Two years after the pandemic ruined their travel plans, several frustrated WestJet customers say they’re still waiting for refunds — or confirmation they even qualify for one — after the airline cancelled their flights or vacation packages in 2020.
The customers complained of difficulties trying to communicate with WestJet about their cases and suggested the airline was trying to make it hard for them to collect their cash.
“I think they’re just trying to hang on to our money,” said Sue Andrews of Mississauga, Ont.
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Andrews and her husband, Jim Scott, paid $7,031 for a vacation package for themselves and two family members to Cancun, departing in April 2020. Due to the pandemic, WestJet cancelled the trip and gave the couple a travel credit.
They wanted a refund instead and have been trying to collect it for almost two years.
“We feel completely ripped off,” said Andrews. “They don’t care about us.”
Effective Monday, November 2, we will begin to provide refunds to guests whose flights were cancelled by WestJet as a result of COVID-19. Learn more – <a href=”https://t.co/PSV4bxcYn0″>https://t.co/PSV4bxcYn0</a> <a href=”https://t.co/97939lpSlD”>pic.twitter.com/97939lpSlD</a>
When the pandemic was declared in March 2020, WestJet suspended all international flights and provided affected customers with credit for a future trip. Following public outcry, the airline changed its tune in October 2020, announcing it would offer customers refunds for flights the airline had cancelled.
“We are an airline that has built its reputation on putting people first,” said then-CEO Ed Sims in a statement.
In July 2021, the airline extended the refund offer to people whose vacation packages had been cancelled.
WestJet apologizes for long delays
Andrews and her husband initially applied for a refund in June 2020, but it was rejected. They reapplied in November 2021.
Andrews said the couple has reached out to WestJet numerous times, and when they finally made contact with the company on social media, they were only told that their application is in the queue and has yet to be reviewed. WestJet told CBC News this week that’s still the case.
“I’ve been in the customer service industry my whole life and have never seen anything like this,” said Andrews, a semi-retired insurance agent.
WATCH | WestJet apologizes after failing to provide refunds:
Customers frustrated after WestJet didn’t give refunds for cancelled flights
8 months ago
Duration 1:51
Customers are frustrated that WestJet is offering only credits when the airline cancels or reschedules flights, despite the air passenger bill of rights requiring refunds for cancelled flights. 1:51
In an email to CBC News, WestJet acknowledged it has “a backlog of refund requests,” and blamed the pandemic and a busy holiday travel season. It offered an apology to customers who have experienced long delays.
“We recognize the frustration being felt by some of our guests as we work to expedite outstanding refund requests,” said Madison Kruger, a WestJet spokesperson.
Airline ‘just playing games,’ says waiting customer
There’s no question Julie Jalbert of Minnedosa, Man., is entitled to a refund for a cancelled round-trip flight from Winnipeg to St. Maarten that was supposed to depart in October 2020.
She initially received a travel voucher for the $769 she paid for the flight. Instead, Jalbert applied for a refund in November 2020, and one year later WestJet confirmed by email that she would be reimbursed.
Julie Jalbert of Minnedosa, Man., is entitled to a refund for a cancelled round-trip WestJet flight to St. Maarten, but she says she can’t get through to the airline by phone to claim her cash. (submitted by Julie Jalbert)
But in order to claim her cash, Jalbert was told she would have to call WestJet customer service. She said she tried to do so numerous times, but her call always got disconnected, sometimes after she had waited on hold for hours.
“I just believe they are trying to take advantage of the client and hoping that we just give up because this is too complicated,” said Jalbert, who eventually reached out to CBC News for help.
WestJet told CBC News it has prioritized the urgent hiring of contact centre agents and that call wait times have “drastically improved.”
The airline also asked for Jalbert’s phone number and said it would “contact her urgently.”
On Tuesday morning, CBC provided WestJet with the number. By Friday afternoon, Jalbert said she was still waiting to hear from the airline.
“To me, they’re just playing games.”
Neil Tucker of Edmonton is still waiting for a refund for a $4,000 vacation package to Cancun that WestJet cancelled in 2020. (submitted by Neil Tucker)
Refund requests in holding pattern
WestJet customer Neil Tucker of Edmonton is also in a holding pattern.
The airline cancelled a $4,027 vacation package from Edmonton to Cancun that Tucker booked for his family. It was supposed to depart on March 24, 2020.
In October 2021, after learning that WestJet was offering refunds for cancelled flights, Tucker applied for one and is still waiting for his cash.
“Why is it taking so long?” he asked. “I think they want me to use their credits that they offered.”
WestJet told CBC News on Monday that it appears Tucker’s refund request is missing some details and suggested he should resubmit his request form.
When CBC informed Tucker of this information, he was surprised and called the situation “absolutely ridiculous.”
“What more information do they need from me? They have my contact information.”
Tucker said he contacted WestJet on Tuesday and waited four hours on hold before he was able to speak with a customer service agent. He said the agent told him his form had no missing information and that his case has yet to be reviewed due to a backlog.
