zooey91

I booked a flight for my 86-year-old mom the other day and the website would only let me book seats in one direction, deleting the selection for the outbound as soon as I selected the return, and visa versa. I booked her tickets with the outbound seat and then tried to book the return seat after the fact, but got a notification that there is a problem and I should call.

So I called and, after being on hold for 25 minutes, spoke with someone who was able to book her return seat.

OK, so I'm checking my credit card statement a few days later and I see a charge for $20 for using VA's call center.

Their website has had lots of problems over the last year or so since they "upgraded," so to have to pay $20 to speak to someone when the website doesn't function is ridiculous. Even more egregious, though, is that I never gave them my credit card number while talking on the phone, and the agent never said anything about being charged for the call. So I was charged based on my name and phone number, apparently (my credit card number is not associated with my mom's account).

To add insult to injury, the closest they have to a customer service number is to call the same number, and ask for "guest care." I did so, and the phone tree forced me to give a number for them to call me back. The phone rang 15 minutes later and they hung up as soon as I answered!

Other than the website bugs, I've been very happy with VirginAmerica up until now, but this gives me the impression that they're about to file for chapter 11. In any event, my next already booked flights will probably be my last with them.

Jim

Seamus

How in the name of everything digital could they get your CC account #?
Immediately cal your cc issuer and report this as well as dispute the charge

NoFlyZone

They had the CC because he says he booked the flights. He had to give the CC# at that point so the agent had it.

Seamus

OK, that makes sense. it was the statement <i> I never gave them my credit card number while talking on the phone</i> that confused me. But in re-reading, sounds like OP did book online the outbound, then called and referenced that PNR to make the return rez.
Whew!

zooey91

I booked her flights with her credit card, and, like I said, mine was never associated with her account. They somehow connected my card to my phone number and name, but I was never asked for it or told about the charge during this.

In any event, I did speak to my credit card company, which said they'd look into it. I also finally did get a call from Virgin (two hours after the hangup, but their persistence was appreciated). They said they'd credit the $20, but couldn't explain why my card was charged instead of hers.

I also said that if they're going to charge $20 per call and also continue to have an extremely buggy website, they need to provide a different number to call about problems with the website. The agent said that she appreciated the comment, especially since they were overwhelmed last week due to problems with the website.

zooey91

(Seamus, my credit card is on my own Virgin account, which is associated with my name and phone number).

Underhill

This is a very good example of why it's not safe to allow anyone to store your credit-card number. I now use a virtual card number for virtually all my purchases.