* Thank you to everyone that has joined me on this journey, for reading and sharing your support*

A trip of a lifetime, ruined

 I'm not letting this ruin a thing!

IT WAS NAB ALL ALONG!

A little while ago, we asked my son who is significantly impacted by Autism, what he would like to do for his 18th in Jan 2024. He wanted to go to Florida to visit Universal Studios.

That was out of the question. I will never set foot in Florida. 

But LA? That could be workable. 

So, for the last 3 or 4 months we have been researching and planning a family trip to LA & NY for 4 weeks over Christmas. 

For flights, I knew that I only wanted to fly Air NZ or Qantas, for comfort and ease from Melbourne. They are easier and have more direct flights, which is better to do with a young man that may be overwhelmed by long flights, long stop overs or transit through other airports.

 

READY TO GO

After some research, we noticed flights were just creeping up more and more, so we wanted to bite the bullet and take advantage of some reduced flight costs and decided we would fly with Qantas. 

 

DAY 1 - 26/7/23

On the morning of the 26th, I sat at my computer and started trying to book my tickets. 

SIDE NOTE: The Qantas website is one of the most glitchy, slow, problematic websites I have ever encountered. Flights weren't saved, I got kicked out from ticket searching, redirected back to the home page, or encountered pages that were utterly unresponsive. Not sure how many times I saw the "This page cant be found" or the "404" error. An utter joke for Australia’s premier airline.

 

I finally successfully settled on some flights and proceeded to payment. I attempted not once but 5 or 6 times to make a payment, continually getting a "Card error”, but it was never clear what the issue was. 

I thought I might try a different card. So used my savings Visa Debit. I had transferred some cash from a credit account into my savings account so that I could use it. 

Using the "pay per person" option, I used 2 cards for payment, $3000 on my Qantas Platinum Mastercard and then $6000 on my Visa  Debit card - attached to my everyday banking account. 

No success. Still had issues with payment. 

I gave up. Defeated. I wasn't going to get my sale tickets. I'd just have to pay a higher fare when I could be bothered. No, perhaps I'd use a travel agent instead.  

Headed into work. 

When I got to work, I jumped into my savings account, around 11.30 and organised for the money I deposited to go back to my credit account. All my money was still in my account. 

 

DAY 2 - 27/7/23

I headed into work and made a stop to pick up some things from the shops. Went to pay and DECLINED. 

Hold up, there was plenty of money in my account yesterday. 

I check the app. 

BANG - I see a minus sign followed by $5491. My savings account is overdrawn by $5490!.

 

THE FUCK?

I panic. 

How could that have happened.

I sit in my car. I've left that bit of shopping behind and I'm trying to work out how to put petrol in my car for the 150kms I have to do for work. 

I check the transactions...there it was a debit from Qantas for $5976.

I contact the wife. 

Me: 'Qantas have debited our account for flights I tried to book yesterday. The account is overdrawn.'

Her: 'What?

Me: 'Did you receive any confirmation or a receipt for tickets?'

We both check our emails, junk emails, everything. Nothing. 

I check the Platinum card. There was a pending amount of $3001 for tickets. 

 

But I had no tickets to show for the transaction. 

 

How and why did Qantas make a transaction at all? There was no successful purchase made. 

 

Call 1 to Qantas Customer Care - 26/7/23 (45 minutes)

I have slight issue with international contact centres. Especially those employed by enormous, wealthy Australian businesses. I have no issue with the people, I just do not believe they are able to provide the right service and support to Australian customers. 

My first call with Customer Care was abysmal. She did not know what was wrong and continually told me that the "payment was pending" and that "it will just fall off in 5-7 business days".

She confirmed that I had not paid for tickets (but I did) and there was no booking reference or associated with my name. 

But she could not explain to me WHY THERE WAS A PAYMENT TAKEN FROM MY ACCOUNT. 

'We don’t have that information, sir.'

When I explained my account was overdrawn by thousands of $$ and asked what I would do, she simply hung up the phone. 

 

Call 2 to Qantas Customer Care - 26/7/23 (1 hour)

A slightly better experience, but the same rhetoric. 'The payment will drop off'. I assume they mean 'bounce back'. 

But why had they taken the payment in the first place? 

'Contact your bank as the payment is pending, we don't have it.'

 

Ok, so I figure the money is in transit between by bank and Qantas. I understand that. I respect that. I'd normally accept that. 

 

But why had they completed a transaction at all?

