Seriously pissed off , AGODA >COM

[Hoopoe]

HY guys , i'm holding down the venim , After trying to book a hotel through AGoda .com i got the hotel i wanted , ,but on the page it asked to search , so pressed the appropriate button , and yes up pops the relevant hotel ,AMONG'ST ALL THE FCKIN POP UP ADVERTS ( he's bought , she's selected you know what i mean ) total distraction , but hey your done and dusted ,paid for ,etc ,
I then find after payment among'st the distraction ,it's not the hotel i wanted ,VERY SIMILAR NAME ( be careful when you press that search button , it will give you a hotel of their choosing ) so cancellation with a promise of refund min 30 days ,now 30 days on , they state we can't give you a direct refund , it has to be credit , on a hotel of your choosing or bank transfer , or credit card / debit card ,so attempting in English ,( go fck yer self no chance , Thailand / England etc , phone numbers don't work ,) AT THIS POINT I"M AT A LOSS, it's time for the phone to go a sailing , , ( 3 hours )by the way EMAILS DON"T WORK EITHER , AT this time the misses steps in ,( before we loose another phone to the administrative ------'s ,) in Thai everything works perfik ,so now i have to wait 40 days for my refund , total will be 65 ferkin day's , ( if i get it ))I"M DONE WITH THIS AGODA nonsense < just a heads up guys , TRY SOMETHING ELSE ,

[747man]

I've NEVER Had ANY Problems with them Hoopoe, You weren't Drunk when you pressed the search button were you ?? LOL !

[tamada]

caveat emptor

[Giggle]

I've noticed "the switch" on a few air/hotel/car rental websites. Air Asia (Thailand) comes to mind. On one page you say you don't want the added insurance, on the next page the insurance is included and the fee added. You have to unclick the box to decline it (again). WTF? Hotels with a similar look and similar name? Is this China by chance?




They used to sell Rize crackers in my local tesco. My dog wouldn't eat them.

[Hoopoe]

I've NEVER Had ANY Problems with them Hoopoe, You weren't Drunk when you pressed the search button were you ?? LOL !

nope not a drop had passed my lip's , maybe that was the problem,but pressing English as an option when requesting a refund is actually not an option, as no one answers the phone ,

[Brian Davis]

I don't know where you went wrong there, Hoopoe.
I usually go with Agoda when booking accommodation and can't recall any major problems. I do try to go to the main web site and not the 'sponsored' ones. which come up first on a search.
I did raise a query on the accommodation advertised at a boutique hotel somewhere, which didn't match up in reality. I got a refund quickly and contact, if I recall, from an English-speaking rep.

[Hoopoe]

Brian ,
I've never had a problem before ,( having said that ,i've never had to request a refund before , )they have said it will take anywhere up to 45 days for the re fund , the web site says upto 30 days ,because i booked it using online Banking ,they state they can't pay the refund back directly ,so was given 3 options , 1,Bank transfer (which involved a lot of paperwork) , 2,credit for further booking upto 3 months , 3,pay back through Visa/Debit card , I opted for pay back through Visa /Debit ,they send you Emails requesting you to give the option you require , I did this , and got no further info , Hence the phone call run around , time will tell on when /if i receive the refund ,

[sometimewoodworker]

Humm, I have certainly used Agoda in the past. I don't recall exactly why I stopped using them but seem to remember some kind of mess up with my account.

Now I only use them if Hotels.com doesn't have the hotel I want. One of my reasons for using Hotels.com is that your 11th night is free (average payment over the last 10) so whatever the price quoted it is really about 10% lower than listed.

[glalt]

I use a Visa credit card. I had a problem when they charged me for the room I had cancelled and then booked another with a similar name. I disputed the charge with my BOA credit card and received the refund.

[DoctorFix]

Had some trouble recently with a booking through Agoda. Wife was seriously pissed! Even I have had to be VERY careful where I click and what "options" were or were not checked off in little boxes prior to making a selection. It's deliberate obfuscation meant to trip you up and thereafter "give up" fighting. I use Booking.com and others, too. Still, you have to be extra careful.

[Hoopoe]

Up date , Agoda finally paid refund into my account only took 14 days in total , better than i expected , but will give them a miss in future

[Barney]

I use "bookings.com", like a lot of others because i never have to make a deposit payment, just nominate a card and always just pay by card on arrival. Most times there is a good period for cancellation, up to a few days, prior to arriving.
I tried Agoda a long time back as an alternative and had to make a deposit there and then, no thanks.

[tamada]

I use "bookings.com", like a lot of others because i never have to make a deposit payment, just nominate a card and always just pay by card on arrival. Most times there is a good period for cancellation, up to a few days, prior to arriving.
I tried Agoda a long time back as an alternative and had to make a deposit there and then, no thanks.

