Spicejet (paid) seat reservation not honoured
Dec 3, 2014, 6:36 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Exile
Posts: 15,656
Spicejet (paid) seat reservation not honoured
I flew Spicejet a few weeks ago from Dubai to Mumbai.
At time of booking, I had paid AED 36 extra to reserve an exit row seat. However, when I checked in at the airport I was advised that my paid for seat reservation had been given away to another passenger ("Sir, that passenger is traveling in a group so they must be seated together"). I was re-seated in another (non-exit row) seat instead.
On arrival, I emailed Spicejet customer relations to request a refund of the AED 36 fee paid. Auto response received. Reminder sent the following week. Auto response received. Yet another reminder sent. Auto response received.
Any idea what recourse I might have here short of initiating a credit card dispute for the seat reservation fee paid?
At time of booking, I had paid AED 36 extra to reserve an exit row seat. However, when I checked in at the airport I was advised that my paid for seat reservation had been given away to another passenger ("Sir, that passenger is traveling in a group so they must be seated together"). I was re-seated in another (non-exit row) seat instead.
On arrival, I emailed Spicejet customer relations to request a refund of the AED 36 fee paid. Auto response received. Reminder sent the following week. Auto response received. Yet another reminder sent. Auto response received.
Any idea what recourse I might have here short of initiating a credit card dispute for the seat reservation fee paid?
Dec 3, 2014, 7:24 am
#2
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: KFEG, UK Silver
Posts: 159
I would recommend filing a charge back with the bank immediately. SpiceJet is going through a financial stress and have cancelled many flights. Their customer service team is currently swamped with angry passenger emails/call asking for a refund. Don't expect a reply in the next many weeks.
Dec 4, 2014, 6:57 am
#4
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I flew Spicejet a few weeks ago from Dubai to Mumbai.
At time of booking, I had paid AED 36 extra to reserve an exit row seat. However, when I checked in at the airport I was advised that my paid for seat reservation had been given away to another passenger ("Sir, that passenger is traveling in a group so they must be seated together"). I was re-seated in another (non-exit row) seat instead.
On arrival, I emailed Spicejet customer relations to request a refund of the AED 36 fee paid. Auto response received. Reminder sent the following week. Auto response received. Yet another reminder sent. Auto response received.
Any idea what recourse I might have here short of initiating a credit card dispute for the seat reservation fee paid?
At time of booking, I had paid AED 36 extra to reserve an exit row seat. However, when I checked in at the airport I was advised that my paid for seat reservation had been given away to another passenger ("Sir, that passenger is traveling in a group so they must be seated together"). I was re-seated in another (non-exit row) seat instead.
On arrival, I emailed Spicejet customer relations to request a refund of the AED 36 fee paid. Auto response received. Reminder sent the following week. Auto response received. Yet another reminder sent. Auto response received.
Any idea what recourse I might have here short of initiating a credit card dispute for the seat reservation fee paid?
Dec 7, 2014, 5:19 am
#7
Join Date: May 2013
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Dec 7, 2014, 11:08 am
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Exile
Posts: 15,656
I have a paper trail of multiple requests made to Spicejet without response. It will be an open and shut case with the bank. In fact, the bank has already granted me the credit within 48 hours after reviewing my initial paperwork.
Dec 7, 2014, 10:29 pm
#9
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: KFEG, UK Silver
Posts: 159
Most banks will immediately give a temporary credit, whether you have a case or not. All you have to do is dispute the charge. After 60-90 days of investigation, if you do have a case, most likely the temporary credit will be made permanent. In most cases, the merchant will initiate a refund long before the bank completes its investigation in which case you can enjoy double credit for 2-3 months. I have used this few times to get a refund from Jet Airways where they charged me a cancellation fee although I cancelled the ticket because of airline schedule change. Also some ecomm sites just take too much time to give you refund back on a cancelled order. You can simply initiate a chargeback and let the merchant deal with the bank.
Dec 11, 2014, 3:46 am
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Exile
Posts: 15,656
The whole thing is getting rather silly now. Spicejet is trying to defend their right to not honour the paid seat assignment on the basis that the seat eventually provided was "equally good".
Greetings from SpiceJet.
This is with the reference to the trailing mail.
At the outset, we regret the delay in response.
Please note that we have checked and would like to inform you that as per our records passenger was provided with an equally good seat.
However, passenger was reseated as we had to accommodate a family of 04 passengers.
In the light of the above, we regret as we would not be in a position to process your request of refund of seat amount.
Should you require further assistance/clarification please do not hesitate to contact us.
Thanks & Regards,
Senior Executive-Customer Experience,
This is with the reference to the trailing mail.
At the outset, we regret the delay in response.
Please note that we have checked and would like to inform you that as per our records passenger was provided with an equally good seat.
However, passenger was reseated as we had to accommodate a family of 04 passengers.
In the light of the above, we regret as we would not be in a position to process your request of refund of seat amount.
Should you require further assistance/clarification please do not hesitate to contact us.
Thanks & Regards,
Senior Executive-Customer Experience,
Dear XXX,
With all due respect, it is for the passenger to judge what constitutes an "equally good" substitute product and not the service provider. If I had wanted to sit in the other seat, then that seat would have been reserved at the time of booking rather than the seat that I actually reserved and paid for.
Spicejet made the choice to provide the seat that I had reserved and paid for to another customer. May I kindly point you to your own Terms and Conditions which state on line 50 : "In case of exigencies, SpiceJet reserves the right to change an assigned seat without any prior notice. In such a case, the seat fee will be refunded." I am simply asking for you to follow your own Terms and Conditions as published at http://www.spicejet.com/Tnc.aspx
Sincerely,
With all due respect, it is for the passenger to judge what constitutes an "equally good" substitute product and not the service provider. If I had wanted to sit in the other seat, then that seat would have been reserved at the time of booking rather than the seat that I actually reserved and paid for.
Spicejet made the choice to provide the seat that I had reserved and paid for to another customer. May I kindly point you to your own Terms and Conditions which state on line 50 : "In case of exigencies, SpiceJet reserves the right to change an assigned seat without any prior notice. In such a case, the seat fee will be refunded." I am simply asking for you to follow your own Terms and Conditions as published at http://www.spicejet.com/Tnc.aspx
Sincerely,
Dec 11, 2014, 10:25 pm
#14
Join Date: Dec 2010
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not that i am competing your claim, but here is what would have happened. Both the rows you mention count under the same SpiceMax category hence the guys thought it was okay to switch you. why don't you escalate this and get an answer from the COO?
Dec 11, 2014, 11:19 pm
#15
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: MAA
Programs: BA bronze, Marriott silver
Posts: 2,804
My experience was that a chargeback request did not help but later a legal notice to the OTA responsible (expedia), copied to the airline (which was, for some reason, listed as the merchant in my card statement) did the trick.
An amount rather larger than 35 dirhams
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/india...-question.html
An amount rather larger than 35 dirhams
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/india...-question.html
Most banks will immediately give a temporary credit, whether you have a case or not. All you have to do is dispute the charge. After 60-90 days of investigation, if you do have a case, most likely the temporary credit will be made permanent. In most cases, the merchant will initiate a refund long before the bank completes its investigation in which case you can enjoy double credit for 2-3 months. I have used this few times to get a refund from Jet Airways where they charged me a cancellation fee although I cancelled the ticket because of airline schedule change. Also some ecomm sites just take too much time to give you refund back on a cancelled order. You can simply initiate a chargeback and let the merchant deal with the bank.