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airfare.com - wtc airfare charged me for a ticket I never received. They then charged me an EXTRA $350 "cancellation charge" because i didnt use the ticket! Bethesda Maryland
I tried to book an airfare on the website WWW.AIRFARE.COM on Sunday night around 12 midnight 08-23-09. The airfare was for the next day 08-24-09 leaving Chicago O'Hare Airport at 11am. I have used various other websites to book air travel in the past without any problems. When I booked it, they had an extra $40 fee because I was using a non-USA credit card (the card is from my bank in Australia). This seemed odd but not alarming. I then proceeded and they presented me with some terms and conditions. Nothing too special there. I then booked the ticket, they emailed me saying that my booking was made but my flight was not confirmed until I filed out and faxed some forms with a copy of my credit card and passport. I called the website to tell them I do not have access to a fax or scanner and it also seemed that if i filled out these forms they were going to charge me again!! They told me to go to a library and do this in the morning, the flight was at 11:00am, and the library opens at 9:00am. And United Airlines (the airline I was supposed to fly with) requires all passengers on international flights (which is what I booked) to be at the airport at least 2 hours before flying. This isn't even including time to travel to the airport. I told the customer service center of the website, but they wouldnt listen that there was nothing I could do. I asked to talk to a manager, to which they replied "they just left". And I should call back in the morning at 9:00am. I called my bank in Australia, and they informed me that the company had already charged my card and they couldn't cancel it. I then went to bed at around 3am. I Woke up the next day at 8:30am tried to call them to talk to managers/supervisors etc. The first time I called the person told me he was unable to transfer me, and I should call back and he gave me two extension numbers of "managers". I could both of the numbers but no one responded. I called back another customer service agent, he told me "they just arrived" and transferred me to another number that also did not answer. So I called back for a third time and spoke to a different person, who told me that there are "no managers", there is simply a "authorization centre". He then told me to call back the other numbers AGAIN. At this point I still thought I might have had a chance but couldnt even talk to anyone till 9:30am. They still said they would not issue a refund but I didnt have a ticket..... They had charged me for nothing. I then checked my online back account balance and found that they charged me an $350 extra, without any authorization at all or even mentioning it to me!! When I called up to ask about the second charge they said they knew nothing about it. I then asked if it was a "cancellation charge" and the man said it was part of their conditions. And made it worse was that he was rude and offered nothing but that explanation and said he had to go, before hanging up on me. So I was originally charged $605 for the ticket, for which my bank charged $7.50. I was then charged another $350 and my bank charged another $7.50. I never receieved a ticket. I never received a refund
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Paul
United States of AmericaSCAM
#4Consumer Comment
Fri, September 17, 2010
I know exactly what you feel, I got scammed also by these so called "whole sellers/travel agents". Their scam is that they issue tickets, and then they VOID them before the airline charges them. Then, they change your credit card for the full amount under a so called "agent fee". If you call their Customer Service line, they give you the same run-around story that "well Policy, Terms and Regulations indicates NO REFUND< TRANSFERS< CHANGES ETC. " .....because this is a part of the SCAM! this way they keep your money, and they think they can get away with it!!!! They are wrong, because they are illegally stealing money out of your bank account under different pretexts.
All this information was confirmed with an airline investigator!!!!! So, to those of you who states that the cancellation it's done by the airline, you're full of it, cause that is not true.
FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, OFFICE OF CONSUMER PROTECTION OR THE STATE ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, AND LET'S PUT THEM OUT OF BUSINESS PERMANENTLY!!!!!!
THEY DO NOT DESERVE TO STAY IN BUSINESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And if you observed they always have Copy/Paste replies.
Special Operations Team
Bethesda,Maryland,
United States of America
Company Response
#4UPDATE Employee
Fri, July 30, 2010
Airfare.com understands that identity theft and fraudulent charges happen every day when making online bookings. For this reason airfare.com is 100% committed to protecting cardholders from fraudulent transactions. We work with the law enforcement authorities, VeriSign security officials, airport authorities, AntiFraud.com, Internet Fraud Watch, Merchant Fraud Squad and Merchant 911 on a regular basis. The authorization form was a required document to prove the identity of the card holder. We have requested this form with the copies of the credit card and photo ID only to protect our customers, not to commit any type of fraud. 97% of our bookings are to international destinations and many of the destinations have a high incidence of fraud so we have to double check for fraud frequently in these cases to protect our customers. By doing this process we have identified hundreds of cases of fraud ever month and report them to the authorities.
However, as of July 14th, 2010, we are now using a new system that will help us in protecting our customers from identity theft; so, we will not be asking for our customers to send in copies of their credit card and photo id. In certain cases we will still request the authorization form with requested copies and dollar verifications. Hopefully in by doing this process we can still protect all of our customers from identity theft, fraudulent charges, and still provide 100% customer satisfaction to all of our clients.
Karl
Clovis,New Mexico,
U.S.A.
Check with the Airline
#4Consumer Suggestion
Sat, October 24, 2009
Did you check with the airline to see if you were booked? Why didn't you deal directly with the airline in the first place if you had to fly out the next day?