“I’m sick of the time I’m spending without compensation trying to get this sorted out,” said a frustrated Tucker.
“I really just want this to come to an end.”
Other options
Daniel Tsai, a consumer advocate and Toronto-based business lawyer, said the long delays are unacceptable.
He said customers can pursue other options to try to get a refund such as filing a complaint with the Canadian Transportation Agency, disputing the charge with their credit card company or disputing the charge under consumer protection legislation in their province.
But Tsai said those options may also involve a lengthy or cumbersome process, or, in the case of credit card disputes, customers typically face a strict time limit for filing a claim.
Customers should be able to “get their money back for flights that never happened … without making them go through onerous procedures,” said Tsai.
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Dollarama Inc.’s food aisles may have expanded far beyond sweet treats or piles of gum by the checkout counter in recent years, but its chief executive maintains his company is “not in the grocery business,” even if it’s keeping an eye on the sector.
“It’s just one small part of our store,” Neil Rossy told analysts on a Wednesday call, where he was questioned about the company’s food merchandise and rivals playing in the same space.
“We will keep an eye on all retailers — like all retailers keep an eye on us — to make sure that we’re competitive and we understand what’s out there.”
Over the last decade and as consumers have more recently sought deals, Dollarama’s food merchandise has expanded to include bread and pantry staples like cereal, rice and pasta sold at prices on par or below supermarkets.
However, the competition in the discount segment of the market Dollarama operates in intensified recently when the country’s biggest grocery chain began piloting a new ultra-discount store.
The No Name stores being tested by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in Windsor, St. Catharines and Brockville, Ont., are billed as 20 per cent cheaper than discount retail competitors including No Frills. The grocery giant is able to offer such cost savings by relying on a smaller store footprint, fewer chilled products and a hearty range of No Name merchandise.
Though Rossy brushed off notions that his company is a supermarket challenger, grocers aren’t off his radar.
“All retailers in Canada are realistic about the fact that everyone is everyone’s competition on any given item or category,” he said.
Rossy declined to reveal how much of the chain’s sales would overlap with Loblaw or the food category, arguing the vast variety of items Dollarama sells is its strength rather than its grocery products alone.
“What makes Dollarama Dollarama is a very wide assortment of different departments that somewhat represent the old five-and-dime local convenience store,” he said.
The breadth of Dollarama’s offerings helped carry the company to a second-quarter profit of $285.9 million, up from $245.8 million in the same quarter last year as its sales rose 7.4 per cent.
The retailer said Wednesday the profit amounted to $1.02 per diluted share for the 13-week period ended July 28, up from 86 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The period the quarter covers includes the start of summer, when Rossy said the weather was “terrible.”
“The weather got slightly better towards the end of the summer and our sales certainly increased, but not enough to make up for the season’s horrible start,” he said.
Sales totalled $1.56 billion for the quarter, up from $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year.
Comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, increased 4.7 per cent, while the average transaction was down2.2 per cent and traffic was up seven per cent, RBC analyst Irene Nattel pointed out.
She told investors in a note that the numbers reflect “solid demand as cautious consumers focus on core consumables and everyday essentials.”
Analysts have attributed such behaviour to interest rates that have been slow to drop and high prices of key consumer goods, which are weighing on household budgets.
To cope, many Canadians have spent more time seeking deals, trading down to more affordable brands and forgoing small luxuries they would treat themselves to in better economic times.
“When people feel squeezed, they tend to shy away from discretionary, focus on the basics,” Rossy said. “When people are feeling good about their wallet, they tend to be more lax about the basics and more willing to spend on discretionary.”
The current economic situation has drawn in not just the average Canadian looking to save a buck or two, but also wealthier consumers.
“When the entire economy is feeling slightly squeezed, we get more consumers who might not have to or want to shop at a Dollarama generally or who enjoy shopping at a Dollarama but have the luxury of not having to worry about the price in some other store that they happen to be standing in that has those goods,” Rossy said.
“Well, when times are tougher, they’ll consider the extra five minutes to go to the store next door.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered TD Bank Group to pay US$28 million for repeatedly sharing inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies.
The agency says TD has to pay US$7.76 million in total to tens of thousands of victims of its illegal actions, along with a US$20 million civil penalty.
It says TD shared information that contained systemic errors about credit card and bank deposit accounts to consumer reporting companies, which can include credit reports as well as screening reports for tenants and employees and other background checks.
CFPB director Rohit Chopra says in a statement that TD threatened the consumer reports of customers with fraudulent information then “barely lifted a finger to fix it,” and that regulators will need to “focus major attention” on TD Bank to change its course.
TD says in a statement it self-identified these issues and proactively worked to improve its practices, and that it is committed to delivering on its responsibilities to its customers.
The bank also faces scrutiny in the U.S. over its anti-money laundering program where it expects to pay more than US$3 billion in monetary penalties to resolve.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
