I booked a flight to London in July of 2009 and was unable to travel but gave sufficient notice of cancellation (according to the contract and United Airlines Policy). When I originally booked the flight with Dave (no longer working there), I wanted to get in writing what the refund/rebook/ cancellation penalties were so he emailed me a contract. When I read the contract and before giving him my credit card number, I called back and asked him about what I read; the contract allows them to charge anywhere from $200.00 to $2,000.00 dollars in cancellation/re-book fees. When I asked about this, he assured me saying that for a ticket of this value ($922.00), the airline charged around two hundred dollars.
Being satisfied with losing that amount of money in case I had to cancel, which I told him was a real possibility, I went ahead and gave him my credit card number. Strangely, when I called the airline to cancel, the United agent I spoke with agreed with the information he gave me. She said that I had a year to rebook and the cancellation penalty was $200.00. She also gave me the last date I could re-book which is July 13, 2010. At this point, I thought the airline was in charge of issuing refunds or re-booking the itinerary for new travel dates. In March of this year, I called United and got a different agent and a completely different story. They had my past dated record on file with ticket numbers but no dollar value on the transaction and no form of payment. She said I'd have to go back to the agency that sold it to me in order to re-book.
So, after phoning one of their illusive agents, I was told someone would call me back. A man named Josh returned my call the next day. I told him I wanted to re-book and asked if I could change the routing. There was no problem; I gave him the new itinerary/dates and told him I was very flexible and he told me he'd have to give this to his "consolidator" and call me back. A week went by and I got no call. I called, but there was no answer. I left a message, and got no call back. I called again, and finally, he answers and says his consolidator is having trouble getting the space/dates (in March 2011 - Europe?) Okay, whatever.
Meanwhile, time is beginning to run out and I need to re-book in 3 weeks or lose the value of the ticket altogether (he knows this). He continues to drag his feet. I call and call again, and finally, I get him, give him alternate dates and routing, and express my dismay at not being informed sooner that they were having problems booking me (yeah right, problems). Finally, he calls me back with an itinerary, but the additional charges were more than double the remaining value of the ticket, which he says is now $622.00. I tell him it's too much additional to pay for a bulk ticket for winter travel to Europe, and I can book a regular fare for nearly that amount and ask for a refund instead. I can't do that, he tells me and when I tell him that I have no other choice now but to seek litigation, that struck a nerve because now he starts yelling at me and I can't get a word in edgewise.
I try to get him to call his supervisor over and he becomes even more hostile agitated and loud. I hang up. I few minutes later, I get a call from a man who, although he sounds exactly like Josh, has identified himself as "Chris," the supervisor and apologizes for his agent's (more like his split personality) behavior due to a death in the family .I'm absolutely stunned by how stupid this guy must be to entertain the idea that I'd believe he's somebody else but I (to my own amazement) play along to see if I can recoup at least some of my $922.00.
He's calm now and changes his tune. Now, he has to see how much my refund will be (I thought it was $622.00?) and call me back. "It's going to be $340.00." By now, I'm so exasperated with his rude demeanor (I've yelled at him and I never yell at anybody, but this guy is something else). I say fine I'll give you my new address and you can cut me a check. "Well, that's not how it works," he tells me. He said I need to give him my credit card number in order to process a refund. Now, I'm beginning to understand that this is a sting operation as well as a (pardon the pun) fly by night travel agency.
I ask why my original transaction (with unused ticket numbers) is not enough to process the piddling refund he quoted me, and he tells me that they purge their files every few months (Gee, I wonder why?) and that the only way to process the refund is to put the original $922.00 charge back on my card so they can assess the penalty. Yes, he actually tried to double dip me. I tell him there is no way I'm giving him my the number again until he gives me something in writing, stating that he is not recharging my card and needs it only to credit my account. He starts yelling (again) at me when I tell him I have no other option but to file a class action suit against his company (him and his father are "it") and that it shouldn't be difficult to round up enough fellow litigants to make something happen. I hang up on him this time because he's not making much sense, yelling and wasting my time.
My phone rings constantly for the next 5 to 10 minutes. Finally, I answered to tell him to knock it off. We exchange a few more pertinent remarks and hung up. At some point, before things got ugly, I gave him my email address to process the ersatz refund. A couple of hours later, when I checked my email, there was a rebuttal from him saying, "Go ahead and try to sue, people have tried before (no doubt) and were unsuccessfully." He said he'll file a counter suit and I'll end up paying for his lawyer as well as my own, etc. I email him back telling him to knock that off and that he's crooked and nuts and I'll do whatever I can to prevent others from getting burned.
I think he probably is that unique combination of criminal and crazy, which unfortunately does not preclude people from obtaining a business license in the state of California. I'm $922.00 poorer and very, very angry.
