Intra
Member
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2010
- Posts
- 428
First off, this if part discussion/part rant - Take it as you may - But I wondered anyway if anyone else has any great/terrible experiences using there credit card when calling up airline call center's? And what a general rule of thumb should be...
WARNING: Prepare for abit of a read with this one.. (Although it shouldn't be TOO bad if you've read long TRs in the past like I have)
My recent experience: I booked afew weeks back AKL-WLG return for early July on AirNZ, cheap fares, but in the week just gone by wanted to give myself abit more time to get back up to Auckland from Hamilton after what I expect to a late night before I leave (Only actually just realized I could of booked HLZ-WLG one-way then WLG-AKL to catch my connecting to BNE, but probably work out cheaper to bus it to AKL anyway - I don't mind the extra travel time with friends/time to catch up on stuff with my iPad), so I looked into changing the departing flight. Couldn't do it online I learnt as I rang up the call center and was told online changes can't be made because I booked in AUD, but they were happy to waiver the service booking fee. I told them I'd call them back then once I figured out what flight I wanted to change to.
Hour or so later I call back and have decided a flight 3 hours later, upgrade my ticket to FlexiPlus fare (I liked the sound of it actually once the lady told me how it worked), and gave my credit card number so she should process the fare difference + change fee. She must of been writing it down before she repeated it back to me (Two Red Flags go up in my mind there - When I did call center work for a large corporation, we weren't allowed to write or repeat the credit card number), before going ahead and processing it to confirm it all... It went truly downhill from there...
Unsure if it was because it was late at night somewhat (9pm I think it was Brisbane time) or just out of the blue, but while the transaction wasn't rejected, the lady didn't get the approval message needed on her end of the system to have the new booking confirmed. Bank system communication drop-outs or something.... Went to go check my credit card transactions through my end, and I could see the money had been taken off my available funds and sitting in pending for AirNZ to collect, but the lady couldn't finalize my booking - To do so she would need to get the Approval message on her side of the system before she is able to send out my new eTicket/Itinerary. So she asks if she could try again, both of us knowing I would be in essence at this point my credit card will be double charged. She checks with her colleagues and finds out a) No one else is having problems and b) There isn't any other way to go about fixing this now. She offers to hold the ticket at the price currently til the funds are released back into my bank account in 3 business days (Up to 5) - I just want to get this over and done with, I wasn't ready to have this all in limbo for the rest of the week and bothering me: But with a credit card having just been paid off and now plunging it right back over the half-way point of its limit (I only have a $500 limit with CBA, works in my favor with my contract work right now and simply wanting the award points) I was abit hesitant at first but agreed to go ahead and try a 2nd time to process the charge and have a new itinerary set.
Success the 2nd time around (Or as I found later, the 5th time). Charge on my account seen, new tickets emailed, call ended with many apologizes and all was well... For now...
In the spur of the moment shortly after, having just spent $xx_ more for my short flight to WLG, I decided to go online and fork out another $5 for Exit Row, 12A, on the 737 (Just because I could!) - Of course, that failed to be confirmed to as I did it online, and the screen told me to call the contact center, apologizes for inconvenience, blah blah blah.... In light of the most recent experience afew moment, I also checked my online banking while I got on the phone to CBA to explain what was going on with two of the exactly same amounts being charged to my card from AirNZ in the space of afew minutes in case they picked up on it and put a block on my card (The last thing I want while in Bundaberg for work, using it to buy Lunch/Dinner/other stuff ect.)
To my horror and total confusion, I discovered not only had the $5 been charged to my card (No surprise actually) but that another $xx_ had been taken off my card from AirNZ, only $10 or so lower than the two other amounts. As I got talking to a CC Specialist with the CBA, them then seeing me the Bank having automatically declined 3 of 5 attempts in the initial credit card charges because the transactions were too close to each other (I knew the lady had tried afew times in succession before) I tried to figure out what was going on, and had then put on a temp. block on my account for me before AirNZ charged me again, me at this point having NO CLUE why I'd been charged for a 3rd time. Block on my account, I got back onto the phone with AizNZ to see what in world is going on...
