Programs: BA Gold (and many other greater and lesser distinctions)
Posts: 5,539
BA refunds - Aaaaagh !
Why is it that even third world airlines can organise efficient refunds, but BA can't ?? I won't even begin to list the issues which I have had over the course of this year, although I now have a spreadsheet on which I keep track of what is going on, and am currently seeking to reoslve problem refund no. 20 0f 2012. Shocking really.
Now insult is added to injury.
I noticed on my most recent autmated refund e-mail (received 10 days ago), for a refund which has never appeared, the following :-
HOW TO CONTACT US
-----------------
If you require further information regarding this refund, please contact:
British Airways Plc
Refunds Department (R46/HDA1)
PO BOX 365, HARMONDSWORTH, Middlesex, ENGLAND, UB7 0GB
Surprised to find that BA should still be offering a published direct line to its refunds department, I called the number. Guess what ? "This number is no longer in use". Presumably this is the same number that was pulled from service several years ago.
Calling the normal Gold Line achieves nothing as they, seemingly, cannot communicate with refunds, other than to queue and re-queue failed refunds and send messages by e-mail, to which they never receive replies.
Someone at BA needs to get with the programme in terms of sorting out how its refunds system works, and also how its customers are able to communicate with it regarding problems with the existing system.
I had a refund come through today. The letter (emailed as a PDF) is from a service centre in Jamaica!
It confirms a £15 refund but no mention of accompanying 4,500 Avios I am due. Email has a 'you cannot reply to this email' note on it. Ony contact info in the letter is a fax number!
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Programs: BA Gold (and many other greater and lesser distinctions)
Posts: 5,539
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raffles
I had a refund come through today. The letter (emailed as a PDF) is from a service centre in Jamaica!
It confirms a £15 refund but no mention of accompanying 4,500 Avios I am due. Email has a 'you cannot reply to this email' note on it. Ony contact info in the letter is a fax number!
I had a similar letter e-mailed from the US on one of my refunds. My EC Service Centre is in Bremen and it related to a booking from the UK to the Middle East, so it was not immediately obvious how the US came to be involved ! It also referred to a USD refund that was actually a EUR refund.
Programs: BAEC Gold (and pleb, or possibly pleb-plus, in various others)
Posts: 219
I'm due my first ever BA refund having cancelled a flight yesterday. Am I to assume from the sentiments here that its going to take a long time?
Its for just under £3K, and I can't can't claim it on expenses (obviously - having cancelled it), so am I going to be out of pocket for a very long time?
I'm due my first ever BA refund having cancelled a flight yesterday. Am I to assume from the sentiments here that its going to take a long time?
Its for just under £3K, and I can't can't claim it on expenses (obviously - having cancelled it), so am I going to be out of pocket for a very long time?
Probably... and I feel your pain. I cancelled a full-flex J ticket and it took so long to refund I had to pay my card balance ... and of course, having done that, 24h later the BA refund came through.
Am currently £2.5k in credit on my BAPP account ... just what I wanted <sigh>
There's still a stub booking showing in my BAEC account for that flight though...
... am currently seeking to reoslve problem refund no. 20 0f 2012. Shocking really...
That's an awful lot of refunds!
I think in the last 4 or 5 years I've only needed 3 refunds - 2 as a result of weather related cancellations. One this year because of a booking error. Each time I've received the refund pretty quickly (and in one instance) with the Avios used to upgrade recredited.
Programs: AV, QF-WP, UA 1M, Rydges Plat, A-Club Plat, HHon-Diamond
Posts: 3,095
All airlines try to lead you a merry dance on refunds.
My strategy is to send an E Mail entitled "Creditcard Chargeback" which will get their attention - saying, please be sure to credit this refund within 7 days to avoid incurring a CC chargeback.
If there's no response, that E Mail is sufficient to activate the chargeback.
Probably... and I feel your pain. I cancelled a full-flex J ticket and it took so long to refund I had to pay my card balance ... and of course, having done that, 24h later the BA refund came through.
Am currently £2.5k in credit on my BAPP account ... just what I wanted <sigh>
There's still a stub booking showing in my BAEC account for that flight though...
Oh I've had this a number of times, they take so long to come through that your statement is produced then a couple of days later you end up in £2k credit.
Frustrating, then of course you're tempted to spend that £2k as you've already paid for it ...
Last week I cancelled a cash and avios reward flight saver, it's normally an automated quick process but now you have to fill out a online form. It's taken a week and yesterday I recieved the confirmation email. Just waiting for the avios and refund now.
Programs: MUCCI :D, BA GGL - CCR, FB Gold, JJC (1980 the Leo Budd years) Hilton Diamond
Posts: 408
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raffles
I had a refund come through today. The letter (emailed as a PDF) is from a service centre in Jamaica!
It confirms a £15 refund but no mention of accompanying 4,500 Avios I am due. Email has a 'you cannot reply to this email' note on it. Ony contact info in the letter is a fax number!
This is Jamaica, NY, USA not the country. Still doesn't help that the US are processing what appear to be UK refunds.
