Platform to claim refunds
Eve Buchner, Founder & CEO, refund.me, is all set to launch this client management service for claiming compensation for flight delays, cancellations, overbooking and boarding in India.
“We were the first platform to delivered this service to people, and today we are serving customers from 145 countries and dealing with more than 350 airlines worldwide,” reveals Buchner. And now refund.me is coming to India.
“Indians are flying worldwide and it’s well known that Indian aviation market will be the third biggest within the next 5-8 years. We did Facebook and Google marketing and got a huge response from the Indian market, where we found that every second flight is delayed. Since people came to us saying that we need this service for India, we established a platform based on Indian regulation. It will be soon launched, enabling customers to claim compensation for flight delays of more than three hours and cancellations, not only in Europe but India as well,” she adds.
Explaining further she says, “We can serve to B2C as well as B2B market, like travel agents, online booking engines as well as travel management companies. If you are a travel agent and you have a number of people complaining about flight delays even if they travel internationally over Europe and to Europe and back and forth, you can come to us for any claim and compensation management. We take a commission of 25 per cent on the refunded amount for our service. We are working on a no win-no fee basis, which actually takes away the risk.” And how much time it takes for the compensation to come? Buchner reveals, “In Germany, the success rate is quite high and it takes around two weeks, six weeks, and sometimes longer according to the law system in the country concerned.”
However, dealing with big airlines and lawyers is a huge task. Buchner says, “We negotiate with the airlines, especially when a company is buying tickets worth a million of dollars. Usually it works. Else, we also take the airlines to court. And customers or travel agents can monitor the progress of the case on our website through their exclusive account number.”