Double Charging Issue since Sabre

[oz_mark]

When did Sabre go live? 14 weeks ago? Can anyone think of a logical reason that VA haven't been able to fix this yet?

No idea, but maybe the only way it will get resolved is for people to take it up another level.

 

[lovestotravel]

14 weeks and still not fixed is not acceptable!

 

[bcworld]

 

[lovestotravel]

Amateur hour continues at Virgin

 

[DeKa]

One thing which has come to the fore with this issue is just how many people pay for airfares using debit cards, so if Virgin double charges, they have no money.

I on purpose never ever give out my debit card numbers as if the card is compromised or something goes wrong (like this Virgin double charge issue) I don't want to end up with either no money or a cancelled debit card (and hence no access to money).

 

[Deleted member 29185]

One thing which has come to the fore with this issue is just how many people pay for airfares using debit cards, so if Virgin double charges, they have no money.

I on purpose never ever give out my debit card numbers as if the card is compromised or something goes wrong (like this Virgin double charge issue) I don't want to end up with either no money or a cancelled debit card (and hence no access to money).

You haven't considered people who live off their credit card and have no "money" of their own. Regardless of how people choose to live their own financial lives, multi-charging is wrong and there is no way I can imagine that VA can't fix this if they wanted to. I just think they don't want to (or at least not in any great hurry) simply because they don't have to. They're making profits and filling planes so why fix what ain't broke? (in their eyes)

BTW, I'm not an Etihad customer so I don't know, but are they having these same issues with the Sabre migration?

 

[bcworld]

You haven't considered people who live off their credit card and have no "money" of their own. Regardless of how people choose to live their own financial lives, multi-charging is wrong and there is no way I can imagine that VA can't fix this if they wanted to. I just think they don't want to (or at least not in any great hurry) simply because they don't have to. They're making profits and filling planes so why fix what ain't broke? (in their eyes)

BTW, I'm not an Etihad customer so I don't know, but are they having these same issues with the Sabre migration?

My feeling is that Virgin have decided to live with this issue until they are ready to release a batch of new functionality (possibly June at the earliest according to VFF). Don't think there will be a fix before then - pretty shocking.

 

[samh004]

One thing which has come to the fore with this issue is just how many people pay for airfares using debit cards, so if Virgin double charges, they have no money.

I on purpose never ever give out my debit card numbers as if the card is compromised or something goes wrong (like this Virgin double charge issue) I don't want to end up with either no money or a cancelled debit card (and hence no access to money).

Despite having enough money to live on, I don't come close to meeting the requirements for a credit card. For the most part I BPAY, but occasionally need to use my debit card!

It's my only card.

 

[Mal]

Who actually knows the cause? And would all of the sabre experts please shuffle forward to explain how complex the issue is and the fix, rather than lay people thinking it is as simple as pressing a button.

There are obviously more issues here than a simple bug.

Is it right that virgin don't acknowledge it and indicate what they are doing to fix it? No it isn't.

However, there are obvious commercial sensitivities at play.

And this thread reminds me why I never book air travel or hotels using a debit card.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Who actually knows the cause? And would all of the sabre experts please shuffle forward to explain how complex the issue is and the fix, rather than lay people thinking it is as simple as pressing a button.

We don't need to Mal. I just know as a business person I cannot double charge clients (as much as I may wish I could). I also know that millions of businesses world wide manage to debit cards correctly. As a lay person, I KNOW that and I repeat, VA could fix it if they wanted to but my guess is it'll cost money they don't want to spend just to do that. Am I right? Buggered if I know. Are VA right to continue to overchrage when they know they've known about the problem for months? Not on your life!

