It looks like you think Jetstar should be called Crapstar
Don't pay Jetstar by bank transfer!
Submitted by Dave Emerton
Wed, 25/01/2012 - 00:30
I booked four tickets for my family on 16th January via Jetstar website. Fortunately, I saved a copy of the booking page and the booking number. I took Jetstar's advice from their web site and paid by bank transfer as I have an account in Australia. My bank completed the transfer the following day. I still don't have confirmed tickets and my booking has disappeared from their website. When I log in to my Jetstar account, there is also no record of my booking. When I phoned Jetstar it took twenty minutes before anyone answered (costly, even on Skype as I live outside Australia) The Jetstar representative took my booking number and said I should wait 7 days for my booking to be processed! I have booked scores of airline tickets over the years and have never had to wait 14 days to receive even a receipt that my money has been received. I am now wishing I had booked with Virgin. I have emailed Jetstar a week ago, when I noticed that there was no record of my booking on their web page. I have not received any email reply from Jetstar. I am wondering how can they do business like this?
Have I lost my $692? The tickets I booked are for flights in March, so hopefully I will get my tickets or my money back in coming weeks. One thing for sure, this company sucks, I will never use them again!
- Australia-Gold Coast - Australia-Sydney
- 483 reads
Is Jetstar going out of business? I have sent emails tonight to all the available Jetstar email addresses but they have all been returned "undeliverable". How do I get my money back from a direct bank transfer to Jetstar since they appear to have ignored my booking and deleted it from their web page?
did you send emails to the addresses on this page?
Hi Dave
Funny you should say that as i bought 7tickets to Honolulu in june on the same day(16 jan) at a cost of $6500 ,i also spoke to a jetstar represntative and was also advised to pay direct deposit.Jetstar informed me to wait 24/48 hours for the itenerary,it has now been 9days and a number of calls later and a visit to my local airport and still nothing.The jetar employee could not understand why this has happen so she gave the supervisor a phone call,who informed her that the money wasn't in the bank account.I then approached my bank the comm bank who informed me that the money is sitting in there account with my reference number and name still in there. The bank has informed me that you can get your money back if you have all your paper work and it can take 21 days,they do a trace and reverse transfer.
Hi Jackie,
Yes, I also had this advice from my bank about putting a trace on the transfer. My immediate concern was that my online booking was not showing on the Jetstar website. I made another call on Tuesday night and spoke to a very helpful operator who asked me several security questions and then confirmed that my reservation is still in their system and on hold. Again I was told that the payment can take 7 to 14 days to process and once payment is processed I will receive an emailed itinerary and my booking will be posted on the website.
Hi Dave
Just wondering if you got your tickets ,all your money back.As they have cancelled my flights without even asking and now apparentley i have to wait 3wks for a refund.They explained to me even though you have payed direct deposit ,it does not mean that you will get your tickets ,due to the fact that they havent been purchased within there 14day limit.As for the trace on your money the bank can not do anything if the money was corretly deposited into there account ,they can hold it for as long as they please.
No. As a matter of fact I have spent most of my morning (on my day off) and used up all my Skype credit, phoning Jetstar and my bank in Brisbane. Since it has now been 15 days since I made my booking, I phoned JS to see what's going on. They told me that my booking had been "auto-cancelled" as it wasn't paid within 14 days. They said they had no record of the $692 I had transferred and that I should contact my bank to send JS a fax with the details and evidence of the transfer they made on the 16th Jan.
It turns out that my bank (QTMB) does not use their transfer system and so this could be the problem. Another call to JS call centre and they said they will email me within 24 hours of receiving my fax. My bank has emailed me to say they have faxed JS. So, I SHOULD expect an email by Monday or Tuesday at latest and HOPEFULLY an intinerary by Wed or Thurs. That is what I would expect of a normal business the size of JETSTAR. My bank .... 1. Answered my phone call immediately without 20 or 30 minutes of recorded advertising. 2. Understood the problem and suggested solutions within a 3 min. phone conversation. and 3. Sent the fax within the hour and advised me by email.
