EUR compensation (as required by EU regulations) on a cancelled flight.

    Full Story:

    Flight from Budapest to Brussels cancelled on 27 July 2010. I was notified at airport, and was provided with a phone number I can call and/or told to go to Wizz Air website and raise a complaint on-line. All alternate flights that day (and the next) were full already, so I opted not to travel. I raised a complaint the same day via their online form. From there on, all communication was via e-mail.

    I was asking for three things, as per EU regulations:
    1) refund of ticket price
    2) refund of 2 telephone calls
    3) 250 EUR compensation

    Several e-mail exchanges ensued. On 10 Aug 2010 they sent an email with an apology, acknowledged that they’d refund the ticket price and phone calls, but not give out the 250 EUR compensation. In that (and subsequent) e-mails, they explained that the reason for the cancellation was a fault with the engine that couldn’t be fixed right away. Crucially, they deployed the tactic of claiming that the faulty engine was a flight safety risk, and that the fault was beyond their control. They cited the EU regulation (which gives flight safety risk as an example of an unforeseen circumstance) and claimed that because unforeseen circumstances were at play, they don’t have to pay compensation.

    They refunded the ticket price on the second week of September (around 14 Sep 2010), despite their own rules stating they should have done so within 7 days.

    In my various responses, I pointed them to the Wallentin-Hermann case that was decided by EU courts in 2008, and urged them to look at it, as it makes it clear that technical faults on their own don’t exempt them from having to pay compensation.

    Eventually, an e-mail I wrote to them on the 9 Oct 2010 seemed to have had an effect on them. In this e-mail,
    1) I threatened to go to the Hungarian consumer protection authority (Nemzeti Fogyasztóvédelmi Hatóság, NFH)
    2) Pointed out that I know that the NFH fined them once already in early 2010 due to them being slow at responding to a customer complaint (where the customer wasn’t even right) and that my case is more serious
    3) I threatened to go to the media and make my ordeals as public as possible
    4) I attached them a PDF copy of the Wallentin-Herman judgement and quoted relevant paragraphs in my e-mail.

    Surprisingly, the next day I got a reply that my case has been reviewed and that I am indeed eligible for 250 EUR compensation. The money arrived in my bank account a few days later.

    • ABC says:

      Well done! It would be useful if you could provide some links to those documents you mentioned in your post.

    • Gosia says:

      What ius their email adress as i am unable to find it on the website! Cannot contact them any other way as call centre that is not fellpful at all. All my complaints are left unanswered.

  8. mo says:

    Does anybody knows Head office number I can call with complaint? I sent to them prove from my bank of the bank transfer but they still cannot find my money! Somebody mentioned Kafka in the post – I totally agree, this is almost surreal !. But I am determined and will fight and contact whatever authority I have to teach them that you cannot treat people like that ! Any help would be appreciated.

  9. Daniela says:

    Hi
    My problem is a little different but still quite irritating. I purchase my ticked two months ago and tomorrow I should be on my flight. Actually they cancelled my reservation saying the card didnt go through(which didn’t show when I bought it) and never said anything and now a few hours before I find myself paying triple the price for the flight I thought I had booked.
    Help please I keep on calling those numbers and no one is doing anything helpful.

  10. Andreas says:

    Hi,

    my problem is that i booked a flight, payment should be done by bank transfer, but the transfer failed and the money was sent back to my account. After i found out this mistake of transfer, i have sent again the money via bank transfer. Problem is know that they have cancelled by reservation. And now nobody takes action of my mails to the call centre. Did anyone knows what else i can do? Or has somebody experience with a similar situation?

  11. Oksana says:

    Hi, could you help me please. I booked a flight from Italy to Ukraine with WizzAir but due to personal reason couldn’t fly. I wrote them an email saying that I want to cancell my flight. They replied that I needed to print and fill out the form and to send to Ukraininan address. I did all that and soon almost two month has passed but I still didn’t get any reply, neither money refund nor email from them. What would you suggest I should do now?

  12. diana says:

    Hi, I had a problem with wizz air today, I booked a ticket from bucharest to naples, and paid by bank transfer 52 euros, when i got to the airport they told me that there was no booking and no purchasing on my name so I had to pay a triple price for the ticket, cause it was urgent for me to fly. How can I get my money back? and I want my money for the tripple price I paid for the ticket, otherwise I could be paid a ticket from a different company wich was lesser than the triple price I paid at the airport.
    Thank you !

  13. kristina says:

    how i can refund money.because yesterday my sister have tickets.but lithuania passenger cant flying.and now i wont refund monez

  14. Takes says:

    Wizzair themselves cancelled all flights From Charleroi to Belgrade. I had a flight booked for August 30th 2014. I paid 55 euro. They mailed an invoice to pay back 18 euro (money not received yet).
    I was so stupid to call the expensive number they provided and was told they will only refund the flight (18 euro) and not the services (like my luggage). WTF?
    Does anyone know how I can get the full amount paid back? Or should I contact my lawyer?
    Any ideas?
    Thanks

  15. Reaktiv says:

    I booked my flight with the Wizz-Flex Option so I may change date and route of my flight. Unfortunately when I try changing something in my booking a can only change the date of my flight not the route. Does someone know a trick, how to handle that?

  16. Sandy says:

    I am making a group page on facebook to expose Wizz Air further. This is great website here. Please come and join the group and show your support to all those people who have been abused by Wizz Air.