Before I had gotten off the phone with the lady that processed by change of booking/charged my card twice, I'd asked her to send me an email re: What had all happened with this booking/how my card got charged twice ect. (Just so I'd have a paper trail to follow if things get worse and they turn things back on me) and then also show a fare breakdown of how my flights were charged (On the receipts AirNZ sends, it only shows the amount as one whole number for the fare/taxes/fess ect. rather than two total separate amounts for both flights I'd booked under the one ticket, just so I could see how everything had panned out, and how much I had paid for my return flight (Which even before all this blew up, was going to leave alone). I kinda regretted that last request once I found out why... As the lady was doing the calculations, she discovered that the very first AirNZ lady I had spoken to that evening re: This booking and changing it (The one that had the service fee waived) had noted in her notes the incorrect change fee by AU$9 by which she (The lady who processed the change of booking for me) thus non issued my ticket and re-issued and re-charged my card the correct amount WITHOUT TELLING/ASKING ME PRIOR, NOT EVEN ATTEMPTING TO CALL ME!?! If she remembered our phone conversation, she would have remembered my hesitance with just going through charging my CC for the 2nd time to (try) and confirm the new ticket.... At this point I couldn't faddom her logic in just going ahead to charge my CC again, most likely with the CC details she had written down right from the very start (Remember those red flags I had raised in my head.. Hmmm, I knew they would come back to bite), besides just wanting to make things right, right-then-and-there! Without though atleast trying to contact me... GAH!
ANYWAY, The lady that I was speaking to now from AirNZ kept apologizing and suggested that I could, if I got the details from my bank, have AizNZ send a fax right then and there to CBA to have the funds released back onto my card immediately, rather than wait 3 to 5 business days (The first $xx_ * 2 charges), which I personally couldn't live with given the circumstances I was in (Actually, it was the CBA that suggested the faxing of documents from AirNZ to get things fixed up now, they confirmed it could be done though) I had the CBA General Fax Number & the CC Specialist Name before I got off the phone with CBA after having the Card Blocked for the Fax, but this AirNZ lady I was currently speaking with wanted me to call the CBA back for Authority numbers for the transactions in question, just to make sure they had all the right details/the transactions lined up on the banks and AirNZs side ect. ect. So back onto CBA I went, getting the authority numbers, back onto AirNZ: This time having the lady say the authority numbers weren't needed, and she could have the faxes done up by someone and sent off within the next few minutes. At this point I was downright furious on the inside on top of being extremely tired and worn out by all this - I didn't show it too much though, keeping my cool throughout it all, just really showing my tone of voice that I wasn't impressed as all by all this...to the AirNZ staff anyway, the CBA staff I was abit more upbeat with and they seemed to sympathize with me better than the AirNZ staff did when I briefly explained the situation/they saw the case notes from previous staff I'd already spoken with - They must of seen where I was coming from..
Got off the phone with AirNZ once the latest consultant told me she had sent the fax; CBA told me given the time of the night, someone might not pick up the fax straight away (30~ minutes), but once it had been processed, it would be in my account straight away. By this point I had basically been focused on this entire mess for 2 hours, now nearing 12:30am in the morning... Stressed, tired, and the flu truly catching up with me, I didn't wait up to see how long it would take before CBA received and processed the fax... I'm glad I didn't....
