Consumer complaint received 2022-10-18
Company: ALLIANT CREDIT UNION
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2022, I bought two XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ) airline tickets thru XXXX for {$1500.00}. XXXX has an explicit change of flight policy that allows for me to change my ticket for about XXXX XXXX. After buying the ticket, about 1 month later, I needed to change or cancel my flight. XXXX 's phone lines, the only way to reach the airline ( there is no email ), failed to work for two months+. I provided photo proof of this with phone records and a XXXX XXXX with the official XXXX account where they state that they are having phone problems, and that XXXX can not change my ticket. XXXX also has an online portal to change my ticket, and that, similarly, did not work. XXXX told me I had to get in contact with XXXX and that they ( XXXX ) can do nothing about my tickets, either. 

As it turns out, there is no XXXX  airlines at XXXX, the airport I flew out of. The date of the flight arrived ( XX/XX/XXXX ) and I got an email from a completely different airline with a completely different " change of flight '' and " no cancellation '' policy stating that my " flight with XXXX is just around the corner! '' At this point, I contested the {$1500.00} charge with my credit union, Alliant Credit Union, in early XXXX. I submitted 14 screenshots of evidence detailing the XXXX  change of flight policy, my attempts to change my flight, my inability to do so, as well as my unapproved booking on some other airline. I showed evidence I did not agree to be booked with XXXX and only agreed to XXXX, nor was I ever told anything about this. Alliant claims to have done an investigation and came back saying to me that the merchant rejected my claim because of a no cancellation policy. 

Not only does Alliant 's response not address any of my core reasons for contesting the charge, but XXXX 's " no cancellation '' statement is demonstrably false with a simple XXXX search. On top of that, I talked to 5+ representatives at Alliant and each time I did, I was told that none of this had been written down in my dispute. I had to repeat all of this info to multiple representatives all of whom claimed they fixed this. My comments may have never made it into the dispute in the first place. Regardless, it seems clear at this point that Alliant did not investigate, and they seem to have ignored all my evidence. It's as if Alliant either submitted my complaint to the merchant and did no investigation, or my info never made it into the dispute in the first place despite how many times I was told it was. 

On top of that, to this date Alliant has not addressed any of my concerns. XXXX is not the airline I booked with, not an airline that was mentioned when I booked, and XXXX XXXX change of flight policy was not honored. My repeated attempts to settle this with Alliant or XXXX XXXX have been ignored. Alliant representatives refuse to address any of this and simply say that the matter is settled. When I ask for an explanation, Alliant said simply " I was advised that once a claim is process for one reason and is denied XXXX can not go back to the merchant and dispute it for another reason. In order to refute the merchants denial you would need to provide documented proof that the tickets he purchased were refundable. " The refundability of the tickets isn't even the reason why I disputed the claim, but Alliant will not answer further questions. It seems evident to me that Alliant has ignored all of what I've said.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation