In their defense, I never seen an airline company caring about their customers... Otherwise they wouldn't be late 25% of the time.
A couple weeks ago Oman Air cancelled the return leg of a long distance flight due to a change in schedule.
They offered to reroute me with the Qataris via Doha.
I preferred to cancel the (in principle non-refundable) flight and make different arrangements.
The money,~2'500$, was credited to my card 4 days later. Including fees paid for preferred seats.
It's a shame that they stopped service to my city. Beause it's a great airline, which always provided stellar service.
What happened to the OP is, therefore, unusual.
I flew through them last year. Check-in was a bit of a hassle but the plane/service and the layover were great. The price was very competitive (cheapest) and yet the plane was empty. I expected them to either fold or downsize.