Expedia refusing to pay settlement

[Paml]

Hello I hope you can advise me.

Last year Expedia royally mucked up an accommodation booking, running a holiday we took.

They refunded half the costs a week ago, sending me an email, stating that the money might take up to 15 days to show in my bank, though it went in the next day.

I spoke to them on the phone about other compensation. They offered me £1000 and my call costs of £300 when the bill was sent to them.

I sent an email on Tuesday, stating I accepted their offer, and telling them to make payment ASAP as the money was badly needed, not least for a holiday to book this weekend.

On Wednesday they emailed, and thanked me for accepting the offer and then sent another email, same as the previous refund email, stating the £1000 had been refunded, could take up to 15 days, etc.

I then booked nonrefundable flights, time off work, etc.

No refund the next day.

Today they have sent me an email with.all sorts of conditions, etc, no mention of paying my phone bill, which says I have to accept all these conditions "before payment will be made."

Am I right in saying they cannot reverse the refund that they told me was made?

Thank you,

Pam

[Paml]

So I sent them an email back, stating I accepted their conditions, we really did not hava e a choice.

However, I changed the wording because of their tactics. I changed the settlement figure to 3K, the original amount we asked for.

They paid 1K into my account an hour ago.

[Paml]

Any advice?

[Paml]

HELP!!!!

Can I now pursue them for the difference?

[Paml]

I think this:

They confirmed one amount as compensation for my issues (£1000, £300 for call costs), and I accepted, and then they actioned a refund of £1000 and told me they had done so.

They knew the money was relied on for my holiday the weekend just gone.

They then cancelled the refund two days later, thus voiding the agreed settlement, by introducing further terms they were in effect forcing me to accept, and with no mention of the other £300 previously proposed/agreed to.

They sent these new terms to accept the Friday before the weekend holiday, I suggest precisely because of the situation they were putting me in.

They asked me to respond with the word "agreed" in order to accept the new terms. They then would "begin actioning the refund to my bank".

I responded with the word agreed, however, I changed their new offer of settlement, which is part of the email in which I agreed, so the figure of the refund is now £1300, not £1000.

They then actioned a refund of 1K.

I would suggest that they failed to carry out their due diligence in reading what I had agreed to, and so in starting the refund process with 1K, they are now liable to complete the refund with another £300.

???

What do you all think?

[R0b]

Hello PAML,

I've seen your other thread but its best to keep to one thread than multiple or it can get confusing. I'll take a proper look at this later unless someone else replies earlier but in short, you are right, if they have agreed to a settlement they cannot renege on that unless you consent.

What exactly are these terms they are requiring you to agree to? It sounds like someone has made a boo boo at expedia by agreeing a settlement without sufficient conditions attached.

[Paml]

Thanks rob

Terms are to keep it private, to accept the figure fully settles the claim, etc.

I guess what I want to figure out now, is that, after amending their settlement figure and stating that this was what I agreed to, can I legally hold them to this, as they have started to make payments towards the increased figure?

[R0b]

Without seeing the full correspondence, it will depend on the contents of the email exchanges. A settlement of a dispute can be both verbal and written which once accepted, brings the matter to an end. It is a principle enshrined in English law and is irrespective of whether or not legal proceedings were commenced. In order for a settlement to be binding, you would need to generally satisfy the following criteria:

1. There must be a dispute that is capable of being settled, even if proceedings have not yet been issued.
2. Some form of consideration is involved i.e. you agree not to commence legal proceedings in exchange for Expedia paying you a sum of money.
3. Any agreement to settle the dispute must be clear and certain.
4. Finally, there must be an intention to create legal relations between the parties - in other words, an intention to be bound by the settlement.

Based on the limited information you have provided, it would appear that a settlement may have been agreed and therefore binding on the parties. In your original post you mentioned they offered a settlement over the phone, you confirmed that in an email the following day and then Expedia confirmed this in a further email saying that the refund is being processed and could take up to 15 days. All of that to me seems like it would satisfy the 4 points above, unless there was anything within the email that suggests for example the offer is subject to approval by someone else within Expedia.

If you honestly believe that you can satisfy the above criteria, you might want to respond to Expedia setting out the position and re-iterating that they have agreed to pay you £1,000 and pay you £300 in call costs which was agreed as per the exchange of emails between you and the Expedia employee. It is a legally binding settlement and therefore they cannot then renege on the settlement simply because they no longer like what was originally agreed.