Incidentally my bank is Qld. Teacher's Mutual or QTMB, formerly QTCU. They are great, and very personal service, businesslike and act on your requests.
I told the phone rep. that it was nothing personal, I am angry but not at them, at their management. All the call centre personel have been courteous and helpful. They are only the messengers for a very poorly run business that has contempt for its customers.
I will update next week. Hopefully with good news that I have tickets.
The funny part is when the call centre people say "Thanks for flying with Jetstar" at the end of the call. How can I? Jetstar has taken my money and cancelled my booked tickets!!!!!!
I have already done everything you have mentioned above and still no answers,the good thing they have done is cancelled my flights to honolulu and they have finally track my money ,but they are now saying that i have to wait another three wks before i see my money back.You could try calling Melbourne and talking to stacey who finaly tracked my money down and spoke directly to finance team,if you do that she might see a pattern .The number for them is 03 86283400 and you will get to speak to some one in Australia.
Thanks Jackie. I have just now phoned Stacey in Melbourne. (Using yet more time and money to make the expensive international call from Brunei) She was courteous and I tried to maintain my rage but I did let her know how frustrated and angry I am getting about the time it is taking to get any information about what has happened with my booking and my $692. By the end of the phone call she said that she will "get someone to follow it up". She also used the phrase "but we are a budget airline" to somehow excuse Jetstar's treatment of me as a customer.
I felt sorry for her having to be an apologist for a company that clearly has a policy or business philosophy which obviously is driving away customers. When she asked at the beginning of the call if I was a customer, I could only reply, "Just this once".
I wonder if there are enough customers who have lost their money, flights, patience, sanity, to initiate a clas action against this company? Is it actually legal to take someones money for a service, promise to provide the service/product/tickets within a stated number of hours (48) days (14) and then not provide the service, deny you ever received the money and do nothing to return it?
Just came across this on the web. A travel agent's view on Jetstar. Sure wish I had known more about JS before I booked my domestic tickets for March. Our other tickets are with Air Asia. We have booked dozens of flights with Air Asia and they have been great. Easy and quick bookings, good business practice and professional service. Jetstar could learn a lot from Air Asia.
http://www.customguides.net/0058/005812.html
Thats great to hear but im still waiting for her promises,im now so sick and tired of this that im now in the process of seeing a lawyer,so if he advises me of some thing useful,i will let you know he might need to contact you
Yes, bring it on. I have only been troubled by Jetstar for 15 days but it is long enough. I can't afford to wait weeks for my tickets or miss getting them completely and I can't afford to have hundreds of dollars lost and doing nothing except increasing the earnings of this pathetic excuse for a business. Keep me posted Jackie.
hi dave if you could give me your flight details i can get someone to fix them now for you,i just got my tickets
Oh really? That would be great. My reservation number is RG31PE
I booked 4 return tickets for my family from Gold Coast to Sydney 17 March return 21 March. JQ409 and JQ412
Total price $(Aus) 692
I booked online on the JS site on 16th Jan. Transfer went through on 17th Jan.
My bank has faxed JS with details of the payment. Stacey said not to expect to hear from JS for a while yet. I suppose she was hinting at another 2 weeks.
Thanks
Dave
I have pasted the email I received last night. It is the response from Jetstar to the fax my bank sent to them the same day.
What concerns me now is the wording of this email which mentions a "refund"
I have not requested a refund of my money. What I want is the 4 tickets I booked and paid for on 16 th January.
Since this is an Automatic email. I am hopeful that I might get my tickets and receive an itinerary sometime this month. It seems though JS can't get anything done properly.
Any word from your lawyer Jackie? Have you now got your tickets and itinerary?
dave
I have deleted the pasted "automated email" (6th Feb 2012) To avoid any possible legal action by Jetstar.
I will explain in my next post.
Hi Dave
There was no need for me to seek the help from my lawyer,i gave stacey another call yestertday afternoon,and again she took her time returning my call,so i got onto the 131538 number and spoke to a supervisor by the name of Miguel who was very helpful and advised me that my moneywas now showing on there computer system.And i to was told by stacy that i had asked for a refund when i didnt seek a refund but the tickets that i payed for,so i advised Miguel that if i didnt recieve an email with my itinery while i was on the phone with him i was having my lawyer ring him an take action against him and jetstar,with in 3min i had my paper work in front of me,he was actually going to help me with your paper work but i didnt have all your info until later in the afternoon so ,he couldnt help me.
