G'day All, I've had an issue with an airline company, specifically with their optional international cash card service.

G'day All,

I've had an issue with an airline company, specifically with their optional international cash card service.

As I am a frequent flyer with them and I received an international debit card free of charge, I explored the option of using it, and found that it (at the time) was the best option. Therefore I loaded money on it, transferred it to the currency of the country I was going to, and waited.

I received a notification when I logged into my account about half a month before departing for my trip that I was being sent a new frequent flyer card, that I did not remember requesting. As this was very close to my trip departure, and I wasn't going to be at my current address for much longer, I called them up and asked them what was going on. They told me they had sent me a new frequent flyer card (reason not specified). I queried whether I could still use my old one till my new one was activated and I was told it was absolutely fine. Therefore I thought there wouldn't be any issue. Wrong.

First day of my international trip and I try to use my credit card. The machine said it was declined. Tried to use it again this time specifying a different account (e.g. credit instead of savings) and this time it said my card was expired. Luckily I had already transferred some cash into the country's currency, so I used that. I went back to my hotel and tried it on the ATM outside. Tried several different times with several different routes and each one said it could not be processed. I was about to depart on a guided 10 day tour the next day therefore I needed to get this resolved tonight, and it was already 7:30 pm. I called the company and after looking at my account for a while, they said that they had mistakenly sent me my first card with the incorrect expiration date. As a result they sent me a new one, and that rendered the old one useless. They told me I had two options, to go to a specific bank and get a quick cash withdrawal of my money, or to do a card to card transfer. Luckily my friend happened to be using a cash card with the same company, so I managed to transfer it to his card. I had almost 5 grand worth of money that I planned to use on this trip, and withdrawing it all at once was not a viable option, as it would leave me heavily vulnerable.

Despite that, this significantly inconvenienced my trip as I had to continually ask my friend to borrow his card for withdrawals, or to borrow his card for card payments. I tried to ignore it on the trip as I didn't want it to spoil my trip, but it did end up significantly inconveniencing me.

I feel this is fairly solid grounds to make a solid complaint. I am looking for frequent flyer points as compensation. What do people think?

Cant argue with your logic, a suitable number of FF points would seem to be the least you should expect for the inconvenience, if not the embarrassment, of relying on your colleagfue to provide your cahs facility.  Had he not been there, what were your options?

I dont think you need to worry about not mention whom the airline is.

If your complaint is genuine (and I am not suggesting it isn't), perhaps some negative but constructive criticism in a public forum might help boost you case.

I say this as the airline in question would more than likely have staff and marketing personnel who explore this site (to monitor the reviews and fact reporting) and would be acutely aware that posters and readers are not average mum and dad occasional flyers, but people who spend decent sums of money flying and have some reasonable influence on business spending and opinions of family / friends.

The crux of your complaint seems to be whether or not, when you called before leaving home, you told them of your imminent departure. If you did, and they have said you could continue using the old card until the new one was activated, then you have a very strong claim for substantial compensation. If you didn't, meaning they had no reason to believe you would be trying to use the old card overseas, your case is significantly weaker - though not wholly undeserving. Be prepared, when to speak with them, for two probable responses a )we have no record of your telling us you were going overseas (the "your word against ours" line and b)whomever you spoke with had no authority to say you could continue to use the old card - the "our employee got it wrong but that's not our fault" line. You can answer a) with "do you normally record customer contact and if so why not this time, and I'll be happy to tell a small claims court about my recollection, I wonder if your contact employee will have such a clear memory as mine". You can answer b) with "it was your employee, they had apparent authority to say what they did and it isn't for me to know otherwise, again I'll be happy to tell that to a small claims court".

I hope this helps. My own experience has been that meaningful offers to settle are seldom forthcoming until you have actually started small claims proceedings. The company knows it will lose and is willing to pay up to avoid the expense of a hearing - especially since the case gets heard closest to where you live, not where they might have an office. As in all negotiations, be willing to walk away and get an objective ruling if the offer isn't nearly good enough.

Some very good advice above.

I would also be looking at FF points compensation on two (2) levels - first, on the value of points that you didn't accrue (due to having to transfer your spend to your buddy's card) and secondly, on the inconvenience issue caused by their admitted stuff-up of card expiration date, subsequent misinformation from their staff, having to interrupt your vacation by having to call / waste time on resolution and finally the lack of marketed convenience factor.

I would also mention that you are re-considering not only your card loyalty issue but your continued committment to their FF program. They always hate to be reminded that a customer has power also.

I would also have thought trying the card domestically before leaving might have been a good idea.

+1