Man sent bailiffs to Luton Airport for Wizz Air refund

A rider sent bailiffs to Luton Airport to face Wizz Air implicit wealth owed to him aft his family's flights were cancelled astatine the past minute.

Russell Quirk said helium was near with small prime but to find different way to Portugal which outgo him £4,500.

After months of waiting for Wizz Air reimbursement, helium went to tribunal and ended up sending successful the bailiffs.

Wizz Air paid up, apologised and said it "fell abbreviated of our ain aspirations and our customers' expectations".

The mode customers person been treated by Wizz Air has been "shocking, shambolic and shoddy", Mr Quirk, a spot adept from Brentwood, successful Essex, told the BBC.

He had booked flights from Luton Airport to Faro successful January past twelvemonth for a household vacation with his woman and 3 daughters successful the May half-term.

He awoke aboriginal connected the greeting of their formation to find a connection from Wizz Air saying it was cancelled.

"There was nary explanation, nary alternate offered and nary apology," helium said.

"I had to aftermath my 3 daughters and archer them we weren't going connected vacation - they were precise upset."

With hotels, transfers and an airdrome lounge already paid for, helium said the lone viable enactment was to find different carrier, which the household took the pursuing day.

Those flights, unneurotic with wealth mislaid connected a nighttime successful edifice rooms and different expenses, outgo him £4,500, helium said.

On his instrumentality helium tried to get recompense from Wizz Air, but helium said it took astir 2 months for the outgo of his archetypal flights to beryllium returned on with different ineligible compensation.

But, helium said Wizz Air repeatedly ignored his assertion for "consequential losses" - the £4,500 other helium had spent.

He took his lawsuit to the region tribunal but said Wizz Air "ignored" the judgement made against the company, truthful bailiffs were sent successful to the Wizz Air table astatine Luton Airport.

"Their enactment was to manus implicit the wealth oregon the bailiffs would instrumentality it successful goods - it mightiness person been chairs, tables, computers oregon an aircraft," said Mr Quirk.

He joked that helium mightiness person liked a level astatine home, but the institution did wage him his money.

Mr Quirk said: "Increasingly businesses are reasoning they tin dainty customers similar ungraded and I'm determined to eradicate that.

"My connection is, wherever large companies stonewall you, if you persevere you tin get what is owed to you."

A spokesperson for Wizz Air said: "In the summertime of 2022, owed to unprecedented levels of disruption crossed Europe and the UK which affected the full industry, we fell abbreviated of our ain aspirations and our customers' expectations.

"When things went wrong, we did not respond rapidly capable to negociate the precocious measurement of lawsuit claims that resulted from this disruption. We are atrocious astir this and we are moving to guarantee that our customers' acquisition with Wizz is amended this year.

"Since December, Wizz has paid each CCJs [county tribunal judgements] wherever it received the judgment, and is continuing to enactment to settee each different outstanding claims arsenic rapidly arsenic possible."

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