If they refuse to accept the settlement, then your next step would be to initiate legal proceedings to enforce the settlement.

[Paml]

Thanks rob

I understand.

With reference specifically to the email they sent me, re: we agree to pay you 1K as long as you shut up and this is the end of it - email back to say you agree -

I changed this figure to 1.3K.

Sent it back agreeing to it.

They paid 1K.

Can I SPECIFICALLY hold them to the changed amount / email?

[R0b]

When you changed the figure to £1,300 you effectively rejected their offer and made a counter offer. Was it clear in your response that you wanted £1,300 and in their return email, did they confirm that a payment of £1,300 would be made?

If the answer is yes, then you could have reasonable grounds for assuming they accepted the counter-offer of £1,300 not £1,000. I can't see how Expedia can then renege on that agreement and starting requiring you to comply with all sort of conditions such as confidentiality and full and final settlement but the words "this is the end of it" could imply that it is full and final settlement of the matter.

Quite surprised from Expedia's response, doesn't sound very professional, perhaps that could be why they now want to attach further conditions as it doesn't look good for them or maybe one of their lawyers has caught wind of it and realised there are none of the usual conditions attached to settlement offers, who knows.

[Paml]

When you changed the figure to £1,300 you effectively rejected their offer and made a counter offer. Was it clear in your response that you wanted £1,300 and in their return email, did they confirm that a payment of £1,300 would be made?

If the answer is yes, then you could have reasonable grounds for assuming they accepted the counter-offer of £1,300 not £1,000. I can't see how Expedia can then renege on that agreement and starting requiring you to comply with all sort of conditions such as confidentiality and full and final settlement but the words "this is the end of it" could imply that it is full and final settlement of the matter.

Quite surprised from Expedia's response, doesn't sound very professional, perhaps that could be why they now want to attach further conditions as it doesn't look good for them or maybe one of their lawyers has caught wind of it and realised there are none of the usual conditions attached to settlement offers, who knows.

They did not confirm.

However, they stated "they would not start making the refund until I confirmed agreement."

I believe that as they have made the 1K refund, I can hold them to the counter offer - as they have indicated to me by making the first part of this refund that they read the counter offer and moved forward accordingly.

It is on them to read the agreed terms before actioning any refund, and if they haven't done so, that's their fault and I can hold them responsible.

[R0b]

Without seeing the full email chain I can't really say whether or not there is a good chance of claiming the outstanding £300. If for example, you simply changed the £1,000 to £1,300 and did not make any further comment in relation to their offer then there may be a question of whether or not it is has been made clear that they accepted the counter-offer. You should always make it clear if you are rejecting, accepting or making a counter-offer to avoid any ambiguity.

Sure, you can argue they should have looked at the email response but at the same time, if it wasn't made clear to them you were seeking the £1,300 then their intention to create legal relations for that sum is not there (since they were intending to be bound by the £1,000). Equally, if they then responded to your counter-offer by saying they would not start the refund process until you confirmed that you agreed, then it could also be argued that provided you responded to them and confirmed your agreement, that meant they were bound by the £1,300 and not the original offer.

Yes it is on them to ensure they have fully read what has been offered but you also have to understand that you need to satisfy the above 4 part criteria in order to enforce it. If one of those links are missing, a judge will not agree with you and I suspect this type of issue will turn on the specific facts of what has been said and how it has been said so there is no guarantee that a judge will agree with you - that is the risk you take.

If Expedia have not disputed that they agreed £1,300 and are instead insisting that you need to agree to further conditions before the £300 will be transferred to you, then it is possible to imply from that that they agreed and have no objection to the settlement amount.

[Paml]

Thank you.

I am assuming that, at the very least, they cannot hold me to the 1K given I changed the amount.

[Paml]

Thank you once again rob I really do appreciate it.

[R0b]

No problem, as for your previous post I assume you mean they cannot hold you to the additional conditions they are seeking? If so then yes you are right, they have paid you £1,000 without conditions so you are entitled to discuss, speak to the media etc. as you see fit. If you do discuss it with a third party of the media, be careful what you say as it could be construed as defamatory.