Jetstar Asia delayed refund for 6 months
Today is a special complain submitted by one of my blog reader 
I hope this letter written by him can help others in making decisions or give them the heads up before committing in any purchase or contract with any company…
Here’s the letter as promise.
I wish to relate the experience I encountered regarding a canceled trip to Bangkok with Jetstar Asia budget airline operator which was voted the best low cost airline company in 2006.
The trip to Bangkok was booked on 13th November 2008 for a morning flight at 7.15am on 16th December 2008. On 10th December 2008 ( less than a week before the trip is to take place ), an email was sent announcing that the flight has been canceled & rescheduled to a time slot at 7.10pm on the same day probably due to low passenger traffic due to widespread protest in Bangkok.
This timing is totally unsuitable & thus I asked for the booking to be canceled. It was at that time I was informed that the refund process would take 12 weeks though the deduction of the fees were done at ‘light speed’.
It may well be the have way more people in Accounts Receivable than they have for Accounts Payable. Although I find this very unacceptable, I decided that it may be part of the company policy & therefore did not kick up a fuss. Left without much options, I had to book a flight with another flight operator at a much higher cost as the scheduled date was very near.
On top of that, I also have to bear the refund differences as a portion of it goes to Visa even though I wasn’t the one who initiated the change. After patiently ( though not necessarily happily ) waiting for almost 12 weeks ( 3 days short ), I call my bank only to be informed that there was no refund.
I called up Jetstar only to be told that they have not processed the repayment & the customer service told me that the duration of 12 weeks is not due.
Again, left without any choices, I had to wait for another few more days rather unwillingly. What is a few more day compared to nearly 12 weeks of waiting. On 12th March 2009, I called up my bank again & was told there is no refund made yet & I called Jetstar once again. After waiting for eons, the customer service finally attended to me.
I made known my motive & without checking for details I was told that it took 12 weeks for any refund to be made.
I immediately highlighted that it was past 12 weeks & that is why I am asking. I was put on hold for eons again & this time round, they increase the period needed to do a refund to 6 months ( 180 days ).
This was never ever mentioned before by any staff of Jetstar Asia & only after they went past the 12 weeks dateline was I informed of such long period of time needed to do a simple refund. I made known my unhappiness & wanted to know why it took such unacceptable timespan to do a simple refund.
All I got was that it is part of the company’s policy & nothing could be done. All I got was a verbal ‘promise’ than it wouldn’t go past the 6 months period.
I would like to hear from Jetstar Asia why must they take a minimum period of 12 weeks to a maximum ( god knows if it is really the max ) of 6 months to do a simple refund. Is it really so difficult to process such repayments while the collection of payment is done at ‘lightning speed’?
Why are the passengers also made to bear the differences on the refund fees when it was Jetstar that made the rescheduling?
When the passenger made changes, they bear the differences & when the airline made changes, the passengers bear it too.
This is a good management strategy & I am sure there is a logical explanation here as well. Perhaps Jetstar should made known their reasoning.
-
Simon Tay
-
MingweiShen
-
Fabi1119
-
Anonymous
-
Howard
-
Howard