I'm scheduled to speak at a DAMA Chapter in the next few weeks. As a former DAMA chapter president, I'm always careful about booking the least expensive options for travel since DAMA chapters are not-for-profit organizations.
I start by looking at my preferred airline to see what it would cost to fly them, then make my way through their alliance partners, then do the bottom line Expedia.ca search. I pick the flights that are least expensive and don't require me to spend the night on a plane or at an airport. So for this trip, USAir came up as the least expensive (and I don't have to take a red eye or stay overnight in any airport). Bonus! The base fare was only $370, which is quite a deal these days to go anywhere. Of course, the taxes, security fees, agricultural inspection fees, immigration fees and fuel surcharges add another $110, but that's the way the airline business wants to play pricing these days. So I booked my flights through USAir.com and was presented with a confirmation page on the website that looked like this:
You can see that the base fare is $371.54 and the Total Fare is $481.05. Both of these amounts are most likely in US Dollars since I purchased this from a US website.
A few minutes later I get an e-mail confirmation of my purchase with the same confirmation number/locator number. However, this e-mail has different amounts:
Now the amounts have mysteriously changed to a base fare of $408.02 and a Total Fare of $517.53 . US Air has also added a Canadian dollar amount of $451.75.
My first guess at the source of these new numbers was that I was seeing Canadian dollar amounts, but that doesn't fit, as the exchange rate today is about $1 USD = $1.018 . That translates to close to par, or equal, give or take a little under 2 cents. At any rate (pun intended), $517.53 is not the US Dollar equivalent of $451.75 CDN, nor are either of those figures an exchanged amount of $481.05.
So given my luck with travel issues of all kinds, I call USAir to ask what I was actually charged. Of course, there's no website phone number for calling about random data being spewed by their automated systems, so I call reservations. The woman I spoke with said that my credit card was charged only the first amount, $481.05 and that the odd number I was seeing on the e-mail were due to the fact that the Canadian dollar was so much weaker than US dollar (not these days, lady). Besides, if that were true, why do I have three different numbers? Are we trying to triangulate the Euro, too?
I worry that the reason she thinks I was charged this amount is that she is looking at the same data I was when I was reading the confirmation page after purchasing my tickets. However, what data is the e-mail receipt system reading? Perhaps the actual accounting system? The payment authorization system? Someone else's flight information? Some systems that mysteriously adds fees or increases prices?
When I pushed for more information, she gave me a phone number for Accounting, so that they can help me. I call this number, but as you probably already expected, this toll free number only leads to recordings about how to write a letter to USAir to dispute charges.
I call USAir again and am told that I have to contact website help, as they are the ones sending out the e-mails. I doubt this, but I use the contact form on the website to note my information and my issue with their information quality. The website contact form has a confirmation page that looks like this:
Notice that it says that someone will get back to me in 24-48 hours. The website system also sends me a follow up confirmation that looks like this:
Notice that the response time period goes from 1-2 days to 5-6 days. It seems to be perfectly fitting that a customer who is given three different, inconsistent pieces of information about how much I was charged to be given:
- Incorrect information about how to get this resolved
- An incorrect phone number
- Inconsistent information as to when or who will respond.
Anyone want to guess how much my credit card is actually going to be charged? My guess right now is for the lower amount, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out that there were three charges making their way to my bank, or none...or even a fourth random number.
Come on USAir, let's get your act together. Get your systems talking to each other. Yes, I know I get what I paid for. I could have paid about $500 more to book with another airline, but I didn't. I chose you. Perhaps I could get a reasonable response as to what I'm actually going to pay for these tickets. And maybe, just maybe, it will be the price that you promised when I booked the tickets.