[Update: 4:40 p.m. ET] Southwest Airlines has updated their Facebook page with information for customers affected by a computer glitch that has caused excessive credit card charges for countless people taking part in a 24-hour deal on Friday, and according to our readers writing in, during normal transactions as well .
"Information and update for Customers who recently experienced multiple bookings in error:
The overwhelming response from Customers who took advantage of our August 3 limited time offer launched to celebrate three million Fans on Facebook, created website performance issues at various times during the day. We realize that some Customers were charged more than once for the same reservation and we want to ensure you that we have all hands on deck, actively working to process refunds for any duplicate charges incurred.
Here is a status of those efforts:
First, we want you to know that we are working to identify duplicate bookings and charges and are proactively cancelling those additional reservations, actively processing refunds to the Customer. In order to process the refunds as quickly as possible, we have called in additional staff to support these efforts.
For those Customers who used debit cards and have received overdraft fees as a result of the additional charges, we will process a reimbursement for all overdraft fees that were caused by duplicate charges from Southwest for a single purchase. If you incurred overdraft fees, please fax documentation of those fees via a letter from your bank or a copy of your account showing the fees to 877-506-0154.
Southwest Airlines is committed to providing Customers with exceptional service both online and onboard. It is our goal to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and minimize any inconvenience to you, our valued Customers."
When Southwest Airlines offered a limited-time promotion on Friday to celebrate reaching three million fans on Facebook, it seems they accidentally racked up duplicate charges on the credit cards of their loyal customers.
The LUZ2LIKE promo code was meant to offer customers 50% off when booking a round-trip with their "Wanna Get Away" fares during seven specific travel dates in the fall. The promo, which arrived by e-mail to customers, only lasted until midnight on Friday.
On Saturday, their Facebook page was flooded with differing stories describing the trials, unresolved issues and even a few happy endings for customers trying to shake off the excess charges. Some lucky folks even posted that they sailed on through the process without a glitch.
When Southwest became aware of the problem, they offered a statement on Twitter, and a similar, expanded version on their Facebook page.
"Thank you for your excitement in taking advantage of the limited-time offer we shared today in celebration of reaching three million Fans on Facebook. Due to the overwhelming response, we experienced some site performance issues at various times throughout the day. We apologize to our Customers for any inconvenience and are proactively cancelling any duplicate itineraries that may have occurred."
Bobi Fox, a customer who wanted to take advantage of the promo code, shared her experience with CNN. She purchased directly off of Southwest's website.
"Customers who purchased tonight got no tickets, no confirmation, and many, like me, were charged on their credit cards repeatedly until credit card companies stopped the purchase process – some customers say they have been called by their credit card companies questioning fraud purchases," she said. " My credit card might be typical, my purchase was repeated 9 times (cost in excess of $2300 for a one pair of round trip tickets from STL to SLC). This is not unlike what everyone else is experiencing. Current wait time hold with Southwest customer service: More than two hours."
Southwest interacted with commenters to let them know that customer service representatives were working around the clock to help reverse the transactions and cancel the excess flights.
But that didn't soothe all of the complaints, and it seems that people are doing a lot of waiting - waiting for charges to be erased, flights to be cancelled and even ticket confirmations for the flights they want.
"I had $4000 limit on my card, I now have zero available because of 25 confirmations," John Seymour wrote on the airline's Facebook page. "I called when I was having errors, and the CS rep told me the website was slammed, and to keep hitting purchase and it would eventually go through. Looks like all of them went through.
"I waited almost three hours last night to speak to someone. Finally got someone on the phone, and I had to remember which specific flights I had picked so that she could look up the flights and cancel the duplicates. She had to send the confirmation for the one flight I did want twice before it ever made it to me. I woke up this morning to 25 or so confirmations, and 25 or so cancellation emails. The charges remain pending on my credit card, so I can't use that card to book my hotel room in Vegas for my trip. Thanks for ruining my Friday night. Wish I had never seen this deal. And I was so glad when you came to Atlanta...."
"36 confirmations," Bella Ventresca shared. "Over $7,000.00 in charges to my account, and 2 hours on the phone with SWA. I thought that this was just me, but apparently SOMEONE really dropped the ball here. PLUS it will take 7-10 days to process returns? Unacceptable."
