Opodo
Reviews and Complaints

FTAO OPODO, EXPEDIA and BOOKING.COM

I would like to report on an episode with OPODO.

on 25th November 2019 I booked a hotel in Saigon from 7th to 20th January. I got a confirmation email to say that it was booked and paid for.

Around New Year I realised that I wouldnt arrive in Saigon until the 8th and set about changing the booking. I tried OPODO on an ongoing basis for several days. I communicated online, with a bot and even a couple of times with people. It was impossible to deal with the bot and the online booking couldn't be used. This was because they insisted that I should input a 10 digit number and also a pin which they said was on the booking confirmation. But I didn't have either; I had a 13 digit confirmation number. This hurdle was insurmountable for the online application, the bot and the supposedly real agents. The agents did resort to telling me that I was through to the wrong number and would give me other numbers. One number was in Spanish and had no English version while another guy I called after being given his number told me that he couldn't deal with this as it was nothing to do with him. I got the impression some of these numbers were for booking.com especially the Spanish one.
In parallel with this I was trying to get through to the hotel but the number wasn't right. The first time a man asked what hotel I wanted but couldn't understand when I spelled it out and was talking away in poor English. I rang that number again and another man gave me a similar story if wanting the name of the hotel and then not recognising it.
I checked if the money had been removed from my account and discovered it had. It had gone to VDP-TRAVEL EXPEDIA which is possibly based in Mumbai, India. I do believe Expedia puts up to be a reputable company.
I also sent varioius messages, texts and emails to any numbers/emails I could find connected with OPODO and indeed sent one to EXPEDIA. I also tried Booking.com but they denied knowledge.
In the end I was unable to have the issue dealt with. I arrived today in Saigon a day late but not too unconcerned as I had prepaid.
The biggest bombshell was yet to come. There is no hotel at the address given and the premises there is locked up. I had to go book another hotel. That added insult to injury.
I think I should be entitled to my money back and indeed some compensation for this disaster.
The supposed Hotel was
MY XUAN HOTEL,
11, DINH BO LINH STREET, WARD 24, BINH THANH DISTRICT, SAIGON/HCMC

I had the worst experience ever!
It's hard to find the right words to describe how disappointed I am with Opodo company and services.
On 28th October whilst check in at Gatwick airport I was forced to purchase a ticket proven I will leave Indonesia within 30 days, so I purchased a return ticket Denpasar - Kuala Lumpur from Opodo, I've selected the option cancel any time for any reason with a £18(eighteen pounds surcharge), after 18 hours when I landed in Denpasar I contacted your company to cancel the flight considering I was going to extend my visa on arrival, a member of staff informed You could refund £88 which was almost half of what I paid (167, 80).The stress was just at the beginning, on the 28th November I faced the biggest nightmare, I couldn't check in online, at the airport Citylink airline staff was refusing to check my luggage in ( I paid to your company for 50kg allowance) after long time waiting for the airline manager to come to resolve the situation considering 4 member of staff weren't able to help me out, insisting on their system I had just 10kg allowance and to check in 25kg I should pay 1, 600, 000(onemilionsixhundredrupies) which was extremely expensive. They kept saying the manager was coming, but after 40minuted no manager presentes at the desk.I was getting so stressed and having panic attack without finding a solution I grabbed my passport and boarding pass with just 10kg luggage label and walked to the customer service, explained the situation they called the airline domestic flight help desk to seek for a manager, nothing changed, so I passed immigration and when got to the line a crew staff recognised me and shouted there she is! A male staff promptly was facing me and shouting at me "you! Get out of the queue! You didn't pay! We cancelled your flight! Started to push me, passengers were pushing me and screemed call the police officer( was all I wished) to resolve the situation. I told nobody was allowed to touch
me or push me away. I felt worse than a criminal as I was being treated as such. The time was passing, just few minutes before the airplane departure a gently lady was passing by and asked me what was going all, because at this point I lost control I was crying and shaking, I explained to her, she tried to enquire why they were causing me to much distress and inconvenience and they replied she didn't pay, the emails I've showed to them wasn't satisfying as prove of my luggage allowance, 5 minutes before the departure a man "manager" was in front of me with my luggages he took pictures from my emails and followed me to the airplane, I was feeling so embarrassed, everybody in the cabin were looking at me as I was a criminal. Awful!
Day after I landed in KL, I had headache, fever and day after I spent most of the time at the toilet(diahorrea)
I am having trouble to sleep and have nice rest.
Today I should fly to Denpasar, but I didn't recovered from the stress yet.
I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Gisele

I booked flights to New York for Christmas via Opodo. I thought I might have to move my flights so I purchased the "Flexible Travel Dates Guarantee" insurance for an additional 46 euros.

https://www.opodo.com/customer-service/#/change/flight/book-flexible-flight-ticket

It was supposed to be 'easy' but it is in fact impossible, and a scam. They make it seem like you just call up and change, but in fact, you're paying for an insurance policy with a third company.

I called Opodo and they told me that the airline does not accept changes and so I would have to contact the 'insurance company' earefunds.com to rebook my flights. The insurance company, meanwhile, told me that they are an insurance company and cannot book flights and I cannot book my flights until I had a new booking.

I called Opodo back and told them this. They insisted that the insurance company would have to deal with it, even though it is clearly absurd that an insurance company would book the flights.

I asked to speak with a manager and the representative told me that it wouldn't do any good. I insisted and he said the wait would be two hours.

I had to book flights with a different company because of this.

I would like a full refund for the flights and scam insurance policy.