 

I contact my bank, they can't help, except lodge a dispute. I will have to wait. 5-10 days for resolution. 

 

But no one could explain how I would be able to get to work, buy food, purchase medication (a fortnightly expense due the following weekend) or even just pay my bills. 

 

I’m trying desperately to work it out, my anxiety and stress at an all-time high. Not only have  missed cheaper flights, I'm beginning to doubt we will ever get to go on our trip, our accommodation all paid for and unlikely to be refunded. 

But how will we eat? Drive and I dunno, go to a movie?

 

The thing you have to realise is that my account is overdrawn. I can't borrow money; I can't deposit what little money I have into that account as it will just go towards the overdrawn amount. Even when I get paid, this will only go towards the overdrawn amount. Meaning I won’t be able to pay my regular bills, mortgage or live. 

 

I lodge a complaint with Qantas and the Aviation Ombudsman. 

I post a tweet to Qantas. 

No reply.

DAY 3 - 28/7/23

I check my account first thing in the morning. My account is still overdrawn. 

At 11.30 I make my first call to Qantas Customer Care. 

CALL 1 to Qantas 28/7/23

No help. They keep telling me I haven’t paid for anything. I tell them I have, and my account is overdrawn. They want proof of an authority number from the bank. 

 

I mean, I'm looking at my account as I'm talking to them. I can see what I have paid:

Noone can help. They can't explain to me why they took payment.

I demand answers. I demand to speak to a supervisor or someone in Finance or even in Australia that can help. They can't do any of that. 

'You have to wait for your complaint to be actioned. It can take 72 hours.'

No joke, I may not be functioning in 3 days. 

I'm in a panic. I'm thinking about all the things I need to pay for. How will I be able to work my casual job if I can't drive there? Will I get the sack? I can do some things from home, but not everything. What about bread, milk, the basics?

I litterally can't access any money from anywhere. QANTAS HAS IT ALL.

CALL TO THE BANK 

NAB were very helpful this time round and confirmed that I have indeed been charged and payment is on its way to Qantas, showing as pending, but its definitely on its way to them. But I still have to wait for them to reject it, which can take up to 7 days - this I already know. I get a reference number for the transaction. I lodge a dispute with a  10-15 day turn around. 

Noone can cancel this transaction. My money is floating in the eather and Qantas can't find it.

CALL 2 to Qantas - 28/7/23
 

I get a lad who copped the absolute brunt of my frustration and anxiety. I explain everything for the 4th time. He explains everything that I already know. He cant find a booking. Can't see a payment. Can't do anything. Tells me to wait for my complaint to be looked at. 

They can't escalate it, can't put me onto a supervisor. Can't reach finance. Can't do FUCK ALL. I threaten a solicitor (which is looking more and more likley), the media and ask him how I am supposed to pay for my essentials - ignoring the irony that he is porbably paid $3 an hour to listen to folks like me. 

I am horrified that this can happen. The stress and anxiety I have experienced in the last 2 days have put a dappener on what is supposed to be joyous. 

3pm: BP reading 132/97 - Yeah, thats stress.

I've recorded and uploaded a video to Youtube, my second in 2 days attempting to shame Qantas into escalation or action. I tweet it out. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu7Wp5Bjtuc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VEezuhV89g

I respond to my email from Qantas Customer care with more details. Please note the inclusion of the reference number.

I get this automated reply. *eyeroll emoji*

I upload this blog as a tweet with some serious threats.

Late in the day, Qantas replies:

I send a number of PM, which still not been read. 

And then the piece de resitance, I get this email from Qantas Customer Care:

To which I reply "THERE IS NO FUCKING BOOKING".

 

So no one is going to help me because all their customer support is in another country, there is no system to track customer data, and every time I speak with them, I will need to retell my story. 

 

What kind of horrid service is this. 

 

Time for a complaint with Consumer Affairs. 

 

I've tweeted everyone I can think of on the Qantas board, including Todd Sampson - which I question his moral fortitude to even be there as an independent member. 

DAY 4 - 29/7/23

I get up at 5.45am becuase I cant sleep. I am ruminating on so much. I've had offers from family and friends to 'spot me some cash', which I politley decline. 

I check the bank and yep, even though I was hoping it would have all 'bounced back', my account is still in debit, but as I feared, I'd received a payment for some work and I cant even access that money. 

That payment has gone straight onto the overdrawn amount. 

I tweet a few more people, in particular Mr Gavin Silbert KC, after I read an article about his efforts taking Qantas to court for unused travel credits. 

