Contact Centre mistake on award taxes and surcharges

[fitzy]

Hey all, I'm looking for advice (also kind of want a rant haha) on how to proceed following the QF Contact Centre stuffing up a change to a J award booking. Apologies to those who don't like dot points - I find it the easiest way to structure my thoughts.

In May I made a J award booking, flying MUC-HEL-SIN-MEL-HBA in January. MUC-SIN on AY, SIN-HBA on QF. Fuel surcharge etc totalled $316AUD. Last week I saw award space MUC-DOH-SIN on QR - I'm keen to try Q-Suites so called up the Contact Centre to see how much it would cost to change.

I was advised that there would be a 5000 point change fee and a refund to me of ~$270 due to lower fees and taxes on the DOH route (I was surprised at this but hey I trust what I'm told!). I proceeded with this change based on the advice given.

This morning, I saw that I had actually been charged $593.53 (in addition to the $316 I paid in May) rather than getting a refund as expected. On calling the Contact Centre I was advised that this amount was correct and that the agent I had spoken to last week had been incorrect in advising me that I would be receiving a refund due to an issue with how the internal workflow tool presents pricing changes, and that the correct taxes on the Doha flight are $593.

I asked to change back to my original HEL route but was advised that this is not possible as there are no Business award seats available any more. As an alternative, I then requested that Qantas honour the price they had given me over the phone. This request was also refused, after referring to their supervisor.

The three options I was presented with were:

1. Keep my current Doha routing and pay the additional taxes
2. Cancel the booking - however I do not think I will be able to find business award flights from Munich back to Hobart at only 6 weeks out.
3. Route via London and Perth on BA and Qantas - however this would mean losing a morning in Munich and getting into Melbourne a night before my connection to Hobart, requiring a hotel booking at my expense.

None of these options are acceptable as they all mean I am worse off overall from my original booking.

I would like Qantas to honour the price quoted over the phone by the agent I spoke to last week, as well as maybe points compensation for the time spent on the phone. Am I being unreasonable? If I had known there would be a significant fee increase I wouldn't have made the change.

 

[Daver6]

I don't think you're going to get compensation for wasting your time.

If it were me, I'd be calling them back and saying I made the change based on the information provided during the call. Give them two options. Either revert the change or honour what was said. Tell them to go listen to the recording of the call for the facts.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Tell them to go listen to the recording of the call for the facts.

This.

Ask them to pull the tape to listen. You made the change based on thair advice. They should honour that.

Also - double and triple check your ticket with Qatar. Qatar has very tight ticketing deadlines - can be as little as 24 hours. Qantas has been known to take longer than this to process the change and the ticket is cancelle din the meantime (and no one tells the passenger).

You need to call Qatar (any office will do) and ask them if they have a ticket number against your booking.

 

[fitzy]

Thanks for the advice - I've been hounding them via SM all day and they are outright refusing to do anything about it. They are very firm that I am responsible for the full cost of the fees and taxes on the ticket, regardless of what I was told on the phone (which they have acknowledged was an error on their part). To be honest it has been very frustrating - it's hard to know when to give up and accept the cost of someone else's mistake and when to keep fighting, noting that I need to get back from Europe some way or another!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for the advice - I've been hounding them via SM all day and they are outright refusing to do anything about it. They are very firm that I am responsible for the full cost of the fees and taxes on the ticket, regardless of what I was told on the phone (which they have acknowledged was an error on their part). To be honest it has been very frustrating - it's hard to know when to give up and accept the cost of someone else's mistake and when to keep fighting, noting that I need to get back from Europe some way or another!

You can probably contact the Airline Consumer Advocate on this.

Have QF admitted in writing they made a mistake?

Social media might not be the way to go here. I suspect they may not be trained in legal issues. Which this sort of is.

While I sort of agree with QF that passengers should pay taxes... if there is any componet of that higher fee which are fuel surcharges, Qantas should absorb those as it was their error.

 

[N860CR]

I got screwed on this a little while ago.

I booked a oneworld award and was charged about $1000 pp in taxes (which I remember seeming low at the time).

