Last Saturday I spent several hours on Jet Airways trying to book two return flights from Bombay to Goa, for an upcoming India trip. The site repeatedly rejected my credit cards, and so throwing my hands up in despair, I decided to acquire them through an agent instead.
Later that day when I logged into my bank account I realised that the airline had debited over $700. I wasn't pleased, but I wasn't upset either. I assumed that once they realised their mistake, that is, within a few hours, the money would be put back. Of course that never happened, and so I called their helpline. I had barely finished describing my concern, when I was told to send them an email. I wondered why the gentleman on the end of the line was in such a hurry to get rid of me (was lunch waiting? was mummy waiting with lunch?). I assumed I would have better luck if I spoke with someone else. I called again, and received the same treatment. (Lunch was waiting and mummyji's aloo parathas were in danger of getting cold).
I sent an email to info@jetairways.com. with every necessary detail. Shortly after, I received a response in which I was asked for my credit card number. The email was unsigned, and therefore virtually anonymous, and the request was made over an unsecured server. I had to wonder at the quality of people Jet was hiring. Either they were stupid, or they hoped I was. (Or there was a sale on at Westside and they didn't care).
I refused, of course, and sent an email to several other absolutely random people at the organisation. They wrote back with a request for my credit card number.
Realizing that further interactions with Jet would lose me more money, if anything, I called my bank here in the States. Just as I was explaining what Jet was, I was interrupted, 'oh we know them very well,' the lady on the other end of the line said to me. 'You're not the first person they've taken money from.' In her experience, she continued, 'Jet would try and hold on to the money' and that, at the earliest, it would take over 10 days for them to even acknowledge what they had done.
It didn't take her even ten minutes to put the amount back into my account, thus allowing me to ignore the emails that I continue to receive from Jet asking for my credit card number.
Jet's lack of accountability and their poorly trained customer service department is an embarrassment. And it's particularly embarrassing, I would imagine, that banks even outside India are familiar with their ways. Such incompetence is hardly true of other providers I interact with back home, most prominently, HDFC Bank, whose customer service over email is exceptional. (They're also the first ones to tell you that should you receive an email from them asking for your account or credit card number, ignore it.)
Suffice to say, I shan't be buying a ticket from Jet anytime soon.
