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I’ve had similar interactions with Air France regarding baggage delays (for days, not hours…). A full compensation claim for any necessities purchased while wai
by koolba 3y ago
I’ve had similar interactions with Air France regarding baggage delays (for days, not hours…). A full compensation claim for any necessities purchased while waiting for your bags requires itemized receipts. The claim must be submitted within 30 days.
Unfortunately their website refused to let me include attachments in the request form. Attaching images would cause a bunch of HTTP 500 errors. After repeated attempts, I ended up submitting it without the attachments and added a note that their website was broken. I also took screen shots of the web page, the browser network errors, and recorded all the timestamps.
After an extended radio silence that exceeds the deadline to file a claim, they responded that since I didn’t include receipts, they were only going to give 100 euros of compensation.
It took a lot of back and forth, calling customer service, learning the exact voodoo to get through to someone who even knew who to contact, and then more back and forth to be able to email them the receipts.
The end result was full payment. But only because the principle of getting full compensation and not letting this slide kept me in dogged pursuit.
Fuck Air France.
- pm90 3y agoFrom their perspective, the system probably worked. You're probably 95th percentile of persistence among their customer disputes. Most people would accept the 100 Euros and move on.
- pixelpoet 3y agoI've essentially gifted Deutsche Bahn several hundred euros because it's like drawing blood from a stone and I was genuinely having mental health issues because of it (on top of the stress of having travel plans completely upended).
- rqtwteye 3y agoThey probably have lessons from US hospitals and insurances in how to wear down people who complain.
- Semaphor 3y agoCan you elaborate? I have no personal experience as I don’t travel enough, but I heard the reimbursement process is pretty straightforward?
- Symbiote 3y agoI was on a delayed ICE, and they handed forms to every passenger. I found the process straightforward. I don't live in Germany though, so I've only had the single delay.
- admaiora 3y agoIt's great. You can do it in the app now and get money back fast. My colleagues also book exclusively late night trains (which are often delayed) so they get a free overnight stay in a hotel.
- Elte 3y agoI've gone through the process some 4 to 5 times in the past two years or so and never had any issues with it. The delays are annoying, but I get part of my money back no problem.
- dustypotato 3y agoI don't know if it applies to your specific case, but I've successfully used the DB app to get money back. It's quite straightforward! But the option to apply is pretty obscure
- tetris11 3y agoI have the app, I'm logged in. Please explain how to get my compensation... its costing me a lot
- diffeomorphism 3y agoThat can be done online or in the app nowadays and is very quick and painless. I am still not sure who to thank for that (EU legislation?), because previously it seemed to be obnoxiously tedious on purpose.
- TylerE 3y agoIt's 95th percentile that him the 100 euros in the first place.
- default_png 3y agoI've used ChatGPT to auto draft snotograms to these companies, I don't fight these things anymore the AI does.
- smarx007 3y agoWhy not mail the copies of receipts via snail mail just to ensure you don't miss the 30 day frame?
- noisy_boy 3y agoUsing registered post also ensures that they can't wiggle away by saying they never received it.
- _Wintermute 3y agoThis is essentially required when dealing with French businesses in my experience. They absolutely will ignore anything that's not sent by registered post.
- Omin 3y agoMail them where? To do so, the company needs to provide an address where they would accept such correspondence and they may not do so.
- smarx007 3y agoYou first ask them nicely where to send post and if they don’t give you one, you send it to the address where the legal entity is registered. In this case: 45, rue de Paris, 95 747 Roissy CDG cedex, France Whether to accept complaints by post or not is not a company’s choice. Many countries have consumer protection laws that list non-exhaustive ways of making a complaint. When the postal means are listed there, refusing to review a mailed paper complaint could be a violation of that part of the law.
- JumpCrisscross 3y agoI have a merchant account with Air France. They run a low-reliability baggage system that relies on people using customer service channels for compensation (versus pen, paper and regulators). Every trip something goes wrong. I rack up receipts, send in a letter, and they typically approve enough to cover most of the original ticket. Worst case, I wind up with toiletries and medication paid for a few months.
- hinkley 3y agoHave you ever loaded up a bag with stuff that you didn't want anymore, just to see if they would give you cash for them?
