eastwest101
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- Oct 26, 2010
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Not new to the forum obviously, but looking for suggestions/alternatives or advice to a problem I have had with some JQ bookings. So bear with me and apologies for the long initial post:
Back in Jan I went online and booked Jetstar flights for Mrs eastwest101 + 3 kids for some flights from Cairns to Osaka. Just JQ StarterPlus economy with some food and IFE all paid for – so far no problem at all…..
Then due to some other reasons (that is almost worth an entirely separate thread) in early Feb I was thinking I may possibly have to change the dates of the flights and reschedule them later on in June-July. Of course I tried looking at this possibility on the JQ web site to find out if it was possible, and get some idea of how much it could hurt my wallet to do so, but was directed to call the JQ call centre.
So very reluctantly I rang the JQ call centre and a short but accurate version of the conversation went like this, after the usual security checks about whom I am:
Me: “Hi – I am just making an enquiry about possibly changing an existing booking”
JQ CS1: “Sure – let me have the booking ref no.”
Me: “ABC34D”
JQ CS1: “Okay I can see the flights here on JQ15 and 16 on the XX Mar and YY April.
Me: “Okay – I wondering what the change fees etc would be to change these outbound and inbound flight bookings from say XX Mar/return YY April to ZZ Jun/ZZ Jul (same flight numbers but different months) etc”
JQ CS1: “Okay – I am looking at it now and for those dates there would be no change fee or additional charges made.”
Me: “Really? I find that difficult to believe”
JQ CS1: “No – the flights are pretty lightly loaded and your fare allows date changes up to 1 week before flying, normally you would pay the fare difference if you moved flights that had only higher fares avail. – but on those dates its no extra payment at the moment.”
Me: “So you are saying that if I went ahead with this change then I would see no further charges on my credit card?”
JQ CS1: “Yes – would you like to make the changes?”
Me: “No – not at this point, but thanks for clarifying that with me. Thanks and goodbye”
Imagine then, my surprise a week later that mrs eastwest101 got an email advising her that her flights had been changed from Mar/Apr to the Jun/July dates! I can only assume that after this conversation happened the JQ CS1 person got up to have a coffee or something and the JQ booking system seems to have automatically saved the query screen about the flight bookings as an actual change of booking dates.
After confirming that no extra charges hit my credit card I then very very reluctantly called the JQ call centre again. This conversation went (after the usual checks about booking ref and Pax names):
Me: “Okay – now can you tell me how and when that change of dates happened for this booking?”
JQ CS2: “ I can see here that the change was made on the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] Feb by an operator in the JQ call centre.”
Me: “Okay – I can see a mistake has been made and I was enquiring about a possible date change, but in no way did I authorize or ask that the flights be changed to that date, it was an enquiry only.”
JQ CS2: “ Understood”
Me: “ So can you tell me the name or the operator of whom made the change? Maybe may have to go back to the recording of the call if this is in dispute?”
JQ CS2: “Look – this is becoming a complex dispute, but I can tell you that the booking was definitely changed by JQ on that date. I may have trouble changing the dates so I suggest you use the Contact Us web tool to raise the whole issue as they have more
power and expertise to deal with it than me.”
Me: “Ok well, let me have a think about what I want to do and then I may use the Contact Us funtion as you suggest. Thanks and good bye.”
At this point I thought I may be able to escalate it to someone in Australia if I needed to. I checked with mrs eastwest101 and as it turns out the changed and confirmed dates in Jun/Jul were actually acceptable and convenient to her anyway. So by now you think – what is the problem?
I had used the “Contact Us” web tool on the JQ flight putting in a complaint that an unauthorized change was made to these bookings and that the new confirmed flight times were fine, I even attached the original email confirmation and the revised confirmation to make it easy to follow up the exact details of the case, but I wanted Jetstar Customer Service to look into how all of that could happen in case it happens to someone else. And specifically asked them to contact me by email or phone if they had any further questions.
The following is the reply by JQ from their outgoing email address only with no opportunity to reply:
Case ID CASxx_xx_-xx_VLX
Via email:
Dear Mr eastwest101,
Thank you for taking the time to write to Jetstar.
Unfortunately, because Jetstar is obligated to respect the privacy of our customers and I can’t disclose personal information to anybody besides the travelling passenger. I’ll need their permission to communicate with you, rather than directly with them. I appreciate you may have been the person who actually made the booking, however your name does not appear as a passenger or contact person in the reservation record.
Please arrange for the passenger to sign and return this letter to me with a copy of some photo identification of the customer (e.g. passport or driver’s licence). Once I receive this consent, together with the copy of identification, I’ll respond to your letter.
Alternatively, the customer may wish to write to us direct. This information can be sent to my attention at:
Jetstar Customer Care
PO Box 635
SUNSHINE VIC 3020
AUSTRALIA
Fax: +61 3 8660 2869
Once we receive this information we will contact you again.
Thank you for following this up with us. I’m sorry that I am unable to assist you further at this stage.
Yours sincerely,
Name Included
Manager Customer Experience
Given that the last thing I want to do is inflict the Jetstar Call Centre service treatment on mrs eastwest101 (If I did I would be banished to the couch/doghouse for years!!) and being in a different state to mrs eastwest101 at the moment, and whom has a lot more important things to do than hold for JQ call centre staff (like work for a living). I had 3 quick questions.
So the first question is – is this just a “fob off” due or even relevant to my complaint? I mean really – quoting Privacy Law at me and then requesting photo ID and consent by snail mail for a fix….
Second: Am I being unreasonable that I would like to know why that booking was changed without my consent?
And the Thirdly: Is mrs eastwest101's booking really safe now that I have the confirmed bookings for Jun/Jul, or should I be nervous right up to them actually getting on the plane?
Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated, possibly even some sort of useful and timely contact that could be PM’d to me for someone with clout in JQ? Any suggestions welcome guys.
Back in Jan I went online and booked Jetstar flights for Mrs eastwest101 + 3 kids for some flights from Cairns to Osaka. Just JQ StarterPlus economy with some food and IFE all paid for – so far no problem at all…..
Then due to some other reasons (that is almost worth an entirely separate thread) in early Feb I was thinking I may possibly have to change the dates of the flights and reschedule them later on in June-July. Of course I tried looking at this possibility on the JQ web site to find out if it was possible, and get some idea of how much it could hurt my wallet to do so, but was directed to call the JQ call centre.
So very reluctantly I rang the JQ call centre and a short but accurate version of the conversation went like this, after the usual security checks about whom I am:
Me: “Hi – I am just making an enquiry about possibly changing an existing booking”
JQ CS1: “Sure – let me have the booking ref no.”
Me: “ABC34D”
JQ CS1: “Okay I can see the flights here on JQ15 and 16 on the XX Mar and YY April.
Me: “Okay – I wondering what the change fees etc would be to change these outbound and inbound flight bookings from say XX Mar/return YY April to ZZ Jun/ZZ Jul (same flight numbers but different months) etc”
JQ CS1: “Okay – I am looking at it now and for those dates there would be no change fee or additional charges made.”
Me: “Really? I find that difficult to believe”
JQ CS1: “No – the flights are pretty lightly loaded and your fare allows date changes up to 1 week before flying, normally you would pay the fare difference if you moved flights that had only higher fares avail. – but on those dates its no extra payment at the moment.”
Me: “So you are saying that if I went ahead with this change then I would see no further charges on my credit card?”
JQ CS1: “Yes – would you like to make the changes?”
Me: “No – not at this point, but thanks for clarifying that with me. Thanks and goodbye”
Imagine then, my surprise a week later that mrs eastwest101 got an email advising her that her flights had been changed from Mar/Apr to the Jun/July dates! I can only assume that after this conversation happened the JQ CS1 person got up to have a coffee or something and the JQ booking system seems to have automatically saved the query screen about the flight bookings as an actual change of booking dates.
After confirming that no extra charges hit my credit card I then very very reluctantly called the JQ call centre again. This conversation went (after the usual checks about booking ref and Pax names):
Me: “Okay – now can you tell me how and when that change of dates happened for this booking?”
JQ CS2: “ I can see here that the change was made on the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] Feb by an operator in the JQ call centre.”
Me: “Okay – I can see a mistake has been made and I was enquiring about a possible date change, but in no way did I authorize or ask that the flights be changed to that date, it was an enquiry only.”
JQ CS2: “ Understood”
Me: “ So can you tell me the name or the operator of whom made the change? Maybe may have to go back to the recording of the call if this is in dispute?”
JQ CS2: “Look – this is becoming a complex dispute, but I can tell you that the booking was definitely changed by JQ on that date. I may have trouble changing the dates so I suggest you use the Contact Us web tool to raise the whole issue as they have more
power and expertise to deal with it than me.”
Me: “Ok well, let me have a think about what I want to do and then I may use the Contact Us funtion as you suggest. Thanks and good bye.”
At this point I thought I may be able to escalate it to someone in Australia if I needed to. I checked with mrs eastwest101 and as it turns out the changed and confirmed dates in Jun/Jul were actually acceptable and convenient to her anyway. So by now you think – what is the problem?
I had used the “Contact Us” web tool on the JQ flight putting in a complaint that an unauthorized change was made to these bookings and that the new confirmed flight times were fine, I even attached the original email confirmation and the revised confirmation to make it easy to follow up the exact details of the case, but I wanted Jetstar Customer Service to look into how all of that could happen in case it happens to someone else. And specifically asked them to contact me by email or phone if they had any further questions.
The following is the reply by JQ from their outgoing email address only with no opportunity to reply:
Case ID CASxx_xx_-xx_VLX
Via email:
Dear Mr eastwest101,
Thank you for taking the time to write to Jetstar.
Unfortunately, because Jetstar is obligated to respect the privacy of our customers and I can’t disclose personal information to anybody besides the travelling passenger. I’ll need their permission to communicate with you, rather than directly with them. I appreciate you may have been the person who actually made the booking, however your name does not appear as a passenger or contact person in the reservation record.
Please arrange for the passenger to sign and return this letter to me with a copy of some photo identification of the customer (e.g. passport or driver’s licence). Once I receive this consent, together with the copy of identification, I’ll respond to your letter.
Alternatively, the customer may wish to write to us direct. This information can be sent to my attention at:
Jetstar Customer Care
PO Box 635
SUNSHINE VIC 3020
AUSTRALIA
Fax: +61 3 8660 2869
Once we receive this information we will contact you again.
Thank you for following this up with us. I’m sorry that I am unable to assist you further at this stage.
Yours sincerely,
Name Included
Manager Customer Experience
Given that the last thing I want to do is inflict the Jetstar Call Centre service treatment on mrs eastwest101 (If I did I would be banished to the couch/doghouse for years!!) and being in a different state to mrs eastwest101 at the moment, and whom has a lot more important things to do than hold for JQ call centre staff (like work for a living). I had 3 quick questions.
So the first question is – is this just a “fob off” due or even relevant to my complaint? I mean really – quoting Privacy Law at me and then requesting photo ID and consent by snail mail for a fix….
Second: Am I being unreasonable that I would like to know why that booking was changed without my consent?
And the Thirdly: Is mrs eastwest101's booking really safe now that I have the confirmed bookings for Jun/Jul, or should I be nervous right up to them actually getting on the plane?
Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated, possibly even some sort of useful and timely contact that could be PM’d to me for someone with clout in JQ? Any suggestions welcome guys.
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