Gourangga

I have complained to Qatar Airways about my money being taken and not refunded. I am now seeing that this is a simple case of theft. Qatar Airways has stolen over $6000 in airfares and is hiding behind "policy" to avoid making good on the contract made when we purchased flights. The flights were cancelled and vouchers were offered but these expired as COVID restrictions to flying in the country where I live, continued past their validity period.

I have complained via email, via phone calls, and utilising the on-line portal yet I still have not received any information from Qatar Airways.
Complaint numbers CAS-2100434-29V7F1 and CAS-2100429-Y8D3X7 continue to go unanswered. When I phone to speak with someone I am advised that customer service will get back to me within 5 business days. This doesn't happen. It has been over 3 months since I started phoning. The representative on the phone won't connect me to any supervisor and does not provide their staff number or last name. They refuse to connect me to anyone else to assist me with my complaint.
I continue to receive radio silence with regards these complaints. I have become very aware of many people in the same boat and from whom Qatar Airways has taken money and has not responded to their continued attempts at refund requests. In other words, it seems to me that Qatar Airways has stolen money from many people.

I paid for tickets. The money came from my bank account. The money did not and has not expired. I have not received the service for which I paid. Qatar Airways has my money.

Kindly resolve this instead of simply telling me that customer service will get back to me soon. This then makes a liar of the people in customer service who make this claim as it doesn't happen. It has already been 6 months and I am yet to have anything from customer service.

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who can assist me with this most despicable example of customer service.

Thanks for taking the time to read my message.

Mwenenzi

Gourangga Welcome to FT
That "COVID restrictions to flying in the country where I live, continued past their validity period" is not QR's problem or something they control.
From your profile you are in Australia. You could try your local state consumer affair's govt department. Or if purchased in another country an equivalent govt authority.
During and after the pandemic have been many complaints about airlines conduct with cancelled flight-refunds-voucher. (Not just QR)
QR are *not* know for good on the ground customer service.
Keep trying. In writing can be better.
Good luck. You will be 1 of many.

plunet

Do you have any protection from your travel insurance and/or payment card through which you purchased the original tickets?

brunos

I assume that the tickets were paid well over a year ago. I doubt that a credit card claim would work.

plunet

Depends.... in the UK my understanding is you have a finite time limit of 6 years but you have a 120 days to claim from when you notice you have a problem.
OP has been trying to sort things out with Qatar but has reached a point of deadlock.
There certainly have been cases of Credit Cards entertaining refunds for COVID cancelled services where the supplier has been stringing their customer along for ages and it has gone nowhere.
I wouldn't dismiss the option of making a credit card issuer claim in the UK, especially where the business is still trading as in the case of Qatar as that would be relatively easy chargeback for them - but it depends on the consumer protection law coverage available in the OPs nation.

diamantaire

Warn them that you would sue them in the local court & if they don't pay up actually sue them.
I have given up on qr as imo it is a over hyped product with mediocre service.
I instead fly RJ from EU to middle east which is not hyped , cheaper & the staff actually care for the pax.

Gourangga

thanks for all of the above comments. The tickets were purchased in 2019 for flights in 2020. We used an Amex card out of Singapore to buy the tickets. I will call Amex in Singapore this morning to see if we can get any joy from them. We also had travel insurance with MSIG in Singapore so I willngive them a call also to see if they can assist.
I appreciate all of these ideas. It still infuriates me that #Qatarairways has managed to steal so many people's hard earned money and that there is no recourse for people internationally. Something is seriously wrong here.
I will keep you posted on how things transpire today.

Gourangga

We were Platinum flyers with #Qatarairways and will never use them again. We prefer #TurkishAirlines now for our travel through to Europe from Australia. We have found their service to be outstanding.

Mwenenzi

Turkish Airlines does not fly from/to Australia. But may have code shares on other Star Alliance Airlines.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Airlines
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...s_destinations

Did the flights start from Singapore? Or Australia?
Can effect the jurisdiction
.

brunos

If you need, it would be useful to state the itinerary of your ticket as Mwenenzi suggested. The origin is where you could send a claim to local authorities, if any.

Let me look at the legal perspective.
Vouchers, like tickets, are paper money and have a stated expiry. (That's OT, but I once lost a ticket that I had forgotten and expired.)
QR policy has been changing over the covid years. But did you get the choice between a refund and a voucher when they cancelled the flight?
QR has been periodically extending the expiry of vouchers but it came a time when your voucher expired.
You could have bought another ticket for later travel. You could have tried to get the refund, although it is unclear that it was legally possible.
If you took no action before its expiry, your legal standing is weak.

WHile we all understand your frustration, this is a legal situation. If you are entitled to no money, I would doubt that QR would gift you $6,000 as a goodwill gesture.
Please do not shoot me. I am just trying to see your case from QR viewpoint.