Virgin Refund time

[Pushka]

We have waited the required 21 business days for a refund but still nothing. Today, they said being gold they would put an Urgent notice into the system. How long is the usual wait? Emirates refunded their fares in just over a week. Now that is impressive.

 

[notzac]

Charge it back. You've given them more than enough time to refund the money to you.

 

[BrentH]

Yeah, call your bank

We got double charged. Virgin call center was hopeless. Bank reversed it within 2 minutes on the phone.

 

[JohnPhelan]

I had an instance last year where it took about 6 weeks for the refund to arrive, and that only happened after two calls enquiring as to why nothing had appeared on my credit card statement. Virgin does seem very lax on this aspect, which is pretty poor.

 

[Pushka]

Ok. I call the bank Monday. It's pretty pathetic. They originally tried to give me vouchers until I pointed them to their website terms for my bookings.

We are looking at setting up a credit card system for our business. We found out that the banks hold back a % of Dollars of overall charges using the card to ensure the Banks can refund in situations like this.

 

[straitman]

Ok. I call the bank Monday. It's pretty pathetic. They originally tried to give me vouchers until I pointed them to their website terms for my bookings.

We are looking at setting up a credit card system for our business. We found out that the banks hold back a % of Dollars of overall charges using the card to ensure the Banks can refund in situations like this.

Sounds like another one to add to LW's list when discussing with VA.

 

[Pushka]

Sounds like another one to add to LW's list when discussing with VA.

Please do. I got the impression that unless you stood your ground they would simply send the voucher. There are no conditions printed on the ticket, they all refer back to the website. If you didn't have access to the website then you maybe less sure of your situation and they'd get away with their vouchers.

 

[eastwest101]

We have waited the required 21 business days for a refund but still nothing. Today, they said being gold they would put an Urgent notice into the system. How long is the usual wait? Emirates refunded their fares in just over a week. Now that is impressive.

Hi Pushka - not that it should really matters but was just wondering if this was for a CC refund for a refundable VA ticket that you cancelled? or was it for an erroneous/double charge to the CC when booking? Or something else? Just curious.

Will be happy to add it to "the laundry list" once I have just a few more details. Thanks.

 

[Pushka]

Hi there eastwest It was for a cancellation of a correctly booked flight so no 'errors' in the original transaction. The flight isn't until July and cancellation made in early Feb. the transaction is for about $1400.

Virgin even know the payout figure per ticket as they told me and they have records of my now three phone calls. They put in an urgent request to 'refunds' saying that one of the members was Gold. But really the refund should have been paid without the need to mention the status. It is now well past their '21 business days' to process and no sign of it. And the cc said no refunds can be seen in their system.

 

[eastwest101]

Hi there eastwest It was for a cancellation of a correctly booked flight so no 'errors' in the original transaction. The flight isn't until July and cancellation made in early Feb. the transaction is for about $1400.

Thanks for the info - was the original flight booking made before Jan 14th 2013? And then cancelled in Feb 2013? If so - I suspect this is why it went all "pear shaped" on you.

Virgin even know the payout figure per ticket as they told me and they have records of my now three phone calls. They put in an urgent request to 'refunds' saying that one of the members was Gold. But really the refund should have been paid without the need to mention the status. It is now well past their '21 business days' to process and no sign of it. And the cc said no refunds can be seen in their system.

Agree - unacceptable. I was actually surprised that the VA rep could see the exact amount to be refunded. Sounds like someone needs to light a fire underneath the "Refunds Dept" - although they have probably been swamped with refund requests due to the VA web site double charging some people when Sabre first went online.

 

[Pushka]

Yep. Booking made in 2012. Westpac will sort it out methinks. They with hold money from all transactions.

 

[italianlover]

Cancelled 2 rewards flights 2 weeks ago, they managed to bill me the $60 x 2 cancellation charge immediately, it appeared on my Amex credit card account next day! Still waiting on the refund for taxes I paid, $300 x2 !!! Sorry I know it hasn't been the 21 days yet, which was mentioned, but this is really poor service Virgin. You can bill me quickly enough but where is the money you owe me??? If it doesn't appear in 21 days I am going to be really cranky as I don't have the time to chase it up as I see others have had to do in the past. Maybe I should just call Amex today, any thoughts???

 

[Pushka]

My refund came back at around 40 days! I had contacted my credit card to organise a charge back, to which Virgin replied by letter to the effect that if I was making a spurious claim it would be noted! There was no reference to the fact that they had not adhered to their terms re cancellation.