flyer333

On a recent trip to Stockholm from NYC I purchased with a combination of miles and dollars 16000x2 + $440x2 upgrades for business. Since business became full at the time of departure the upgrades were not used. The miles and dollars should have automatically been credited. They were not. I called to get the miles put back. That took over 2 hours on 3 separate calls. As of now 17 day later I'm still trying to get my $880 back. There is no number to call for refunds at United. Its an automated system that basically deals with ticket purchase refunds(called Alex), not refunds of this type. I did try to get my refund processed online at www.united.com/refunds. After 7 days of status-review pending, it now says call the customer service number. I know this number is just reservation agents and they are clueless as to what to do. They keep putting me back to the automated refund number which basically says to request a refund at www.united.com/refunds. I have done this and the status says to call a customer service representative.

Is this a sick joke to keep my money. Any suggestions. United clearly has no procedures in place to help process a refund of this type if it doesn't go through automatically. Hard to believe. I'll think twice about every again trying to pay for an upgrade on this airline. I think at this point is to just dispute the charges with AMEX I've wasted so much time on this already is sad.

UAkls

Call your state's attorney general? United has taken money and is keeping it for a product that it did not and will not provide. This is theft.

wwu123

Had a similar issue a few weeks back:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-upgrades.html

Basically no customer-facing dept will take ownership, from Reservations to Customer Care to Mileage Plus, esp once it has gone two weeks past the trip. A nice person on their Website team actually felt bad enough to enter my data into the online Refunds request form.

Two things mentioned in that other thread seemed to help finally:
-filling a dispute with my credit card company (by which it had been almost three months since the original charge for the upgrade request)
-filing a DOT complaint

Pingtung

This is the new United at it's best - Receiving interest free loans by forcing customers to pony up the cash beforehand and returning the cash and miles if upgrades don't clear. Of course if something breaks, causing the refunds to not automatically process, you'll be forced to go on a wild goose chase.

I would dispute the charge with your CC and file a DOT complaint. Hopefully if enough people complain about UA's customer-unfriendly business practices, they'll do something about it.

tsg20

Back in March I canceled two tickets over the phone and was given refunds of $543.90 per ticket. The operator indicated that checks would be sent. After a month we'd heard nothing, so we phoned back, only to find the refund had been issued to the original credit card (a Chase United card, as it happened), which unfortunately had been closed in January.

Apparently the standard thing at this point is that Chase would send us a check. Unfortunately, Chase instead sent us a letter saying:

"We were unable to locate an account for you,and the funds were returned to the merchant's bank on May 05,2012. This is done whenever we receive a credit and no matching account is found.
• We ask that you please contact the merchant to resolve the matter. The merchant will need to contact
their bank to locate the funds and then issue a refund check to you"

So, we duly reported this back to United. Whenever I call, I'm never actually able to speak to someone in refunds, but instead spend an hour+ on the phone with a reservations agent who talks to refunds. Back at the start of May, we did this, and after a long discussion they said that checks would be sent out straight away. I then had a similar call in June, and another one 4 weeks ago.

Each time I call there is no record of any of the previous decisions, and I have to go through the whole long story again, and each time after over an hour I'm promised checks that are never sent.

What can I do?! It seems to be impossible to talk to anyone in the refund department, and if I use the online tool it always tells me that the refund is complete. It's almost $1100, so I'm really pretty keen to get it back...

ldsant

Forget the phone. Send a snail mail letter certified/signature/return receipt required to UAL. That gives you a record. Then send that letter to Chase as well. Call Chase's Chairman's Office as well. They have a whole team who deals with issues where their customer service fails (as they have here). Again, after you talk with people, send a snail mail letter. That should resolve your issue. Also, make sure you cc: your state Attorney General's office and the Attorney General's office in TX, IL, and NY.

LilAbner

The Op resides in London, England!

Passmethesickbag

True, but Chase doesn't!

tsg20

Thanks for the advice - I'll do this. I'd forgotten that last time I phoned they told me that they'd moved it to the UK refunds department, who could send out a check straight away, and gave me a direct number for the UK refunds department. I just tried this number, and got straight through to someone in refunds (!) - but unfortunately she told me that they don't send out checks, and that as I had in fact got through to Continental refunds, and it was an old United ticket, there was nothing she could do. Pretty amazing.

Passmethesickbag

Send a registered letter to:

United Airlines
Heathrow Airport
Hounslow
Middlesex
TW6 3LP

Provide them with you sort code and account details. Give them a deadline - say a fortnight - and tell them you are going to take legal action against them if they don't pay you by then.

PTahCha

UA is doing what it's suppose to be doing - refunding to the original form of payment. You'll need to deal with Chase on how to get the refund. If it's smart enough to send you a letter telling you that a refund can't be processed, it's smart enough to figure out how to get the refund to you.

tsg20

Perhaps so - but Chase has returned the money to United (even United seem to accept that), and United has repeatedly claimed that they're sending me checks. We've suggested that they could try again with Chase, or (better) refund to a different Chase card, but they don't want to do this again, they say. Of course, this is all just what reservation agents tell me they're being told by the mysterious people in the refunds department, so who knows if anyone is really making an effort to do anything.

Anyway, thanks for the UK address for United above - I'm going to follow everyone's advice and stop wasting my time with these phone calls, and just write the letter.

Often1

Threatening lawsuits is silly (Even at minimum wage, not worth it) and complaining to state AG not worth it (DOT has exclusive Federal jurisdiction and DOT and various predecessors have had since 1939, so this ain't new).

What you can do is:

1. Fill in the web complaint form with just the facts.
2. Wait 10 business days.
3. Dispute the charge with the CC company.
4. If you wish, file a complaint w. DOT.

#3 puts the shoe on the other foot, forces UA to justify not refunding as opposed to putting the pax in the position of collecting.

LilAbner

He's got 180 days to dispute the charges with his credit card co. and even though the card has been closed, seems to me ANY charges made on that card can be disputed, within that time frame. If it were me I would do this immediately as his March purchases are nearing the end of that time frame. Doing this online will be futile, I think, as this account is non-existent and he won't be able to log in anyway. However a registered letter to Visa in the UK or wherever he needs to send it should be done NOW.

I'd be calling my credit card company and getting correct answers as how to reverse these charges instead of relying on the UA refund department who are professionals at dispensing BS.

buaya00

Its amazing that Chase say they returned the credit to the merchant bank as no account could be found obviously due to the closure of the CC. But you would think when refunding to Chase, the merchant bank issuing the credit would reference the credit card number for Chase to identify who is the refund going to. Even though the account is closed, they should be able to identify the cardholder's details and at least contact him/her about this refund. Its like no effort on Chase's part to to do anything about it than just wait and return the credit.