To expect the Chief Executive of Virgin Atlantic to answer my correspondence and not FOB ME OFF with supposed Customer Services

[wendover1965]

This is a copy of a letter that I have sent to Virgin Atlantic. The story is all there. I have been fobbed off with useless people calling me who haven't got a clue what my query is really about and been told that the Chief Executive and his staff are "TOO BUSY" apparently to keep there customers happy. I was a frequent flyer member in the 1990's but after this shambles Virgin Atlantic will never get any more business from me. My OPINION IS AVOID THE AIRLINE AT ALL COSTS. There are plenty of other Airlines to choose from. Make Virgin Atlantic your last choice of airline not your first


Dear Mr **

(He is apparently the person who looks after customers) Certainly not in my experience

I am writing to you to deal with a complaint which your refunds/customer service team have been unable to find a solution to, in the hope that you can take a view and help with a reasonable outcome.

I booked 2 tickets to Memphis from Manchester on 4th September, 1 for me and one for my 17 year old son. This was in January.

My son decided he did not want to go and wanted to cancel his ticket so I went online to cancel his ticket. Your system would not give me the option of cancelling 1 ticket and said I had to cancel the booking. On the refund form it asked me for a phone number so that someone could contact me regarding the refund. I thought great when they phone I can explain that I only want 1 ticket cancelled. NOBODY called and then I find myself with an email today saying that out of £800 odd tickets I am going to get £152.00 each back. I have asked your customer services team to justify that, they have not explained themselves, I asked for it to be sent in writing to me why I am being charged for taxes when the ticket is not sold. Surely if you resell a ticket the next person pays taxes on it, how can you justify taking taxes from me as. That is twice and it seems conning the consumer springs to mind.

had someone from refunds done their job and called, I would still have a ticket and I would not be £1300 out of pocket, and it has left me in a situation where I cannot now buy another ticket because I can't afford it twice. I was going to visit an old friend who I haven't seen for 20 years and this is now ruined because no-one from your refund team could be bothered to pick up the phone. MY TICKET SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN CANCELLED and your processes online should allow for people to be able to remove some and not all of the party off.

The original person I spoke to at customer services said my ticket HAD NOT yet been refunded, so I saw a glimmer of hope that I could stop the refund of my ticket. I was subsequently told by a chap called J C* (who has no customer service skills at all, he just quotes rules and regulations) that my ticket was cancelled. Which is it you cannot deal with people who give conflicting information.

I am writing in the hope that you can take a view on this because quite frankly had someone from the refund team called. Firstly my ticket wouldn't of been cancelled and secondly my son would of probably kept his if he knew the amount of losses that were involved. He is a 17 year old on minimum wage and cant afford these losses either. Your refund team should have called and didn't and they have created all this. IN FACT I HAVE CONTACTED THEM TWICE TODAY AND THEY STILL HAVEN'T CALLED

I would like a response as soon as possible but all in all so far a very poor show from Virgin Atlantic

[userschmoozer]

You;d do better to post this on their Twitter.

[buzzbobbly]

You aren't the same person as the Norwegian Airlines poster are you?

[VioletPickles]

Is that part of the actual letter you sent/are sending? If so, I’d probably take out the caps?

[WordInYourShellLike]

Have you tried asking CAB to help? Or maybe try THIS

[MuseumofInnocence]

Not sure why you expect the Chief Executive to respond - blimey. YABU

[MotorcycleMayhem]

If that's your first contact in writing with the company, it's just a rant, not a coherent complaint.

If you're more reasonable in your tone even if you actually say essentially the same things, you'll get further able be treated better.

Being a frequent flier over two decades ago means nothing by the way....

[Drawward]

To be fair its not the Chief Ex's job to answer stuff like this. All those places where you are told to email them to get answers will just be forwarded onto the customer relations team by their PA anyway. Upon seeing that cancelling online would cancel both tickets why didn't you ring them to discuss before going through with it? You cancelled both tickets online expecting them to know that you only really wanted one cancelling. The phone number will be for if there is a problem with the cancellation for them to contact you. They won't be ringing every person who cancels online to confirm the cancellation if there is no problems.