Yes, when agoda was just about the only thing out there it was ALL a pay up front exercise but since they're now owned by the same lot that runs booking.com, there's a lot more, similarly flexible options where you pay now or at the hotel with another price break between those options.

I just made a booking for a family outing on agoda since the place I had picked was the same price on booking. Being a creature of habit and already having an agoda account, I went with them. But agoda now has these annoying popups asking if you got all the info or if you need to talk to the hotel when you finish looking at any hotels details and 'are your sure you want to go?' when going back to the main list of hotels nonsense. Next time, when I have more time, I will get set up on booking and give it a whirl. Their GUI looks old school whilst agoda's is that horrible 'slate' presentation for them with W10 and touch screens.

For the OP, good news that the refund posted. I think the 'up to 30-days' excuse was from before there were few choices and less competition between the independent companies that process and clear credit card charges. My mate was pissed off when a 5-star hotel recently said that his security deposit would clear 'in 15-30 days' when he was checking out. He checked his card account online and the refund actually posted about 3 days later.

[glalt]

I really have no preference who I use to book rooms. I'm a price shopper and whoever has the best deal, that's who I use. That best price normally comes from Agoda.

[fatbob]

Agoda and Booking are the same company, better prices from the Agoda site 90% of the time, best prices ringing direct and talking to hotel.

[Barney]

I was unaware of them joining forces. I'll investigate how that affects my future use of Booking.com
Fatbob has the best advice, always email or ring the hotel/resort or whatever first. Often they have a promotion on.
But my general comment was advising I have fortunately never been in the OP's position of having to pay a deposit and try and get a return. Good news the money was finally returned. I have regularly cancelled bookings with no penalty when something better comes along. I think use whomever you like but try not to pay a deposit. If my quote through bookings is a little bit higher so be it, but peace of mind makes me not think best price at times. I do how ever get another 10% for being a bookings.com regular user. Using them since 2012.
The hotel residence where i am staying in Dubai advised me this week it would be 14 days before my security deposit is transferred to my bank account once I clear all paperwork. That's a personal 5,500 AUD amount security amount sitting there. Hope they meet their word.

[Lone Star]

Still use Agoda 100%.

What small glitches I've encountered -- maybe 2 or 3 in ten years -- were resolved in less than 24 hours. They have even interceded for me on a couple of occasions when unexpected situations changed my travel plans. They were able to get a full refund for me or a full credit for another date. Considering I wasn't entitled to either, I appreciated the assistance.

Every business will have glitches now and then. How they resolve them is the key. Excellent in my experiences. Very helpful and professional.

[stattointhailand]

Still use Agoda 100%.

What small glitches I've encountered -- maybe 2 or 3 in ten years -- were resolved in less than 24 hours. They have even interceded for me on a couple of occasions when unexpected situations changed my travel plans. They were able to get a full refund for me or a full credit for another date. Considering I wasn't entitled to either, I appreciated the assistance.

Every business will have glitches now and then. How they resolve them is the key. Excellent in my experiences. Very helpful and professional.

Have to agree LS the only time I ever encountered any problems with a hotel (in over 10 yrs from when they used to be called Precision) they refunded my money in full to my CC within 7 days .

[glalt]

I have an unpleasant story. I had flight connection problems and had to spend a night in Bangkok. I found a place called Bed and Body on Bookings.com. It was located on Sukhumvit Soi 22 right where I wanted to be. The ratings were excellent and the price was 1,000 baht.I directed the taxi to the hotel because he had never heard of it. I went in and there were two little kids running around and a tired looking lady who checked me in. My room was on the 4th floor. I started to have a bad feeling when there was no elevator. I found my room and it was clean and neat, BUT, there was no refrigerator and no TV. I had to use the bathroom. NO bathroom. I discovered that I had to walk down the hall to a common bathroom. The best things I can say is that the room was clean and the air con worked well. Needless to say it was the worst place I had ever stayed and for a thousand baht it was a ripoff.

[parrot]

I have an unpleasant story. I had flight connection problems and had to spend a night in Bangkok. I found a place called Bed and Body on Bookings.com. It was located on Sukhumvit Soi 22 right where I wanted to be. The ratings were excellent and the price was 1,000 baht.I directed the taxi to the hotel because he had never heard of it. I went in and there were two little kids running around and a tired looking lady who checked me in. My room was on the 4th floor. I started to have a bad feeling when there was no elevator. I found my room and it was clean and neat, BUT, there was no refrigerator and no TV. I had to use the bathroom. NO bathroom. I discovered that I had to walk down the hall to a common bathroom. The best things I can say is that the room was clean and the air con worked well. Needless to say it was the worst place I had ever stayed and for a thousand baht it was a ripoff.

It's advertised as a hostel.....not a hotel. Convenient location, though.