Warning QF BPAY booking cancellation

[mhen]

Email just received from Qantas

We have not received a BPAY payment for:
Booking Reference: xx_xx
Passenger: xx_xx
Payment was due by midnight 20 Apr 2009. As a result your booking has been cancelled.
If you made a BPAY payment for this booking after this time the payment will be reversed.

About 11.45pm on 20 Apr decided to take advantage of sale and booked two one way fares CBR-ADL and ADL-CBR. Chose BPAY option for each and immediately paid however it appears the second of the payments was not completed prior to midnight so QF has cancelled this booking and reversed the payment.

Bank records actually shows both payments as 21 Apr. The booking confirmation emails from QF with Instructions on BPAY were received 11.55 pm on 20th and 12.05 am on 21st. However in each case I BPAYed using reference number from screen rather than waiting for the email.

Not happy

 

[openseat]

After many BPAY payments for fares, I have had this happen to me for the first time this past fortnight.
I was told on the phone that it is the 'risk' of using BPAY. Thankfully I was able to get the same fare again.

 

[MelUser]

Have you tried telephoning Qantas to try and resolve this?

One has to remember that with most Australian banks, BPAY has to be done before 6pm for it to be received by the BPAY recipient that day.

Always safest to do it before 6pm of the day before the day payment is due.

Note day means business day. Australian banks will not process anything after 6pm on Friday (and up until 6pm Monday) until the following Tuesday.

 

[Bundy Bear]

My advise; ring Qantas;

I have made a couple of bookings and used BPay after 6:00PM, and I have wondered if you ever got the booking cancelled.

Usually the sale finishes at Midnight and the option to pay via Bpay is there but technically you can't make a booking after 6:00pm and pay on the same day.

 

[moa999]

I thought BPay payments could take up to 2 days to get to the other side but there was an agreement (part of the BPay rules) that recipient party was to treat payment arrival as the day the payment was made.

eg. I always set my credit card fees to pay on the eaxt due date (despite knowing that they probably wont receive the funds for a few more days)

 

[oz_mark]

I thought BPay payments could take up to 2 days to get to the other side but there was an agreement (part of the BPay rules) that recipient party was to treat payment arrival as the day the payment was made.

As long as it is done by the cutoff time, which varies by bank but is around the end of the business day. Anything after this cutoff time gets processed as the next business day.

 

[mhen]

First thing I did this morning was ring. I was told nothing could be done and I could just rebook (at higher fare). I said I could book with another airline. End of conversation and exit one loyal customer!

The BPAY was made within a few minutes of booking but may have been a minute or two after midnight but it was completed before their booking confirmation email arrived at 5 past. Bank has both payments recorded on 21st but QF only rejected one.

I'll send a email suggesting that they review policy or at least put warnings on website but I don't expect much in response.

 

[Bundy Bear]

Ring again and talk to someone higher;

You booked both tickets at the same time and yet one has been rejected.

 

[mhen]

Interesting update.
The flights I booked and QF cancelled ADL-CBR via SYD are still able to be booked and are now are cheaper!!!! So I have just saved $20 ($10 each person).

I think I have figured it out. BPAY conditions require payment to be made by midnight. So my part of the BPAY transaction must be completed by midnight even if it then takes some days to be transferred to Qantas. Presumably there is a date time stamp recorded with payment and it is automatically rejected if after midnight on the day of booking.

 

[bambbbam2]

Is this midnight AEST or local time?

I still get the 23-hour OLCI rule for WA confused...

 

[albatross710]

eg. I always set my credit card fees to pay on the eaxt due date (despite knowing that they probably wont receive the funds for a few more days)

I have been caught out with this where the date was over a long weekend. Westpac charged me a late payment fee which I was able to have reveresed, but it does reinforce their "charge first, ask questions later" policy.

 

[Mal]

As long as it is done by the cutoff time, which varies by bank but is around the end of the business day. Anything after this cutoff time gets processed as the next business day.

Yeah, as BPAY says:

BPAY Payments Questions and Answers - BPAY

How long will it take for the payment to go through?

As long as you make a payment before your financial institution's cut-off time (this is the time at the end of the business banking day when you need to make a payment by for it to be processed overnight), the biller will acknowledge the payment as having been made that day and should process the payment the next banking business day.

If you make a payment after your financial institution's cut-off time, the biller will acknowledge the payment as having been made on the next banking business day (this does not include weekends or public holidays).

If you are unsure of your Internet or phone banking cut-off times or require more information, please contact your financial institution directly.

 

[beardoc]

QANTAS specifically does say that the BPay payment must be made before midnight - this is usually after most banks' BPay cutoff time. So QANTAS obviously does not expect to be credited on the next business day. They would have to wait some time (several days) before being sure that the payment was not received.

I went through a recent phase with BPaying QANTAS for fares, and found that it was often taking over a week for QANTAS to issue the tickets, which was worrying me. It makes me almost want to return to paying by Amex again.