I have now made several calls to Jetstar since Friday and receiving an email that mentioned a "refund'.
This morning and this afternoon I have spoken to several different people on call centres and finally called Stacey in Melbourne. Surprise she wasn't available 1st call. 2nd call she had a recorded message. 3rd call a helpful switchboard operator named Casey (funny how that rhymes with Stacey isn't it?) She didn't want to give me her surname but gave her JS ID number - smart girl. She took my call and enquiry after a bit of persuasion. I was told that I had now been passed on to the "Escalation Team". After some minutes of explanation and suggestions by me to improve their dealings with customers and their business practice, she offered me a $100 voucher for tickets on JS. I suppose that's good for JS since I have told them I will only be flying this once, if I do ever get my tickets.
I received an email from Katie (Also similar to Stacey and Tracey ..... is there a pattern here?) Apologizing for the experience I have had with Jetstar and confirming the launching of a "thorough investigation". Also details on how to get my $100 voucher.
Still no tickets, no itinerary, no receipt, no confirmation that my money is in their account (It was bank transferred and went into JS account on 16th January remember.)
Pleased to hear that you finally got your tickets Jackie. I hope you have no further problems with Jetstar.
I am afraid it takes more than a voucher (that I probably can't use because I am sure it will have conditions attached - I live in Borneo and we always use Air Asia - a great budget airline - rarely fly domestic in Australia as we don't often come home) to win my loyalty.
I will update as soon as I hear anything. Hopefully this sorry saga will end one day and we will have our tickets and the family can fly to Sydney to visit my elderly Mum and the kid's Grannie, we have not seen for a few years.
The funniest quote from today's phone calls is "You are becoming a problem for us...... you have called a number of times"
(Don't call us, we'll call you? ...... If only they did..... or emailed..... but they don't, so I have no alternative but to call JS every day until they know my name, my case... and process my tickets.)
I received a phone call yesterday afternoon from Katie (?) to tell me that my payment had been processed and that my itinerary would be emailed later in the afternoon. She gave an apology on behalf of Jetstar and I received my tickets/itinerary later in the day. I have also received a $100 voucher for Jetstar airfares that I must book within three months for travel within 12 months.
I felt a great sense of relief yesterday when I finally got my tickets. my booking is also showing on the Jetstar website, curiously though the cost of the tickets shown in the booking is much more than I actually paid. On the itinerary, this difference is shown as "agency ...." something..... A difference of around $200. I wondered whether there has been a fare increase or something. Anyway, I finally have the tickets I booked. It took three weeks and numerous calls to call centers and several calls to Melbourne. Although most of the JS operators were courteous and even on occasions sympathetic, it was not until my enquiry was referred to their "Escalation Team" that things actually got done. This took persistence and patience and long distance calls on Skype.
My advice to anyone having problems with JS is to keep calling them. Stay calm, polite and patient but be assertive and make sure they are reminded that you want something done, not in 14 days or 28 days, BT the way that an efficient and ,businesslike airline can do it. I have been flying since 1984 and an expatriate in four countries in Asia Pacific region and I have NEVER had an experience as bad as this when simply trying to book airline tickets.
The only conclusion that I can reach is that Jetstar management are deliberately trying to run the business into the ground so they can trash it and sell it off, perhaps to a bigger carrier. I hope that I am right and it is takenk over by Air Asia, an airline that knows how to treat its customers and gets things done in a businesslike way.
good luck to other JS customers.
Next month my family will fly JS for the first, and probably last time. from reading some of the reports on this forum, I can't imagine it will be an enjoyable experience.
Great to hear the good news Dave,the same happen to my tickets it has cost jetstar an extra $1880 more then what i paid for my tickets also.Well safe trip and fingers crossed our flights are not cancelled 5min before take off.