[DiasporaMum]

My experience with Etihad has been as follows:

Last August 26th and 27th I tried repeatedly to book two seats from Dublin to Melbourne, but the site was not operating correctly. Eventually having tried the numbers for Dublin, I contacted Abu Dhabi by telephone and booked two seats for 25th March. I spoke to a very nice person and did the booking on my credit card and the price was €2180.88 for the two seats and I was given a reference number for the payment.

This amount was charged to my credit card within twenty four hours, on 28th August, although I didn’t realise this until my bill came in about 12 days later.
However, although we waited patiently, we received no e-mail confirming the booking and the reference number did not work on the website when we wanted to change our seats.

When we checked the site the price of tickets was going up and we couldn’t figure out whether our flights were booked or not. So we decided to err on the side of caution and presume that they weren’t and to go through the booking procedure, expecting that there would be some kind of flag if we tried to book two more seats on the same flights for the same passengers. These seats cost €2275.10 – i.e. €94.55 more than the original seats.

Alas, that was expecting too much.
My credit card bill came in showing that the full amount for the two seats had been taken from my card within twenty four hours of making the booking by telephone. AND the price for the second one was also deducted, again within twenty four hours. As I was very concerned about having to pay out all that money, beyond what we had planned, I decided to contact the company.

I contacted the London Office as the Dublin numbers were still not working. Here I spoke to a very nice young man who expressed his surprise that we were having such a problem and he said he was confident it could be resolved easily. He told me he could not look at the historical detail on the Etihad website and asked if I could send him all of the details of all contacts to his e-mail address. I sent everything – the details of the first booking, the price paid, the dates and the references and the same for the second bookings. He told me he would be back to me as soon as possible. When he came back, he said that he could get the first booking cancelled and would confirm the second booking. I reminded him that this meant that we, the passengers, would be paying €94.22 extra for a mistake on the part of Etihad and I said that I would not be satisfied if this were to happen.

I subsequently spoke to about ten different customer service agents, none of whom seemed to have the authority to resolve the problem. Each of the ordinary level agents were very polite and even sympathetic, but could do nothing so just opted out. The first area manager to whom I spoke promised repeatedly to ring me but despite my waiting up till after midnight on more than one occasion, I received no calls from him.

I was now becoming frantic as the bill for the second bookings was due to be paid and we didn’t have the money to pay it. So I faxed the Chief Executive of the company from the details on the website. Mr Hogan requested a senior person in the Feedback Department (Etihad’s Customer Service Centre) to contact me. Thirty days after taking the initial €2180.88 from my credit card, the same amount was reimbursed to me. However, we were still – despite multiple phone calls, emails and letters and repeated broken promises on the part of Etihad – at a loss of €94.22 because of a mistakes on the part of Etihad.

At various stages Etihad denied having taken the first €2180.88, mentioned fraud, ignored calls and e-mails and coincidentally, my personal e-mail address cannot be used to contact Etihad as they bounce all my mail since 16th November. Although they have categorically denied this, I believe it is because I started to respond to the various advertising e-mails I continue to receive with a summary of the situation to date!

Eventually on 26th November, two months after the problem that arose solely through some sort of error on the Etihad system, I received the first commitment that I would be reimbursed of the outstanding €94.22.
I made it clear that I believe that I should be compensated for all the distress, annoyance and frustration that I had suffered thanks to the incompetence, arrogance and failures by the supposed Feedback (Customer Service) Department.

Insult was compounded by injury when they awarded me 25000 Guest Miles and then said they had made an error and reduced this offer to 15000 Guest Miles. They deducted the excess from my Etihad Guest E-Statement. I have no interest in Guest Miles as they seem to be only useful in buying luxury goods which are irrelevant to me or to add to flight purchases (if sufficient and 15000 is definitely NOT sufficient) to get an upgrade.

Their apologies were mealy mouthed and I certainly do not feel that we have been treated correctly as outlined in their own Guest Charter. Our experience has been appalling and I would not recommend Etihad to my worst enemy let alone to friends or family. I have never spent so much on flights with any airline and I have never received worse treatment.

I can see from the various complaints on the website that it is only my persistence that has gotten our money back for us and that we had a lucky escape. If there is any way in which I can give feedback to any organisation or official body which will prevent this airline from getting any customer service or best airline awards, I would appreciate knowing how and will take great care to detail my experience