justDave

I'm a United Quest cardholder and booked basic economy tickets for the half hour flight from DEN to HDN. While checking in, I noticed that I was going to get charged for my companion's bag. I contacted support before completing check in and was told to go ahead and they'd refund me. I did so, the rep submitted a refund ticket for the bag fee, and I went about my day.

You know where this is going... Half an hour later I got an email that the refund was processed and my tickets were canceled.

So I get back on the line with support certain that they'd be able to fix this. No dice. "I can book you a new reservation". "It is now under the control of the refunds team". I ask for a supervisor.

Supervisor tells me "the flight is no longer available". I know this is wrong because the first thing I did when I saw the cancellation was to check if the flight was cancelled (no), if there were seats available (plenty), and the fares (very high). I press them and they tell me "UA1049 13Jan DEN- HDN is fully booked, all I can do is book you on,, Saturday January 13 2024 US 1049 ..." That is an exact quote. Anyway, at that point I had no other options and had them book the flight - it cost me over $700.

I resolved to let it go until after my vacation.

I got back and filed a claim via the website. Their response "While I cannot honor your request for a refund of the difference in fare, I want to help make things right. As a gesture of goodwill, I will send each of you a $50 electronic travel certificate. You can use this certificate towards the purchase of your next flight. It will arrive via email in the next few business days."

This barely would have covered the basic economy cancellation fee I was charged when THEY cancelled my tickets. And that if you're counting flight credits as cash.

I asked them to escalate. "We would like to inform you, we are unable to find $735.30 cost. Please provide a Receipt, after that we will process your request.". I provided the receipt. After a bit of escalation and back and forth the case was closed with "I'm sorry that we can't agree on how to best resolve this situation. We always want to reach a mutual understanding, and apologize for how this experience made you feel. While I won't be able to honor your request on this issue, please know that I shared your feedback with the appropriate teams. We'll use your comments to review our procedures with your point of view in mind."

I guess refund just isn't part of their vocabulary.

I'm working my way up the customer service chain now but haven't received any additional responses. I know this is going to have to go to DOT in the end but I figured I'd collect any additional responses (or non-responses) I can to show that this is willful and not an isolated incident.

Fortunately I have screenshots of all the chat sessions and email. No phone calls involved.

Mostly I'm just venting but I figure it's worth documenting this to warn others just how bad United customer service is these days.

stevenshev

Oof that is egregious. DOT complaint and letter to the CEO's office warranted.

justDave

I'm slow rolling it this week. Escalating one level per day using the contacts on Elliott.org. Keeping everyone on the CC list.
What's most damning to me is how many reps I've been through already. This should have been an open/shut case.

notquiteaff

I would make sure DOT is aware of these shenanigans.

mduell

I'm unclear of the advantage to you in slow rolling.

bocastephen

I would issue a credit card chargeback to help motivate United to respond.

mahasamatman

On what basis? If people make frivolous chargebacks, it will come back to bite us all when we have legitimate ones.

notquiteaff

That seems like a bad idea to me. The OP agreed to the charge (from the credit card bank’s perspective), with the intention to later ask for a refund for the difference. Even if deserved, that is between the OP and UA to resolve.

justDave

Exactly this. The credit card was willing to issue a chargeback on the original ticket (which would probably lose because it was nonrefundable) but this is between me and United.

It's an experiment. By moving up one executive level at a time I'm hoping someone will take charge before I get to the top. Also, by giving them as many chances to respond as possible, it builds the case that this was not a glitch but a systemic failure.

uanj

I think you are handling this fine and it will end up resorting to DOT, just like you said. Let us know how you make out!

WineCountryUA

How did you request the refund? (Generally best to do after travel) Was this by chat and do you have the text? You independently (re-)booked the flight? And not via the agents you were communicating with? If so, that may be the stumbling block for UA. They certainity need to refund the cancellation fee (and the bag fee).

UA should have rebooked the flight (at no change in price) but if going independently. it complicates this..

justDave

Bag refund request was over chat. I have screenshots of everything.
The "supervisor" rebooked the ticket for me. I have those screenshots too.

WineCountryUA

There is no reason the supervisor could not rebooked for the original price, would have required reaching out to others but I have had UA do that. But this is not a charge back situation (for the new ticket) as you authorized the charge.

justDave

To be fair, I was dealing with a "supervisor" that tried to convince me that my flight was not available and that they could only book me on another flight, that happened to have the same flight number, the same day/time, and the same seats. I'm lucky the booking went through at all.
... or maybe I wasn't. We'll see...

Aussienarelle

🤣🤣🤣🤦‍♀️