Turkish Airlines' Failure to Refund My Refundable Ticket
Despite making numerous requests at least one week before the flight by both calling and filling out the cancellation and change request form, and visiting their branches twice in person, they have not refunded my money.
The ticket information belongs to my brother. I purchased the ticket and payment through my THY user account and transferred the payment from the bank account of the company I own.
Initially, they mentioned something about the refund not being possible directly to the card due to the payment being made via transfer (I don't remember exactly what they said). Eventually, I was told I needed to visit a branch in person, and even when I did, I couldn't get the refund because there was no money in the cashier and it was close to the end of the working day. Additionally, I was informed by THY staff that I could get the refund from the Tokyo office. I had a flight to Tokyo that night. When I went to the THY office in Tokyo, they asked me to contact THY Turkey because I didn't have a Japanese bank account. I contacted them again, and the result did not change.
The links they sent in the emails responding positively to my refund request forms always directed me to the same refund form page. So, I was starting over every time. It felt like my requests were being answered automatically by software. As a result, they didn't even respond to the refund request form TK-9483772 dated September 27, 2023, where I asked them to call me.
Today, when my brother, in whose name the ticket is, went to the office in person, he was told that a refund of ₺1073.81 was approved (as if mocking). They said I needed to call or email THY to state, "I do not accept the refund of ₺1073.81 and request a full refund of the ticket amount with the cancellation option." I did exactly that by filling out the refund request form again and urgently requested them to call me as I am abroad and cannot call (request form TK-979934).
When I couldn't get any result, I finally decided to share the situation with you here. Beyond the money that has not been deposited and has eroded against foreign currency/inflation during this process, there is a humiliating situation here. They have made me chase my own money for months without any justification.
Below are the reference numbers of all the feedback I provided during this process (including my necessary identity information for the refund, company, and bank details) except for the two mentioned above:
TK-8926144
TK-8949622
TK-8952757
TK-8958594
TK-8958779
I just received a response to my latest feedback with reference number TK-9799343 as shown below (I have also attached a screenshot). However, I had already performed the actions mentioned in the response (going to the office, clicking the link in the email to fill out the form for the transfer to the account, calling, etc.) by providing my personal, corporate, and bank details, but I have not received a refund for months. Is the person reading the feedback not reading it or just ignoring it? I already express these in my feedback. Why do I always get the same indifferent and dismissive response? Why does no staff member or official take any action genuinely focused on resolving this issue? Additionally, the email mentions sales rules. Despite creating multiple requests (calling, the person named on the ticket and myself, who made the payment, personally going to the office, filling out refund forms) for a cancellable ticket starting from a week in advance, I am curious about the reasons and conditions under which they have not processed the refund for months. "Dear..., First of all, we are sorry for the dissatisfaction you have experienced. There are certain sales rules related to the fares used in our flights, and these rules impose some restrictions on the use of the tickets. We can only perform ticket cancellation or change procedures according to the fare conditions of the purchased ticket. It is possible to change your ticket to a different route as you requested. For this change, if there is a ticket change fee in your ticket rule, you will need to pay the seat fee difference, tax difference, and ticketing service fee. We would like to inform you that you can carry out your cancellation process at our sales offices. If you want your ticket refund to be transferred to your account, you need to access the refund and change request form page from our website and fill out the form you will access from the Refund Request option. We would like to share that refund processes may take a long time with this method. Thank you for your understanding, and we hope to meet you on your future flights. Best regards, E*** g. Customer Representative Turkish Airlines Inc. Customer Communication Center"
Yesterday, my brother went to the headquarters of Turkish Airlines (after the branch staff said, "You are right about everything," but added that they couldn't do anything and that the issue stemmed from the headquarters). There, they said that the refund process had been approved, that they would send the documents they received from us to the accounting department, and that the money would be deposited into our account within 10 days at the latest. So, we are currently waiting for the money to be deposited into our account. I will update here with any developments, whether the money is deposited or not.
They processed the return today.
