In December 2021, business consultant Silmar Strübbe, 48, missed Christmas with his family after ITA (Itapemirim Transportes Aéreos) canceled the ticket he had bought for Porto Alegre. With no option to be relocated on another flight, the only alternative offered was a refund, but to this day he has not had the money returned.
“I have already made the request through the company’s website, telephone, chat, Procon and through the Consumidor.gov portal. In none of the five alternatives I was answered”, he says.
Silmar’s situation is not unique. Two months after ITA announced the suspension of its activities, passengers who had their tickets canceled say they did not receive the amount paid and complain about the difficulty in getting a response from the company.
In São Paulo’s Procon, complaints against the company have exploded in recent months. In December, the month in which operations were closed, there were 2,352 complaints and, by January 18, more than 1,600 had been registered.
The suspension of flights affected more than 133 thousand passengers. At the time, Itapemirim claimed that it made the decision in view of the stoppage of employees of an outsourced company, and that it intended to resume its activities on February 17th.
Sought to explain the problems regarding the refund, the company said it would send a statement by Thursday (24), but did not.
ITA even signed an agreement with Procon-SP on December 28, committing to reimburse, within a period of up to ten calendar days, all consumers who filed a complaint on the agency’s website. However, the promise was not kept.
Silmar, for example, followed all Procon guidelines. “Theoretically, by January 8 I should have received the money, but they still haven’t returned the value of the round trip tickets. I have a loss of R$ 700 reais”, he says.
The consultant says he only got a response from the company when he made the complaint through the Consumer.gov platform. According to him, ITA sent an email with proof of the chargeback of one of the stretches, but the credit card operator did not confirm. “They said they won’t refund an amount they didn’t receive.”
In the last week, Silmar tried to contact him once again through the company’s website, in vain. “Chat doesn’t work anymore, email they don’t even respond. They just dropped it,” she says. “Itapemirim appropriated our money, did not provide a service and now does not return it”, she adds.
Fernando Capez, executive director of Procon in São Paulo, says that the agency was willing to wait for ITA to reimburse consumers, but as this has not happened to date, the company will be fined around R$11 million.
“It’s a pity, because the fine punishes, but does not solve the consumer’s problem. The agreement is always the way”, he says.
The director explains that ITA even requested the reversal of the amounts within the agreed period, but did it wrongly, according to the financial institutions.
“The institutions said that Itapemirim requested the chargeback using the wrong method and that it was necessary to redo it. [a devolução do dinheiro] and, therefore, we understand that the obligation assumed was not fulfilled”, he says.
On Facebook, customers affected by ticket cancellations created a group to share their experiences. Currently, the page has 358 members.
Pending refund cases are practically daily. Business administrator Gabriela Strickler, 28, was one of those who sought help from the group.
She lives in Lisbon and, at the end of 2021, traveled to Brazil to spend Christmas with her family in Porto Alegre. The return to Portugal had to be made through São Paulo, where she had an ITA ticket purchased for January 17th. With the suspension of activities, Gabriela was left without a flight and, so far, without reimbursement.
“I send emails daily asking for the money. The first thing I do that day is this, but I never get any response”, he laments.
At the time, Gabriela needed to take a bus to São Paulo, a trip that took 21 hours. The ticket she paid out of pocket, as well as the other expenses with food. As a result, the loss, which was R$ 600, became even greater.
According to her, the credit card operator also said that they had not received any amount from Itapemirim to make the chargeback, and that, therefore, they would not be able to do anything.
Disappearance of networks
On Reclame Aqui, a site that gathers consumer complaints against public bodies and companies, Itapemirim’s last response to a consumer’s complaint was on December 16 — the day before the company announced the suspension of its operations.
On Facebook and Instagram, the official ITA page has disabled comments on posts. In both, the last post is from December 28, an official statement that talks, precisely, about refunds.
“Itapemirim reiterates that it is rigorously claiming the refunds of the tickets requested by its customers from the operators [sic] of cards. Finally, it points out that it meets with all means of channels available to better serve its customers”, says the text.
Despite the warning, consumers report that they do not even get a response from the company. Public employee Juliana Maia, 38, is one of them.
She had a flight with ITA on March 12 this year, from Natal to São Paulo. Although the company announced its intention to resume operations in February, it preferred to ask for a refund in December, in the hope that it would receive the amount by the date of the trip.
At the time, Juliana got a confirmation through the Itapemirim chat. “The attendant sent me the receipt and said it would take up to 60 days to arrive on the card statement. But the deadline has passed, the refund has not fallen and now I can’t talk to them anymore. The chat doesn’t work, the phone it just happens outside the area and by email they don’t respond”, he says.
With a loss of almost R$ 1,500, Juliana says she is waiting for the deadline given by Consumidor.gov. If she doesn’t, she plans to go to court.
What to do if you haven’t received a refund
Fernando Capez, director of Procon, says that anyone who has not yet had the money returned by Itapemirim should enter the agency’s website and file a new claim.
However, there is no guarantee that the issue will be resolved. “The person can complain, we will try [resolver cada caso] individually, but it is still frustrating that ITA has not fulfilled its commitment to us”, he says.
Marcus Mateucci, a partner in the consumer relations area at Felsberg Advogados, says that the best alternative for passengers, given the company’s inaction, is to take the case to court.
“To be very honest, there’s not much left for them to do,” he says. “If it were a company operating in a normal situation, a complaint with Procon would solve it. But, when it reaches a stage of doubt about its ability to meet commitments, unofficial dialogue becomes unlikely”
The lawyer recalls that the financial health of the Itapemirim group is quite delicate. One of the most critical problems is the lack of payment of employees. ITA workers had already reported salary delays, a situation also experienced within Viação Itapemirim and Viação Kaissara.
If the amounts owed are less than 20 minimum wages, he says that the consumer can sue the special civil court — popularly known as small claims — without the need for a lawyer.
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