Need Help: Airline Refund Stuck for 2 Years – What Can I Do?

Lakafinal on 10/01/2025 - 13:36

(first post in Forums section so please be gentle)

Hey everyone,

I’m feeling pretty hopeless and could really use some advice on what to do next. I’ve been waiting for a refund from Batik Air (formerly Malindo Air) for nearly two years, and it’s just been delay after delay with no real answers.

Here’s the story:

My flight to Bali got canceled during COVID, and instead of issuing a refund, the airline gave me a travel voucher in 2022. Since early 2023, I’ve been trying to get that voucher refunded in cash, but nothing has happened so far. The refund amount I’m waiting for is $408.50, and despite my patience and persistence, there has been no progress.

I’ve sent countless emails and made numerous calls to their customer service team, but each time I reach out, I get the same response: “Your refund is being processed.” They never provide a timeline or any concrete updates, and I’ve been hearing this same vague statement for nearly two years now.

What I Need Help With:

I’d love to get your expert advice on what steps I should take next to finally secure this refund. Are there any consumer rights agencies, ombudsmen, or legal channels I can approach to escalate this matter? Lastly, has anyone else dealt with such long delays for airline refunds? If so, I’d love to hear how you resolved it.

I’m honestly at my wits’ end and just want this resolved. I’d appreciate any advice, resources, or even just hearing about your experiences.

Thanks so much for reading and helping out!

Travel Airfare

Comments

  • Make it so on 10/01/2025 - 13:36
    +1

    ACCC

    • Duckie2hh on 10/01/2025 - 13:38

      Won't work as they are not an Australian company…

      • Make it so on 10/01/2025 - 13:43

        They have an ABN.

      • MELso on 10/01/2025 - 20:21

        Australian Consumer Law still applies…

  • Duckie2hh on 10/01/2025 - 13:37
    +1

    chargeback?

    • akafinal on 10/01/2025 - 13:48

      Unfortunately, I used a debit card at that time. :(
      However, even if I had used a credit card, I'm curious whether the charge from May 2023 would still be eligible for a chargeback?

      • ricadam on 10/01/2025 - 14:45
        +1

        I thought debit cards can do chargebacks?

      • staryknight on 10/01/2025 - 15:12

        you can 100% chargeback for historical purchases for credit cards. I had a similar situation where i booked flights via mytrip, and flights were cancelled due to COVID travel restrictions, they gave me "credit" to rebook, and when i tried to rebook flights after covid restrictions were over almost a year later, they constantly gave me the run around, hours of call waiting and dropping out, diverting to other departments etc.

        I recorded all conversations and a diary of all my attempts to rebook using the "credit" overall i think it was about 18 total hours on call waiting/transferred around over multiple days before I gave up, submitted all evidence to the bank (ANZ at the time, which i had already cancelled the credit card with them), bank took a few weeks to investigate using all my evidence and finally got a full refund.

        I'm not sure how much protection there is on debit, but if it was Visa/Mastercard debit, maybe there still is some?

        • akafinal on 10/01/2025 - 22:47

          not sure why you got negged but thanks for the detailed advice.

      • Edeena on 10/01/2025 - 16:19
        +1

        Debit card same process as credit card for dispute/chargeback.

  • Protractor on 10/01/2025 - 13:43
    +1

    ACCC or your local federal member.(There's an election coming)
    Give them a 72 hour challenge to resolve it.
    Or track down the contact details of the company CEO or highest ranking person in Straya,, flick them a message and CC in A Current Affair

    EDIT, also pre-purchase reviews are handy hints
    EDIT 2 https://my.linkedin.com/in/datuk-chandran-rama-muthy-32ba3b1…
    https://www.malindoair.com/news-events/2024/02/13/BATIK-AIR-…

    • akafinal on 10/01/2025 - 14:28

      wow, I'm surprised at how fast you came up with these. Many thanks.

  • 7ekn00 on 10/01/2025 - 14:19

    Are there any consumer rights agencies, ombudsmen, or legal channels I can approach to escalate this matter?

    Unfortunately you chose a company not located in Australia because it was cheaper, which means no Australian authority can do anything :/

    Find a law firm in the country that the company is based and ask them to write up a letter of demand, although the legal avenue (in any country) will probably cost more than any refund you will see …

    • akafinal on 10/01/2025 - 14:31

      thanks, did not have money at the time so went with cheap option. Learned my lesson now.

  • holdenmg on 10/01/2025 - 14:19
    +4

    Hi,

    On the Bakik website it says:
    8. If the refund submission date exceeds 6 months from date of ticket issuance, the Savings Account details must be updated in the "Select Payment Type" box.
    https://www.malindoair.com/Refund-Request

    So, check you have done this.

    • akafinal on 10/01/2025 - 14:23

      Just updated them via email, but I will also do it on the link above now. Cheers!

  • coffeeinmyveins on 10/01/2025 - 22:02
    -2

    How is two years of your time worth it for $400….

    Just move on with your life. They did give you a credit..

    • akafinal on 10/01/2025 - 22:46
      -1

      Yes, it's been over two years, but to be precise, it's more like just a few hours of email exchanges in total. Anyway, the main point isn't so much about the $400; it's about the lessons I'm learning from people here.

      • coffeeinmyveins on 11/01/2025 - 09:52

        it's more like just a few hours of email exchanges

        Plus the mental load of thinking about this for two years. The fact that you've posted about this shows that it's something you think about frequently.

        • akafinal on 11/01/2025 - 10:02

          Yes, I agree with the mental load. Tbh, I hadn't thought about this for about half a year until something similar triggered me yesterday. Once again, I'm grateful for all the comments people are posting and what I'm learning from this post; I should have done this two years ago.

  • wetsandwich on 15/01/2025 - 14:55

    Don't deal with 'customer service', think of them as the roadblock department, it's mostly just bots these days designed to make 80% of users give up on complex issues. Providing support costs money, and companies discovered during covid that they basically don't have to provide it other than a few useless help articles or third world call center agents who have zero clue about anything.

    Instead, find higher up managers in the company on Linkedin or company 'About Us' pages, and start nicely and diplomatically filing up their emails and private messages.

    They will often flick it off to a lower level grunt and ask them to make the problem go away.

    I was using an offshore online poker site years ago. It was mostly legit, part of a bigger network. I had withdrawn money many times before, been a member for years, deposited heaps, they had all my ID etc. Then one time I won a tournament and tried to withdraw $500 and the roadblock went up. Sorry sir, you can't withdraw because your credit card expired and you have to withdraw to the same source. There's just no way we can ever process it, sorry. Send us all your ID again, except you left out 1mm on the passport scan, therefore you're a fraud, but if you send us all your utility bills we might reconsider. The bills weren't in my name so they wouldn't accept those either.

    So I found the asia pacific marketing manager for that site, copied in him and a few other random head office people, and explained that simply, yes I am entitled to my own money, there is no actual reason why I can't have it, and it would put the entire gambling industry into further disrepute if they didn't pay out money from a competition after they've accepted all my deposits for several years.

    Anyway, this regional manager forwarded it to someone else with 'pls pay the customer thx' and I had my money in about 24 hours after that.

    Support will only ever help you if you are having trouble paying them money, mostly.

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