Screwed over by Agoda - twice!

gadgetguy on 19/06/2014 - 23:29
Last edited 19/06/2014 - 23:30

In January this year I made a booking with Agoda and only when I turned up did I find that there was no room available. They had knowingly taken my money even though the hotel owner had told them there was no availability.

I complained and eventually they refunded me and offered a 15% discount off my next booking. Stupidly, instead of never dealing with them I gave them another try for a hotel booking later this year. Before booking a few weeks ago I called to ask about my discount. They said to book then forward the email with the discount and my new booking reference and they would refund me.

I booked and emailed. No reply after a week. So I emailed again and gave them 48 hours to respond. Again nothing.

I was forced to lodge a chargeback with ANZ after explaining the situation. This has now been credited but the case is still In in progress and can take up to 45 days.

Am I free to book elsewhere now or is there any chance that ANZ might take the money back again after they complete their investigations?

It goes without saying I will never ever go near Agoda again…

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Comments

  • dannyhc on 21/06/2014 - 14:58
    +1

    I love Agoda, but like all corporations that find success their service turns to shit, just look at Coles and Woolworths after decades of screwing their countrymen and primary producers they are pathetically begging for your business now that you shop at Costco and Aldi.. too little too late

  • davohatcher on 02/07/2014 - 18:24

    If you don't mind me asking, What country did you book the hotel for? And was it full amount pre-paid or just credit card provided?

    Just did a large amount of hotel bookings with Agoda.com all prepaid, hoping this does not happen to me

  • GregRust on 02/07/2014 - 20:23
    +1

    Have booked with Agoda on several occasions in Singapore, Malaysia and throughout Europe and never had any issues, personally.

  • lisss on 03/07/2014 - 13:06
    +2

    They had knowingly taken my money even though the hotel owner had told them there was no availability.

    This is a 'he said she said' scenario - I don't know how hotel owners control the agoda bookings process but could it be possible the hotel was just blaming agoda when they had agreed to give agoda a certain number of rooms?

    Personally have used agoda around 15 times internationally and in Australia over the last 5 years and have never had an issues.

    • gadgetguy on 03/07/2014 - 23:14

      No. The hotel owner gave me a copy of the email from the Agoda rep where he acknowledged the overbooking and that they had "forgotten" to mark the hotel as full.

      This was several days before we turned up and yet they did absolutely nothing.

      I forwarded a copy to the rep for an explanation and got no reply. I still have it as a PDF if you don't believe me.

    • ryu on 07/07/2014 - 13:35
      +1

      Like the OP has clarified, it's a strange situation most of us wouldn't have the chance to experience. I have personally used Agoda for a few years, never had any issues either. But that doesn't mean they are good in any circumstances. Good luck.

  • justhooked on 03/07/2014 - 13:10
    +2

    Just returned from a trip with 5 bookings via Agoda no issue . I have 3 more and when I checked with the hotel they already
    Had the paperwork for them for a September trip

    • davohatcher on 03/07/2014 - 14:46

      This is great news to me, doing a solo trip around Burma & Sri Lanka next month so this settles my nerves with Agoda

  • gadgetguy on 07/07/2014 - 21:02
    +1

    Agoda finally contacted me after ANZ notified them about the chargeback. They sent a standard email about no cancellation blah blah.

    I replied with copies of the email about the original issue, the emails from them offering the discount and my emails requesting the discount after I booked.

    They tried to get me to accept a refund of the 15% discount and I told them where to go and that I had booked elsewhere. They have now finally just sent me notice of a full refund.

    I'm satisfied at the outcome but will NEVER use them again.

    For those of you with good experiences I still think you've been lucky.

    Some examples of complaints:

    http://www.reviewstalk.com/complaints-reviews/agoda-l2993.ht…
    http://www.agodascam.com/
    http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/agoda-c582854.html

  • Gazza123 on 14/07/2014 - 19:09

    The first problem is with the Hotel not agoda as they didnt update there availablity in the agoda system. HOtels always blame the booking engine for there property level mistakes. The hotel should have found you another room even if they had to pay the diffrence out of there own pocket and it should have been at a property equal or better than were you orginally booked.

    IN regards to the additional 15% discount Im surprised you werent given a code at time of complaint. If the 15% is important to you I would call agoda and cancel the current booking and advise youll re book when all is confirmed and worked out

    Agoda is owned by booking.com

    • gadgetguy on 15/07/2014 - 00:14

      Wrong on all fronts I'm afraid. You obviously didn't read my posts fully. Here's a quote from the email the AGODA rep sent to the hotel:

      "Hi John,

      This one is my fault. I had closed out the King Room but had forgotten to close out the queen room. Apologies, I will get these guests relocated."

      John is the hotel owner, the email is from the Agoda "Market Manager, Tasmania & East Victoria". Would you like his name and phone number?

      On the second point I DID call them, as I stated and I followed THEIR procedure which THEY failed to honour.

      When I was eventually contacted by the chargeback team they stated that the booking was non-refundable and could not be cancelled. This stance did not change until I provided all of the above correspondence.

      Don't know what else I can do to prove that they are the ones at fault here, you obviously don't want to accept the facts…

  • Davros on 15/07/2014 - 00:25

    Book dozens of times a year with them every year for the last ten or more years.
    Never had an issue with Agoda and only once with a hotelier and in that instance where our room was sold we ended up being upgraded free of charge.

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