About 6 months later, a flight had a schedule change so I had to change onto a different service (QF instead of CX). The taxes jumped up to $1900. A lot of backwards and forwards ended up revealing that I'd been "undercharged" before however still needed to pay the full amount.

Certainly wasn't happy, but after spending 3 hours on the phone with the South African call centre staff (who are rude and hopeless at the best of times), I just gave up.

 

[serfty]

Thanks for the advice

You can probably contact the Airline Consumer Advocate on this.

I agree. See here: Industry Ombudsmen & Dispute Resolution

Make sure you have documented all calls and recorded and SR 'numbers'.

 

[Daver6]

Thanks for the advice - I've been hounding them via SM all day and they are outright refusing to do anything about it. They are very firm that I am responsible for the full cost of the fees and taxes on the ticket, regardless of what I was told on the phone (which they have acknowledged was an error on their part). To be honest it has been very frustrating - it's hard to know when to give up and accept the cost of someone else's mistake and when to keep fighting, noting that I need to get back from Europe some way or another!

Call them up and have the conversation. I think that is the required next step before going to the ombudsman/legal route.

 

[fitzy]

Thanks again for all the advice - I called again and they refused to do anything (again). Thankfully I found some SQ J awards on a similar route/day so got Qantas to cancel the ticket (they waived the cancel fees). Overall I'm still 5k points in the hole from the initial change fee but I have given up on that one.

The kicker - the SQ taxes total AUD$115 compared to the $1100 I'm being refunded from QF so even after a couple of extra nights accommodation I'm still better off (and I get a longer holiday too!)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks again for all the advice - I called again and they refused to do anything (again). Thankfully I found some SQ J awards on a similar route/day so got Qantas to cancel the ticket (they waived the cancel fees). Overall I'm still 5k points in the hole from the initial change fee but I have given up on that one.

The kicker - the SQ taxes total AUD$115 compared to the $1100 I'm being refunded from QF so even after a couple of extra nights accommodation I'm still better off (and I get a longer holiday too!)

Glad it finally worked out... but...they really shouldn't be able to get away with this sort of thing

Understandable you don't want to pursue, but a shame as well. One of the reasons you made the change was because of the price quoted. You should be put back to your original position with no losses whatsoever.

 

[Danielb56]

I agree. See here: Industry Ombudsmen & Dispute Resolution

Make sure you have documented all calls and recorded and SR 'numbers'.

Yeah...I agree. Don't go to Qantas yourself anymore...they are useless with their customer service and can't think outside of the box. I have given up talking to them even with simple questions. In other words don't bother us we don't want to help you. Award Points work well when you 1. Book way in advance (11-12 mths out). 2. If you make no sudden changes. I understand that it was on their advice you made the changes therefore I see them as accountable and not you. BUT we are talking Qantas and it is 2018 and not 1988 when customer service really meant customer service...

 

[SOPOOR]

I was abput to write yayyyyyyy for singapore airlines
Booooooo for qantas yet again, but did singapore do anything in this case?

 

[Ric Willmot]

Qantas, under the stewardship of Joyce, has become reprehensible. He is a less than average CEO, destroying a once fabulous airline into a less than average one while being remunerated at a grossly exorbitant level. The issue is that nobody wants to hold Joyce or Qantas accountable. The airline's previous reputation and being our Australian global carrier seems to influence people to look the other way to all their egregious actions. The institutional shareholders only look at the profits and dividends and control the voting rights. Joyce would never survive an interrogation in the public domain by somebody who wasn't afraid to pull the curtains back and expose our once great carrier.

 

[agentgerko]

QF really hasn't got a leg to stand on. All their calls are recorded. You just ask them to produce the recording where you agree to have your card charged over $500. Of course, they don't have such a thing, and no company can just charge someone without an authority, not even Qantas.

