CANCELLED FLIGHT and long wait for refund...more than a month and still waiting!!!

OK the nightmare started here. I got an email from JETSTAR saying that there has been a changes regarding my flight. I rang JETSTAR and the staff told me that the reason for the changes because the flight from Sydney to Darwin on 22th April had been cancelled totally thats why they will have to move my flight to 25th April 2013. I did not agree with that because that flight means travelling for 3 days for me because of stopover in Singapore and will have to wait another 14 hours for my next flight to Manila from Singapore. The staff and me agreed that the best way is just cancel my flight altogether and they will REFUND the fare.

When we had this agreement, that was 7 March 2013 and now it is already 8april 2013, that's more than a month. Two weeks ago I rang them and the staff said they will process the REFUND. I said To the lady Staff that I am very disappointed because I have been told on 7 March 2013 that they process the refund at once now here she is saying that she will process the refund at once. The same wordings as before from the male staff. Anyway last 30th March 2013 I received an email from JETSTAR, saying my Refund has been processed and approved. I checked my bank statement, there was no transfer of fund from JETSTAR to my bank account so today, this morning I rang them again asked them why the fund is not in my bank account yet. BUT anyway they confirmed it to me that they have already transferred the fund to me via bank account, the same credit card where they they had taken the payment. I said to them isn't it a bit puzzle why it taking so long and why the refund is not appearing on my bank statement. If they use the same credit card number, I cannot see why it should take that long for refund to appear on my bank statement. I have been doing online banking since the introduction of online banking and I know the longest wait should be only 3 to 4 days not more than a week. NOW they told me to supply photos of my bank statement as of 8th April. What is next!!!

International
Australia-Sydney
Philippines-Manila

Comments

From your information it

From your information it seems Jetstar is following it's normal business practice. I too have experienced the Jetstar run around with regards to refunds.

The thing to understand is that when a CSR says "you will get a refund", it simply means they have selected the "refund" box on the screen. This then initiates a process where the "request" is reviewed by staff in the Melbourne office.

Despite the assurances that a refund will be forthcoming, the CSR in the call center have no authority over the refund process. The decision to refund (or not) is made by staff in Melbourne.

The refund assurances the CSR has made to you is of zero consequence and does not influence the decision made in Melbourne. Unethical and misleading? I and many others think so.

Given that in your case the refund is required due to Jetstar cancelling your agreed flight you may well think they will promptly refund your money. No, they will not. The sad reality is that they have your money and you can get stuffed.

If you are in Australia I suggest you lodge a case with the CTTT.
http://www.cttt.nsw.gov.au/default.html

It costs about $30, and the decision is binding on both parties. Given that Jetstar has taken your money and not supplied the product paid for you will win and they will be ordered to refund the money. Otherwise you could be waiting for ever and still not get it.

In my view, the lesson to take from this is to NEVER EVER use Jetstar, it's just too much of a headache. Why support companies that treat you like this?

They have informed that the

They have informed that the money was transferred last 29th March 2013, That's first of April, checked the bank statement, nope, not in there. I received a call from one of their representative and informed me that the money bounced, can you imagine that. They said they used the same number of credit card where they had taken the money for payment ..I don't know if I am going to believe that.

Definitely they've used the right number of my credit otherwise the payment won't be deducted BUT to bounced back the refund ooohhh I cannot comment on that as I do business too...for the transferred money to bounced is either the wrong BSB, Wrong ACCOUNT or in Credit Card is wrong 16 digits number. So how come they managed to receive my payment and they cannot send it back in the form of REFUND by using the right number...a bit doubtful.

I told them also that I am

I told them also that I am paying the interest because it's more than a month. it's 11th April today and the cancellation happened on 7 March 2013...with that $30 if I won the case is the JETSTAR will compensate me and pay me additional $30.

Hi Mercado, They really just

Hi Mercado,

They really just don't care that as well as being deprived of the original funds you are now incurring additional expense (the interest). Jetstar just don' care - full stop.

If the funds are still not in your account now, after 1 month, I strongly suggest you lodge the CTTT case.
Waiting longer serves no purpose.

I don't know what the fuss is

I don't know what the fuss is about. I got my refund in only 10 days [sarcasm]

It only took:

  • 5 long long long phone calls with long long periods on hold
  • 6 emails
  • The intervention of the Airline Customer Advocate (they have been really supportive!)

All up I reckon it only cost me about $600+++ in effort, time and frustration to get my own $300 back.

Bottom line is that if they can bill me in 30 seconds they can refund a TAD quicker than they do.

Cheers

Charlie

BTW The refund was only after they promised to "fast-track" the payment. We obviously differ on our interprertation of "fast".

Airline Customer Advocate http://www.airlinecustomeradvocate.com.au
Jetstar Manager Customer Care Lisa Christodoulou Lisa.Christodoulou@jetstar.com