I used to work for Consumer Affairs Victoria. I was a team leader there and would hear many instances of people taken advantage of by airlines - which in Australia are unregulated and not obliged to meet any specific industry standards. Even Australia's Consumer law was thwarted by peak bodies and lobbiests from the aviation industry to protect their interests. 

I am stunned that still, nearly 10 years later, people are really at the mercy of of airlines. They don't have to offer you a refund. They don't have to compensate you for their stuff ups. If that was the case, they'd go broke!

I ponder contacting Qantas again, but decide that I will leave it til Monday. 

QANTAS CALLS - 4pm  29/7/23

I receive a call from a lady in Hobart who is managing my Customer Care complaint. I'm surprised. Surprised its a call from Qantas, surprised its a call from someone in Australia and surprised it is a call on a Saturday. 

We chat it through the issues. She sounds apologetic but maintains that there has been no payment taken and they have not done it illegally. 

Honey, its illegal when you dont have my express authority to deduct money from my account. Its also illegal to change a consumer for services not rendered. 

I explain that I dont understand why their financial system even needed to deduct a payment in the first place. She explains she can see an attempt and that it was cancelled at their end. 

I start forming the picture that she doesn't really know why their system would take a payment at all.

She says "I've never seen this happen before." I follow this with, "I still don't understand why the system needed to attempt to take payment when all attempts to purchase online were cancelled."

I go through everything:

* I attempted numerous times to make a purchase for tickets between 8 and 9am. 

* The system rejected all attempts.

* Qantas deducted a payment from my account later that day. 

* There is no booking associated with it. 

* My account is overdrawn. 

She explains:

Using their finance system, she can see;

* They attempted to take funds at 11:43am for $5976.00

* This was 'approved' by the system at the time. 

* This transaction was 'Cancelled' (by their system) at 11:44am. 

So their finance system shows an attempt to withdraw funds - but no one can still explain to me WHY? There was no authorised trasaction at my end aside from pressing a "CONFIRM" button for payment, which was rejected at the time - 2 hours prior. 

I get offered tickets at the sale price I was trying to originially purchse, they are happy to do that for me, as compensation (I still have to purchase them). I advise that after all this mess, I really don't want anything to do with Qantas. But I will think about it. 

I explain the financial predicament. That if its not sorted by next wednesday, I won't see a penny of my pay. We both agree with an air of hope that this payment or the system or whatever, resolves itself Monday morning. 

She promises a return call Monday afternoon. 

I am still at a loss. Why and HOW did a payment sneak through? And I wonder, has this happened to anyone else.

DAY 6 - 31/7/23

First thing I do when I wake is check the bank. Still overdrawn. 

I wait til after 9am and check again. Still overdrawn. I figure its going to be that way til tomorrow. 

A mate has lent me $300 so that means I can get to work. But I am anxious about my pay this week and hope that its resolved before pay day Wednesday.

Phone Call - Adam Glezer

This morning I had a call from a consumer Advocate - Adam Glezer. (If you are having difficulty with an Airline, please reach out to him - www.consumerchampion.com.au/?fbclid=IwAR2ktq1vWEEn_XMpZ-e_mIzfLdcUwyxi4ZcJZQ4kpVJHpK8Jqcq6uu1e0_s )

We discussed my issue and he highlights with me his frustration with the airline industry and suggests that my issue is similar to others he has helped. We share in our disbelief that this can happen to regular Joes. 

It makes me wonder...how many just give up? Or how many have to fight for their rights for longer than a few days. 

He asks me to keep him in the loop as I have a promised call with Qantas after 4pm. 

D-Day (Wednesday) is fast approaching.

Phone Call - Yahoo News

I have a lovely chat with a Yahoo News journo that was interested in my story. They reported on another Qantas problem with Mr Gavin Silbert KC earlier this year. 

They clear some details and ask for a pic of my family - so I send one of us enjoying our time in Qld earlier this year - flights courtesy of Virgin. 

Waiting at Tulla for our Virgin flight to Gold Coast Feb 2023 

PHONE CALL - Qantas - 31/7/23

I get my return call at 4pm as promised. Its a short call. I confirm that the "payment" has indeed not bounced back, even though I was expecting it should have by now. 

She promised an urgent escalation to "see if we have captured the funds". Becuase its late in the day, I wont have this resolved today, so have to wait til tomorrow to see if they can find the money. 