 

[Scimitar]

1. Start using the phrase back to them - "This call is being recorded for training and quality purposes" - and await the response!!
2. Remember we are all just self-loading cattle.
3. Joyce has been "Jetstarring"Qantas since taking over.
4. QF's safety record is about all they have going for them these days, having been left far behind in the customer service stakes by most overseas carriers.
5. It is amazing in this age of technology, that companies still get information and advice wrong. Probably because their products are often too complex.

 

[downloadingdata]

I was abput to write yayyyyyyy for singapore airlines
Booooooo for qantas yet again, but did singapore do anything in this case?

They simply offer a cheaper and more compelling product that people overlook due to “loyalty” and “pride” with flying QF.

 

[agentgerko]

As a TA I can confirm that over the past few years the airfares on Singapore have become very competitive. We used to look at them as being in the Qantas/Emirates price range but recently have scored a few real bargains for clients on them.

 

[Abrcrmb]

Had a similar problem with calculating the taxes on our last two 280K redemptions. Both were around $1,000 when initially booked and paid, had a phone call later that day from Qantas to say they had been calculated incorrectly and both needed an additional $600-800 to be paid in taxes.

This was 4 months ago. Sounds like a problem they have been aware of for a while now?

 

[Linda Swanwick]

A similiar thing happened to me with Qantas appox 18 months ago. I called and ask to change a reward booking, was told the only charge was the 5000 points. I asked 3 or 4 times, there was no extra charge i was told. So i went ahead and changed it. A few days later after not getting the required changed documents I called again and was told that I hadnt "paid" the extra taxes etc and the booking wasnt "ticketed" until i did so. I went backwards and forwards with this consultant from somewhere in Asia until i just flat out insisted they put me through to Hobart or Auckland office to a supervisor. It took a few hours but i got onto a supervisor who i insisted they listen to the calls, and as i had called from my mobile, i took screenshots of the call dates and times and length of calls and forwarded to this supervisor. Whilst on the call to her, i had her email a reply to me , so i had a legitimate contact detail in writing. I wouldnt hang up until she sent me an email. Over the next 2-3 days she was great, she rang me a few times to say she was investigating the call etc. Finally she called and confirmed I had been given the incorrect information, and through no fault of my own, Qantas would uphold what i was told. It did take her some wrangling it making it happen, but true to her word, about a week later I got my changed reward booking ticketed, and as a goodwill gesture, she refunded me the change fee of 5000 points each due to all the problems i had. I have had multiple issues with Qantas, but if you stay firm, and dont take NO for an answer and get through to the local office you will get better assistance

 

[SOPOOR]

A similiar thing happened to me with Qantas appox 18 months ago. I called and ask to change a reward booking, was told the only charge was the 5000 points. I asked 3 or 4 times, there was no extra charge i was told. So i went ahead and changed it. A few days later after not getting the required changed documents I called again and was told that I hadnt "paid" the extra taxes etc and the booking wasnt "ticketed" until i did so. I went backwards and forwards with this consultant from somewhere in Asia until i just flat out insisted they put me through to Hobart or Auckland office to a supervisor. It took a few hours but i got onto a supervisor who i insisted they listen to the calls, and as i had called from my mobile, i took screenshots of the call dates and times and length of calls and forwarded to this supervisor. Whilst on the call to her, i had her email a reply to me , so i had a legitimate contact detail in writing. I wouldnt hang up until she sent me an email. Over the next 2-3 days she was great, she rang me a few times to say she was investigating the call etc. Finally she called and confirmed I had been given the incorrect information, and through no fault of my own, Qantas would uphold what i was told. It did take her some wrangling it making it happen, but true to her word, about a week later I got my changed reward booking ticketed, and as a goodwill gesture, she refunded me the change fee of 5000 points each due to all the problems i had. I have had multiple issues with Qantas, but if you stay firm, and dont take NO for an answer and get through to the local office you will get better assistance

I cannot fathom what this world has come to that when a company makes a mistake like that, its a clear mistake, with no doubt and plenty of evidence, that them rectifying their mistake is seen or labelled as a "gesture of good will"

so if I go to a restaurant and clearly order a medium rare steak and I get a fish of the day, if the staff said as a gesture of good will they will get me a steak, I would walk out without paying the bill