Virgin Australia auto-selecting insurance policy

[oliverd]

I was caught out changing a flight time on my mobile phone (which required an additional payment as flex fare had gone up in price). Only realised I had purchased the "optional" insurance when I was trying to work out why the payment screen showed $64 rather than $50 (and initially thought it was a hefty credit card surcharge). Not worth disputing for ~$10, but annoying.

 

[Jane-Doe]

I am surprised that the cooling off refund has not worked for others. It has always worked for me and as i understand it they are legally obliged to honour it.

I have been able to claim a refund....

It's an annoying booking page [tick yes for some, no for others - all I want is the flight]

 

[pauly7]

I have been able to claim a refund....

It's an annoying booking page [tick yes for some, no for others - all I want is the flight]

I've been able to get my money back from them as well - took 3 weeks though.

I know their website is a bit flaky but surely this is an easy fix for a little IT geek?

Pretty LCC of them.

 

[serfty]

...

I know their website is a bit flaky but surely this is an easy fix for a little IT geek?

...

I guess DJ hierarchy don't believe it's broken.

 

[oz_mark]

I was caught out changing a flight time on my mobile phone (which required an additional payment as flex fare had gone up in price). Only realised I had purchased the "optional" insurance when I was trying to work out why the payment screen showed $64 rather than $50 (and initially thought it was a hefty credit card surcharge). Not worth disputing for ~$10, but annoying.

In the ordinary course of events, you don't need to dispute it. You just claim a refund under the cooling off provisions of the policy.

Of course, if you don't get the refund, then you can dispute it.

 

[N860CR]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who's been caught out by this.

I will be taking it further as the total lack of support from DJ has really annoyed me with this.

Allianz are now on three ignored emails and are refusing to discuss the issue over the phone so it will have to be escalated to the ombudsman.

DJ are even worse. I've had nothing but pre-written and unhelpful responses from them, the last stating "as your enquiry relates to our website, it's been forwarded to the Virgin Australia website team who will respond within 10 days". Had someone bothered to use their brain and actually read my concerns, the issue would be quickly rectified!

While Virgin may have a good social media team (and in fairness, Qantas seem to as well), their standard resolution procedures appear to be totally useless (again, not to dissimilar to Qantas). This issue, along with another serious complaint that was ignored by DJ about 6 months ago, really have changed by otherwise favourable view of this changing airline. It's a shame, they've got so much good going for them, but seem to struggle a bit behind closed doors.

 

[Moopere]

Allianz are now on three ignored emails and are refusing to discuss the issue over the phone so it will have to be escalated to the ombudsman.

Certainly a valid route to take. A charge-back, if your bank thinks its got a chance of being successful, which I would have thought it would, will be a lot less pain and will still hand a spanking to both parties.

If the bank thinks your chances of being successful are slim then sure, there is regulatory machinery out there which will certainly help.

 

[N860CR]

I think the problem with the chargeback would be that the entire amount (flights + insurance) was debited from the card. I'm not sure if I can chargeback just a portion of the one transaction.

 

[Moopere]

I think the problem with the chargeback would be that the entire amount (flights + insurance) was debited from the card. I'm not sure if I can chargeback just a portion of the one transaction.

You can't, it needs to be the whole amount. But thats fine, you can pay for the delivered part of the contract separately after the chargeback for the incorrect invoicing is returned to you, minus your own fees for hours spent organising what should have been a pretty straightforward deal.

 

[oz_mark]

You can't, it needs to be the whole amount. But thats fine, you can pay for the delivered part of the contract separately after the chargeback for the incorrect invoicing is returned to you, minus your own fees for hours spent organising what should have been a pretty straightforward deal.

Is chargeback really the correct way of dealing with the issue? The transaction was agreed to, but perhaps you could argue a credit not applied chargeback.

If enough people complained through the FOS, then perhaps they would fix the system.

 

[Moopere]

Is chargeback really the correct way of dealing with the issue?

