Customer hit with mystery $718 charge from Qantas after 30-call debacle

Robert Manning thought he had finally managed to resolve a dispute that saw him spend hours on the phone, but then he was hit with two mystery transactions.

Robert Manning thought he had finally rebooked a return flight from Sydney to Adelaide for his wife and son, when he was randomly hit with two unauthorised transactions from Qantas, totalling $718.82.

His actual tussle with the airline had started nearly a week before. Mr Manning had attempted to re-book his flights with his past flight credits on Sunday, August 28 when Qantas’ booking system refused him the purchase.

Another attempt to book the flights on Wednesday, August 31 saw the three return flights increase by $1300. During this period Mr Manning had spent ore than nine hours on the phone speaking to Qantas customer service representatives, before he switched to the airline’s Facebook Messenger system.

“They’ll put you on hold and you listen to music and then it just goes silent but your phone is still ticking over,” he told news.com.au.

“That happened 12 times. Then you ring back and you have to tell your story again.”

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Robert Manning was slugged with two mystery charges. Picture: Supplied

Finally a call with a customer service representative on Friday, September 2 resolved the problem. She was able to get Mr Manning and his family their three return flights at a price only slightly higher that the fare advertised on Sunday.

Or so he thought.

It wasn’t until an hour and a half after he noticed two unexplained charges on his bank statement for $115.44 and $603.38, which totalled to $718.82. Subsequent calls to the airline, also saw Qantas customer service representatives incorrectly advice him that “if there was a mistake,” it would have “come back automatically”.

This was just further “misinformation,” from the airline, said Mr Manning.

“I rang up again and they couldn’t tell me a booking reference or anything like that,” he said.

“I don’t understand how a random amount can be an incorrect charge without some sort of mistake they made at their end.”

Mr Manning was unable to place the two transactions. Picture: Supplied

While the problem was resolved nearly a week later on Thursday, September 8, Mr Manning estimates he made 31 calls to Qantas, and two calls to his bank during this process. The feat totalled nine hours on the phone across two weeks, before the error was fixed.

The longest call saw him stay on the line for two hours.

“I told the customer service person on that call that went for two hours that I’m not hanging up until I get a resolution,” he said.

He was finally able to fix the issue after going through his bank. A final tussle between ANZ and Qantas saw ANZ fax the transaction issue to the airline before the error was reversed.

Qantas apologises for ‘frustrating experience’

A spokesperson for Qantas said they’ve since reached out to Mr Manning and apologised for “frustrating experience”.

“This was an error made by an operator during a complex booking process and we are investigating what went wrong and how we can make sure it doesn’t happen again,” they said.

“The charge was an authorisation only, not a payment, and we contacted Robert’s bank to release the funds back to his account as soon as possible. The funds have now been returned.”

However Mr Manning said that the error prevented him from having “access to his funds”.

“My wife and son went shopping and my wife went to pay and there wasn’t any money in the account,” he said.

“No where along the line was there a hint of make good or compensation for the headache or the financial stress it could have caused.

“It shouldn’t matter whether or not we had the money or not, it was the fact that they took the money immediately and took a week to give it back.”

Mr Manning said he shouldn’t be penalised for the airline’s mistake. Picture: Sarah Marshall/NewsWire

Adam Glezer from Consumer Champion says that it should have been the “airline’s responsibility” to fix the problem. In his experience of consumer advocacy, the Melbourne-based man found it “very bizarre” that Mr Manning’s bank had to contact the airline, in order to reverse that billing.

“Firstly, you would imagine that the company would be able to look through the records and see the charges,” Mr Glezer told news.com.au.

“Secondly, if the customer has evidence on their bank statement that they were overcharged by the airline, that should have been more than enough for the airline to return the money as soon as possible.”

Qantas name tarnished

While Mr Manning is relieved that his family will be able to fly to Adelaide, he’s one of the many once-loyal customers losing patience with Australia’s national carrier.

Mr Glezer said there were “multiple reasons” why Qantas’ reputation has taken a battering over the past year. While Covid presented unavoidable road blocks, Mr Glezer said the amount of cancelled flights the airline has cancelled have damaged its reputation.

“You would imagine Qantas would be aware they were unable to put on the amount of flights they’ve had scheduled,” he said.

Instead, Mr Glezer says Australian consumer law is “geared towards the airlines”, with a “desperate” need for regulation in this area.

“We need laws in place that entitle customers to compensation for the cancellation of flights. This will act as a strong deterrent for airlines putting on flights that they know they are unlikely to cater for. They’ve got laws in place in the European Union but not in Australia.

“At the moment there’s no repercussions in place for airlines cancelling as many flights as they like.”

Consumer advocate Adam Glezer says Australians deserve better protection against airlines. Picture: Wayne Taylor/Herald Sun

Once a former Platinum Qantas member who took over 100 flights in a year, Mr Manning says his recent experiences has tarnished the Australian brand he once proudly help in high esteem.

“I gave them lots of opportunities lots of opportunities to just fix it. All I wanted was my flights and what I thought the customer was entitled to and it turned into a 12-day fight,” he said.

“They talk about being the ‘spirit of Australia’ but it’s like they’ve lost their personality.

“They can say whatever they want with their marketing and advertise their business frequent flyers, frequent flyers, and additional hotel bookings but I’m a little bit scared to book anything with them at the moment.”

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