QANTAS: NO Customer service at all !

[Jack_OC]

I have had two recent experiences with QF cancellations:
1. A classic award booking for 3 people. Cancelled and got a refund of the correct number of points, but only 1/3 of the cash component. Had to phone multiple times before it was resolved - but it was eventually. This seems like a kind of similar situation to the OP - i.e. they did provide a refund, but for the wrong amount.

2. Last week I cancelled a cash fare (J to the US). Fare was ~$7,400 and cancellation fee is supposed to be $600, so I expect to get $6,800 back. Nothing yet, after 8 days .........

 

[PaulDQLD]

Seriously, don't wait more than 2 weeks. Call 1 more time to get it all, and if they stuff you around go straight to the www.airlinecustomeradvocate.com.au and complain. It will save you lots of stress and worry and calls.

 

[meanies]

So while on the phone to Qantas to again chase a refund, I came across this thread.

Cancelled a J class fare from KL to Sydney more than 6 weeks ago. Was told at the time that it would take 7 to 10 days. Called them again today and was told that I'll be put in the priority action queue and to check in a week. Exactly the same thing they said more than a week ago, when I last called!

Somewhat annoyed that they keep palming it off to the Malaysian office and saying it's out of their hands...

 

[Mattg]

Somewhat annoyed that they keep palming it off to the Malaysian office and saying it's out of their hands...

If the booking originated in Kuala Lumpur, then this is actually true. The Malaysian office is responsible for processing the refund.

Of course, that doesn't excuse the amount of time it's taking to process!

 

[PaulDQLD]

Go straight to the airlinecustomeradvocate.com.au and waste no more time or effort. Ultimately Ill be raising this in court and it will get national exposure and the CEO Mr Joyce will have to account for all the problems.

 

[agentgerko]

It is getting harder and harder to make any direct contact with airlines. In the past every carrier had a ticket office located in the city. Big ones like QF had branches in many major shopping centres. These are all gone. Now all most airlines have is a tiny office at the airport and even this they don't advertise a telephone number for. They also rarely give an email contact. All most airlines give is a call centre number, mostly staffed by poorly trained foreign workers with poor English. Airlines like Air Canada only give a tollfree number in Canada despite being an online carrier to Australia. It really is time the ACCC took a long hard look at airlines with their fees, their policies and their services. I know of many cases where they openly ignore Australian corporate laws, Australian tax laws and Australian consumer laws and have advised these to the ACCC but just get ignored.

 

[Feefs]

I also am waiting since 1 March for $5300 relating to cancelled flight from Helsinki to Canberra which i cancelled and was told would be refunded less 150 Euro fee. Still waiting. Very unpleasant call last week with the Platinum service centre where, because i had not kept my booking reference, I was pretty much called a liar about having the booking at all and told to talk to FinnAir - even though the credit card charge clearly showed that Qantas got the $$$. A much nicer call on Tuesday (as i had found an obscure email from FinnAIR welcoming me aboard and a reference to the booking number) that i made to the Platinum service centre where at least they could find my booking - but was informed that because the refund is coming out of Germany office it is very slow. Have been promised 7 days for the refund to show up on my card! Waiting to see!
Very disappointing in terms of having to make now up to my 5th call for a very routine refund where i had cancelled well in advance. And i am lucky that the $$$ is on the corporate card not my own.
Infuriating in terms of the service i received last week during a 56 minute call - i did put in a formal complaint about that online although i note the two days promised for them to call me hasn't occurred!

 

[meanies]

If the booking originated in Kuala Lumpur, then this is actually true. The Malaysian office is responsible for processing the refund.

Of course, that doesn't excuse the amount of time it's taking to process!

I do appreciate that but as I said to the agent on the phone, I went on qantas.com.au and booked a one way ticket from Malaysia to Australia. Yes, it got ticketed from there but as far as I'm concerned, I bought a ticket from Qantas.

I only cancelled because I stuffed up the currency conversions and spent more than I'd meant to. So when I called to ask, the guy said 7 to 10 days, which was great as it'd be back on my credit card before I needed to pay. Well, paid that card twice since then now!

 

[Bell21]

I haven't read all the details of this thread, but certainly agree that QANTAS' refund process is interesting --- I suspect as one of the other contributors said that it may partly be because they just have a poor IT system --- I cancelled a trip for myself and 2 other family members, and for some reason, we only received the cash refund for 2 of us, but not the third person?! Thankfully, I was alert to it when reviewing the credit card statement (the points were refunded quickly) - also, when I rang QANTAS, they rectified the error within a few days

 

[mannej]

Go straight to the airlinecustomeradvocate.com.au and waste no more time or effort. Ultimately Ill be raising this in court and it will get national exposure and the CEO Mr Joyce will have to account for all the problems.

National Exposure? Today Tonight?

 

[siri]

Im a QFF Platinum customer. Have been for about 20 years on and off. Recently I had to cancel my very first booking. The booking was made in 2017, a Business Class airfare to BKK from SYD for 2. That cost me about $5.5K About 4 months ago I change the return date to a week later arriving back to SYD in June this year. That cost me another $2.5 K cause the change fee and I was told the air fare had to go from a discounted fare to another fare. Ok so I've spent about $8K. I cancelled my booking 2.5 months out from the travel date. My refund was ...... wait for it.... $2.5 K. Seriously ! So I complained and got no response. Well Ill get that response I am entitled to very soon I hope. Im currently completing two sets of forms. One to take Qantas to court (the QCAT), as a retired/former Lawyer, I really have nothing better to than make Qantas understand their obligations under law. The other forms are to formally complain to the ACCC, who recently published an adverse report about Qantas and their doggy refunds. Its just a disgrace how they treat customers, so the benefits of being Platinum are just a mirage !

