K C.

6. Re: Cheapoair
Yesterday, 23:59

21. Re: Cheapo Air

Today, 19:22

Cheapoair is not a company you want to buy flights through. I recently bought 2 flights for my new employees arriving from overseas to my home here in Canada. Because of a U.S. immigration technicality, I had to cancel their flights through Cheapoair but chose to rebook through Cheapoair so that my new employees could fly a different route that wouldn't have them touch down in the U.S.A. Cheapoair said that they would arrange a credit for the first flights that were booked and then cancelled. Within the hour I received the credit. The credit said that there was a $0.00 USD cancellation fee and that I had a credit of $876.22 USD for the unused flights. I decided that I would like to use that credit with Cheapoair this coming weekend and fly return from Calgary to San Francisco. When I placed my call I ended up speaking with someone from India. The Cheapoair representative in India said that they didn't have the credit and that I should talk to West Jet because that's where my credit was. I called West Jet and they said that there was no credit with them. I called cheapoair back and ended up speaking with someone in India again. The Cheapoair representative at that time told me that West Jet had in fact refunded my flight back onto MY Visa card. I didn't recall ever seeing a credit on my Visa so I placed a call to Visa to inquire if there ever was a credit that I may have missed. My Visa representative said that there definitely wasn't any refund on my Visa from West Jet or Cheapoair. I called West Jet and they advised me once again that I wasn't in their system anywhere. West Jet advised me that all of their ticket numbers start with "838" and that I should call Cheapoair back and get the flight numbers for my two new employees. At this point I feel like I'm in a game of "piggy in the middle". I don't blame West Jet for this. I call Cheapoair back and once again my call lands in India. The Cheapoair representative confirms two ticket numbers that I can then take back to West Jet. I call West Jet and they CONFIRM that a refund was sent to the visa number that was provided to them by Cheapoair. The problem with the Visa number was that it wasn't my Visa number, but a Visa number that belonged to Cheapoair. I learned this when I called Cheapoair back to advise them that West Jet had already released the money to a Visa card but the Visa card wasn't mine. The Cheapoair representative put me on hold like they had done all day. ON HOLD AGAIN! The representative came back on the phone and confirmed that West Jet IN FACT had refunded the money back to Cheapoair's Visa. I asked when they planned on forwarding it to me. The Cheapoair representative said that two billing cycles (two months) were needed to execute the refund. The Cheapoair representative said that he would have to put me on hold AGAIN so that he could transfer me to their admin department. I held and then got cut off. As you can see in my account of the day so far, I've called Cheapoair several times and found myself on hold for a minimum of five minutes. Then when I do get through to someone, I have to go through all the details again and then guess what? I'm back on hold. I finally insist on speaking to a supervisor from North America. I figure maybe the office in India is too far removed from this American company. I finally get a call from the American office of Cheapoair and they agree that two billing cycles is needed to refund but then recognized that I was well past the two cycles (two months). The representative from Cheapoair takes down all of the details AGAIN and says she will go to her manager with the issue and get back to me. I wait and then finally get a call back. The American Cheapoair representative advises me that the credit they sent me was a credit and not a refund. In short, they got the refund from West Jet but were only "obligated" to give me a credit. I said "fine! Put the credit towards my flight from Calgary to San Francisco that leaves this Thursday and don't delay because there is limited space left and prices keep climbing. The Cheapoair representative then advised me that they refunded within 90 days if I wanted the refund instead of the credit. I asked her what happened to the two billing cycles that I was quoted earlier. She said that she and the people in India were mistaken and that it was a 90 day waiting period for all refunds. The whole time I'm dealing with this Cheapoair representative she's reminding me that she's going to work for me and that she's my friend and that I shouldn't be short on patience with her. She advised me that once again she would have to go to her managers and "fight" for my cause. I waited a few minutes and got the call back from her. This time she pointed out that she would like to apply my credit in place of the refund but couldn't because the ticket's were issued to the two new employees, and pointed out that she recognizes that my Visa bought the flight's, but the credit was for the use of the two employees because it was their name on the ticket and not mine. She said that if I waited another month I would get a refund of $720.00 USD. I asked why I wasn't getting the full $876.22 USD because the refund voucher from Cheapoair CLEARLY stated that I was being charged $0.00 USD for the cancellations of the said tickets. She just mumbled that I had to pay a cancellation fee. So the summary of this experience with Cheapoair is that I have to pay a cancellation fee even though their voucher CLEARLY states that there is no cancellation fee. I have to wait 90 days for a refund that they have long collected from West Jet. In essence Cheapoair is sitting on my money and collecting interest of which I will see none of it. Cheapoair has collected the refund from West Jet but chooses only to give me a credit, but not to me, but to the names of the passengers at that time? In short I'm out of pocket for my flight to San Fransisco this weekend and I may or may not get a refund from Cheapoair. All Cheapoair had to do was apply the money owed to me to the flights I needed this weekend and things would be fine and I wouldn't be adding to the long list of blogs warning people to stay away from doing business with Cheapoair. When I pointed this out to Cheapoair they weren't interested. I plan on reporting Cheapoair to both the BBB and to West Jet. I will NEVER do business with Cheapoair again and I suggest you don't either.