Qantas Award Credit Card Refund Advice Warning

[neon_crossing]

Hey guys.

Just wanted to give you a heads up in case anyone was looking to refund an existing award booking.
As we all know Qantas will do it with a 5,000 points fee per booking and will refund all of your taxes.

However for those credit card hoppers like myself, be careful because Qantas will ONLY refund the funds to THAT card. Not in any other format. So if your card is cancelled you may stuck as I am at the current time.

The bank has said they are unable to accept the money as I am no longer a customer and the card has been cancelled over 60 days ago. Qantas has said that they have sent the money off and it is no longer their problem, even though I explicitly advised them not to do so as I had been informed by the bank that the payment wouldn't be accepted.

Just keep this in mind if you are booking an award you may cancel, try to do it on a card you are going to keep in the long term to avoid a HUGE hassle.

Also what flag carrying major airline consistently has 1hr+ hold times during business hours? Poor form.

 

[madrooster]

The alternate procedure is a stat dec stating that the card has been closed and that the refund should be directed to card number. There is a specific email address to send the stat dec to, but that email address escapes me.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Hey guys.

Just wanted to give you a heads up in case anyone was looking to refund an existing award booking.
As we all know Qantas will do it with a 5,000 points fee per booking and will refund all of your taxes.

However for those credit card hoppers like myself, be careful because Qantas will ONLY refund the funds to THAT card. Not in any other format. So if your card is cancelled you may stuck as I am at the current time.

The bank has said they are unable to accept the money as I am no longer a customer and the card has been cancelled over 60 days ago. Qantas has said that they have sent the money off and it is no longer their problem, even though I explicitly advised them not to do so as I had been informed by the bank that the payment wouldn't be accepted.

Just keep this in mind if you are booking an award you may cancel, try to do it on a card you are going to keep in the long term to avoid a HUGE hassle.

Also what flag carrying major airline consistently has 1hr+ hold times during business hours? Poor form.

If Qantas reversed the payment to your old card, and the bank legit closed the card - it would have failed and they would have acknowledgement as such.
If Qantas reversed the payment and there's no errors - the bank rep could be giving you poor advice.

I agree it sounds like a difficult situation but it's set up this way as a fraud mitigation strategy and also has less associated costs for QF for refunds.

Please keep us up to date with how you get on... I'm interested too!

 

[serfty]

If Qantas reversed the payment to your old card, and the bank legit closed the card - it would have failed and they would have acknowledgement as such.
If Qantas reversed the payment and there's no errors - the bank rep could be giving you poor advice. ...

i.e. Qantas still has the funds and it is them you need to deal with.

(cf.The QF agent was wrong - it is still Qantas ' problem.)

 

[Pushka]

When a similar situation happened to me - the credit card still existed but the original credit card used was past its expiry date and a new one had been issued so the practical effect is that the old card had been cancelled, Jetstar knew the funds had been rejected by the bank and had been returned to Jetstar.
(PS I did tell Jetstar about the new card being issued when I cancelled the flight but that bit got ignored)
(That situation must happen a lot)

In your case, Qantas has the money. Their job is not done and keep on to them to get it back.

 

[Pleb Status]

Which bank is the OP with?

The NAB took my QF refund even though the CC account was closed six months prior to the transaction (but still had a savings account with them but that did not seem to make a difference).

 

[medhead]

The alternate procedure is a stat dec stating that the card has been closed and that the refund should be directed to card number. There is a specific email address to send the stat dec to, but that email address escapes me.

Which is all well and good. But Qantas ignored the stat dec process when I did it for a cancelled card. Fortunately, the card had been cancelled due to fraud and the refund appeared on the replacement card account. That must have been via a bank process as technically the old card number no longer existed for me.

 

[neon_crossing]

But Qantas ignored the stat dec process when I did it for a cancelled card.

I had two identical refunds to process on different PNR, different point accounts and different cancelled cards (the other under Miss Neon Crossing) and they managed to process mine 'correctly' as part of the Stat Dec process (still havent seen the money on the new card) but refunded Miss NC to the old card anyway. The bank cannot confirm whether the money has been recieved or not as Miss NC is no longer a customer in any capacity and will need to visit a branch in person to find out. She cannot visit a branch between 9-5 weekdays and there is only one branch in our state (an hour drive away) that is open on a Saturday morning. I'll keep you posted what the result is. It all seems bloody ridiculous they cant just transfer the money or send a cheque.

*Note: The Stat dec process is NO LONGER allowed anyway, as of the 1st of July they will be processed back to the old card, regardless of circumstances, new 'policy'.

 

[JohnK]

The alternate procedure is a stat dec stating that the card has been closed and that the refund should be directed to card number. There is a specific email address to send the stat dec to, but that email address escapes me.

Another AFF'er had similar issue recently and after hours on the phone got it sorted with a statutory declaration.

The consultant was insisting the taxes and surcharges would be forfeited if not refunded to original credit card used to make booking. Oh my goodness. Original credit card cancelled months ago. Only when AFF'er insisted for supervisor did they eventually get resolution.

This rubbish is not customer service.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Surely it has to be illegal for them to just keep the money? If the credit card is closed I am sure the money will be returned by the bank, so can't see how they can hang onto it? Unless of course they have it in the terms and conditions.....