United Airlines is terrible.

My vacation was great, up until the very end. 

I am sitting on hold with United.  My husband and I took an extended weekend trip to attend a wedding in Knoxville and see family.  I decided to splurge and purchased full-fare first class seats for all four legs of the trip.  Last night, after they started pre-boarding (seriously, what does that actually mean, linguistically?) they called my husband to the counter and told him he was being downgraded.  They refused to give us a refund and tried to offer a $250 voucher.  After a fight they gave him a $500 voucher.  We don't want a voucher.  We want a refund.  

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This is funny, when you call the customer service number it offers a list of words you can say - "reservations", "refunds", "upgrades", etc.  You know what happens when you say "refunds"?  It doesn't understand you.  After a while it sends you to reservations, where the reservations lady tells you that she can't transfer you to refunds, because that department doesn't take calls.  

So to add another level to their incredibly shitty customer service, United Airlines has set up a dead end for angry customers.  So I filed a complaint using their form, and they send a generic email and confirmation number that says I might hear back in a week?  There's a fax number and a PO Box in Texas.  Why am I not inspired?  

I do actually have to work today, so I'll save the phone call to American Express to try to get a refund via their services for tomorrow.