Jetstar seriously sucks

[dfcatch]

So here is dfcatch's anti-JQ rant for the week.

So last week I book my folks on JQ back from Melbourne for next month. Well I physically assisted my mum to make the booking (so I can vouch for what was on the screen).

1/ She makes the booking, payment screen glitches/browser crashes.
"ON HOLD" email comes through.

2/ We go back into the booking payment screen, DE-SELECT the immorally default selections of insurance, starkids and carbon offset.

3/ We verify the payment amount on the right side of the screen, enter Amex details and commit payment.

4/ It appears on my statement this morning (and the JQ Confirmation and Tax Invoice only comes through this morning). Naturally - it's a higher amount. They have included donation and insurance.

5/ Cordial call to JQ to have the extra charges removed - accusatory line of questioning from JQ muppet "why did you not notice the extra charges till now??!!", muppet won't help, muppet doesn't want to transfer to supervisor, have to pull a DYKWIA moment to actually get a supervisor.

6/ Supervisor refuses to do anything, questions why I'm only questioning it now, refuses to do anything, hangs up on me when I request escalation to someone with the authority to sort it out.

Now I'm pissed - no-one hangs up on me - I mean seriously - don't make me call TonyHancock!

7/ I call back, request a supervisor, frontline muppet puts up all the hurdles but eventually works out I'm serious and delays..... But eventually gets a supervisor.

Supervisor again accuses "why did you only just notice?", supervisor refuses to do anything "oh that's not out problem you need to call the insurance company".

Ok I say - but if that's how it works - can you sort out the starkids issue? "About that matter sir, no there's nothing we can do".

So who do I call??

"About that matter sir, I'm sorry there's nothing I can do".

So can to escalate it to someone else?

"About that matter sir, there's no-one else, there's nothing I can do".

I offer several solutions including a simple voucher to cover the overcharge (if a refund is too difficult)..... You guessed it "about that matter sir, there's nothing we can do".

So he starts arguing with me until I cut him off and remind him that customer service supervisors should never argue with irate customers He thanked me for the pro-tip.

I then asked what he could do - or what he suggested I should do "About that matter sir, I'm sorry but there's nothing we can do".

"So you can't help me AND you can't suggest who I should call or what I should do?"

"About that matter sir......"

So I have initiated a chargeback (as I told him I would do), booked on another airline (as I told him I would do)....

And now deciding in my mind which escalation avenue to take......

 

[UP4014]

Not good.

I'm always happy to learn from others and have hence never travelled with Tiger or Jetstar.

matt

 

[dfcatch]

I'm actually completely ok with the original overcharge...

But the lack of any attempt at service recovery is a joke.

All he had to do was offer to send an internal escalation to Customer Care and I would have been happy.


Oh - and never, ever, ever hang up on a DYKWIA #protip

 

[blackcat20]

I hate sloppy customer service. At least with Virgin, if you accidently purchase the auto-selected insurance, it's very easy to get a refund without even having to call. Being a LCC is no excuse for treating customers poorly.

 

[oz_mark]

I hate sloppy customer service. At least with Virgin, if you accidently purchase the auto-selected insurance, it's very easy to get a refund without even having to call. Being a LCC is no excuse for treating customers poorly.

The insurance product is the easy bit to deal with on Jetstar - you just invoke the cooling off period provisions. The starkids issue seems to be the stumbling block.

 

[Mwenenzi]

Reads as if you computer cache did not clear when you went back a page/screen
You could try Airline Customer Advocate (ACA) (A government authority) Just do not expect any result

Sellers / vendors are supposed to show the all in price when advertised. Optional - auto "Add ons" (opt out) are not in my view in the spirit of the law

Screen dumps are wonderful. I always do multiple screen captures when booking air fares

Disclaimer I do not fly Jetrats (not the more correct spelling)

 

[dfcatch]

The insurance product is the easy bit to deal with on Jetstar - you just invoke the cooling off period provisions. The starkids issue seems to be the stumbling block.

Actually - they were being annoyingly difficult on that and trying to fob me off to the insurance company.

I reminded them that they, as the agent, were the ones who charged (overcharged) me.

 

[dalereardon]

Hi,

You might have a hard time persuading them to take action but report it to the police. It is stealing - no 2 ways about it. They took money from your credit card without consent, thats theft. It could be seen as a mistake up until you point out the error and then when they keep it and refuse to refund that becomes theft definitely.

Recently I had to get a refund from Jetstar as they cancelled a flight and it took 4 phone calls over 6 weeks to actually get the money back. Sadly we were outside the chargeback time period or I would have had my bank sort it out.

Dale.

 

[dfcatch]

If they stuck to their published customer service guarantee - that would be a good start

 

[lovestotravel]

But the lack of any attempt at service recovery is a joke.

