Unauthorised Transactions from AlItalia, what to do?

spysect

Hey all, have another problem looming this time so bear with me!

On 20th August I purchased 3 adult tickets from www.alitalia.com from London to Venice.
The flight date was from the 7th September 2009 to 10th September 2009.
Insurance was purchased, which was used because of AlItalia losing our luggage when we got to Venice but that's another story.
There was a summer promotion that was sent by AlItalia to my email inbox for a discount to be applied to all flights in the months of July August and September. Needless to say, I used that eCoupon that they have sent and hence a discount was made.

PaymentFare : 402.00 GBP
Taxes : 258.00 GBP
Distribution charge : 9.00 GBP
Total price: 669.00 GBP
e-Coupon: -39.00 GBP
Final price: 630.00 GBP

So the final price as you can see is £630. This is when the best confusing bit comes. After the holiday, my Credit Card Statement came through charging £459.00 but has no discount applied (because of all the seprate transactions they made on the card, charging one person a time on the discounted fare and then charging again with the discount that was meant to be applied i.e. Full price ticket is £249, on my statement they charge £210 and another transaction of £13). So I thought AlItalia made a msitake and promptly rang their customer service. After having to go through rudeness (even though I was calm) they refused to admit that there was a eCoupon promotion at all! Even if I redirected them to the webpage on their own website which shows the eCoupon code. That was when the supervisor, who I presume has no experience in customer service says to email them and promptly hung up on me. However, according to my Credit Card Statement they have only charged 2 out of 3 people, hence the odd number.

So September 2009's Bill was £459.
Come October 2009, AlItalia refunded me after acknowledging that the eCoupon code was valid and refunded, £39. I know I owed them one flight ticket as this hasn't been charged onto my card yet.
Then December 2009 came, and lo and behold, the 3rd person ticket price came through... £210

If you add up these numbers (£459 - £39 + £210), I am sure that adds up to £630?

So if you agree with the maths applied, let me carry on with this. January 2010, the Credit Card Statement came and guess what.

Another charge from AlItalia of £171. Rang BarclayCard who unfortunately said they could not stop the transaction because of the date that the amount was charged. (All transactions from AlItalia was backdated for some reason which was 20th August, the day I purchased the tickets) They have asked me to contact the Airline to see what was going on, and sent a Fraud Form as BarclayCard has told me that AlItalia has been charging people's card randomly over the year.

However, upon ringing AlItalia, their reason for charging £171 was the most unique reason ever. Please remember I took and flew on this flight in September 2009. According to the Customer Rep at AlItalia, the prices reflect January 2010 hence the charge! She would not put me through to the supervisor as this was their final answer and promptly hung up on me.

Investigating the AlItalia Website reveals only one email address, [EMAIL="az@airlinecrm.com"]az@airlinecrm.com[/EMAIL] which I have emailed according with the statements (with personal details removed) asking for them why they have done this. However they have not replied.

A friend of mine told me that it was illegal to charge again for a flight that you have already taken, but is this true? And what are my next steps?

Thanks for bearing with me on such a long and confusing post!

RadoJo

Are AlItalia members of any trade body or ATOL equivalent? If so, then I would contact them directly and ask them to intervene on your behalf with AlItalia.

Failing that I would go back to your bank and ask them why they allowed this transaction to be processed so long after the initial payment and why they have allowed it to be backdated. If they are citing the length of time since the transaction as a reason not to pursue it, then they at least owe you an explanation of how this has been allowed to happen. Whilst AlItalia are clearly the ones in the wrong, there's no reason for your bank to aid them, particularly if the company are known for making extra transactions, so don't let them off the hook! Good luck - this sounds like one which might require all your patience!

spysect

AlItalia have that ATOL Log stmaped on the webpages, but I can't seem to find the option of contacting ATOL, do I contact AUC? (Airline Transport User Council)

RadoJo

Hmm - not sure I'm afraid as their website seems to be remarkably quite on the subject of how to complain - unsurprisingly perhaps! It may be worth posting this on the travel board to attract the attention of someone more in the know when it comes to the travel world who can give you more sepcific advice.