One of the common threads of discord? Waiting on the phone for hours to speak with a customer service rep, and then being cut off the phone call when a human voice finally answered. The comments even spread to other activity on the page, like when Southwest changed their Facebook cover photo from the promotion to a banner showing the airline.
"The Flash Sale made a nightmare out of my day," June Wood wrote. "It just happened to be on a day that I needed to make arrangements but not one of the Flash dates. I was on hold the first time for 3 1/2 hours; then someone picked up the phone and click it was gone again. I tried numerous times throughout the day and evening I was put on hold again for 45 minutes. I was working on the booking from 6pm 8/3 until 2am 8/4. The reps seemed to be exhausted and not able to think clearly. Nice try but don't repeat."
Others were not amused when some Southwest fans began posting comments in support of the airline, such as "Best airline out there," and "I love Southwest."
"More disturbing than being charged $5000 dollars for a flight to Cleveland and waiting to see if I'm charged over limit fees as a result, is the number of people who are posting pointless "I love Southwest" comments or telling people not to be upset," Steve Kafkas wrote on the Facebook page."
"I'm a loyal Southwest customer, but at the moment I don't know that I would risk buying another ticket from Southwest. How about a statement with a few more specifics than "we're working on it" and that hours after the fact. For example, can people really cancel their flights online and get refunds? If so, why not post that here or on your website? If not, then tell people, because there are people suggesting it on this page."
Because of being charged multiple times, sometimes upwards of 30 separate occasions, customers complained that the strain on their credit cards for the unexpected charges had a domino effect on their finances.
"I was sympathic [sic] to the situation before I actually spoke with a rep from Southwest who said, there is nothing she can do...southwest will refund the charges when they get to it and it will take 8 -10 business days before I get my money back and now I have to call customer relations to get the overlimit fees back, and I was charged interest on the $1400 on the duplicate charges and I have to pay for the long distance fees to call customer relations as they do not have a 1-800 number...SERIOUSLY?!?!? Are you freaking kidding me?" Suzanne Worrell wrote in a blazing post.
"You guys screwed up, took MY money through no fault of my own and now you are telling me I have to work to get it back and I am gonna be out more money??? For a company that prides itself on customer service you guys are falling on your face!! I spent over 5 hours last night on hold just to be disconnected, I can't buy groceries or gas because you guys have taken all of my money and there is nothing you can do about it??? This is CRIMINAL!!! I get there was a glitch but compensate me, fix it, don't tell me I have to call someone else on Monday to get it fixed! I am so disappointed and angry at Southwest!"
People also complained in their comments about not receiving the LUZ2LIKE email promotion to even know about the sale, and that because of the glitch, Southwest should extend the promotion. Others immediately responded by saying they were lucky they didn't receive the promotion because of the charge errors that resulted for many of them.
Teri Landrum shared her experience on the Facebook page for how to try cancelling the flights online, but other users said that the site hasn't been working for them.
"Hopefully this will help someone – Go to southwest.com, log in to RR Account, click My Account link under "Hello Teri", click View All next to Upcoming Trips, click Cancel Reservation, Under Travel Funds, it should say "Refundable" and the $ amount." Landrum wrote. "Select "Request a Refund", then click Yes, Cancel. When you go to cancel the next one, make sure you select the next one in the list because the list doesn't remove your cancelled ones and when you have 17 to cancel, it can get confusing."
Perhaps the complaint that resonates the most is how Southwest's customers felt punished, rather than rewarded, for being fans of the airline.
"I appreciate your generous sale but this is the last time I will ever fly southwest," Christine Ylan Ho wrote. "Maybe you've made this mistake yesterday but the lesson here is how you've dealt with it, which is poorly. Good intentions but you should have been prepared to deal with the ramifications of charging thousands of dollars, especially to those who need access to that money to survive. Egregious really. IMPROVE YOUR RESPONSE TO THIS KIND OF CRISIS. I do not like your facebook page."
Readers have also written in, telling CNN that the problem is not solely aligned with the promotion.
