Simple problem - huge cost

Customer feedback regarding change of flight details via Jetstar NZ Customer Service phone line.

To Whom it may concern,

At ~2130 -21/01/14 my partner called Jetstar in an attempt to amend a miss-booking made by her via your website.
Unfortunately your staff refused to assist her as she was not the passenger. This was despite her being the one who placed and paid for the booking.

I, Shaun Coates then called at 2207 this same evening. After battling with your voice PABX system and going in circles for 10 minutes trying to guess what the system wanted me to say, I was eventually was placed on hold to speak to a real person.

Once connected with this person I explained the issue. This being that my flight booked from Wellington to Christchurch on the 3rd of February has accidentally been booked with the departure and destination locations inverted.

I asked if this could be changed.

I was told by your CSR that as it is outside 24hrs of the booking being made, this can not be done for free and a cost would be involved.

I understood that this maybe the case prior to calling and asked what the additional cost would be.

Once calculated, the CSR told me that the cost would be $300.00 NZD.

Confused, I asked again for what the "additional" cost would be as the $300.00 quoted seemed incredibly high.

I was then informed that this was the additional amount - being made up of a $75.00 change of booking fee + $271.00 for the upgraded fare which would accommodate a change in departure/destination locations. My original fare would then be subtracted from this total (the original fare being $45.00).

At this point, I must admit my irritation was starting to show.

You see, I happened to have been on the Jetstar website looking at an alternative flight from Wellington to Christchurch on the 3rd of February with a fare price of $65.00.

I clarified with your CSR:

A customer (me) has called to ask if their flight can be changed. Unfortunately it could not be done for free so an alternative was offered. Your CSR would have people pay an "additional" $300.00 to change a flight rather than simply book them on a alternative flight at a much cheaper cost of only $65.00.

The CSR confirmed I was correct but insisted this proposal would save me forfeiting the original $45.00 booking.
Again, I clarified; even if I did forfeit this booking and paid for the new $65.00 flight, I would then be paying a total of $110.00 rather than the $300.00 he had suggested in his proposal.

The CSR than went on to recommended that I could retain the first booking and simply transfer this to another passenger. This could be done with 'just' a $45.00 additional charge.

At this point I reminded him of the fact that this was the total price of the flight he was talking about transferring and I subsequently terminated the call.

This is beyond farcical and is close to being worthy of a complaint being lodged with the Commerce Commission which I am certainly considering.

Being a reasonable and intelligent individual, I expected that there maybe a fee associated with changing the booking in question (regardless of whether it was an accident or not).

I do however, take exception to your staff trying to charge $300.00 on top of a $45.00 flight when cheaper and simpler options could have been offered first - namely, simply booking a new flight with the correct details for $65.00.

Inevitably, there would be people without the access to the information I had at hand. This said, they may actually proceed with the option first tendered by your staff.
I am sure that this practice would definitely be grounds for further investigation as a breach of the New Zealand Fair Trading Act of 1986.

Knowing your standard of customer care, I am certainly not expecting a reply to this message.
Let it be said though, your practice of deliberately overcharging through the use of additional charges and more critically the failure to offer solutions in the best interests of your customer (and in compliance with the law) is unacceptable and will cost more than simply my future business.

Regards,

Shaun Coates