@ Paul,

Faster and immediate response is from Consumer Affairs and call them and tell them its a misleading ad and condition and they will fix it for you immediately...
I had a 4 yrs old Apple MacBook pro graphic card factory recall that I was not aware and apple told me to get lost and after CA complain it was fixed within a day..

 

[LadyC]

a few weeks ago a made a rewards booking spending 300k points plus $1300 in taxes. about 2 days after booking i realised i had a calendar clash and had to cancel the booking totally. Did so online and got the 300k points back by the end of the day. then a few days later half of the taxes were refunded to my amex. i thought that was strange and got on the chat function, the guy looked into it and said oh yeh we have only refunded half and i need to connect to ticketing to have them fix it up. about 20 minutes later he said ok all is approved now and you should get the 2nd half in 7 more days (and it did arrive). if I wasnt watching my credit card statement closely i assume i just would never have got the refund.

It was a good result for me but there is definitely something dodgy going on with their refund system.

I had a similar situation where I cancelled an award booking earlier this year and only got back 2/3 of the taxes paid. I followed up using the chat function and also had success (once the 14 day refund period had elapsed).

 

[astrosly]

Did you pay for the fare and fare changes with different payment methods or cards? A recent experience with cancelling a fare and getting the refund from Qantas was similar in that I had purchased a fare, changed it with extra payment and then cancelled it with the customer service agent quoting one figure but my refund value was $500 less. I called and they said they refunded the fare value as promised back to the original cards. Plural? - then the penny dropped. I went back over my records and found that my fare purchase and change payments were made with one card but I used a $500 voucher which I had bought many months before redemption with another card which I cancelled a year ago. Contacted the old bank and there was my $500 refund balance.

 

[Dannyism]

It would be good to get this picked up by the ACCC or in the mainstream press.

 

[PaulDQLD]

@ Paul,

Faster and immediate response is from Consumer Affairs and call them and tell them its a misleading ad and condition and they will fix it for you immediately...
I had a 4 yrs old Apple MacBook pro graphic card factory recall that I was not aware and apple told me to get lost and after CA complain it was fixed within a day..

Unfortunately the QLD Fair Trading dept are not as helpful. Past experience has demonstrated this.

 

[Ex-bugman]

Firstly, it sux but given Qantas are not playing ball, go the Advocate route BUT (and I'd have done this after 2-3 weeks) also enlist your credit card people and claim for services not rendered/supplied then your travel insurance, assuming it's a legit cancellation, let them fight it and send a summary to Qantas Marketing as a CC'd copy originally sent to Current Affair. That will engender a response. Be sure to ask for compensation, they have to pay above and beyond the original amount given the time etc,etc. and it includes interest!

 

[Jeoffster]

I've had the same problem, even though Qantas cancelled my flight; not me.
I was booked Melb to LA in January. Received text from Qantas notifying flight cancellation when I woke up on the day of departure; approx 6 hours notice. Frantic calls to Qantas Club to re-book. press a button for a call back. No call back. Call again on wife's phone in case call back comes through. Auto answer and wait, wait ............35 minutes until a person comes on. Flat out tells me she can't book me on another flight from Aus that day.
Fortunately, the wait time allowed me to check all their schedules and found one dep Sydney the same evening. All Melb / Syd flights are full, but I can get there via Canberra in time. She tells me, no, that's not showing on her system! Really? I'm looking at it on Webjet. Upshot is I get on the Sydney flight but have to spend an extra night in LA, plus lose my non-refundable internal connecting flight.
Contact customer service when I return for refund of additional costs. Have to send them proof of LA accommodation, original connecting flight ticket plus re-booked ticket. Did all that and received an acknowledgement. Wait. Nothing happens. Send follow up reminders. Wait longer. Nothing happens. They've just ignored it. I couldn't find anyone to speak to. It's like dealing with a third world company running a scam. Once they've got your money, you're done.
I've had them. They've driven themselves into 'Poor Airline' status with me. And this is from a long time Frequent Flyer and Lifetime Club member. I use Virgin internally now and whichever other most convenient airline internationally. Such a shame they've run a good airline into the ground through poor customer service.
This has prompted me to try again. I want my expenses covered.

 

[Pushka]

Unfortunately the QLD Fair Trading dept are not as helpful. Past experience has demonstrated this.

Must be Australia wide then. I’m not even sure why they exist.

 

[JohnK]

The half refund is a well known issue in Qantas. They know about it. Happened to me and many others on AFF. You have to call and from memory quite a few times.

Are they intentionally hoping people don't follow up? Not very nice even for a business.

 

[Pushka]

Are they intentionally hoping people don't follow up? Not very nice even for a business.

Well, that’s a possibility isn’t it. But that’s the effect. But I suspect it’s just lack of follow up or a will to do the follow up, with IT. If it meant a loss to Qantas and not the customer then it would be sorted.