Misinformation about policies leading to unnecessary charges

FUDbyDesign

Hi,

Last year, I had a pair of Amex BA 2-4-1 companion vouchers which I wanted to use to book family flights on BA for the summer of 2024 (late July to end of August). When I enquired about when the reward flights would become available, I was told that they are only made available 360 days prior to the departure date so I'd have to wait until August/September before I could book both the outbound and return flights. Since these flights tend to sell out quickly, I was concerned that if I waited until August, the July outbound flights would have sold out. I was advised to book both flights in July and then later change the dates of the return flights when they become available in August, at a cost of £35 per passenger (a family of four, so £140). I asked if I could book the outbound flight in July on the 2-4-1 vouchers, then later add the return flights to the booking.  However, I was told that that would not be possible without requiring additional vouchers, which I didn't have.

Come September, I saw the return flights I wanted and called BA to get the dates changed. 
As I was speaking to a call centre agent, she told me that in fact it would have been possible to add the return flights at a later date to the same booking, using the same 2-4-1 vouchers, and thus save myself this cost.  I was completely flabbergasted!  I then raised a claim with BA which was ignored, and after chasing them up for 3-4 months they finally told me the case was closed and that they would not be reimbursing me.  They suggested I take this up with the information commissioner if I wished to pursue this further.

On 26th January 2024, I lodged a Subject Access Request with the ICO to demand copies of all recordings of the calls I made to BA Executive Club between between January and July 2023.  Today, exactly one month later (today), I got a reply stating that "We have been unable to locate the requested call recording(s)".  Unbelievable.

So I seem to have hit the rhetorical brick wall. Where do I go from here? Could/should I take this to small claims court? Do I just chalk it up to bitter experience and move on?  

Mark_d

I will shortly be doing what you should have done - buying the outbound flights and then buying the return flights a week later.  I have researched online that the way to do this is buying the outbound flights with the voucher, buy the return flights using avios, and then linking the flights to get some avios refunded.

I have learned the hard way (regarding gym membership) that you can't rely on what staff tell you on the phone.  You need to learn how schemes work and then persist until staff do what they're supposed to do.

Honestly I don't think you would have much hope in court.  £140 has been wasted, which s a shame, but you have benefitted from using two vouchers...so overall you've not done too badly.

eskbanker

FUDbyDesign said:

I then raised a claim with BA which was ignored, and after chasing them up for 3-4 months they finally told me the case was closed and that they would not be reimbursing me.  They suggested I take this up with the information commissioner if I wished to pursue this further.

No idea why they'd direct you to the ICO, it's nothing to do with them?

FUDbyDesign said:

On 26th January 2024, I lodged a Subject Access Request with the ICO to demand copies of all recordings of the calls I made to BA Executive Club between between January and July 2023.  Today, exactly one month later (today), I got a reply stating that "We have been unable to locate the requested call recording(s)".  Unbelievable.

Again, not sure why you'd go to the ICO here - perhaps you mean BA's data protection officer?  It would be BA who'd have any recordings, but if they're no longer stored over six months later then you're out of luck on that front, there's nothing obliging them to retain call recordings for any specific duration, unless they specify this in any data retention policy.

FUDbyDesign said:

So I seem to have hit the rhetorical brick wall. Where do I go from here? Could/should I take this to small claims court? Do I just chalk it up to bitter experience and move on?  

If BA have refused to accept that you were misinformed by their staff then I think small claims is the only remaining option, but I'm not convinced that you have a strong enough case here to be honest, in terms of actually holding them legally (as opposed to morally) liable for your extra costs.

FUDbyDesign

Mark_d said:

I will shortly be doing what you should have done - buying the outbound flights and then buying the return flights a week later.  I have researched online that the way to do this is buying the outbound flights with the voucher, buy the return flights using avios, and then linking the flights to get some avios refunded.

I have learned the hard way (regarding gym membership) that you can't rely on what staff tell you on the phone.  You need to learn how schemes work and then persist until staff do what they're supposed to do.

Honestly I don't think you would have much hope in court.  £140 has been wasted, which s a shame, but you have benefitted from using two vouchers...so overall you've not done too badly.

