Virgin told her it sent the refund, but Priya says she hasn't received it and the airline is no longer responding to her. She writes:
So I have a problem: I took a Virgin Atlantic flight in December 2008 to India and had to get an earlier flight than the one scheduled because of an emergency. When I had to purchase the amended ticket, Virgin Atlantic said on the phone I would be charged 100 pounds (150 USDs) to change my flight. I was fine with paying that. When I got to the counter at the airport to pay, they said that it was 100 pounds + 220 USD. I said I would pay but only if I could fight it because it wasn't fair that I wasn't informed of the charge. They said to go ahead and do it. I had no choice but to take the flight. Here is where the problem comes about.
When I got back, I went through Virgin Atlantic and their crappy customer service: this is what it is - an e-mail which you ONLY get response MAYBE every 21 days. After not hearing from them for a while I went through to my bank. Virigin Atlantic gave them a copy of my 100 pound receipt and NOT the 220 dollars so my bank didn't help. After I was told by someone else they would pay me via e-mail (see attached image), then after a week, I was told I wasn't.
Here is the timeline:
December — Flight was taken, charge was made.
January — sent message via their online e-mail.
Februrary — after not hearing back for 4 e-mails I went through my bank.
March — bank says that Virgin Atlantic doesnt have to pay and shows me their merchant copy of the charge I agreed to.
April — said they would pay but wouldn't.
May — said they wouldn't.
June — said they would pay.
July — said they sent me my money.
August — never got and they claimed I have received it.
September — they tell me they refunded another account and I am supposed to jump for joy.
October — I tell them to send it to me but they said I have received it.
November — I reach out to you.
I mean, what company, especially Virgin Atlantic, that claims to care so much about their customers, has Twitter accounts but doesn't provide NORMAL customer service? I think there is something seriously shady going on with major corporations willing to become friendly with consumers in the online space but yet abdicate their responsibility to regular customers just because some of them don't have the power to be online to make a public statement. Well I am online and just sick of their fakeness. Only after I told they I would expose them online did they care, did they notice. And now, they claimed they have paid when they have not.
It's been 1 year since my flight. Where is my refund money?!
It seems as though Priya had to take the flight and was willing to pay anything to lock it down, but her plight serves as a warning that any time you knowingly give a company more money than you should, it will be tough to get it back.
How have you handled a refund conflict with an airline?
(Photo: So Cal Metro)
]]>Finally, after not hearing from them for several weeks, I wrote one more email saying very explicitly to stop giving me the run-around and give me my refund, since it was their junky website that caused the double-charge in the first place.
I got my refund within 5 days after that. Still never going to do business with them again, though.
]]>This was an emergency, she had no choice but to take the flight and Virgin Atlantic knew that. Therefore she had no choice but to pay the fare and dispute it later which makes the gun to the head analogy appropriate.
In the good old days of flying when gas was cheap there was such a thing as compassion fare, now a compassion fare to them is the same as a last minute ticket meant to be exploited for every penny they can. That is by design, not by accident.
]]>The $220 was most certainly the difference in fare - but it amazes me that they even thought about charging her that, since the ticket agents are usually flexible when things like family emergencies are involved.
]]>As it says on the VA Web site: "Should you wish to change any aspect of your transportation you must contact us in advance. The fare for your new transportation will be calculated and you will be given the option of accepting the new price or maintaining your original transportation as ticketed."
If you were to go to the VA Web site right now and book a ticket, you'll see a "Fare Conditions" link on the booking screen. If you click that link, you'll then see the following information: "Changes are permitted at any time for a charge of USD275" if you chose the least expensive fare for a VA flight.
My guess is that last year's change fee was $220 and that the fare difference for the new ticket was £100. Yes, it's annoying to have to pay $385 to change your ticket, but that's still cheaper than it likely would have been to have bought a fully flexible ticket.
]]>@FatLynn:
"I am not sure the OP has any kind of case with her bank. She did agree to pay the 220 at the ticket counter."
I will also agree not to call the cops on someone pointing a gun at me while demanding my money.
But guess what happens when the crisis is over?
]]>I suspect the 220 was the difference in price between her new ticket and the original ticket, so when the phone rep quoted her 100, she meant that was the change fee, not the total cost. This is crappy customer service, no doubt, but if the OP was told she had to pay more for her new flight, and agreed to it, she has little recourse for a chargeback.
]]>@sicknick: But where did they send the payment? It would be apparent if Priya did receive the payment, was being dishonest, and ended up cashing two checks (if Virgin Atlantic sent a second one) - but there has to be some reason as to why Virgin Atlantic claims it sent one, and Priya never received one. The first thing I do when I don't get something I'm expecting is to check the address it was sent to.
]]>Holy crap, this is why I'm glad I don't have to fly for emergencies. Since Priya doesn't have the payment, and Virgin Atlantic has record of sending payment, she can appeal to the bank and they can send a request to the airline.
Has she tried the Twitter accounts? I mean, e-mail and phone obviously aren't working. She said so herself that Virgin Atlantic seems to be abdicating its role in regular customer service in exchange for Twitter. Maybe that would work?
]]>Not saying it's right, but they could very well have tried to send a payment. At the internet based retailer I work at this sometimes happens. Basically we make one invoice (or a refund invoice) and then it gets screwed up in the process going to the credit card processor. Ours is called Paymentech. In fact, I just did a call with a customer who got one charge actually invoiced to her, but somehow it showed up as three pending transactions on the way to our credit card company. Now, I got the 6 digit authorization code from the processor, gave it to the customer, and she gave the auth codes to her bank. Some banks will do this over the phone, other ones require us to fax in something requesting the charges to be processed quickly as pending transactions that need to drop off. Some banks won't let anybody rush the process.
This isn't saying Virgin is right, here, I'm just explaining the process.
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