"I bought a one-way ticket at the regular price, and got 14 confirmations and 14 charges on my credit card," Cathy Gallagher commented. "SWA hung up on me after a 3 hour wait. I am much more concerned about the national security implications of the problem than the overcharges. What kind of computer system can confirm me 14 times on the same flight? How do they know who is actually on those planes?"
Are you having issues with the Southwest promo? Let us know in the comments below. And if you are with Southwest and want to add to the conversation, our audience would like to hear what you have to say, too.
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So Southwest had a computer screw-up, apologized, went to work to unravel the error, and immediately offered to cover anyone's overdraft fees from their error. I would call that good corporate responsibility. Why are you all complaining? This is life. Stuff happens. They've stepped up to the plate and are fixing it. Do you have nothing better to do than complain?
I agree. It took a long while to finally get a reservation to go through. Then this morning it seemed I had 10 cancellations and no confirmed reservation. Called Southwest and it was all resolved in less than 1/2 hour and I was given the low price I first tried to book. I thought it was great and efficient service after a horrid glitz in their computer system. Stuff happens, no complaints here.
Bravo! Someone who actually thinks. Very well said.
This is the price consumers pay for all the corporate cost-cutting. SW hires cheap IT people and customer service rejects from other companies.
Flying bus
This is unfortunate but at least Southwest has jumped on trying to fix the problem. They didn't ignore it. They didn't try blaming customers. They admitted fault and set out to fix it. And, still, they are demonized. Several days to process the return? That's normal. The card companies take a few days and, in addition, Southwest can not process a couple thousand returns instantly. It takes time to sift through everything. The company jumped at bringing people on board to fix this as quickly as possible, but it's still not good enough. They admitted they mistakes were made on their part. Not good enough. People want comp tickets and extra money. I wouldn't be surprised to see a lawsuit. This is what we've become. Greedy, selfish, and unforgiving. We can't take comfort that they admitted they made a mistake and immideately set to righting it. It's not "good enough." Southwest made the mistake, yes. And they're working to make it right. And, yet, that is somehow not good enough.
Leee- Have you considered what it would be like to not be able to pay for gas or groceries for 8-10 days? Try cutting up all your sources of payment, and see how you like it. Better yet, let me cut off all your sources of payment, and then let's see if you don't think I should owe you something. This is not greed. This is paying people back for a serious mistake.
Don't give me that CRAP that they cannot fix this instantly. They can charge your card and have YOUR money in 30 to 45 seconds, that's pretty damn close to instantly. PR is not lip service but actual service a customer will be good with. SWA is not getting that done.
The article says when booking a round trip flight. I got the 50% discount with only a one way flight.
Yes, to being thrilled at getting low price promotion. No, to having 3 sets of tickets purchased. No, to waiting over 90 minutes for a live person and finally giving up Friday. No, to calling many times Saturday and being on hold. Yes, to finally being able to cancel 2 sets of tickets and feeling in control again. No, to Sunday's cancellation to my actual initial purchase! Will start again in trying to get back 1 set of tickets. Oh, forgot this one, No, to lack of response to my email dated Friday night regarding as to if I had purchased tickets after the freeze when I pressed confirmed.
SWA CEO needs to make their loyal customers " feel the love" after this fiasco.
These airlines are doing this on purpose. I had Frontier do this same thing to me 2 months ago. They make millions on interest having your money in their bank accounts even for this short time.
Everyone should tell them they have a fee for this. $200.00 each incident.
Shameful
IIn order to make $2 million – the lowest amount your "millions" comment could be read as – they'd have to pull in over $100 million in bad charges and find a way to invest that at over 100% APR. Neither of those numbers are plausible. You either need some remedial financial math or you need to think about what you're posting before you present it as fact.
Do you really think they are making millions, MILLIONS, off of this fiasco??? Really? If anything it will wind up costing them money. The amount of money they would need to have collected and had in an account to generate millions in interest in a few days, even a few months, is no where near the amount they collected.
Wow... Looks like someone needs to do a reality check before making such comments... not only are they NOT getting interest on the money, they are losing cutomers due to bad press and have to pay people overtime to process refunds...
I wonder what impact this will have on ecommerce and the processes companies put in place for operating online.
