I need help with the following situation. Since I've had no luck with
any phone numbers or email addresses I've tried I'm hoping someone
here has contact information of someone at SAA that will be helpful.

I was flying from the Cape Town airport to Windhoek, Namibia
on March 12, 2011. A few days prior to my leaving South
Africa my debit card was stolen at an ATM in Cape Town. The
woman at the desk told me I needed the credit card I bought
the ticket with, which happened to be the one that was
stolen from me. She gave me no options except to buy another
ticket. I was promised a full refund in 21 business days.

I have called and spoke to numerous representatives both
from the North America office and the South African refunds
phone number (which is impossible to reach from the United
States) and sent various emails to the refund email address
and customer service email address with limited responses.
Now in July nearly 3 months after incident I still have not
received any refund.

When I spoke to a representative from the refunds line back
when I was in Namibia I was told that a "refund charge"
would be applied and I would not receive the full ZAR3231
refund.

I have since received an email from the refunds line on June
20th stating that R2946 (roughly $420) has been refunded to
my card. I would like to note that I paid R3231 (roughly
$462). Not only have I not seen the refund they promised was
refunded to my account, but I refuse to accept a refund
charge for something that was clearly out of my control.


Anyone have any advice?

Thanks!

Was your original ticket purchased in North America or South Africa ? If North America, I can ask my contacts at SAA (SAAUSA) if they can intervene to assist.

It was originally was purchased in the U.S. and thank you.

I just received an emailing confirming the refund. It was refunded to the card number I purchased the ticket with. However, my card number has since changed because my bank had to send me a new card after mine was stolen. How do I remedy this situation? Can SAA just refund to my new card number or is this something my bank needs to take care of?

Hi there epdudley... Good to learn the refund was finally processed, and apologies for the delay.

Please follow up with your bank directly as they will need to make the adjustment on their end.

Regards,

SAA North America

According to the bank any outstanding credits I have made with the old debit card number will still be credited to my account. So I guess I'm still wondering where the money went? If it was processed April 6th I'd assume it would be credited to my account by now. Any word on how long this process is supposed to take? I was originally told 21 business days.

Let's make sure we have all the details straight: please email us your ticket number and we'll be happy to review the record to make sure it was processed. From the date a refund is processed, a credit should normally appear within 7-10 business days. This sounds like it's taken much longer than that... If you are able to, please email us ([email protected]) and put "FLYERTALK question" in the subject line so that we can route your concern correctly.

Thanks.

Thank you very much for your assistance. I've emailed saausa.

I haven't received a response from saausa. How long does it generally take to receive a response?

We just checked with the local customer care department and they have not received your email... Would you mind re-sending it? [email protected].

Or perhaps you can send your details in a private message thru FlyerTalk? We'll be happy to look into it.

Regards,
SAA North America