Class action suit against Air Deccan - 1

I am planning a class action suit against delayed refunds by Air Deccan. This is a call to anybody who has faced/is facing a problem with delayed refunds. Go to the end of my post, if you're quite familiar with Air Deccan and its mischief.

---

Story so far:

After much trepidation, I planned to travel Air Deccan for the first time. My family and I (4 pax) had planned to take a flight from A to B on 18th May, 2007. Needless to say, the flight got delayed by more than 4 hours and as per the policy Air Deccan is supposed to repay the full amount. Since we had a train to catch from B for which we already had reservations, we were forced to cancel the Air Deccan tics and book more expensive tics. We spoke to the Air Deccan station manager and asked them to cancel the flight and refund the amount. They said that their system is down, so I got them to give me a letter, all stamped and signed, with all details of the flight and the delay and that I wanted a cancellation and full refund.

After 18th May, 2007, I tried in vain to reach customer care and talk to somebody, but the stupid system would keep saying that I was some 30th or 35th or a billionth in the queue. I would wait in vain for as much as half an hour and then give up. A week later, I went through the reservation option, rather than the cancellation option on the automated system and voila! I was connected. After explaining the problem I was told to send a copy of the letter to one Eswar Singh. But even after a couple of reminders, I got no reply.

Called up customer care again. They gave me 10 numbers, 41148190 - 99 to call up and speak to the supervisors. I tried all these numbers for many days at various times of the day, but nobody picked up the phone even once.

Again called up customer care, and was given a special number 41585225, the "direct" refund dept number. This number is always busy.

Finally, mailed and on 6th June, where I categorically stated that I would file a case against them in the Consumer Court if I didn't hear from them by 8th June confirming that I would get the refund back with due interest. I got a mail back from them on 7th June, saying that the "case has been forwarded to the concerned department" and that I should mail for further clarification. I did this, but I got the usual automated email reply asking me to send all blah blah details, which I have already done more than once.

I've also been told, in the course of my chats with customer care, that refunds will take 40 WORKING days from the date of being logged.

---

A bit of search on the net threw up hundreds (if not thousands) of complains from consumers who have been waiting months and in some awful cases, upto a year, to get the refund. So the time is quite right to start a class action suit against delayed refunds by Air Deccan.

If you think you have been put to grief by Air Deccan, and have been given your due refund after unacceptable delay, or have not been given your refund, please let me know.

Ground rules before contacting me:

1. You should have been put to inconvenience, made calls, send e-mails, letters, whatever. I need proof. I will ask you to send me e-mails/letters that you have sent to them, I will ask you to scan and send me the ticket print out, etc. If you haven't called up customer care and threatened/begged/whatever them yet, DON'T contact me. I need proof of inconvenience to build up a strong case.

2. Read the conditions of your ticket very very carefully before contacting me. If it says non refundable ticket, DON'T contact me. If you have a doubt that Air Deccan owes you money, DON'T contact me. I require you to be fully convinced that you are in the right and Air Deccan is in the wrong. Please don't waste my time with frivolous complaints. I need water tight cases.

3. Write the case out clearly, crisply, giving ALL details, dates, persons talked to, phone numbers, flight number, sector, what happened, who said what, what has been done so far, what was promised. Please don't lie and don't bull shit. Don't use profanity. I need just a few very tight complaints with as much detail as possible. Be prepared to support me with information as and when I ask. No money or credit card details are required.

I can be reached at zehawk at gmail.com. Please forward this information to anybody you can.

Feedback, as always, is most welcome.