Hello Hive family! Hope you are doing great?
I'm back to fulfill the promise I left in my previous post about how I resolved a problem that swallowed over $1000 $100.
It was an inflight transaction issue I thought could be resolved easily through mails, I had no clue of how long it would take me to get it resolved, didn't see it coming. For over four years of being a travel agent, I have not experienced such issue.
Selfie
On 15th April 2023, in the morning, I booked a flight for two customers, made a transfer of the requested amount, (over $100, which was N111,000+, as at then) to the virtual account created to make payment for the flight booking. The transaction was successful on my end but the tickets took time to drop into my email box, the travel date was in two days time... I was a bit worried.
I sent an email to the airline and also put a call through the call center to lodge the complaint, the customer service representative said that, he saw my payment but yet to reflect in their system in order to send the flight tickets, he promised to resolve it. I gave some time and call back but another representative responded and claimed the transaction was not successful.
I called about five times that day and of course, about three different representatives answered but the problem was not resolved. I had to inform my customers about the issue and after 24 hours of no positive response from the airline, I advised my customers to change their travel date as well as the airline and they bought the idea.
The fourth time I called the airline, I was told to call back in an hour time to confirm if my payment had reflected in their system and when I did, there was no response. Then, I sent another mail with proof of flight booking, screenshot of the calls I made showing the duration of calls and time and screenshot of successful payment, the airline replied my mail and claimed the transaction was not successful at their end and advised me to visit my bank to lodge the complaint.
Edited the screenshot from my email
The next day I called again and one representative promised to check again. Well, the booking expired after some hours, I sent a mail and requested for a refund but they insisted that they were not responsible for a refund as they did not receive my payment and still advised to visit my bank.
I said to myself, "where did the money go? There is no way I'm going to believe this airline". I thought I was dreaming 😄 ...where on earth is this money?
Well, I received a new payment from my customers and successfully booked another flight for them on another airline. I've been their travel agent for over 3 years now.
After thinking about how to recover the money, I started my journey to the local banks involved. First, I visited the local bank of the airline to make complaint and there I knew it was a virtual account that was not recognized in the bank, only for virtual transactions for flight booking 🤦♀️ and was advised to visit my bank to request for "recall transaction".
I headed to my bank to confirm if the transaction was successful and if the recipient received it. I was on the queue when one of the bank customers came in angrily and complained of how he has been frequenting the bank to resolve a similar issue for over two months. In my mind I said, "hope mine won't take time to get resolved."
It was my turn and after l lodged my complaint, I got a positive response that the transaction was successful, then I requested for a recall transaction, I wondered how possible that could be...followed the instructions given to me at the bank of the airline.
Anyway, the customer service representative who attended to me was patient enough, explained to me and tried to track the transaction. She said that, resolving such an issue would take a long time. Well, I wasn't prepared for the journey but I had to prepare myself after she said so. All I wanted was to receive the money and refund my customers.
I told her that the airline claimed it did not reflect in their system. So how could I get the money back?... I asked her. She really wanted to help me, made extra effort and contacted the Head office to make further tracking of the transaction. I also had to speak to one of the customer service representatives at the head office one of the days I was in my bank in my location.
Actually, a case was created to resolve this issue. I visited my bank up to 8 good times, from April to August 2023 to resolve the issue. That wasn't funny but the good thing is that, my customers were patient enough and I kept updating them each time I visited the bank.
It took this long because, the response I received was, check again in 10-14 working days. At a point in time, I was advised to communicate with them on WhatsApp to avoiding wasting time going to the bank, but their response on WhatsApp was not encouraging at all.
One wrong advice from one of the bank customers was, "don't be calm for bank issues, if you make noise and scatter things, the money would be refunded". 😄😄...like it was magic. Well, I smiled 😊, definitely, I'm not doing that.
On the last day when I was assured it would be resolved, I set out and yes my bank resolved and closed the case, but they were not responsible for refunding the money. All tracking and efforts confirmed that the airline received the payment.
I appreciated the woman for her patience and efforts to recover the money for me, then she told me to keep her updated about the issue. This was 25th August 2023.
Still in the bank, my thought was, "why on earth did the customer service representatives at the airline give me a negative response concerning the payment"?
I went to the waiting room, I told myself that I won't leave the bank until I find a solution. I sat for a moment looking at the printed document of the case resolved.
Selfie photo in the bank
The thought of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) came to mind and right there, I sent an email to the airline, sent a copy to CBN and the woman who attended to me at my bank. CBN took up the case after I filled a form online. Then I left the bank back home, I was optimistic about this one.
Selfie photo in the bank
The thought of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) came to mind and right there, I sent an email to the airline, sent a copy to CBN and the woman who attended to me at my bank. CBN took up the case after I filled a form online. Then I left the bank back home, I was optimistic about this one.
Guys, the money was refunded on the 28th August 2023, within 3 days, what??? I was so excited. I woke up that morning and saw the credit alert. I also received an apology email from the airline.
Created a collage of the screenshots of refund alert and apology email
I immediately contacted my customers and requested for account details to refund them and it happened that they were ready to book their return flight and then sent the balance of the flight fare to book their flight.
Take Away
Finding a solution to a problem can be possible through calmness and reflection, I doubt the possibility of getting a problem fixed in an angry state. Stay calm and think about it, you will definitely find a solution. Also, my bluetooth earbud was on, listening to some cool songs, it helped.
It's a long read but worth it.
Thanks friends for spending some time on my blog today.
What keeps you calm when angry or do you express the anger as it comes or you take some time to think about the situation?
Love from @winanda ❤️