Today I’m meant to be doing something exciting around The Great Barrier Reef.  Alas, that trip is not to be.  And I cancelled the car hire out of Cairns Airport a few weeks back when it popped up on my Avis account online.

I noticed earlier that no refund had appeared in my bank account for this so went back through my Oz email folder to discover I’d booked via British Airways.  My motto of avoiding intermediaries because they confuse things not applied in these circumstances.

Big mistake.

Well medium mistake to be fair.  Had I booked direct with Avis I’d have been refunded in full immediately.  But by booking with BA and cancelling with Avis I hit a problem.  Avis don’t tell BA that the booking is cancelled.

I rang BA who said “no refund as you didn’t cancel via us” in pleasant Geordie tones. I muttered my disappointment, threw in the word “cancer” and the agent scuttled off to ring Avis, leaving me on hold.  A quick update to tell me Avis have confirmed the cancellation.  Now she’ll have to ring the refunds department.  On hold again.  She tells me refunds are ringing Avis to check and she’ll call me back!

Within a few minutes she does call me back.  And confirms as a gesture of goodwill I’ll get a refund minus 20% cancellation fee.  Which was in my terms and conditions. But wouldn’t have been had I booked direct with Avis.

Feeling slightly miffed at the experience.