Citibank and WIPL take customes for a ride in their "Fly For Sure offer"

Citibank India ran an offer towards the end of 2005 - if you spend more than Rs. 30,000 using their credit/debit card, they promised a free flight ticket for one person anywhere within India.

I got the voucher form in sometime January and dutifully filled it up (they charge extra for taxes and processing charges) indicating three dates in April and three destinations, in order of preference. Didn't hear from them/WIPL(the organization they outsourced it to) until yesterday where I was told that April and May are all filled up and only June is available. They asked me to start on a Monday and return by Friday. I wanted a date in April or May so I said I will call them back and was given a "toll-free" number 19012334136 which apparently is toll-free for both the caller and the receiver. Reason: it just doesn't seem to exist.

The whole thing seems to be a farce: read details at: http://solzaire.livejournal.com/69913.html.

If anybody did really receive their tickets through this scheme, would love to hear from them :)

Also check out http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Citibank_Credit_Card-94186- 1.html.

Jet Airways Cancellation Woes!

If you pay by credit card for an air ticket while booking online, isn't it natural if you expect that on cancellation they will credit back the refund on the same card? Sounds simple enough, it does work that way for many Airline companies in India and Indian Railways (IRCTC).

However, the country's biggest airline Jet Airways wants the customers to really "earn back" their money. I recently had the experience of cancelling a Jet Airways ticket - I called them up and requested for a cancellation. I was given a "cancellation code" and was promised that the cancellation would take effect. Waited for three weeks and then casually checked my credit card statement but there was still no refund. When I called them again, they said I had to physically take my credit card to a Jet Airways counter to really receive the refund (they didn't bother to tell me this at the time of cancellation). Now, foolishly expecting that my credit card and photo ID would be sufficient, I made a trip to the Jet airways counter at the airport. They located my record fine but just went on to say like a goverment office that they need a full copy of the itiernerary, cancellation code etc. to be able to refund the money on the card.

I then sent a mail to info@jetairways.com explaining the situation and asking them to refund the money. No reply for 3 business days! I then resent the mail. I got two different responses the next day - one response said it was not possible to do this over e-mail while the other response promised to refund the amount. I natuarally responded to the second mail and the process is still on-going. Hopefully will get back my refund this week.

What's the use of online booking if they can't do a simple credit transaction to my credit card on a cancellation? IRCTC rocks, by the way.