- justinclift 3y ago"I had a US$10k guitar in that bag and have the receipts to prove it!" :D
- thaumasiotes 3y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo
- smsm42 3y agoI'm seriously waiting United claiming in court one of these days that they shouldn't pay out for a broken guitar because it's common knowledge that United breaks guitars, so if you still flew with them and they broke a guitar it's on you.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago> Have you ever loaded up a bag with stuff that you didn't want anymore, just to see if they would give you cash for them? I usually make Montréal Convention of ‘99 claims [1]. What’s in the bag is irrelevant. So instead I’m caught arguing over whether a polo is a necessary expense for a work lunch with some guy in Toulouse. [1] https://www.iata.org/contentassets/fb1137ff561a4819a2d38f3db7308758/mc99-full-text.pdf https://www.iata.org/contentassets/fb1137ff561a4819a2d38f3db...
- notyourwork 3y agoHad an interaction with them during a Delta flight which was cancelled. I was re-booked with Air France, told to show up at CDG and they would take care of the rest. The staff at Air France desk was infuriatingly unhelpful.
- dawnerd 3y agoDelta isn’t any better. They rebooked me while I was in the air and I only found out when I went to my connecting flight gate to be told I wasn’t on that flight. Still waiting to hear back from them…
- _rs 3y agoCan you post the email address here?
- about3fitty 3y agoWow, very similar experience with a flight that had to be re-booked for the next day. They swore up and down in Paris that I’d be compensated for the hotel stay, but I couldn’t get them to commit in writing even after a two hour conversation. It was baffling that they weren’t worn down by that point. I suppose that was their thinking too.
- Terr_ 3y ago> They swore up and down in Paris that I’d be compensated for the hotel stay, but I couldn’t get them to commit in writing IMO that's a kind of life-skill that I wish was more often taught and attempted, even if actual success is rare: A: "I see what you mean, yes, the contract does say we could royally screw you over, but trust me, we would NEVER do something like that to you, valued customer and/or business-partner." B: "Great! Sounds like we're in total agreement about what we each expect. Just go ahead and tack on a little paragraph saying that to this document, since this process is all about ensuring mutual understanding." A: "Oh, uh... gee, I dunno..."
- aranelsurion 3y agoA: "Of course, I understand, yet I'm not allowed to make contract changes. I'm sorry I can't help you further. Would you like a lollipop instead?" or A: "Of course, I understand, yet we have to follow our [most sacred] process. [...]" or A: "Of course, I understand, yet I don't see that button on the screen. [so it doesn't exist in this universe]" A makes his living playing dumb 8-10 hours a day, it's their job. If B has a life, they'll probably give up at some point.
- cwilkes 3y agoSimilar rebooking: less than 24 hours before a flight from Seattle to Naples via Paris Air France says “lol flight canceled good luck as we aren’t rebooking you” Had to scramble as flights were filling up. On hold for 45 minutes. Eventually cancel our refundable tickets and buy another pair of tickets on AF and have to make up the difference. AF is now saying that we should have gone through the non working app to reschedule. And to top it off the luggage didn’t make it to Naples, arriving 3 days (!) later even though there are multiple flights a day. Plane and the staff were nice.
- waihtis 3y agoI've come to nickname this type of behaviour "rat profiteering" where companies intentionally either degrade or never properly implement certain processes which, on paper, do not provide to the bottom line. Maybe there's an actual term for it. For some reason customer service has fallen into this mode in almost all large corporations.
- bilvar 3y agoThe reason is that regulation has killed competition and the market has reached an equilibrium where margins are razor thin.
- waihtis 3y agoI think it's not a margins issue - plenty of good money making machines doing this - but definitely a not-enough-competition issue.
- sfn42 3y agoThere is competition and they're all the same. It's a capitalism issue. Less expenses = more profits and that's literally the only thing that matters. Corporations only do things for one of two reasons - money or regulation. If they don't have to and it doesn't make money, they don't do it.
- waihtis 3y agowhat is your alternative system to capitalism?
- sfn42 3y agoNever claimed I had one. I just don't think the current system works very well. CEOs are overpaid and have too little liability. Corporations happily break the law and in many cases the only consequence is that they have to pay what they should have paid in the first place. Or a slap on the wrist fine that's less than they earned from the crimes. Get rid of corruption and enforce laws properly would be a good start.
- mkingston 3y agoI've spent quite some time in France over the past few years and variously dealt with websites of French organisations during this time. I'm not sure what it is, but French websites seem typically to be frustratingly semi-functional. This story is completely unsurprising to me.
- BrandoElFollito 3y agoCould you please share at least some of this voodoo? I am French so this may be useful :)