Hi all,
Looking for some advice on the following ongoing issue and wondering if it's happened to anyone else before.
I booked 2 rooms at hotel X for 3 nights through Agoda. Upon arriving, I am presented with 6 bookings! All the bookings were Booking.com reservations with Booking.com numbers, not Agoda numbers. I already prepaid the 2 rooms I booked but was charged for another 4 rooms for one night each due to the hotel "no show" policy. This is about $600 altogether.
I come back from holiday to try and sort this out with Agoda. They are claiming they have no idea about the bookings because they are Booking.com booking numbers. Booking.com confirm the reservation numbers are valid and booked through Agoda, however they cannot proceed further without PIN codes which are sent via confirmation email. Obviously I never received the confirmation emails. The issue clearly lies with Agoda but they seem to be refusing to accept responsibility because the reservations are under Booking.com. I clarified how it works, Agoda is just an agent. All bookings through them are raised with Booking.com, who is their supplier.
I have called Agoda over 10 times, each time is the same spiel: "Sorry for the inconvenience, I will escalate this to our XX team to investigate and we'll get back to you". No one ever calls me back. Once, an Agoda rep put me on hold to call Booking.com and he comes back saying "Sorry, the booking.com person hung up on me. I will escalate to our team and they will call you back". I have sent various documents requested by Agoda including bank statements, receipts, personal info etc.
One important fact they keep brushing aside - about 2 weeks before my reservation, an Agoda representative called me to confirm the number of bookings I had for hotel X. I confirmed 2 bookings, without realising the context for the call, so there would've been 6 bookings for hotel X and Agoda knew about it.
TLDR:
- Made 2 hotel bookings through Agoda, ended up with 6 upon arrival at hotel;
- Charged for 4 "no show" fees totalling $600;
- Booking reservations are under Booking.com, as they are Agoda's supplier;
- Every call to Agoda results in the case being escalated with promises to follow up, which never happens;
- Agoda claims they cannot help due to the bookings being Booking.com numbers;
- Booking.com claims they cannot help due to lack of PIN codes for the bookings;
- Many supporting documents sent to Agoda for their "ongoing investigation" which has taken 1 month already;
- No reimbursement of $600 in sight.
The only escalation I can think of is VCAT if their customer service continues like this. Thoughts?
So you booked 2 rooms x 3 nights and on check-in there was 6 rooms x 3 nights suggested? Why on earth would you pay the extra instead of calling Agoda straight away to resolve before you check-in?
Agoda and Booking.com are the same parent company and not unusual to cross-share systems. Retrospectively resolving issues is never easier than getting it sorted in the beginning. I would suggest putting something down in writing and sending it to them for record keeping. If phone calls aren't getting you anywhere then you need some evidence in future.