Woke up in the morning for work around 7am, logged onto online banking; Lo and behold and to no surprise at all to me, the funds were still being held by the CBA. Spent another 1/2 on the phone with AirNZ before I went to work to get a 2nd fax sent off with all the details plus then see what was going on with my seating allocation, which hadn't been processed onto my ticket either over the last 6 or so hours, she was going to investigate, wanted me to send screens of the error message I got (Which I took) and of the $5 funds sitting also as pending on my account. Confirmed 2nd fax had been sent off before I got off the phone.... Worked for an hour or so and kept checking my online banking on my phone to see if the funds were to be released; Nothing! Called CBA at 9:30, they hadn't received any fax, but the CBA Consultant gave me her direct fax line to have it sent directly to her for processing. Back onto AirNZ for another 20 minutes to have a 3rd fax sent and confirmed that was away before I hanged up again.... Gave it another 15 or so minutes before I checked online banking; Still in hold!? Called CBA, had the consultant I got ahold of directly speak with the consultant I had spoken to before that had given me her direct fax line - As I was on hold, she (The consultant that was to receive the fax directly) had finally received it and processed it, funds back on my card as they told me when I checked online banking after hanging up with CBA on that occasion (Atleast more funds on my card and the two transactions gone from pending)... Then called the CBA back twice soon after (Once to actually have the bank remove the temp block I had set on my card hours before and then to double check my available balance and what was right after I realized the available balance that was showing and what should be there wasn't right - Given all that happened, I wasn't surprised by this system delay) As the bank said it would, it fixed itself up by CoB. And all was (finally) well again... My flight AKL-WLG now 3 hours later, on a FlexiPlus fare, with exit row seating allocation, the bank balances correct across the board....!?
All that for a one hour flight >_< Me thinks I could of just forfeited the fare, got another cheap seat and just found more joy in collecting the CBA Award Points to help me draw closer for my next Velocity points transfer... ugh!!
Afew final points:
My brain has finally turned to mush... Thoughts? I might proof read, add/remove details ect. in the coming days before I fly. Hope someone gets something out of this... even if it just me feeling better because I got it off my chest in full to a bunch of people that would truly understand where I'm coming from!
WARNING: Prepare for abit of a read with this one.. (Although it shouldn't be TOO bad if you've read long TRs in the past like I have)
My recent experience: I booked afew weeks back AKL-WLG return for early July on AirNZ, cheap fares, but in the week just gone by wanted to give myself abit more time to get back up to Auckland from Hamilton after what I expect to a late night before I leave (Only actually just realized I could of booked HLZ-WLG one-way then WLG-AKL to catch my connecting to BNE, but probably work out cheaper to bus it to AKL anyway - I don't mind the extra travel time with friends/time to catch up on stuff with my iPad), so I looked into changing the departing flight. Couldn't do it online I learnt as I rang up the call center and was told online changes can't be made because I booked in AUD, but they were happy to waiver the service booking fee. I told them I'd call them back then once I figured out what flight I wanted to change to.
Hour or so later I call back and have decided a flight 3 hours later, upgrade my ticket to FlexiPlus fare (I liked the sound of it actually once the lady told me how it worked), and gave my credit card number so she should process the fare difference + change fee. She must of been writing it down before she repeated it back to me (Two Red Flags go up in my mind there - When I did call center work for a large corporation, we weren't allowed to write or repeat the credit card number), before going ahead and processing it to confirm it all... It went truly downhill from there...
Unsure if it was because it was late at night somewhat (9pm I think it was Brisbane time) or just out of the blue, but while the transaction wasn't rejected, the lady didn't get the approval message needed on her end of the system to have the new booking confirmed. Bank system communication drop-outs or something.... Went to go check my credit card transactions through my end, and I could see the money had been taken off my available funds and sitting in pending for AirNZ to collect, but the lady couldn't finalize my booking - To do so she would need to get the Approval message on her side of the system before she is able to send out my new eTicket/Itinerary. So she asks if she could try again, both of us knowing I would be in essence at this point my credit card will be double charged. She checks with her colleagues and finds out a) No one else is having problems and b) There isn't any other way to go about fixing this now. She offers to hold the ticket at the price currently til the funds are released back into my bank account in 3 business days (Up to 5) - I just want to get this over and done with, I wasn't ready to have this all in limbo for the rest of the week and bothering me: But with a credit card having just been paid off and now plunging it right back over the half-way point of its limit (I only have a $500 limit with CBA, works in my favor with my contract work right now and simply wanting the award points) I was abit hesitant at first but agreed to go ahead and try a 2nd time to process the charge and have a new itinerary set.
