In June a reader called Tina flew Aer Lingus to Dulles airport in Washington DC, but her bag never arrived.
“I was in five places on the east coast during a 13-day trip. At each stage I updated my contact information with Aer Lingus’s online missing baggage form. I also spent a great deal of time on the phone and emailing them. I got nothing from Aer Lingus, no response to any request,” she writes. “I left voice messages with the ground supervisor in Dulles, and also tried to get on to North American lost property at Logan in Boston (there is no way to do it; it’s a telephone loop that does not permit one to leave a message or speak to anyone).
“My trip wasn’t a holiday. I had family business to attend to. I was on the move and not able to buy much to replace my belongings. I wore borrowed clothes that were too big, and shoes that were too small.”
“When I returned to Dulles on June 16th, I asked about the bag. At first I was told that there was no information, and then I was told that the bag was in the airport and would be put on my flight. It wasn’t, and 18 days after I first travelled, my bag was delivered to my Irish home with no explanation. I don’t know whether it ever left Ireland.”
She wrote to corporate Aer Lingus in Dublin and New York outlining her concern “and specifically saying I didn’t want an anodyne response. So all I got was just that, by email, with a Do Not Reply tag.”
Since then she has submitted receipts for about $400 for reimbursement for inconvenience while in the US. “It was for a new suitcase, make-up, toiletries, underwear and a couple of tops. I have received no reimbursement and no response, no acknowledgement that they have even received my paperwork.
“I don’t think I have ever been on the receiving end of such bad customer care.”
We contacted the airline. A spokeswoman said this was “not the level of customer care we aspire to deliver to our guests”. She said it “falls short of the high standards we set, and I’m disappointed to learn of the difficulties encountered by [our reader]”.
She said the airline had sent two letters to Tina. “The first was sent to her home address and by email and the second advised that receipts are required for claims. To date, we have not received any documentation to support her claim for expenses, but will address this matter on receipt of the relevant documentation, which is required for auditing purposes.”
Feeling duped by Vodafone sales patter
A reader called Catriona contacted us because Vodafone is driving her mad. “My contract was up this month, and I was set to go to 3 for unlimited data until Vodafone persuaded me to stay, saying my data – which was my huge monetary concern – wasn’t going to go over 3GB-5GB on average a month.”
But two days after she signed up, a text message outlining her bill arrived and was nearly double what she had been expecting. “I tried calling in almost every day to speak to someone for the last week and talk to the guy I spoke to in upgrades, and nobody got back to me until today,” she says.
“They said they could only see issued bills and not that latest bill, so it was not their fault. I kept reiterating to the guy in Vodafone that my job had changed and my data would be going up and he reassured me it was fine. I just feel so duped and wish I had gone to 3 now.”
Vodafone Ireland has apologised to the customer for her experience on this occasion. “We are committed to working with all our customers to ensure that their mobile plan suits their needs,” the company says.
Airport ATM charges, and an olive oil separation
- Last week Pricewatch carried an item from a reader who had been charged a fee for withdrawing sterling from an ATM in Dublin Airport. The Dublin Airport Authority has asked us to make very clear that such charges are not imposed by the airport, and that all responsibility rests with customers' banks.
- On July 13th, a review of olive oils stated that one of the products from Lilliput Stores artisan food shop in Stoneybatter, Dublin, was connected to the Real Olive Company. It used to be ,but the ties between the two were severed in March.