The people who are waiting for refunds could dispute the charges with the credit/debit card companies. This puts the dilemma of calling Southwest on the lendor's shoulders and off the customer and clears up the space on the card..
I don't know if it's just me, but almost all the glitches cause the companies to get more money and the customers less. Maybe no one mentions it if it's the other way around.
It's a sad side effect of security concerns. You have to safeguard your app against attacks from less-than-honest users, and so the system is designed to make sure it's hard to get money going out. On the other hand, it's not *as* important the other way around because even if you assume your employees might attempt to steal from customers employees are much easier to track down & fire, then reverse the fradulent transactions, so it feels like you can skimp on protection there. Then you have one system break and screw things up wholesale, and you learn why security – forward and backward – always has to be priority number one.
It has. But in these cases the airlines readily admit a glitch and then don't hold up to their end of the bargain.
It is always a "glitch" after they get caught.
It is ok. SW will straighten it all out just give them time to get a handle on the situation.
Give them time? Really? I think you'd have a different opinion if it was your finaces that were tied up for almost 2weeks waiting for Southwest to process a refund. For some people $1500-2000 realy has in impact on their lives.
I guess maybe they should just shut down any company that makes a mistake then huh? Why is is that people are so impatient these days. You don't seem to understand anything about how many moving parts are involved in businesses of this type... if you make a mistake, I'm sure you expect some slack while you get things fixed.
You're simply math challenged.
Was really excited to learn of this promotion. Would have saved my family $400 on a September trip to Orlando. Problem was I couldn't cancel our existing reservation 1. WEB site was "Down for maintenance" or simply wouldn't load and 2. Couldn't get through to SWA for hours (busy signal) and when finally got through the indicated hold time (3 hours) went past the deadline for the promotion. At around 10:00 p.m decided to try just booking a new reservation and worry about cancelling the other one later. Got into the promo page, saw 50% off fares for my flight, selected the flights, but after selecting continue was told no seats available. This probably resulted from so many people getting multiple booked. I too love Southwest and travel with them for both business and pleasure, but his promotion was definitely a bust. Someone at SWA didn't plan for what they should have known would be huge response to this type of promotion.
Know what I hear? "I want it fast, I want it right, and I want it my way". I am curious how many of these whinebags are the type to blow off people when they wrong them (or do they blame the other person when they do?). Southwest made a promotional offer and when an unusual amount of greedy people attempted to take advantage they overloaded the system. It's not SW's fault, it's the greedy cheapheads. It's their own fault for using a credit card with such low limits that they cannot use them. Blaming SW is the epitomy of crass and self-importance. I have used a great number of airlines and have found SW to be among the greatest as far as customer service, so those whining about poor service have not a concept of what they gripe.
Greed carries its own punishment and those who find themselves in this quagmire have only themselves to blame.
Wag.
Customer: You charged $5000.00 for a $129.00 ticket, when do I get my refund?
Southwest: Gee, we are sorry, we shoul dbe able to refund your $5000.00 within 30 days, or so
Customer: Wow, that is a long time to wait. Can't you do it sooner? Please canacel those extra tickets now.
Southwest: Yes, we have cancelled all tickets.
Customer, No! I need the original ticket I purchased.
Southwest: Oh! We can rebook that for you, the ticket price is $540.00
Customer: I paid $129.00 for the ticket yesterday!
Southwest: We are sorry sir, that special price no longer applies.
Customer: But I booked a non-refundable hotel room! And I am going to be charged a fee for cancelling the rental car!
Southwest: Please submit a claim, we should be able to cover some of those costs with the next 6 months.
And that is the story of a low buck airline
It's my understanding that Southwest is honoring the initial ticket price so if the promo was $129.00 that's what their Customer(s) who tried to book on Friday will get. Southwest is probably the most honorable of the airlines and care about their Customers. What they don't do well is these types of 1-2 day sales promos. Don't know what the problem is.....probably more than one problem....definitely a technology problem plus the inability to anticipate Customer response to a one day sale@50% off. I'm sure this has cost them more than what they'll realize in sales. Marketing may want to consider not doing these types of sales promos until their technology is improved to be able to handle the flood! Execution is everything.