It's Jetstar, same as Tiger....

Both are pretty good when things go right, but when things go wrong, don't expect service recovery

Also I highly expect the chargeback not to work either, but I'd be interested to know how that goes as in Australia chargebacks are too hard to follow through

 

[CaviAck]

I'd escalate this to twitter/facebook or if worst comes to worst their customer service form on their website. I'd lodged a form about a flight being delayed 7-8 weeks ago due to the wrong bags being loaded onto the plane. Didn't think I'd get a response from JQ but last night they called and offered me a $50 flight voucher for the inconvenience.

 

[AdMEL]

I'm actually completely ok with the original overcharge...

But the lack of any attempt at service recovery is a joke.

All he had to do was offer to send an internal escalation to Customer Care and I would have been happy.


Oh - and never, ever, ever hang up on a DYKWIA #protip

I agree. Mistakes and errors happen (part of life), but it's how they are dealt with that wins or loses customers.

 

[robd]

I've missed the "Opt out" button before and because they've set it up this way as default, there should be an easy way to reverse it. How many people to they "sting" like this?

Surely the add-ons should be "Opt In".

 

[lovestotravel]

I've missed the "Opt out" button before and because they've set it up this way as default, there should be an easy way to reverse it. How many people to they "sting" like this?

Surely the add-ons should be "Opt In".

Yes it would be better to have Opt In, but like you said, I'd assume thousands of people would not uncheck the box

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I think the only option that should be already be ticked is for checked baggage as I think that too many people who want it would miss the opportunity to opt in for that causing a lot of grief at the airport.

I too have thought I deselected travel insurance however I ended up being charged for it. If you choose to get the plus bundle with a (one time) free flight change plus ff points & SC I don't see really what the point is of taking travel insurance as it's not like the fares these days are 'use it or lose it' as most you can change or put into a credit shell if you cancel 24 hours prior to travel.

I guess the only time you may use the insurance is if you had to cancel on the day.

 

[serfty]

I think the only option that should be already be ticked is for checked baggage as I think that too many people who want it would miss the opportunity to opt in for that causing a lot of grief at the airport.

I too have thought I deselected travel insurance however I ended up being charged for it. If you choose to get the plus bundle with a (one time) free flight change plus ff points & SC I don't see really what the point is of taking travel insurance as it's not like the fares these days are 'use it or lose it' as most you can change or put into a credit shell if you cancel 24 hours prior to travel.

I guess the only time you may use the insurance is if you had to cancel on the day.

I believe there are some java scripts that run once the page is fully loaded. You should always wait until a page fully loads before un/checking the options. Virgin Australia was similar.

 

[samh004]

There was something somewhere recently that suggested Jetstar had stopped leaving phone numbers on their press releases as it was the only way you could get through to someone that could actually help, this perhaps you should find an old press release.

We did have someone from JQ here originally, but I recall he left the company and the replacement is just the person on Facebook.

 

[Alanslegal]

Not good.

I'm always happy to learn from others and have hence never travelled with Tiger or Jetstar.

And I can unequivocally say that in my three or so dozen flights with JQ that I have never had any issues. Happy with JQ and thankfully when their fares are low, its always great fun to explore other parts of the world for next to nothing.


This appears to be more of a internet booking issue where the customer service centre was unable to resolve the refund because 1) they weren't able to or 2) didn't know how to resolve an issue and 3) that resulted from what potentially was an automated internet process (ie the java scripts) and the service centre weren't able to identify those issue. And it was made worse by the poor handling of the complaint process.

 

[dfcatch]

So thanks to Red Roo for referring the issue to JQ for me.

Just had Tim ("I am the highest point of escalation") at JQ give me a call.

1/ Can not refund extra charges.

2/ Happy to issue $50 voucher to compensate for the extra charges.

I explained to him that it's a shame that couldn't be sorted out this morning as we had now (as explained to the sub-standard staff this morning) initiated chargeback and made an alternate booking.

3/ I explained that what we needed now was either a full refund of the total charges or a voucher to cover the total charges.

4/ He point blank refused and kept falling back on the "non refundable fare" excuse.

5/ Whilst he acknowledged, apologized for and was willing to compensate the overcharge and poor customer service - he was not willing to accept the conclusion to that sentence that an alternate booking was necessary.

Most annoying is the failure to follow their published customer charter and the excuse that they all use of "I am the highest point of escalation".

In fairness he was professional and polite but his failings represent organizational culture.

I guess chargeback and ACCC complaint are the way to go now......

 

[lovestotravel]

Again, you won't succeed in the chargeback simply because you don't want something, that JQ will be adamant that was selected and agreed to at the time!

Again why you expect great service recovery from JQ is beyond me