MY QUANDRY

At the core of this issue is that Qantas have taken money from my account. Yes, being overdrawn is challenging and if not sorted by pay day (wednesday) is going to put me under extreme financial duress, but the issue really is - WHY DID THEY RUN A PAYMENT REQUEST FOR A FAILED ONLINE TRANSACTION? 

The payment request that was honoured by my bank should NOT HAVE HAPPENED in the first place. I did not authorise the transaction with an online purchase. They captured my financial details, cancelled the request at their end, but proceeded to take my money! 

Thats illegal in my eyes. Am I wrong in thinking that?

No one has provided me with an answer as to why this has occured and I fear I will never get one. I think Qantas are just hoping that it will all bounce back and resolve itself. I'll never know why it happened in the first place. 

AND NOW I WAIT AGAIN 

DAY 7 - 1/8/23

I check the bank first thing upon waking. 

Overdrawn.

I sigh. This is going to be long and drawn out - I can feel it. 

I sit and wait for a call from Qantas all day. But while waiting I double check with NAB. The lady I had spoken to from Qantas was certain it was a bank issue. 

NAB confirms that they can see a transaction request, withdrawing $5976 from Qantas and that it has indeed left my bank account. 

I ask why it shows as pending on the app. He confirms that it hasnt reached its destination as yet, which he even said 'was surprising'. 

I ask if they can cancel the payment. He says that was not possible as the funds have already left my account, effectively its now up to Qantas. 

PHONE CALL - QANTAS 1/8/23

I get my promised return call from Customer Care. 

The only question she cares about is , 'Has it bounced back yet?' 

I tell her it hasn't then start to push my narrative of not understanding the technicalities of how this could happen.

She jumps in to tell me that their 'Finance Guru' has done a deep dive into their financials and cannot see they are holding any money, so they can't do a refund even if they wanted to. 

'There are no funds holidng under this card as they are showing as refused and cancelled. As I said the other day, if that happens, we don't caputure the funds.'

It slowly dawns on me that they are looking for a physical payment - meaing their focus is solely on 'do we have the money' rather than 'why did we draw the money out of his account?'

I again push the confusion. How did this happen? Where was the failure? Why did you run a transaction request for a failed purchase?

She runs her narrative that their finance guru is speaking directly with the NAB guru and 'We don't have your money', AND, 'I really don't think this is a filure on our end' - pushing responsibility to NAB. 

Hmm. 

'Generally when we cant take the funds, it bounces back to the customer. So if we had of caputuired the funds we could have refunded you.'

'But you ran a transaction for nothing.'

'The transaction was run as per the screenshots I showed you, we don't know why the funds were deducted.'

And there it was. 

We don't know why the funds were deducted. 

I state, 'So somewhere between you not knowing why the funds were released and the bank releasing the fund theres a failure there.' (I'm trying to push the narrative that a financial IT system has failed)

'There has been a failure there, but to be honest I don't think is on our end.'

She tells me they are looking into it and I should get a call tomorrow - from her. I ask how long this will take, explain that tomorrow is D-Day and she can't give me a timeframe, and hopes this will all be sorted overnight. 

Reputational Damage - Do they care?

I worked at McDonalds as a young teen. First job, Worked my way into management. The owners, John and Denise were multimillionaires. I remember John speaking to me one day about the power of repeat business. The goal was to always get people to come back. Thats where the money was. Good service, food (ick), experiences, keep people returning. 

'Thats why we created the Happy Meal', John said one day as we looked at some kids enjoying a birthday party. 'And kids parties.'

The adage of 'get em young' was cetrainly a mantra for John. 

I have only flown Qantas  once in my lifetime, for a domestic flight. Everything else has been Virgin or Ansett, or international carriers like Air New Zealand, Continental, or United. 

Planning this trip, we have been focussed on finding the most suitable flights. I have a friend who uses only Qantas and has never had a problem. I have another that collects millions of Frequent Flyer points to use for her tips overseas. I thought about giving Qantas a go. I figured if the experience was great, I would become a repeat customer, in spite of their negative reputation. 

So, to assist in funding the trip, we obtained a Platinum Credit Card, signed up for Frequent Flyer points and started looking around for flights with Qantas or their affiliates. 

But now, I regret it. My hope of having comfort and ease flying a long-haul route, with Australias premier airline, is dashed. I don't think I will ever fly with them. And it saddens me because it seems like they don't even care. And I guess they don't have to do they? They are the biggest airline in the country. They own a number of airlines within our borders. They are the only option for some customers and they have the monopoly. On top of all of that is the fast they are unregulated. They are under no obligation to do anything for anyone. 

