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I filed a damaged luggage claim after a Lufthansa flight, and they redirected me to a sketchy-looking subcontractor called Dolfi1920.

After a couple of e-mails, the subcontractor informed me that I am entitled to a 48.60 € compensation, and invited me to "select a new luggage in our online shop". The email does not mention it, but I imagine that this is a marketing trick, and that I have to insist if I want a compensation in hard cash as is my right.

However, they also included in their e-mail a link to a weird-looking "special offer" section here: after selecting "Italy" (my country) and "English", I get presented with offers that seem too good to be true: many of the suitcases are priced 0.00 €, and the others are American Tourister and Samsonite bags at half of their normal price. There seem to be no shipping costs.

What is going on here? Is this company legit, or am I being scammed? Will they really send me bags for free, or that heavily reduced price? What is the catch?

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    If Lufthansa directed you to this vendor, surely the catch is that Lufthansa is paying for your "0.00 €" suitcase? I also get a popup saying "I hereby declare that I only ordered (in this or any potential previous order) the amount of suitcases declared in my damage report received from the airline. I also confirm that Dolfi is allowed to charge me in full for any luggage ordered by me that exceeding the liability of the airline."
    – lambshaanxy
    Commented May 16, 2023 at 6:20
  • @lambshaanxy Then by getting that 0.00 € suitcase I would forfeit my 48.60 € cash compensation, I imagine, but they do not write it clearly anywhere. (And then of course the catch would be that the 0.00 € suitcase actually costs me 48.60 €.)
    – Federico Poloni
    Commented May 17, 2023 at 15:53

3 Answers 3

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Update: they agreed to send me a cash refund, after one month and four different e-mails in which I insisted on it and reminded them that according to GDPR it was illegal to send me further advertising for their shop.

They asked for bank details and warned me that the refund might take up to 30 days to arrive; the money finally landed in my bank account after 33 days.

If anyone has the same misfortune, I suggest to be patient and keep insisting.

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Auch, don't go for any of this..

https://nl.trustpilot.com/review/dolfi1920.de

The reviews there are very, very bad...

If you want to lose your money, go to Dolfi1920 - Our suitcase was pulled damaged at the airport. Immediately reported. Selected a suitcase to the webshop and paid the difference. After 3 weeks of not seeing a suitcase, I called the ServiceDesk. I was promised that I will receive the case within a week. Called again after more than 3 weeks without any traces of a suitcase. This time I couldn't get anyone on the line after an hour of waiting. In the meantime I have been more than a month and a half further and still have not received a suitcase. I am now convinced that I have been scammed. That an airline participates in such a scam practice surprises me.

Seems like this is generating 'extra' income for the airlines while hurting the customers. You might never receive anything from them.

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    Thanks! I guess I should just insist for a refund in cash instead.
    – Federico Poloni
    Commented May 16, 2023 at 14:53
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    Thanks again for your recommendation; I finally managed to get a cash refund.
    – Federico Poloni
    Commented Jul 17, 2023 at 13:08
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    While I have no experience and am not saying they're necessarily legit, I'd not jump to conclusions on the basis of trustpilot reviews. Unsatisfied customers are vastly more likely to take the time to leave such reviews. Consider Lufthansa, Apple, Amazon, Netflix... none significantly better. If anything a high rating is reason to avoid a company, as they're almost certainly buying fake reviews.
    – Chris H
    Commented Jul 17, 2023 at 14:03
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I experienced everything you have all stated. I ended up taking them to court in the UK for numerous promises of suitcase replacements. Two written complaints to Lufthansa head office were rebuffed and I was told the case was closed as the suitcase had been delivered. It hadn't. I have just been paid out by Lufthansa's solicitors for the cost of the suitcase plus 2 lots of court fees.

If anyone is having similar issues, keep going. Forget letters and emails. Go straight to the small claims courts (UK) and file a claim. Many will give up for the sake of £75 as the court costs are more than this, but if you win, assuming you are being honest about it, you will get your costs returned plus the cost of the case. For me it was the principle.

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    Kudos for fighting this as a matter of principle! I wish more people would do that, discouraging the airlines from such behaviour.
    – EM0
    Commented Mar 6 at 22:01

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