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

Complaining effectively should be on the English curriculum!

Even competently literate people I know struggle with it, coming across belligerent, unrealistic and uninformed. I learned "the tone" from my mum, who is an expert complaint writer.

You have to display clear understanding of your rights, of what happened, and lay out clear and reasonable steps for rectification - even if it was your mistake. In fact, I've often had companies gladly waive their T&C's because I make it plain to them that I understand it was my mistake and am pleasantly asking for a waiver. We're exactly the same in our business - if a customer shows us good will, we're more likely to show it back.

I understand your frustration because I always get awful CS from BA (for actual problems with their site) but you shouldn’t have filled out the cancellation form if you wanted something other than to cancel the whole booking.

When did you book the tickets and when did you cancel them? Was there a reason you wanted to cancel them ASAP, like you thought you would get a full refund within 24 hours as some US airlines do?

I think you should start again with this, calm down and contact CS to rationally explain your error. Explain you didn’t understand you were cancelling the booking and thought they would contact you as they asked for a number then ask politely if there’s anything they can do to help you. It’s your only hope at this point.

I’m guessing if the chief executive spent their time answering emails riddled with ANGRY CAPITAL LETTERS they’d not get much else done.

YABVU. Of course Virgin’s CEO is too busy to contact you. You’d be silly for thinking otherwise. He has a business to run and so he delegates - he can’t do everything himself. Hence he had complaints and customer service departments.

This is a situation entirely of your making. You cancelled the booking, so they did exactly what you asked and cancelled it. They ask for a phone number for any issues that may arise, such as incorrect bank details.

They would not phone up every single customer who ever wanted a refund. That would be madness.

You failed to do your part here and contact them to cancel only one ticket rather than just clicking and hoping for the best. If you want to do something they don’t offer as standard the onus is on you to contact them to let them know. They’re not mind readers.

You have caused this situation. Accept that and politey allow them to try to fix it.