The correct way to deal with the issue is the way the OP has already followed in my opinion ... inform the supplier of services that due to the design of their website an error has occurred.

The transaction was agreed to, but perhaps you could argue a credit not applied chargeback.

If enough people complained through the FOS, then perhaps they would fix the system.

You may be right. I'm not against going through the official channels, it just takes ages and involves a lot of work for the complaining party.

Charge-backs shouldn't frighten people as much as they do. You are just rescinding an incorrect payment. One is then free, with money returned, to pay the supplier of services the correct amount. Chargebacks don't speak to the validity of a contract necessarily, just an incorrect payment. So long as your case is good in relation to your perception of the incorrect payment then all should be fine and its relatively easy to do and puts the onus back on the supplier to prove that the payment was correct.

I'm not frivolous with charge-backs, but they have worked for me in the past where the "machine" of a faceless corporation is stonewalling me.

 

[Mal]

Got caught by this too today. Hate rushing through the booking process...

Oh wells.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using AustFreqFly

 

[Mal]

I'm curious if anyone else would support this:

- Book every itinerary and "forget" to untick the Insurance button. Then immediately send off the email to get the policy cancelled. The policy must by law have a cooling off period, so they can't wriggle out of not refunding. Perhaps if the number of "Cooling off" emails received was greater than a certain number it would cause a rethink of the auto opt-in policy on the website.

Thoughts?

 

[N860CR]

Just an update to this one, Allianz finally responded and advised the refund was to be processed "within 14 days". It has since been done. There was no mention as to why all of my prior requests had gone ignored nor an answer to my complaint regarding the same.

Velocity Platinum was beyond useless. They answered all queries with pre-written emails that didn't answer the question and in the end said "as this involves Virgin, we have forwarded your concerns to them. They will respond within 21 days". I have heard nothing from Virgin and do not expect to given prior experiences.

All in all a very frustrating experience that should have been easily resolved. The response I have had from Velocity & Virgin regarding this issue and another I had last year has really changed my view on the company (and that seems to be a common theme of late!).

 

[blackcat20]

ack, just got caught out by this one. I remember reading this thread ages ago but I don't usually fly Virgin and forgot to look out for it. Fingers crossed that refund comes through.

 

[oliverd]

I'm curious if anyone else would support this:

- Book every itinerary and "forget" to untick the Insurance button. Then immediately send off the email to get the policy cancelled. The policy must by law have a cooling off period, so they can't wriggle out of not refunding. Perhaps if the number of "Cooling off" emails received was greater than a certain number it would cause a rethink of the auto opt-in policy on the website.

Thoughts?

+1. Especially if they don't bother to reverse the FF points, which I'm pretty sure was the case when I forgot to uncheck the box (especially hard to see on a mobile device) and immediately cancelled.

 

[Jama]

Sounds like most have been caught by this and had to go through the inconvenience of getting it refunded. Is this still going on with the new system ? I haven't done any bookings personally yet this year. I would have thought it illegal to default to opting you in. It is obvious this would be frequently missed and result in unwanted charges. (Attempting to catch those unaware would be fraudulent wouldn't it) Anyway I think we should all agree to report the matter to Fair Trading EVERY TIME we get caught out. Its a simple online form to do this and it would send a strong message.

 

[atreides]

I'm glad to know I'm not alone, I did the same thing yesterday afternoon. After yesterday's QF announcement I thought it was high time to book some flights with VA, but each of my three bookings have this insurance included.

It serves me right for not reading things properly! I just send an email asking for a refund, we shall see what happens...

 

[blackcat20]

Sounds like most have been caught by this and had to go through the inconvenience of getting it refunded. Is this still going on with the new system ?.

Yep, happened to me last night. First time flying Virgin in about 8 years (poor experience last time)...this isnt a great start!

 

[Jama]

https://www.cas.fairtrading.nsw.gov...ation/newComplaint.sjsp?complaintType=general This is the NSW online complaint form. The form asks if you have tried to resolve with the supplier. We have all complained but they haven't fixed the opt-in default so I think its covered.