[edwinbear]

I don't really understand what's happened OP, your letter isn't very clear. You booked tickets, cancelled both when you only wanted to cancel one, can't get yours reinstated and think you've been charged too much?

I'd be very surprised if this is something a CEO could help with to be honest, he's probably not familiar with the workings of their refund system.

[Notthatsimple]

Did THEY cancel your ticket? I don’t quite understand.

[OKBobble]

I would cut it down completely. Put it in numbered shorter paragraphs merely stating what happened, what was said without your comments as they add nothing and actually distract from.what happened and the complaint.

I suspect you initially bought non-refundable tickets and that the amount being refunded is the tax as that will no longer need to be paid. The reason the tickets were as cheap as they were initially is because they were non-refundable.

If they have actually cancelled them without confirmation from you that was your final decision say so.

The letter is too long and garbled as it currently is drafted. Try to be more concise and to the point. Ask the matter to be escalated. Give them a date by which you expect a substantive response.

[VimFuego101]

I imagine the CEO read it, squinted at it for 5 mins and gave up. I would rewrite it so it's clear what happened and what you're actually looking for them to do, and remove the capitals.

[Witchofzog]

Seriously? You expected the chief exec to respond to this? The chief exec of a huge multi national company? Their PA will probably have their own PA who in turn will have their own PA. In all probability, your letter would not even have made it past the PA's. You are better off escalating this to someone senior in the correct department

[Tomtontom]

From what I can tell, you cancelled the tickets and as part of the cancellation process it asked for your phone number (as these forms usually do) in case they need to contact you. You made a cancellation request, not a "can you give me a call" request.

Is that correct?

[wendover1965]

Yes I have posted this on twitter

[AornisHades]

I think the £152 is the taxes and the money you haven't got is the ticket price.

[OKBobble]

OK I misunderstood your rant.

You actually cancelled online and expected them to guess you only wanted one ticket cancelled. At that point I would have picked up the phone to speak to a rep and explain what you wanted.

You knew when you cancelled it was cancelling both. Did you read your initial order. It will tell you if they are nonrefundable or whether you can pay a fee to amend the booking or cancel.

It definitely sounds like nonrefundable with merely the tax (not due to be paid by :virgin anymore) being refundable.

I fail to understand why you pushed the cancel button when you knew it was cancelling both. They can hardly be to blame for that.

[DaffydownClock]

Really?
You're highly optimistic and unrealistic-- I'm afraid.
Hopefully you'll get an acknowledgment from someone 😳

[MuseumofInnocence]

Is there someone more experienced in communication that could help you with this?

[Tomtontom]

And the only refundable tax is the APD, which would be £78 each. If you only got £152 back then you might have a claim for £4!

[wendover1965]

No this was not the 1st part of my complaint, this was after days of frustration trying to explain the situation to Customer Services who do nothing apart from quote rules and regulations to you. This letter was the final straw to the Chief Executive and call me old fashioned but if I write a letter to a person then I expect out of courtesy and common decency that they reply to it. In this case I was fobbed off again to customer services. Going round and round in circles with them!!

[GreenEggsHamandChips]

What were the terms and conditions of the ticket sale? Did you even have any right to a refund?

[Wallsbangers]

So you cancelled both tickets online and now you're annoyed that they didn't magically know you only wanted to cancel one ticket? The phone number is there in case of an issue (eh the money bounces because you've changed bank account). If you wanted to do something "non standard" the onus is on you to contact them.

[Tomtontom]

If you buy a ticket then you have to abide by the terms and conditions, that's why they will quote them to you.

If you write to the Queen do you expect a reply from the Queen? Or Richard Branson? The Prime Minister?

[Namechangeforthiscancershit]

if I write a letter to a person then I expect out of courtesy and common decency that they reply to it

Not totally sure that applies to a CEO of the business the size of Virgin

Also can’t understand why you didn’t just ring them before cancelling?

[LuYu]

But what is your actual complaint?

You filled in a form cancelling your booking, and they cancelled it.

Expecting someone to call and double-check exactly what you wanted is strange. Maybe a few decades ago you'd expect a travel agent overseeing your transaction to do this, but not any more.