Success the 2nd time around (Or as I found later, the 5th time). Charge on my account seen, new tickets emailed, call ended with many apologizes and all was well... For now...
In the spur of the moment shortly after, having just spent $xx_ more for my short flight to WLG, I decided to go online and fork out another $5 for Exit Row, 12A, on the 737 (Just because I could!) - Of course, that failed to be confirmed to as I did it online, and the screen told me to call the contact center, apologizes for inconvenience, blah blah blah.... In light of the most recent experience afew moment, I also checked my online banking while I got on the phone to CBA to explain what was going on with two of the exactly same amounts being charged to my card from AirNZ in the space of afew minutes in case they picked up on it and put a block on my card (The last thing I want while in Bundaberg for work, using it to buy Lunch/Dinner/other stuff ect.)
To my horror and total confusion, I discovered not only had the $5 been charged to my card (No surprise actually) but that another $xx_ had been taken off my card from AirNZ, only $10 or so lower than the two other amounts. As I got talking to a CC Specialist with the CBA, them then seeing me the Bank having automatically declined 3 of 5 attempts in the initial credit card charges because the transactions were too close to each other (I knew the lady had tried afew times in succession before) I tried to figure out what was going on, and had then put on a temp. block on my account for me before AirNZ charged me again, me at this point having NO CLUE why I'd been charged for a 3rd time. Block on my account, I got back onto the phone with AizNZ to see what in world is going on...
Before I had gotten off the phone with the lady that processed by change of booking/charged my card twice, I'd asked her to send me an email re: What had all happened with this booking/how my card got charged twice ect. (Just so I'd have a paper trail to follow if things get worse and they turn things back on me) and then also show a fare breakdown of how my flights were charged (On the receipts AirNZ sends, it only shows the amount as one whole number for the fare/taxes/fess ect. rather than two total separate amounts for both flights I'd booked under the one ticket, just so I could see how everything had panned out, and how much I had paid for my return flight (Which even before all this blew up, was going to leave alone). I kinda regretted that last request once I found out why... As the lady was doing the calculations, she discovered that the very first AirNZ lady I had spoken to that evening re: This booking and changing it (The one that had the service fee waived) had noted in her notes the incorrect change fee by AU$9 by which she (The lady who processed the change of booking for me) thus non issued my ticket and re-issued and re-charged my card the correct amount WITHOUT TELLING/ASKING ME PRIOR, NOT EVEN ATTEMPTING TO CALL ME!?! If she remembered our phone conversation, she would have remembered my hesitance with just going through charging my CC for the 2nd time to (try) and confirm the new ticket.... At this point I couldn't faddom her logic in just going ahead to charge my CC again, most likely with the CC details she had written down right from the very start (Remember those red flags I had raised in my head.. Hmmm, I knew they would come back to bite), besides just wanting to make things right, right-then-and-there! Without though atleast trying to contact me... GAH!
ANYWAY, The lady that I was speaking to now from AirNZ kept apologizing and suggested that I could, if I got the details from my bank, have AizNZ send a fax right then and there to CBA to have the funds released back onto my card immediately, rather than wait 3 to 5 business days (The first $xx_ * 2 charges), which I personally couldn't live with given the circumstances I was in (Actually, it was the CBA that suggested the faxing of documents from AirNZ to get things fixed up now, they confirmed it could be done though) I had the CBA General Fax Number & the CC Specialist Name before I got off the phone with CBA after having the Card Blocked for the Fax, but this AirNZ lady I was currently speaking with wanted me to call the CBA back for Authority numbers for the transactions in question, just to make sure they had all the right details/the transactions lined up on the banks and AirNZs side ect. ect. So back onto CBA I went, getting the authority numbers, back onto AirNZ: This time having the lady say the authority numbers weren't needed, and she could have the faxes done up by someone and sent off within the next few minutes. At this point I was downright furious on the inside on top of being extremely tired and worn out by all this - I didn't show it too much though, keeping my cool throughout it all, just really showing my tone of voice that I wasn't impressed as all by all this...to the AirNZ staff anyway, the CBA staff I was abit more upbeat with and they seemed to sympathize with me better than the AirNZ staff did when I briefly explained the situation/they saw the case notes from previous staff I'd already spoken with - They must of seen where I was coming from..
