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Poor customer service.

joannec1965
Explorer C
 July 2021, I booked a vacation through SW Airlines vacations. I paid for it via my VISA. Due to a serious situation, I needed to cancel the vacation. I was ASSURED by SWV that my former travel partner's travel credits would be mine to use since I paid for the trip fully. I used MY travel credits for a vacation later that year, no problems. I wanted to use my former partner's travel credits from SWV which I was TOLD and DOCUMENTED were mine to use. Even with documentation, I was denied use of these credits. This happened on several phone calls. 2-10-22 I received an email from SW Michael Hubbard stating the flight portion of those travel credits would be refunded to my VISA with an apology for the trouble SW/SWV caused. ALL other agents refused to allow me to use these towards a vacation. I NEVER received those funds. Those funds were credited BACK to SWV card ending 8427. SW Airlines blamed SW Vacations and SW Vacations blamed SW Airlines. I was transferred NUMEROUS TIMES back and forth and neither group would assume responsibility for the issue at hand. 3-7-22 I spoke to SWV OVERSEAS agent Leidy Chica. I explained the situation, that I did not receive a refund and she refused to give me the credit. She could NOT SPEAK OR SPELL ENGLISH well at all, she did not believe the case number/conf. number, she continually mispronounced my name and refused me the credit. She told me I could use the refund in the form of TRAVEL CREDITS which is what I originally was trying to use. I asked to speak to a supervisor and I was not allowed. She did and after a vigorous threat of speaking to SWV corporate office and my lawyer, she finally came back from her supervisor and placed a credit form with accounting. It was 6 business days ago and I have yet to receive ANYTHING.
 
THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE behavior from a customer service agent, large corporation, poor and rude business practices and simply wrong to treat a long time SW customer in this manner. ALL the documentation was there for either a use of travel credits belonging to my former partner OR A REFUND. It took months to get to this point and HOURS on the phone to get the documented refund. Again, this is 100% unacceptable. What is even worse is that SWV and SW cannot seem to function with mutuality and communicate with each other. There is no excuse for this situation to have gotten this bad. I will expect a response from an actual person from here in the US within the next few days. Your practice of using overseas agents is another tactic to raise your profits over customer service. WHO do I contact for further help? I have emailed MANY times with no response.
5 REPLIES 5

Re: Poor customer service.

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

@joannec1965 wrote:
What is even worse is that SWV and SW cannot seem to function with mutuality and communicate with each other. There is no excuse for this situation to have gotten this bad. I will expect a response from an actual person from here in the US within the next few days. Your practice of using overseas agents is another tactic to raise your profits over customer service. WHO do I contact for further help? I have emailed MANY times with no response.

Southwest Vacations is not part of, owned, or operated by Southwest Airlines.  Southwest Vacations is part of Apple Leisure Group and based on the number of complaints I've seen about them I would never recommend them.  If you purchased from Southwest Vacations you will need to deal with them.   

How do I contact Southwest Vacations®? 

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Poor customer service.

joannec1965
Explorer C

I have contacted them - NOTHING. I have contacted their parent company, NOTHING. SWV has been a nightmare to deal with and they are not retuning emails/calls. SWV has horrible customer service with anything other than booking a new vacation. I have repeatedly contact ALG and no response yet. Any other ideas???

Re: Poor customer service.

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

@joannec1965 wrote:

. SWV has been a nightmare to deal with and they are not retuning emails/calls. SWV has horrible customer service with anything other than booking a new vacation


Sounds about right.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Poor customer service.

jksobonya
Aviator A

@joannec1965 wrote:
Due to a serious situation, I needed to cancel the vacation. I was ASSURED by SWV that my former travel partner's travel credits would be mine to use since I paid for the trip fully.

This assurance seems misguided, as Southwest Vacations does not do this. Per their FAQ:

 

What are the Travel Credit details, restrictions and new booking policies? 
Travel Credits*: 

  • Are valid for travel commencing 12 months from date of issue of the Travel Credit.
  • Are non-refundable, non-transferable, not redeemable for cash, and must be used for travel commencing by expiration date.
  • Will be issued in the names of each passenger on the original reservation. 

 

Can I give my Travel Credits to someone else to use? 
Travel Credits are non-transferable. 

 

Source: https://www.southwestvacations.com/general/customer-care-and-travel-information 

 

Whoever told you that you could use anyone else's travel credits for yourself was misinformed.

 

--Jessica

Re: Poor customer service.

dfwskier
Aviator A

There are likely two different types of travel credits offered by Southwest Vacations.

 

The first is the airline component, which is handled as Jessica said above,  

 

The second is for everything else tied to the trip. SWV could decide  on it's own rules about this. IMO it is possible that when SWV told you that you'd be able to use the other traveler's credit , that this is what it was talking about.