And I wonder...what would it take to change it? The negative stories don't seem to be making a lick of difference. 

30 years ago, Qantas had one of the worlds leading reputations for service, safety and experiences. Our country seems built on the back of the Flying Kangaroo. I mean, I've wept at the ads. Marvelled at John Travolta being their ambassador, analysed the scene in Rain Man where Dustin Hoffman's character says he wont fly anyone other than Qantas. Thats a mighty reputational power to have. But now, I doubt any writer would want to include them in something positive. 

When I spoke to Adam today, the consumer advocate, he seemed to agree. He fights day and night for consumers being taken advantage of, or not having their rights recognised. 

Adam points out, that my issue could actually be a both a Qantas AND NAB issue. He agrees that Qantas had no need to debit my account. 

I tell him I have little hope in the "escalation" of my issue to their finance guru - because they are looking for a physical deposit of money in their account - which they wont find. 

Adam reminds me that 'escalated' is the most overused word in customer service and carries little to no weight whatsoever. 

My story gets media attention:

This blog receives media attention - Yahoo News

An 11pm Epiphany

I was laying in bed trying to sleep. D-Day was on my mind. I was thinking about all the effort I would need to go to tomorrow to make sure I can access my pay. I'll have to change my pay destination to an account without a debit card. I'll have to order a debit card for it. I'll have to go into the bank and withdraw funds for the week. Sigh.

I start talking out loud, waking my wife. I'm talking about how I don't understand the system, how it could happen and why they drew funds from our cards. 

Then it hits me. The Customer Care woman has only been looking at ONE transaction - the transaction on my Visa Debit card attached to  my savings account. Shes been pushing the blame nack to NAB because thats where the money was deducted from. Shes completley missed there were TWO seperate transactions from to different payment sources. 

My bank - $5976

My Qantas Platinum card - $3001.20

It can't be a bank issue (solely). Qantas' system ran a payment request from 2 cards almost 3 hours after my failed attampts to purchase tickets. 

So I send off an email in anger. 

"Hi *****. 

 

I want to make this really clear to you so that you can pass this on to those that need it. 

 

I’d also like to know that this matter has been shown to senior management, whether that is regional managers or someone higher up. 

 

This is NOT a NAB issue. You’ve said a couple of times that you don’t think it’s a Qantas issue. I know that finance isn’t your area of expertise, but it is clear this is Fair and square a Qantas issue. 

 

It’s just dawned on me that it can only be a Qantas finance issue because there were two transactions on two separate credit cards. 

 

The Qantas system ran these transactions when your online system rejected it originally. For some reason AT QANTAS, my 2 card details were captured and a transaction was run. 

 

Don’t forget, the total amount of these transactions is almost $9000. You’ve only been looking at one transaction and moving the assumed failure to NAB. 

 

Even though I pressed “confirm” to purchase the tickets that gave authority for the tickets I was attempting to buy at the time, I was not for Qantas to deduct funds for any other reason at any other time.

 

You’re in breach of my rights as a consumer, you’ve taken payment for a service not rendered. Just because you don’t have the payment showing in an account somewhere doesn’t mean you didn’t take the money. 

 

Qantas did this and did so in error.  

 

If this isn’t resolved in 48 hours, I’m engaging a lawyer.

 

Jason"

D-DAY - 02/08/2023

This morning all funds were reversed and back in my account. 

I get a call this morning from Customer Care to confirm that Qantas had received confirmation from NAB. 

Obviously for privacy, neither organisation could share personal details with each other as they did not have my express consent, but apparently, this was in fact a NAB issue all along. Confirmed by NAB, in writing. 

When the issue was found by NAB, that they were in fact HOLDING my funds, they cancelled the transaction and they were released back into my account immediately.

I've spent 7 days berrating Qantas - granded some of which has been warrented - but I should have been berrating NAB all along. 

NAB, my bank after 15 or so years, could not resolve my issue with my very first call last Thursday. 

I've been placed in unnecessary financial duress by my own bank; the bank I have been a loyal customer of. A bank, when I called last Thursday, Friday, and yesterday, said there was nothing that could be done.  

Now, you'd think after recognising this error, and the duress it placed me under, they would call. 

Guess who hasn't received a call? 

Moi. 

Shame on them. Shame indeed.