Sempati and Vayatour

I purchased a Sempati Air Gold Class air ticket for my wife and dispatched it to her in Singapore for her to fly to Jakarta.

Prior to the day of departure, my secretary called Vayatour to reconfirm the booking and my wife did the same with Sempati Air in Singapore.

On Aug. 3, the day of her departure, when my wife checked in on flight SG017, she was given seat number 12C. She was not given the usual invitation to the lounge coupon and no explanation was given to her.

Not suspecting anything, she was shocked when she boarded the plane and was ushered to an economy class seat. Again, there was no explanation of any kind or even an apology from the captain or the flight crew as to the change of aircraft and the down-grading of gold class to economy class.

When I brought the matter to Vayatour, the blame was passed to Sempati Air. When I spoke to a Sempati Air official, I did not receive a valid or acceptable explanation.

The most irritating part of it all is now that I am trying to claim the difference in fare from Vayatour where I bought the ticket and was told that it would take two months for the refund. Why? I had to pay for my ticket within two weeks from the date of issue but have to wait two months for my refund. Again the delay of refund was blamed on Sempati.

In business one will always make every effort to create a 'win-win' situation, but what I am facing now is a 'win-lose' situation. Can someone explain to me what happened to customer service?

I am a PCC card member and for the past four years my staff, my family and I have never failed to fly with Sempati.

ISHAK AHMAD

South Jakarta