2 stories to worry easyjet customers
santo...@googlemail.com
from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2009/05/easyjet.html
1. Customers paying twice for Easyjet flights
If you book with budget airline Easyjet, you might turn up at the
check-in desk to find you're going nowhere, all because of a suspected
fraud
that may never actually have happened.
Watchdog has received emails from Easyjet customers who have had their
flight bookings cancelled at the last minute. However, the only
explanation the airline would give was that the tickets they'd paid
for were no longer valid because of 'suspected fraud'.
The Easyjet passengers affected were left with a dilemma - pay up for
replacement tickets to complete their journey or give up and go home.
For some, this was followed by a struggle to get a refund, or even an
explanation from Easyjet.
Easyjet let down club DJ
Ibiza DJ Lee John was told by Easyjet that they were "not in a
position" to deal with his complaint after his flight booking was
cancelled
without prior notification because of a suspected fraud link. Lee
travels all over Europe DJing in clubs and was a frequent flyer with
Easyjet.
In April 2009, Lee was told at the airport that he couldn't use the
ticket he'd bought for an Easyjet flight to Spain. Lee needed to get
to a gig
so agreed to pay extra for a new ticket, to his surprise, Easyjet
allowed him to pay for it using the very same card they were
suspicious of.
As soon as he landed Lee called Easyjet to find out exactly what they
thought had gone wrong with his card, Easyjet told him to contact his
bank. Lee phoned his bank but was told that they had no record of any
fraudulent activity on his card. Despite calling and writing to
Easyjet
Lee has not been offered any compensation or a refund.
Lee describes Easyjet's customer service as 'terrible', his treatment
by Easyjet has left him feeling let down by a company he regularly
travelled
with. And Lee is not the only passenger to be less than satisfied with
Easyjet's handling these mysterious cases of suspected fraud.
Couple's short flight turns into long haul
Rosemarie Farrow and John Jenner bought plane tickets to Malaga, and
paid using Rosemarie's son's debit card. They arrived at Stansted for
an early morning flight, but, instead of being welcomed on-board, they
too were told their booking had been cancelled by Easyjet.
According to Rosemarie, the Easyjet employee that informed them of the
problem with their booking said their flight had been paid for by a
'fraud credit card'. Rosemarie was keen to stress that the booking
was, in fact, made on a debit card not a credit card and, as far as
she
knew, there was no problem with the card.
However, Easyjet staff refused to let the couple travel unless she and
John bought replacement tickets.
But, none were available on the flight they were originally due to fly
on, from Stansted. Rosemarie asked when the next one would be and was
told that it left later that afternoon, from Gatwick airport, on the
other side of London.
These replacement flights cost them over £400 on top of the tickets
that had initially been purchased. Not only that, but the couple also
had to
pay their bus fare to catch their flight from Gatwick airport.
Before they had even taken off, Rosemarie and John had already paid
out all of their holiday spending money. They eventually got to
Malaga,
some eight hours late.
Rosemarie was concerned about the suspected fraud that Easyjet
referred to. So she checked with the bank. They assured her there was
nothing wrong with the card.
It had no record of the fraud that caused Easyjet to cancel their
original booking.
Rosemarie and John felt that the incident marred their holiday and
were left disgusted by the incident.
Air Transport User's Council concern with Easyjet fraud system
James Fremantle of the Air Transport User's Council has also received
complaints about this problem.
"Easyjet has a system in place for looking out for fraudulent cards
which, of course, all passengers welcome. But, obviously, something
has
gone wrong with this system and it has picked up cards that are fine
and said that they are fraudulent," he said.
"This means the reservation has been automatically cancelled. It's a
real concern to us that this can happen and of equal concern is that
passengers weren't advised of this before they actually arrived at the
airport," he added.
Easyjet statement
"Fraud costs UK airlines tens of millions of pounds each year and all
major airlines have policies of how this can be minimised. Customers
are
deliberately not told that about the cancellation of their ticket,
because this could be part of an ongoing police investigation. Our
policy is to
refund customers for the ticket and associated costs when a genuine
mistake has been made. However, due to the potential ongoing
investigations we are unable to comment on individual cases."
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from: http://www.eyeonspain.com/forums/posts-long-4453.aspx
2. Credit details passed to a third party without consent.
On returning from holiday and checking my debit card account (which I
left at home) I noticed an £8 deduction by a company named
Shopper Discounts had been made during the period I was away.
After a quick 'Google' of the payees name it soon became clear this is
a scam.There were lots of sites with complaints about them.
When I booked my easyjet flights in April, at the stage where my
payment was taken, I now remember a pop up screen asking me to 'click
here' if I wanted a £10 discount against my next booking. Of course I
clicked but was then presented with a request for more info. I
remember abandoning replying part way through as it seemed a waste of
time and not worth filling in a load of details.
But that 'click' will cost me £8.00 per month if I do not cancel it.
----
It does seem that in these difficult time easyjet has become the
latest company to squeeze
as much as possible out of its customers by whatever means possible.
My suggestions:
1. This claim of fraud seems to be a loophole which needs to be
closed. The company
should have to give proof of the fraud within 7 days and if not refund
the customers
expenses or damages to the inturruption of their trip.
2. Companies should not be able to pass your dredit card details to a
3rd party
without your consent. If they down they should reimburse you.
dmike