Cheapoair Kept my money and more--unfair business practices, shady customer service Internet

My whole ordeal took about 6 hours on hold, over a span of a week, trying to use credit I had with this company.

They kept blaming Virgin America for these policies, and giving them a bad name, when in fact it is cheapoair policies. Virgin America would never treat their customers the way this company does.

Tonight, It took me over 2 hours to speak to a rep that could help me. He then confirmed I was booked for the flight. However here is where I have a huge issue

My credit is 659.82

The cost of the new flight is 476.00

I should have remaining credit of 183.82

The rebooking fee was already charged additional 200.

I should either 

1. Have my 200 change fee reduced to 16.18 (200 fee minus 183.82 remaining credit)

2. Have 183.82 remaining credit with the company.

This is unfair business practice and no other respectable US company would ever dream of having these policies. They basically stole my money. 

My previous rep said that I would be refunded the difference after he charged me 200 the night before. Low and behold, the story changed yet again this night.

Oh wait theres more, read on...

Original situation...

I cancelled a flight because my father in law died and we could not make the trip.

I then had credit with the company That I could use within the year.

1. Why is it policy that in order for me to use my credit, I must travel before the date of my purchase even though when I purchased the original ticket, my travel date was weeks later? Is it not more fair to the customer that it is ok to purchase before original purchase date? When I called virgin America, they agreed that this was an unfair rule. It seems like  a way to make it more difficult for the customer, so that they could keep the money.

2. Customer service is extremely exhausting. When I was informed that in order to use my credit, I must travel before my purchase date, I asked to speak to a manager. The service representative told me that her manager would still tell me the same thing and could not help me. She also advised that it was up to the original airline. She put me on hold for a manager and I was never answered. I called the actual airline and they said it was not up to them, but to cheapoair rules, and that they do not impose these rules onto their own Virgin America customers.

3. Second time I called, representative advised that my one way flight was 2000 US dollars with my credit from san francisco to las vegas. I told him I was looking at the flight on the website that said 500 US dollars. He said that if I tried to purchase it, it would error out and tell me the new amount. After hanging up, I refreshed my screen and it was still 500 dollars not 2000.

4. Third time I called I noted that I wanted to use a credit. The service representative immediately put me back on hold and never answered back.

5. Fourth time I called, I was advised I couldn't use my credit because it was not to my original destination. After noting that they were perfectly fine with charging me 2000 dollars the last time I called, he then said it was ok, and that I would be charged a 200 dollar penalty fee which I already knew would happen. Then he charged me 200 dollars on my credit card and said that they have to wait for the airline to confirm my flight change within 24 hours and would refund me if there was a difference. I was very skeptical that cheapoair would hold up to the promise of contacting me back. It is now almost 24 hours and I have still not heard back about a flight I have to take in 2 days. I am not surprised. However, this fourth phone call to customer service actually got me closer to my goal, so I wanted to thank the representative for actually completing something. Guess what? Oh, how quickly I was transferred to a manager to give him good feedback, when I was put on hold indefinitely on my first request to speak to a manager during my first call.

6. Cheapo airline customer service makes me feel like I am being bamboozled, hustled, and treated like Nothing. All their reps seem trained in hustling, keeping you from using your credit (so the company will keep your money), confusing the customer, placing blame on the actual airline. I will never use your website again and will tell all of my friends to do the same.