richarddd

I bought wifi on a recent flight TATL, then the seat and entertainment power went out, also taking down wifi. When power was restored, a crew member said to buy it again and then I could get a refund for the first purchase. I applied for a refund, but haven't heard anything other than an immediate automated acknowledgment email.

How long should it take to get a refund?

golfmad

In my recent experience it took 24 hours to receive confirmation of the refund although I expect to wait 3-5 days to see the money in my account.

I put in a claim on Tuesday (2 days ago) and had the confirmation email with the refund approved less than 24 hours later.

This was for short haul WiFi that I had paid for twice but didn’t work in either case even though payment went through on both occasions.

Having said all that, I went through the GGL email to raise the problem which may have speeded things up?

richarddd

Probably your status with BA. I'm over a week with nothing resembling a confirmation.

mrpacifist

I have had very varied levels of service there. A week but recently... Two months!

richarddd

Ouch! If it trends towards two months I'll consider disputing the credit card charge, since there's a time limit on doing that.

It's only been about ten days for me. It's a bit annoying since the FA implied I'd be able to get a refund immediately.

sigma421

4.5 months recently. Emailed straight after the flight in mid-April, reply received 22 August.

richarddd

That's beyond my credit card dispute period. And seems ridiculous. If nothing else, disputing the credit card might get their attention. Not that the money is significant, but I find that kind of customer service offensive.

corporate-wage-slave

Did you complain to BA or the email address at IAG given in the Wifi sign up page.

sigma421

Mine was by email to the contact us email linked in the receipt.

richarddd

I was told to use the contact link on the wifi signup page. I believe the page was shop.ba.com, but may be misremembering. The automated email acknowledgement, with case number, came from [email protected] The email gave a britishairways.com link to provide more info.

Is there something else I should do?

vintagepilot

I queried a double charge in Nov, chivvied them along 3 weeks later, and got a refund in Feb 23. Emailed my complaint to [email protected]

chriswiles

Please don't do this. We work in e-commerce and people think that they call up their card company and simply get it refunded and that's the solution. It's 'worst case' when the retailer refuses to refund! People use it, particularly in the US, far too easily for me.

Why? We get fined $20 each time a chargeback is issued and if you get more than 1% of your revenue as chargebacks, VISA and co will fine you again or even threaten to remove you (overlooking that in most cases, we can't stop a customer simply calling their card company).

Yesterday I had two massive chargebacks for two corporate orders from the US and the reason was "not received" when they'd ordered digitally. No correspondence from the customer, nothing. Just called their card company!

We had another from a US guy who had 'waited a few hours' and not got a support reply quickly enough so decided to dispute the transaction instead. I woke up on the morning to find overnight he'd both ordered and then called his card company - somehow expecting us to run a 24/7 service.

Calling card company to get a refund really should be a last resort and card companies should be telling customers this: they used to be asked if they'd contacted the retailer and what is the latest update. Now, they just refund and issue fines to the retailer. And the fines are often larger than the charge!

richarddd

Giving a company to the end of a billing cycle plus 60 days (which I understand to be the dispute period) seems more than enough time to get a response after contacting BA, especially if they have made a conscious decision to reduce staff, as evidenced by posts saying timing had gone from about a week to months. Maybe enough disputes will cause they to wake up and provide a more reasonable level of service. In my case, I was expecting an instant refund based on what the crew member told me, but in any event waiting to the end of the billing cycle plus 60 days seems more than enough.

Waiting a few hours is another story.

corporate-wage-slave

What it normally says on the login screen is that you should refer this to IAG Connect in Dublin, who are the internet facilitator, rather than BA. See the section marked "How can I seek assistance?". If you can now to shop,ba.com you can see it there now (or at least I can).

So just send an email to
[email protected]

If you instead decide to contact BA I suspect it may be passed over eventually but it may take a while.

AJNEDC

Don't initiate a chargeback? Surely you jest? Are you trying to be sarcastic perhaps?

Here in the USA, there is a federal rule encoded in electronic funds transfer law, that provides cardholders with the legal rights to generate a chargeback. And I am very thankful for this law. Think of it this way: If merchants did what they are supposed to do, consumers would have no need to call their banks and have chargebacks issued by and large.
If you are supposed to issue a refund, do so timely and send confirmation to the consumer that it has been done. Stop hiding behind anonymous emails and frustrating consumers with the run around.

I call a company once about a refund. I never call them twice. The next call I make about that transaction is to my bank. My time is too valuable to waste with merchants who do not have their act together.