"Tim Josling" wrote in message
news:7NudnWr8tNC5RGTanZ2dnUVZ_vfinZ2d@westnet.com.au...
> On Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:18:46 +1000, David Bennetts wrote:
>
>> "Tim Josling" wrote in message
>> news:CfGdnfy55vjf8GTanZ2dnUVZ_q2hnZ2d@westnet.com.au...
>>> As of last night, Virgin Blue was pre-selecting travel insurance as an
>>> extra for ticket orders on their web site. If you did not explicitly
>>> de-select it you are deemed to have ordered travel insurance and you get
>>> charged for it.
>>>
>>> You have a 14-day colling off period. However the process to cancel your
>>> travel insurance is confused (I have been told 4 different stories about
>>> how to get a refund) and slow (I was told 21 days to get a credit back
>>> on
>>> my card.
>>>
>>> I notified the ACCC this morning about this and they will be taking the
>>> matter up with Virgin in the context of the laws prohibiting misleading
>>> and deceptive conduct.
>>
>> I can't see what is misleading and deceptive about it. It's clearly
>> headed
>> up as optional insurance when I tried a dummy booking Yes it is
>> pre-selected, but is extremely easy to deselect.
>>
>> It's worthwhile no doubt for the airline to encourage their customers to
>> consider insurance, particularly for the non-refundable fares. I don't
>> know
>> how many passengers complain when they miss their flights (or don't turn
>> up
>> on time) and forfeit their fare, but it must be a considerable volume.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> David Bennetts
>
> You were already aware of the situation from my posting. Just making a
> booking, you are not expecting them to add something on without asking so
> it is more likely to split through. Particularly when it says OPTIONAL is
> large type, and the button to deselect it is hidden in the middle of a
> whole lot of fine print.
>
> Ands particularly as this is a recent change - they did not do this
> before.
> Just below the insurance, they have the option for greenhouse offsets.
> Here they do *not* pre-select any option so there was no risk of getting
> charged for something you didn't want.
>
> A person at the b-secure (insurance) call centre told me they have had a
> lot of calls from people in exactly the same situation as me since Virgin
> Blue made the change. And presumably a lot of people did not call because
> they could not be bothered.
>
> Or because it is it harder to cancel than it should be. Why is that? Still
> no response to my email asking for cancellation almost 24 hours later.
>
> You shouldn't charge people for something they didn't explicitly ask for.
> When you rent a car you have to initial each and every extra for this
> reason.
I am surprised its taken Virgin so long to get into the self insurance
business - considering the management background in road transport. Its a
BIG money earner for road transport who self insure.
You need a nice high profile event where a lot of passengers are left high
and dry (preferably by a competitor like Jetstar) then build a fear of being
left on the tarmac by refusing to load people who've been in a queue for 3
hours but have nt "checked in" by the 60 minute cut off. Hey presto about
80% of people will take the insurance, less than 2% or 3% will ever need to
claim or be "qualified" to claim by an onerous claim process with so many
exceptions and $ excesses most will give up.
Does the small print have a one claim per six months as well?
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