How to retrieve money from Qantas

[Sham.raz]

Hi All

Firstly apologies for a delayed response. It's weekend and had lot of home duties.

Thanks everyone for your feedback so far. I haven't transferred any points. The only thing I could think of is transferring of 1 x digital Qantas pass to my sister more than 12 months ago. As I said, I have been asking Qantas about my wrongdoing but not getting response at all.

The points might not have monetary value for Qantas but I have spent tends of thousands of dollars to earn them. To me it's a corporate theft so seeking some advice on how to best approach this matter.

 

[TheInsider]

Lol it's not "corporate theft". There has to be a reason why they have banned the account. Have you actually asked or did you just start with the legal threats to QF? I'm thinking because you already know the real answer as to why it has been banned.
They just don't close accounts.
Otherwise are you talking about points being expired after 18 months?

A rational person doesn't go through to 'fair trading' or court, sending 'letters of demand' or whatever else straight away.

 

[BettyB]

The only thing I could think of is transferring of 1 x digital Qantas pass to my sister more than 12 months ago. A

From what I have read this would not cause your account to be shut down, but may lead to passes no longer being made available to you.

There's a reason why they have closed your account. And it's not transferring passes. Seems there's more to your story that you're not telling.

I think everyone would benefit if you explained the situation in more detail and responded to some of the questions that you have been asked. I think you'll find that people want to actually help you, but you aren't going about this in a way that facilitates a helpful reply. And this is probably why you've gotten the response from Qantas that you have so far.

And BTW, it's definitely not corporate theft! Being alarmist like this isn't going to help your cause. If you check the terms and conditions for Qantas, the points have no monetary value and they can pretty much do what they like with them. You agreed to this when you signed up to their program. If you really think they've engaged in theft then you should be speaking to the police, or at least a lawyer.

 

[Sham.raz]

Lol it's not "corporate theft". There has to be a reason why they have banned the account. Have you actually asked or did you just start with the legal threats to QF? I'm thinking because you already know the real answer as to why it has been banned.
They just don't close accounts.
Otherwise are you talking about points being expired after 18 months?

A rational person doesn't go through to 'fair trading' or court, sending 'letters of demand' or whatever else straight away.

I have clearly stated in my original post that I have been trying to seek answer for last 2 months and this is where I reached out to Fair Trading.

How do you know they don't close account just like that?

 

[dajop]

The points might not have monetary value for Qantas but I have spent tends of thousands of dollars to earn them. To me it's a corporate theft so seeking some advice on how to best approach this matter.

I suggest before going near any courts or small claims, the process is
1) lodge written complaint via website, if you haven’t already, requesting a response within certain number of days. Phone complaint is not enough. Avoid hyperbole language (such as corporate theft) and ask them to reinstate your account, or if they won’t at least provide an explanation why not. This is necessary for step 2
2) If outcome of 1) is unsatisfactory then escalate to Airline Customer Advocate.

You transferred upgrade voucher to your sister, has she been engaged in buying or selling points via ozbargain? When they do their investigations to these sorts of matters they cast a pretty wide net.

 

[Sham.raz]

From what I have read this would not cause your account to be shut down, but may lead to passes no longer being made available to you.

There's a reason why they have closed your account. And it's not transferring passes. Seems there's more to your story that you're not telling.

I think everyone would benefit if you explained the situation in more detail and responded to some of the questions that you have been asked. I think you'll find that people want to actually help you, but you aren't going about this in a way that facilitates a helpful reply. And this is probably why you've gotten the response from Qantas that you have so far.

And BTW, it's definitely not corporate theft! Being alarmist like this isn't going to help your cause. If you check the terms and conditions for Qantas, the points have no monetary value and they can pretty much do what they like with them. You agreed to this when you signed up to their program. If you really think they've engaged in theft then you should be speaking to the police, or at least a lawyer.

If you don't believe my reason, I am afraid I can't do anything special just to gain your trust. Sorry I was here to seek help not to get bashed and then try to justify the trust of my story.

Companies just can't do whatever as per their liking and this is where ACL kicks in. Based on your rationale, Qantas can suspend all accounts and then there is no reprecussions for them....

 

[Sham.raz]

I suggest before going near any courts or small claims, the process is
1) lodge written complaint via website, if you haven’t already, requesting a response within certain number of days. Phone complaint is not enough. Avoid hyperbole language (such as corporate theft) and ask them to reinstate your account, or if they won’t at least provide an explanation why not. This is necessary for step 2
2) If outcome of 1) is unsatisfactory then escalate to Airline Customer Advocate.

You transferred upgrade voucher to your sister, has she been engaged in buying or selling points via ozbargain? When they do their investigations to these sorts of matters they cast a pretty wide net.

I will ask her but I am highly doubted she has been selling points. She doesn't live in Australia and has no idea about Ozbargain.

 

[Sham.raz]

Would this imply over $100K in spend to get over 200K in points? That would take a lot of dedication to collecting points and be a person with some interest in the QFF Program. I sense we were not given all the facts. And the OP has disappeared...

Points have been earned over few years via Amex card. My partner and parents are additional card holders so it increased earning time..

 

[Sham.raz]

There's no money in it. There's points, and those points are entirely useless if you are no longer entitled to participate in the program.

With your reasoning, they can close anyone's and they don't need to provide any justification. I have limited knowledge of Australian Consumer Law but I don't think this is what companies can do.

 

[BettyB]

With your reasoning, they can close anyone's and they don't need to provide any justification. I have limited knowledge of Australian Consumer Law but I don't think this is what companies can do.

You entered into a contract! As no one forced you to enter into the contract youre bound by the terms and conditions of the contract unless they are illegal. But go and waste some money on a lawyer to be told exactly the same thing!

 

[Preemo]

Points have been earned over few years via Amex card. My partner and parents are additional card holders so it increased earning time..

Makes sense.

Are you still in good standing with Amex?

 

[Hvr]

I'm glad you've returned with a logical explanation as to why you couldn't post for a short while.

Regarding your account, just what has Qantas told you about it?

Have they told it's been suspended for review? Or have they given you a definitive reason as to why you can't access it?

As others have written, contact them in writing in simple non-emotive language asking for their assistance in accessing your account. If they decline ask them why. No threats, abuse or anything. Just the basic request to access your account.

Then give them time to respond and follow up from there. Polite and simple will get a response.

Good luck.

 

[p--and--t]

Sham.raz

What I find perplexing without additional information is why you think your account has been suspended.

Did you receive an email from Qantas saying the account was suspended. What did the email say.

If you didn't get an email from Qantas, how do you know your account is suspended. When you try to log-in, what response/message do you get. Is it that the account is frozen because too many attempts have been made to access the account with the wrong pin?

It would be highly unusual for QF to suspend your account for no reason, and even more unusual for there have to been no notification or error message presented.

Have you tried ringing the QFF helpline and simply asking outright "why cannot I access my account"

(Edit: I few years ago I was frozen out of my account, made one phone call where they reset the pin and all was ok.)

 

[Sham.raz]

Makes sense.

Are you still in good standing with Amex?

Yes no issues with Amex. Will change card over to velocity if this issue is not resolved.

 

[Sham.raz]

Sham.raz

What I find perplexing without additional information is why you think your account has been suspended.

Did you receive an email from Qantas saying the account was suspended. What did the email say.

If you didn't get an email from Qantas, how do you know your account is suspended. When you try to log-in, what response/message do you get. Is it that the account is frozen because too many attempts have been made to access the account with the wrong pin?

It would be highly unusual for QF to suspend your account for no reason, and even more unusual for there have to been no notification or error message presented.

Have you tried ringing the QFF helpline and simply asking outright "why cannot I access my account"

(Edit: I few years ago I was frozen out of my account, made one phone call where they reset the pin and all was ok.)

When I try to login via website, it says you cannot access this account and contact Customer Service. When I rang them initially back in July, they stated the account was suspended but they had no idea why and promised to get back to me. They never responded.

I rang them few times again but they kept on saying they had no idea but will get back when they know. More than 8 emails were sent but never received a response.

 

[Sham.raz]

I'm glad you've returned with a logical explanation as to why you couldn't post for a short while.

Regarding your account, just what has Qantas told you about it?

Have they told it's been suspended for review? Or have they given you a definitive reason as to why you can't access it?

As others have written, contact them in writing in simple non-emotive language asking for their assistance in accessing your account. If they decline ask them why. No threats, abuse or anything. Just the basic request to access your account.

Then give them time to respond and follow up from there. Polite and simple will get a response.

Good luck.

Thank you but I also want to know alternative course of action as they are not responding.

Th

 

[Sham.raz]

You entered into a contract! As no one forced you to enter into the contract youre bound by the terms and conditions of the contract unless they are illegal. But go and waste some money on a lawyer to be told exactly the same thing!

Entering into contract doesn't mean the company can do whatever they want to suit their needs. Harvey Norman used to have no refund policy stickers at checkout just a while back and ACCC came hard on them so I don't agree with your logic here.

 

[cambriamarsh]

You

When I try to login via website, it says you cannot access this account and contact Customer Service. When I rang them initially back in July, they stated the account was suspended but they had no idea why and promised to get back to me. They never responded.

I rang them few times again but they kept on saying they had no idea but will get back when they know. More than 8 emails were sent but never received a response.

You could try another call, if the call centre can't see why you have the problem then request an escalation.

If that doesn't work you should lodge a query via the online contact centre. Take a screen shot before pushing send and ensure you get an email acknowledgement. That at least will start a paper trail you can use to show reasonable efforts have been made. Good luck!

 

[Sham.raz]

You

You could try another call, if the call centre can't see why you have the problem then request an escalation.

If that doesn't work you should lodge a query via the online contact centre. Take a screen shot before pushing send and ensure you get an email acknowledgement. That at least will start a paper trail you can use to show reasonable efforts have been made. Good luck!

Will do tomorrow once more. Screenshot of login page is also attached

 

[DC3]

The email address is [email protected]. Would that be the one that you are using to contact QF?