Whilst you're sick of lay people commenting, I'm sick of people continually making excuses for pathetic VA attitude and as I've said before, this double charging issue is not just poor service, it's bordering on criminal activity and an activity which is badly impacting lots of people. Some of us forget that not everyone has bucket loads of spare cash sitting unused and available in bank accounts. Some of these people are budgeting appropriately to live (and even holiday) on their income and VA is taking away their ability to eat! It is not just a case of not getting SCs or points for a flight. VA should have had this fixed almost immediately or in worst case scenario, refund the extra money immediately, along with any OD charges etc instead of expecting people to live with their mistakes for 6 or more weeks.

 

[Mal]

We don't need to Mal. I just know as a business person I cannot double charge clients (as much as I may wish I could). I also know that millions of businesses world wide manage to debit cards correctly. As a lay person, I KNOW that and I repeat, VA could fix it if they wanted to but my guess is it'll cost money they don't want to spend just to do that. Am I right? Buggered if I know.

If it is an it bug and is very sporadic, finding the root cause could be very hard. What do you expect? Virgin revert to manual processing of every flight booking?

Yes they should be refunding quicker. But without knowing what the cause of the error is, I can't se how people claim they should be able to fix it quickly.

 

[samh004]

The annoying thing seems to be that they can easily take money from people's accounts, but require 21 days to refund it. Considering it's their error, perhaps wearing the loss (until accounting catches up in 21 days) and treating customers right would be a better way of going about the issue.

Probably doesn't help they don't even seem willing to acknowledge there's an issue.

 

[Mal]

OK. So virgin should set up a dedicated help desk for this and expedite the refunds. Sounds good to me. How about it virgin?

I think there is also some confusion over this issue as virgin now split the fare charges into different transactions on credit cards etc.

Now the real question is.. how frequently does this occur? Lets say one person per day complains on fb. Is that 50pc of affected customers, or 1pc?

 

[Fruitcake]

All this talk of "debiting my account" - what payment method actually does this? POLi?

 

[DeKa]

All this talk of "debiting my account" - what payment method actually does this? POLi?

For all the people 'with no money' Visa Debit or Debit MasterCard attached to their savings account.

 

[Fruitcake]

For all the people 'with no money' Visa Debit or Debit MasterCard attached to their savings account.

Thanks, I've never used one, so I didn't realise they linked directly to savings accounts. Obviously I've been confusing them with prepaid cards. For me that is good enough reason to never use one (better to have scammers spend someone else's money - ie your credit card provider's - rather than your own) but I appreciate a lot of people don't have a choice.

 

[DeKa]

Thanks, I've never used one, so I didn't realise they linked directly to savings accounts. Obviously I've been confusing them with prepaid cards. For me that is good enough reason to never use one (better to have scammers spend someone else's money - ie your credit card provider's - rather than your own) but I appreciate a lot of people don't have a choice.

The reason they are so common now is most banks issue them as the default card for getting cash out at an ATM (hoping you'll use it at an eftpos machine or online so they can make some merchant fee revenue out of it).

My bank issued me one when my old ATM card expired.

It's not that long ago that Visa debit was only issued by credit unions and building societies.

Agree with your points though. The only card I ever give to others is a credit card (so I can dispute if there is fraud).

 

[Deleted member 29185]

What do you expect? Virgin revert to manual processing of every flight booking?

If that's what it takes, yes. But to be honest, I know that's not what it would take to fix it. As you most likely know, I'm not an IT guru at all but I do know that third world countries, small businesses, large monoplies, on-line traders, gov'ts etc AND other airlines that use Sabre, all manage to do these transactions by the millions without double dipping. So can VA if they choose to. Whether that's easy or hard for them is totally irrelevant.

Is that 50pc of affected customers, or 1pc?

Once again, it's irrelevant. One a day is too many. If we go down that hypothetical path, I may as well ask how many have not picked up the fact VA have double dipped into their money........is it 50% or 1%?

 

[bcworld]

1 month, $3000, no refund. Impressive!

 

[Mal]

1 month, $3000, no refund. Impressive!

Responded by Virgin Australia with " Hi Mike. We're very sorry to hear that. If you could please private message us your flight details and best phone and email contact we will follow it up for you straight away. "