I did a historical fare search and they are in fact correct in that the T class special was fully non-refundable so I'm a little perplexed as to on what grounds they've got you a refund, I can only assume they've lied to their QF rep to get a waiver to cancel it.
That's really interesting - lying to the QF rep? I suppose when you pull enough strings, yell hard enough or threaten to start a war of any size - any person (not just a TA), any airline - you can make them (the airline) do anything.
That all aside, I'm fascinated by how travel agencies handle some fares that normally, if we booked it through the airline, are "non-refundable" but give us a credit we can use later (minus a change fee). For example, QF Red e-Deals are an example of this - non-refundable but can be changed for a fee + fare difference, or "cancelled" into a voucher, which then can be used up to 12 months later for a fee.
How would a TA handle these kinds of fares - if you decided to cancel, would you be told, "nope, sorry can't do"; would you get a voucher (minus some admin fee); or would you lose the whole lot?
That all aside (a bit of a sidetrack there), I usually stick to online only myself. The only times I have used a bricks-and-mortar travel agency (so to speak) is (a) one time I had to use Campus Travel to book flights for a case study - this was a university imposed condition for me to be covered by the university's insurance and procedures; and (b) one time I had a fare online which I neglected to book quickly enough (and the price went up), but when I tried the agency they still had flights at the level I had previously found.
I haven't been overly impressed with travel agents (e.g. at FC) since I started travelling for myself and e-ticketing became commonplace, as they don't tend to offer anything on top of what I can achieve alone (even lazily). Oh, except travel insurance
(yes, everyone needs it, it's true). I'm also afraid of booking with anyone else except the airline because there are many stories on AFF where people have found themselves in sticky situations, and often having booked not directly with the airline may compromise the ability to get a resolution quicker, for whatever reason. Also, if something happens to my booking, at least an airline will more likely get to me faster (viz. contact me) compared against relying on a travel agent to pass on the airline's notice (again, anecdotes on AFF have shown that TAs have dropped the ball in the chain of communication, with undesirable consequences).
My mum almost solely sticks by her FC agent, but that's only because she keeps cycling through $20 price beat vouchers (plus promo vouchers and birthday vouchers) every time she books a flight (usually 1-2 times per year only, but still). She will often look up the fare online then email / call the agent to beat it (including credit card fee), scoring a new price beat voucher along the way
and applying a previously earned voucher on the beaten price.
Online travel agencies are becoming more popular either (a) to "lazy-check" across many airlines at once, (b) to circumvent credit card surcharges, or (c) to circumvent country-specific pricing or protection.
And of course, there's a new kind of travel agent which is only in a niche capacity at the moment (and looks set to remain that way for a while), which are the ones which help you book award travel