3 years, 6 months, 1 week...but who's counting?

I am so glad we decided to make this blog private! This way I can let you all know about the stupidity and 'huh?' moments we deal with on a regular basis with Mary. As my Grandpa Charlie would have said "When God was handing out brains, she was standing behind the door".

So...I'll make the story short! When Shelby flew out for Spring break, Mary paid the unaccompanied minor fee (UA fee from here on in) out of Chicago. When Mark went to Seatac to pick Shelby up at the gate he waited while all the passengers got off. No Shelby. All the crew got off. No Shelby. By that point he was thinking 'Mary didn't put her on the plane' . He called me and I said "no, she has to be there. I called the airlines when the flight left and she was checked in". So Mark went to the crew still standing at the gate and asked 'is there anyone else on board'. Nope. 'Are you sure?' Yup. 'Could you PLEASE go check?'. Eyes rolled..but the crew went to check. Oh..yah...she was on the plane sitting by herself waiting for someone to escort her off (by now Shelby knows the drill with flying UA).

They had all just assumed someone else would get her and didn't bother to double check! See what $100 buys you with United? lolol....Mark then goes to the United service desk and lets it be known that he is NOT angry (Mark never gets mad...), that he doesn't 'want' anything..he just wants them to know what happened and that for the fee that is paid for someone to keep track of his child, they had better do a better job. The lady was SO apologetic and gave Mark a $100 coupon for Shelbys next flight out. He explained that we book online, but this was no problem according to her. Just bring your credit card you used to book the flight with, the itinerary and the coupon to the United kiosk the next time you fly Shelby in and viola the amount will be applied back to your card. So we did that for the summer visit. Only when I went to the kiosk to get the $100 put back on my card, they wouldn't do it! UH? I was told I had to pay for the ticket at the AIRPORT not online. I didn't argue. I just decided to handle this another time, another way.

So began the phone call log. I started calling numbers in June. Being in the legal profession, I always keep a log when doing something like this. Time called, whom I spoke to, date called etc. I talked to no less than 37 different people in probably as many different countries, none of which being the good old US of A! Some I couldn't understand, some couldn't understand me, but ALL said that the 'policy was'....and proceeded to explain to stupid little me just what the policy was.
After two months of this crap, I went on the United website, found an email address and told the story (paid the UA fee, your company lost track of my child, got a coupon, you failed to honor it and now I have a phone log with 37 different people on it and no one can help) and also informed them that they had three days to get back to me with a resolution OR I would contact CNN, Good Morning America and every other major US news agency with the story that they lost my child and didn't do anything about it!

The next day I got a call. The lady was ever so sorry (and lo and behold, was in the USA!). She said she had refunded the credit card used to pay the UA fee in Chicago. I said 'ok, well, you just gave my husbands ex wife $100 bucks, which is ok with us but WE are the ones with the coupon that won't be honored'. She said 'well, I see your credit card that you used to book the ticket with. I will put $100 back on that AND send YOU an e certificate that you can use next flight no matter HOW you book your ticket. Hows that?" I said GREAT! Then emailed Mary to let her know she would see a 'refund of UA fee' on her credit card statement and wanted her to know the story (ok, I left out the part that we got an e certificate...forgive me!). I told her that we each got a $100 refund out of the airlines for the mix up with Shelby.

OK! So the STUPIDITY I had to deal with? I get a letter from Mary two days ago. Was it a 'hey, THANKS for fighting for a refund for me' letter? Nope... 'The airlines refunded me the UA fee. YOU didn't send Shelby back UA so that means that YOUR refund was for the airfare which we split evenly. This means you owe me half of your refund'. UH? Is she THAT dumb?

I emailed her back and said 'Actually, we EACH got $100. YOURS was refunded directly to your credit card beacause you used it in Chicago to pay for the UA fee. OURS was put on our credit card because we used it to book the ticket. We EACH got $100. You are NOT getting yours AND half of ours'. I also told her that I didn't HAVE to get her a refund, that I could have just got one for us and not said a thing! I then went on to say how I keep her in my prayers. That I pray that God can work on her heart and let her see that all the things she does to get back at Mark is really only affecting Shelby.

I bet THAT really made her day! :)

So like my title says, 3 years, 6 months and 1 week. But who's counting?

Hugs to all...
Jaye aka the refund getter! lol