Got off the phone with AirNZ once the latest consultant told me she had sent the fax; CBA told me given the time of the night, someone might not pick up the fax straight away (30~ minutes), but once it had been processed, it would be in my account straight away. By this point I had basically been focused on this entire mess for 2 hours, now nearing 12:30am in the morning... Stressed, tired, and the flu truly catching up with me, I didn't wait up to see how long it would take before CBA received and processed the fax... I'm glad I didn't....
Woke up in the morning for work around 7am, logged onto online banking; Lo and behold and to no surprise at all to me, the funds were still being held by the CBA. Spent another 1/2 on the phone with AirNZ before I went to work to get a 2nd fax sent off with all the details plus then see what was going on with my seating allocation, which hadn't been processed onto my ticket either over the last 6 or so hours, she was going to investigate, wanted me to send screens of the error message I got (Which I took) and of the $5 funds sitting also as pending on my account. Confirmed 2nd fax had been sent off before I got off the phone.... Worked for an hour or so and kept checking my online banking on my phone to see if the funds were to be released; Nothing! Called CBA at 9:30, they hadn't received any fax, but the CBA Consultant gave me her direct fax line to have it sent directly to her for processing. Back onto AirNZ for another 20 minutes to have a 3rd fax sent and confirmed that was away before I hanged up again.... Gave it another 15 or so minutes before I checked online banking; Still in hold!? Called CBA, had the consultant I got ahold of directly speak with the consultant I had spoken to before that had given me her direct fax line - As I was on hold, she (The consultant that was to receive the fax directly) had finally received it and processed it, funds back on my card as they told me when I checked online banking after hanging up with CBA on that occasion (Atleast more funds on my card and the two transactions gone from pending)... Then called the CBA back twice soon after (Once to actually have the bank remove the temp block I had set on my card hours before and then to double check my available balance and what was right after I realized the available balance that was showing and what should be there wasn't right - Given all that happened, I wasn't surprised by this system delay) As the bank said it would, it fixed itself up by CoB. And all was (finally) well again... My flight AKL-WLG now 3 hours later, on a FlexiPlus fare, with exit row seating allocation, the bank balances correct across the board....!?
All that for a one hour flight >_< Me thinks I could of just forfeited the fare, got another cheap seat and just found more joy in collecting the CBA Award Points to help me draw closer for my next Velocity points transfer... ugh!!
Afew final points:
- Lessons learnt; Think and double think the ticketing needs (Saver/Flexi) for your flights on DOM Trips when on a short adventure over the ditch. When making flight changes, do it during normal business hours when all systems (Including Banking) should work correctly. MAKE SURE the consultant doesn't note down your CC down for whatever reason (I'm still scratching my head over AirNZ policy re: The use of Credit Cards & Call Centers)
- Still yet to write a formal complaint to AirNZ re: All this (Thought I'd first rant to the AFF and see what others thought/if something similar has happened to anyone). I don't expect compensation, although it would be a nice bonus after all this trouble. I'm only flying AirNZ cause its NZ DOM, I'm on VA metal BNE-AKL return. I atleast want this investigated and an explanation of some sorts as to why this all happenend... I'll report back when/if that happens
My brain has finally turned to mush... Thoughts? I might proof read, add/remove details ect. in the coming days before I fly. Hope someone gets something out of this... even if it just me feeling better because I got it off my chest in full to a bunch of people that would truly understand where I'm coming from!
