The column for anyone fed up with bureaucracy, frustrated with delays or furious with poor service. Tell us your complaint and we'll try to fix it...
Carol Teng of Singapore redeemed a ticket with Cathay Pacific's Asia Miles, a customer loyalty programme, in August and provided them with her credit card details for payment of airport taxes and other charges. Then, mistaken charges were made and her demands for a refund fell on deaf ears.
'In my September credit card statement, I noticed two transactions made by Asia Miles,' she wrote. 'I called them repeatedly, faxed them and sent them numerous online queries, but their response on each occasion was fairly standard - 'case pending investigation'.
'I was finally told that due to 'an internal system error beyond their control' they had charged me for another member's expenses. To add insult to injury, I was told a refund would typically take one month, effective from the completion date of their investigation!
'When I registered my annoyance at the long waiting time, I was informed there was nothing they could do as it was very much left to Cathay Pacific's finance department. They also mentioned something about waiting for the member whose credit card they should have debited to sign some letter or something, but is any of this my business?
'I then asked to speak to a senior manager, but was told he does not speak to customers directly and would only entertain written correspondence and - besides - he would not be able to offer further assistance. While the lady on the line was polite, she kept insisting there wasn't very much they could do.