I am so frustrated at the level of customer service I have received from Qatar Airlines.
I had a flight booked from Bali to London at Christmas time. My father took seriously ill and we were all advised to come home. As I live in Perth the thought of flying to Bali and London in the state I was in was not a good idea and because you can’t cancel one leg of the journey I had to cancel my whole flight. I was advised to obtain a letter from the bank because the credit card I bought the ticket with had been cancelled and I had a new card and to take this letter into the Qatar Perth offices. I did this straight away because I was flying to Scotland 2 days later.
At no point when I was in the offices was I told that I had to also sign a letter authorising Qatar Airlines to debit my account and left thinking that my refund would be processed as promised and that it could take up to 5 weeks.
I flew home on the 28 November and as you can understand my time was taking up with going to the hospital and waiting to see if my father was going to pull through.
On 17 December I was contacted via email requesting that I submit a bank letter stating that my card number had been changed. I emailed them back straight away and informed them that I had already done this on the 26 November and that the office in Perth had the said letter. I did not hear back from them until 12 January asking me to let me know the name of the person that I forwarded the letter to. I emailed them straight away and informed them of the name of the person I left the form with. I emailed them on the 14 January and told them that my situation about my father and that I was finding the situation at home quite stressful and could they please sort out my refund as soon as possible. They replied to me on 25 January informing me that they have no trace of the letter and could I ring the Perth office to find out where the letter is or could I produce a new letter, or have the money transferred to the old card and then I can sort it out with the Bank. This is a ridiculous solution as the money would just bounce back to them. Furthermore not even an acknowledgment of my father’s health and the fact that I am totally stressed out with my current situation.
I am in Scotland I can not produce a new letter and I am certainly not going to ring the Perth office from Scotland to be put on hold for 30mins while I get transferred to the appropriate department. I email them again on the 31 January when I get back telling them that I am totally unhappy with their customer service and forwarded them another letter from my bank along with an authorisation letter for them to credit my account. I was then emailed back on 5 February informing me that my refund had been authorised and that the money will be credited to my account between 7 to 14 days.
I did not receive the money and I emailed them back on then 26 February informing them that I had not been credited. I received an email on the 26 February acknowledging my email then nothing. I emailed again on the 6 March asking if there was an update, nothing I emailed again on 14 March. They responded saying they were looking into the situation and for me to be patient. Well that sent my blood boiling they are holding onto $1540 of my money they don’t bother to reply to my emails for weeks on end and I have to be patient. Furthermore they keep addressing me as Mr when I am Ms I pointed this out to them which they addressed me as Mr again and then in the opening sentence apoloigised for addressing me wrong, unbelievable.
The eventually emailed me back on the 15 March informing me that the refund had been processed and that it can take up to 14 days for me to receive this money. I am still waiting we will see if it is received within the 14 days or not. The most frustrating thing is when I phoned the Perth office they can not help me it has to be through the email support centre. Surely once your first email is answered you are then assigned to someone so they can look after you and not constantly sitting in a queue of emails waiting to be randomly answered. This is appalling customer care at the highest level and I am totally frustrated and annoyed at their lack attitude towards refunding your money. I had to cancel other flights on the same day and without hesitation I was refunded my money within a few days. Its now 11 March 15 weeks after I cancelled my ticket and all I keep getting told is be patient. SERIOUSLY Why has it taken them so long to refund my money? Argghhhhhhhh