Yes, it looks that way doesn't it?  Just disappointing overall as I didn't do anything "wrong".  I don't see how customers should be expected to know the system better than their own staff - that's just messed up.  Anyhoo...

FUDbyDesign

eskbanker said:

FUDbyDesign said:

I then raised a claim with BA which was ignored, and after chasing them up for 3-4 months they finally told me the case was closed and that they would not be reimbursing me.  They suggested I take this up with the information commissioner if I wished to pursue this further.

No idea why they'd direct you to the ICO, it's nothing to do with them?

No idea either.  I was told to contact the ICO who would then contact BA.

FUDbyDesign said:

On 26th January 2024, I lodged a Subject Access Request with the ICO to demand copies of all recordings of the calls I made to BA Executive Club between between January and July 2023.  Today, exactly one month later (today), I got a reply stating that "We have been unable to locate the requested call recording(s)".  Unbelievable.

Again, not sure why you'd go to the ICO here - perhaps you mean BA's data protection officer?  It would be BA who'd have any recordings, but if they're no longer stored over six months later then you're out of luck on that front, there's nothing obliging them to retain call recordings for any specific duration, unless they specify this in any data retention policy.

BA's DPO replied to my ICO claim, so it did indeed get routed to them. After they dragged their heels over my claim for months, my SAR was always going to be a long shot anyway but still worth a try - figured I'd at least learn something from it.

FUDbyDesign said:

So I seem to have hit the rhetorical brick wall. Where do I go from here? Could/should I take this to small claims court? Do I just chalk it up to bitter experience and move on?  

If BA have refused to accept that you were misinformed by their staff then I think small claims is the only remaining option, but I'm not convinced that you have a strong enough case here to be honest, in terms of actually holding them legally (as opposed to morally) liable for your extra costs.

Right.  The weakness is that there's no paper trail to support my case.  It's just my word against theirs, and that's always the problem when doing things over the phone even though that was the only option.  Perhaps I'll give Citizen's Advice a try but to all intents and purposes I consider this one to be dead in the water.  

eskbanker

FUDbyDesign said:

BA's DPO replied to my ICO claim, so it did indeed get routed to them.

Still baffled!  You don't raise claims with the ICO as such - you can complain about a company's data management practices, e.g. if they've breached the Data Protection Act, but they don't have any remit to get involved in financial disputes?

FUDbyDesign

eskbanker said:

FUDbyDesign said:

BA's DPO replied to my ICO claim, so it did indeed get routed to them.

Still baffled!  You don't raise claims with the ICO as such - you can complain about a company's data management practices, e.g. if they've breached the Data Protection Act, but they don't have any remit to get involved in financial disputes?

Ah, I mis-spoke. The claim (which got nowhere) was with BA. What I raised with the ICO was the SAR. 

eskbanker

FUDbyDesign said:

eskbanker said:

FUDbyDesign said:

BA's DPO replied to my ICO claim, so it did indeed get routed to them.

Still baffled!  You don't raise claims with the ICO as such - you can complain about a company's data management practices, e.g. if they've breached the Data Protection Act, but they don't have any remit to get involved in financial disputes?

Ah, I mis-spoke. The claim (which got nowhere) was with BA. What I raised with the ICO was the SAR. 

Pretty sure this has reached the end of its useful life, but SARs need to be raised with the company holding your data, i.e. BA here, although the ICO does provide a template-based tool via which you can do this, is that what you meant?

FUDbyDesign

eskbanker said:

FUDbyDesign said:

eskbanker said:

FUDbyDesign said:

BA's DPO replied to my ICO claim, so it did indeed get routed to them.

Still baffled!  You don't raise claims with the ICO as such - you can complain about a company's data management practices, e.g. if they've breached the Data Protection Act, but they don't have any remit to get involved in financial disputes?

Ah, I mis-spoke. The claim (which got nowhere) was with BA. What I raised with the ICO was the SAR. 

Pretty sure this has reached the end of its useful life, but SARs need to be raised with the company holding your data, i.e. BA here, although the ICO does provide a template-based tool via which you can do this, is that what you meant?

Correct.  The ICO provides an SAR service, which is what I used.