Virgin! Stop being so stupid.......

[jaffa]

I have a problem that Virgin (on the ridiculous) refuses to budge or help me with!

A partner and I have been invited to attend conference
Our e-ticket's are payed for by the conference organisers using Vigin Group sales.
I am a velocity member.
Our tix are TSV-MEL-TSV via BNE both ways.

I contacted Vigin Group yesterday am (like l do with all conferences that send me VB) to pay for the Blue zone upgrade both ways.
No prob's, mr Jaffa that will be $90.00 for both of you each way, a total of $180.00.
So l pay by my Amex as l always do on the phone there and then.

I request that my Velocity no be attached to my booking.
Ok Mr Jaffa no prob's.

At the end of the conversation l request an e-mail confimation of my upgraded tickets.
She refuse's,

The reason!

I'm sorry Mr Jaffa but as this is a group booking the Ticket would have all the details of all other delegates on the full booking from around Australia and we cannot do that due to privacy concerns.

Huh! l say

Well just send me an e-mail receipt for the $180.00 transaction we just did, that should do for my company tax records and if there's a problem at the Airport that should cover me?

She refuses again!

You will have go to the people who control the group booking transaction from the conference themselves Mr Jaffa. They control your PNR

But l say, I just paid you $180.00 and require a receipt for the transaction we just did. I need this for tax purposes. This has nothing to do with them.

She remains adament and steadfast.

I go back to the conference organisers and they won't issue me the receipt either. They say l did not pay the money to them that my transaction is dirrect with VB, They are only responsible for the base ticket release. Which l aggree, really has nothing to do with them.

l ring back VB Group and tell them this and they still refuse to issue a receipt and stand by there original position.

This is just plain stupid.

Don't VB have to by law issue me a receipt upon request? only for the transaction l did with them.
Why are they being so difficult.

The moneys came out of my Amex card at Midnight ,so they def took it and it was under the VB tag on my online statement.

So now l have no confirmation or receipt or seemingly any hope of getting it.

Ahhhhh!

[dajop]

Tell them (or not tell them) that you will contact Amex and dispute the transaction unless they cough up a receipt

[Standby]

Tell them (or not tell them) that you will contact Amex and dispute the transaction unless they cough up a receipt

How Odd...either they are pulling yr chain ,it is a limitation of the Navitaire reservations system , Group fares dont earn points or Clueless operator...and that can happen anywhere.
Having organised some sporting groups I know QF's system issues individual Etickets and they are able to "Split" a group booking .They certainly do add FF details to the bookings...I'd persist, good luck

[NM]

Don't VB have to by law issue me a receipt upon request? only for the transaction l did with them.

Yes, I would also expect that to be the case.

Why are they being so difficult.

I expect its a limitation of their systems more than the agent trying to be difficult. But if that is the case, they should manually issue you a receipt and fix the limitation.

Perhaps one for crazydave to look into?

[Travel Guru]

The not sending you a copy of the itinerary due to privacy concerns I can understand, it's likely just a limitation of their res system as NM suggested, but they should still be able to (and I would have thought were legally obliged too) issue a tax invoice for the charge.

I'd call back and ask to speak to a supervisor...as I always say, someone always has the power to say yes, its just a matter of going high enough up the food chain until you find the person with the power to do so.

I wouldn't be suggesting to DJ that you'll dispute the charge with AMEX, I think that's a silly route to take especially before flying and one which will surely find you back out of the blue zone.

All the best, DJ are great at sticking by their guidelines if nothing else, but just keep going higher until someone resolves what should be a simple request.

TG

[oz_mark]

ATO is pretty clear on the requirement

You must issue a tax invoice if any taxable sales you make of more than $82.50 (including GST), and the purchaser requests it.

Valid tax invoices and GST credits

As far as I can see, Virgin Blue are legally required to issue a Tax Invoice. This would take precedence over any policy they have.

[pauly7]

The not sending you a copy of the itinerary due to privacy concerns I can understand, it's likely just a limitation of their res system as NM suggested, but they should still be able to (and I would have thought were legally obliged too) issue a tax invoice for the charge.

I'd call back and ask to speak to a supervisor...as I always say, someone always has the power to say yes, its just a matter of going high enough up the food chain until you find the person with the power to do so.

I wouldn't be suggesting to DJ that you'll dispute the charge with AMEX, I think that's a silly route to take especially before flying and one which will surely find you back out of the blue zone.

All the best, DJ are great at sticking by their guidelines if nothing else, but just keep going higher until someone resolves what should be a simple request.

TG

I agree try and elevate the issue - are you dealing with their offshore call centre? Sometimes they can be a bit more robotic than the Oz operators.

[jaffa]

Thanks for your reply's everyone.


I did not think my post would generate much interest, l should have checked back sooner.
This all took place with Virgin Group Australia reservations not any call center. Group has it own Aussie division.

Firstly,

The matter has now been resolved.

During my continuing back and forwarding between VB group and the conference organisers.
I was able to pick up some more info that had me quite intriged. Some of it was info l did not know.

1/ once a group booking is confirmed and paid by the event organiser, even if it is from multiple originating ports from all over country it by rights cannot be changed without a fee penalty. It is at the discretion of VB if it wants to impose this rule to the group booking originator.

2/ The relationship between VB and the conference organisers are not good due to VB incorrectly dating around half of the issued tickets for the day after booked travel then involving a recall at short notice after the issued tickets had been sent out to all delegates at VB's cost. (luckily l was not one of them)This apparently resulted in extra costs to VB group which it tried unsuccessfully to recoup from the organisers through contract fine print. It seems VB group are angry at the whole c**kup.

3/ I was informed that l am not the only one that was refused a reissue tix and receipt after upgrade. there were 11 others, all heads of business ect that are all complaining.

4/ VB were trying to claim tix reissue fee's direct with conference organisers for the 11 upgrades even though they charged and transacted the individual travelers direct(obviously they did not want to refuse more money for the bookingfrom the upgrades)
Organisers refused as the transaction was carried by VB direct with travelers.

Before l found this all out l had individually contacted the ATO on Fri am,
who advised me that if a tax receipt is refused at time of payment, I should withold the GST component by law until one is provided. If a full reciept is not recieved within 28 days l am to cantact them back for further action. They say this causes all sorts of paperwork headaches for the company and sends up red accounting flags that require please explains from the ATO.

When l took this position with VB group the matter was sent up the chain to corp who in turn stoped everything in it's track's issued me with a reissue tix and full tax reciept and was given an appology all on the spot for overzealous group staff who were not following set procedure's.

Today l was informed by the conference organisers the same thing happened to all upgraded tix holders.

It seems to me VB group were trying to claw back lost fund's due to there own errors by treating the origininating client very badly. They were happy to take more money for the tickets if they could get it but then wanted to punish the organisers for the privlidge.

The conference organisers tell me today they are suddenly being treated very well.

So folks if someone refuses you a tax reciept you can by law you must withold GST until you recieve one. If they refuse you the original sale then it becomes a consumer affairs issue as well as an ATO one.

Thanks for everyones interest.

When l originally posted l was a bit hot under the collar.