“Refer a Friend”..... I doubt it:
As a frequent business traveler (out about 7 months of the year) I had thought I had seen it all.
I purchase my flight tickets through a very competent travel agent here in Australia but for years have used internet based accommodation booking sites such as Expedia and Wotif.
I recently changed to
Hotel Discount Reservations Worldwide - By Agoda.
It’s not hard for a accommodation site to handle bookings.. Pretty standard stuff however the real acid test involves how they handle cancellations and issues with any complexity that goes beyond just making a booking.
My comments here are a factual account of how Agoda has handled this situation and I hope provides some guidance for those tempted to stray on their website.
I made an online reservation with Agoda on 2nd April for accommodation at the Dorset Regency hotel KL starting on April 18th. Cost of US 745.
A few days later and as often happens, my business schedule changed and as such I wanted to change my booking to arrive one night earlier. I phoned Agoda was told that this could be done but the rate would go from US175/night to US 400/ night. Obviously not happy with this I informed Agoda contact that I would be cancelling this and was informed that refunds take 2-3 days to process. I indicated that I would be making another booking straight away.
In previous dealings with other internet accommodation providers the general practice is to hold the monies from the cancellation and apply them to the new booking. On the same day that I cancelled the original booking I made another booking for a different hotel in same city ( remember I was only after one day earlier arrival with same departure date). The cost of this was US810.
A few days later I realized that indeed the monies from the cancellation hadn’t been applied to the new booking .
It’s now May 1st and I still haven’t got my refund from the original booking and efforts to try and talk to someone at Agoda have been a sorry collection of disconnected numbers ( these are contact numbers on their website).. contracted call centre agents who have tried to mislead me about them being Agoda employees and not just a contracted customer service centre and regional management of Agoda who all seem to be mysteriously on vacation.
In an attempt to ascertain where my monies were I dialed the Bangkok number listed on the website…. Number has been disconnected was the message back down the line. I decided to ring the US listed numbers ( again cost to me as I am in Australia) and got put through to a call centre in Manila. As readers are no doubt aware Philippines and India are the big centers for outsourced customer service operations . I detailed at length my issue and was told a customer complaint would be entered. I did ask if this really would do anything as this was a contracted call centre and really not Agoda. The lady I was talking to did assure me that indeed they were Agoda.
Doubtful of what I had been told i.e. why would Agoda set up a regional office in Bangkok and one in Philippines , I went online to Agoda’s 24/7 internet help desk.
Transcript of internet conversation below
Please wait for an agent to respond.
You are now chatting with 'Jasmin'
Your ticket ID for this chat is LTK14304506043X
Jasmin: Welcome to Agoda. This is Jasmin. How may I help you?
Robert Mclean: Re ticket LTK14304506043X.
Robert Mclean: Can you please make sure Meg in your Manila Customer Service Centre gets this
Jasmin: Alright.I will forward your ticket to her.
Robert Mclean: I assume this Manila is an outsourced cust service centre that Agoda uses
Jasmin: I have found in the booking note that Meg has already been trying to forward this to the supervisor to check.
Robert Mclean: Yes but that wasn’t question. Is Manila office an outsourced customer service centre ?
Jasmin: That is correct.Our office is based in Bangkok,Thailand.
So Manila operation is outsourced call centre.
Now having still not got my monies back after 22 days I ventured online again to see if I could get a senior manager in Bangkok office to assist and also to get some explanation .
Transcript of internet conversation below
Please wait for an agent to respond.
You are now chatting with 'Chris'
Chris: Welcome to Agoda. This is Chris. How may I help you?
Robert Mclean: Who is the senior Agoda manager in Bangkok?
Chris: We will have Director of Travel Operation
Robert Mclean: Who is it ( name) and what number?
Chris: Her name is Ravina
Robert Mclean: Thanks, please make Ravina aware I will be calling at 8am BKK time and forward the files and my complaint to here so she has in front of her
Chris: Sorry, but she is out of office and will come to work on 6 May.
Robert Mclean: Who is second in charge
Chris: That is our customer service Manager but she is on vacation period anyway. You can talk to our credit manager on this issue anyway
Robert Mclean: So who is handling my complaint
Chris: Our credit Manager could take your complaint about credit card issue.
Robert Mclean: Is there a senior manager in the USA office ? Is there a senior manager anywhere at Agoda
Chris: We have no any senior manager in the USA office as our main office is in Bangkok. However, if you wish to reach to our senior manager that would be our Director but she is on vacation leave anyway.
Robert Mclean: So no-one is handling my complaint other than credit card department processing my refund 22+ days after cancellation
Chris: I could take your complaint issue here and be able pass it to the Manager. However, they would not be able to be contacted now or soonest as on vacation leave.
My thinking at this stage was akin to flogging a dead horse. Actually you have to admire Agoda.. pretty good business model.. if you look at my case they got US745 from me, then got an additional $810 then charged a change fee of $15. Held onto the monies for 22+ days.. in fact I still haven’t seen these monies.
No wonder all the senior managers seem to be on vacation.
So here we have it…. Disconnected phone numbers, agents that purport to be Agoda but are not , all senior management on vacation and no sign of refund.
On the Agoda website is a neat little tab called “ Refer a Friend”….. perhaps a little note should accompany this such as “Only if you don’t care about them”
As a final comment here I contacted the original hotel I had made the booking at through Agoda. They confirmed that indeed they hadn’t received any monies from my booking as it was cancelled well prior to the check in data and don’t usually receive payment until much closer or indeed at check in date. . I also contacted the Manager at Agoda Credit department after having received a phone number for their Bangkok office that actually did work. The Manager there couldn’t understand what the issue was and stated that “ surely 22 days ( and counting) was not a long period of time to be waiting”.
Stated the issue was that hotel didn’t confirm the cancellation back with them and hence they were waiting for response…..how this affects processing my refund when they hadn’t even forwarded my monies to the hotel is beyond me but I’ve given up searching for rhyme or reason here about Agoda and regard their conduct as bordering on criminal as it pertains to both their intent and their actions.
Morale of story is find out about changes / cancellations and charges before you book. Ask for detailed explanations of refund policies. If you’re a business traveler with needs that sometimes change then more business oriented and professional sites such as Expedia / Wotif are probably better suited.
Ps…. It’s now 25 days since my cancelation and still haven’t received monies.