    Group name: Wizz Air Steals Money

    Best wishes,

    Sand

  17. jordan says:

    wizzair (w6) 19.05.2014 bay 2 tickets and get 1 free !it doesn’t work! they charge me fo 3 tickets:(

  18. Mishel says:

    Its 11:35pm and i am still waiting for my parents :-( plane supposed to land at 8:35pm….live web page update said estimated arrival 9:35pm….i swear ill never use Wizzair again :-!

  19. Tusila says:

    Enjoy my communication, the support is either not getting it, or trying to avoid answering the question.
    “PLEASE NOTE THE PRICE YOU SEE ON THE SCREEN IS NOT GUARANTEED” is what Wizz should put on the webpage in capitals.

    Me:
    Hi. I was in the process of booking the flight online. Ive already passed all the stages, filled in bank card details and submitted my payment. Then your system returned error, saying it can not finalise the booking and payment hasnt been completed. I needed to start booking over again and the price per person was already 20EUR more. As a result my flight got 40EUR more expensive (increase from 206EUR to 246EUR).
    I believe the problem was on Wizzair side, due to the online service not being able to process my reservation (eventhough the booking process was followed without interruptions or delays). The cost difference ive incurred should be reimbursed back to my account.
    Please contact me as a matter of priority with resolution of this issue.

    Wizz:
    Thank you for contacting our Customer Relations Department.
    I am sorry to hear about inconveniences you experienced due to occurred situation.
    Let me please explain that when you select new flight, depending on the availability of the tickets, the system first will choose the tickets in exactly the same price. Should it happen they have already been sold out; the system selects the higher fare which is available at the moment.
    If the price for new tickets is not exactly the same, or your previous tariff is no longer available, the system will choose the closest fare to the previous one, but the system restrictions do not allow selecting lower fare (GCC art. 6.4.2 (…) Should the new Total Fare be lower than the original, you will not be entitled to a refund, except for the amount of the lower taxes and charges.). Should the new fare be higher, any fare difference must be paid. (…).
    However, I understand your standpoint by all means and I would like to meet your needs, but unfortunately, once you have bought a ticket in the then available tariff class, we are not able to obtain tickets with lower tariff for you. Please find the applicable section of General Conditions of Carriage below:
    ARTICLE 3 – TARIFFS
    3.1 We reserve the right to amend our Tariffs. Upon request you will be provided with
    information on our Tariffs in our Call Centre.
    3.2 Our employees, servants and agents are obliged to comply with our Tariffs.
    We are obligated to act in accordance with the above mentioned Conditions and system restrictions are beyond our reach.
    Hoping that this situation will not discourage you from availing yourself of our services, we look forward to welcome you on our boards on numerous occasions.

    Me:
    thank you for your answer. I dont believe we are on the same page. Youre telling me the system chooses the new price, should the one ive chosen be gone. Please explain me how is it for a customer oriented web service/model/system to work in a way that im not able to finish my purchase? Step by step:
    I choose a destination;
    Proceed with booking;
    Proceed with filling in personal data;
    Redirected to bank/payment page;
    Fill in my bank card details;
    Told that im not able to finish my purchase.
    I believe that if ive selected a flight at a certain price and following the wizzair’s webpage instructions closely and finally proceeding with payment, the wizzair system should be holding the chosen flight tickets for me during the process of booking and bank payment. Otherwise the company is obliged to put a note, stating “the price you currently see is not guaranteed”.
    Im indeed dissatisfied with the service and discouraged (myself and colleagues i related this information to) from further use of the company’s services.
    I look forward to hearing from you.

    Wizz:
    Thank you for your reply.
    Firstly, please note the appropriate part of General Conditions of Carriage that was quoted in the previous message and that claims clearly that Should the new Total Fare be lower than the original, you will not be entitled to a refund, except for the amount of the lower taxes and charges.). Should the new fare be higher, any fare difference must be paid. (…).
    Let me also draw your attention to the following part which concludes clearly that we are not obliged to guarantee the un-changeability of the price and we reserve the right to amend our Tariffs.
    ARTICLE 3 – TARIFFS
    3.1 We reserve the right to amend our Tariffs. (…)
    3.2 Our employees, servants and agents are obliged to comply with our Tariffs.
    Regarding your statement about lack of information please, note the following: Upon request you will be provided with
    information on our Tariffs in our Call Centre. (3.1)
    Please, note that we are not able to guarantee that the new price will be the same in the situation when the process of payment was interrupted because we are not able to foreseen whether the customer would like to make his reservation again. Simultaneously, we are entitled to change the tariff class on higher when the tickets from the lower have already been sold out.
    Based on the above, our standpoint remains unchanged.
    Thank you for your understanding.

  20. Dogan Bo says:

    Hi,

    My flight was from Cluj napoca to London. When they checked my ticket on boarding gate they asked me to go to check my baggage sizes behind the desk. I went there checked it myself but nobody looked through me for a while.Even I looked and said sorry to get attention. So I went to bus which will take me to plane.After a few minutes a rude man came and asked me to come with him rudely.Everybody thought I am a criminal or something.I went back and he and other gate checkin officers looked me and said put my bag to size. Again I put it and again nobody looked.They all backed to their jobs. I waited there and finally I increased my voice to get attantion. They they thought with prejudice I dont want to pay for baggage.But all it was they dragged me from one point to another and gave me no attentions. I find it very ugly attidude and I would expect more friendly faces rather than who looked me like I am a criminal. I paid bloody 260 pound which is quite expensive for own. I dont care about money but I deserve more than this.

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