EMAIL FROM INSURANCE

Dear customer,

Since you bought your flight tickets directly through the Opodo website, you will have to contact Opodo again for them to modify your flights.

This is unfortunately not the correct E-mail address. We cannot modify your flight details, which you booked through Opodo.

To see the full conditions of your insurance policy with us, please enter our Eclaims website with your policy number: https://earefund-uk.eclaims.europ-assistance.com

If you need to file a claim please don´t hesitate to contact us here in Europ Assisance.

Kind regards,

Europ Assistance Customer Service

BOOKING REFERENCE [protected]

Hello, am going to sue Opodo if my refund is not paid right now.

I ranged Opodo the morning before my flight departed atall for cancellation and been expecting my airport tax before then because I know my right and was told by my lawyer that my tax would be refunded.
If you want to check them play the recorded conversation on the day of my departure before the flight departure, it was 5.16 and we talked for 38minutes when I told the lady to cancel and refund immediately.
Lastly, if my money is not refunded in 24hours, you will realise the power of a true citizen.

Dopamu Tokunboh
[protected]-Reference

I called Opodo customer service to request confirmation that they would refund me for the Thomas Cook Airlines flights booked via them so that I can provide this to my credit card company to consider refunding the flights instead.

They refused to comply and fobbed me off with 'call back in a couple of days for an update' as they're waiting for news to pass on!? As TCA went out of business 2 months ago, I'm not sure what news they are expecting in 2 days' time.

I have logged a complaint with them directly online. And while I appreciate that these are unusual circumstances, withholding confirmation that would allow me to pursue a refunded elsewhere is very poor customer service.

This was advertised as premium economy seats. I booked. I received confirmation stating premium economy. I tried to reserve seats on the delta website. This showed I had been booked into economy delight on a virgin flight and NOT. Premium economy. I phoned Delta they confirmed this

I spent well over an hour on the phone to your call centre. The first person I spoke to said I was definitely in premium economy. Another told me that economy delight was premium economy. I asked for my money back as it was stated when I booked. I have still not recieved a refund.

Bart TAYLOR-Harris

Opodo Booking reference number: [protected]

Opodo booking made by Hayley Smith - [protected]@yahoo.co.uk

Booking date: 30/09/2018

Booking details: London SEN to Cagliari, Sardinia - Air Malta Flight QTQNE7 - 26/05/19 return Cagliair to London SEN 02.06/19.

Booking cost £759.05

Flight cancelled by Air Malta

Opodo confirmed cancellation and agreed to make refund 08/05/19 (see attachment)

Opodo stated that refund of £759.05 was made on 08/06/19 to card in name of Mr Richard Comerford card number ending 1823 expiry 05/06/19

The card that the refund was made to was EXPIRED and we didn't receive the refund.

Please see attached email from e-dreams/Opodo customer service asking for bank statements to provde that the refund didn't enter our account. We provided this on the 21/06/19. No response.

We re sent bank statements on 10/08/19. No response.

We re sent bank statements on 21/09/19. No response.

We have made numerous calls to the Opodo customer services team who have not been able to give any answers nor are they able to let us speak to a manager to discuss further. Everytime we speak to them they tell us that they have refunded us and ignore the fact that we are telling them that it has not ever been recieved. The India based customer services team do not have the chance to pass us on to a manager to discuss further.

To say we are frustrated is an understatement. The worst customer support we have ever experienced. This company have had £759.05 of ours for 15 months now and we get no where each time we call.

We will have to take legal action as a next step.

Hayley Smith [protected]

I had a flight from DPS BALI to PERTH AUSTRALIA and up until I arrived at the airport - it said my flight was on time... it wasn't until I got to the airport where I was advised there WAS NO flight at that time to PERTH. My flight was actually in another 5 HOURS. I received no email - no update, and I wasn't able to check in online with the airlines so I was totally unawares. Thankfully my flight was later, and not earlier or I would have missed it, however I had to sit in an airport for 5 HOURS for a flight when I could have enjoyed my holiday some more first.

I booked return flights out of Belo Horizonte, a city in Brazil, to another city in Brazil. The total charge was £340 for two tickets, I have screen shots to prove this, but when I received the confirmation email it showed that I was being charged £586.
I called customer services to dispute but unfortunately the young guy I spoke to was struggling to understand what the problem was and after I asked to speak to his supervisor/manager he hung up on me, after lots of "uhmmms" and "ahhhhs" - I recorded the call from my end. Just before customer service hung up the phone, I was told I would have to pay additional costs in order to get a full refund.

As far as I am concerned this is fraudulent behaviour, likely down to incompetence in an I.T. error but it was followed up strongly with human error.

I have spent almost 3 hours dealing with this matter and I personally will not be using this company again, regardless of whatever minor savings they might offer over one of their competitors.

The issue that I have experienced is that I booked flights from London Heathrow to East London, South Africa in February this year, including 'Cancel for any reason' insurance of £44.00. Total cost of flights £982.06.

In April, the airline, Virgin Atlantic, changed all their flight numbers as part of their new financial year reshuffle (I presume). I was given a new flight number for the outward flight, plus a time change of 5 mins. There were no other changes to the actual flights at all. Everything stayed the same except for the flight number of the outward bound plane.  I received an email asking me to phone Opodo urgently when Virgin Atlantic changed the flight number, which I did.  I was given the new flight number BUT at no time was I advised that the flight change now made my cancellation insurance null and void.  This seems to me to be a very dodgy way of conducting your business.

Today 04/11/2019 I have tried to cancel my flight as my health has deteriorated since February and I have been told that it would be inadvisable for me to fly to South Africa.  I was told I couldn't cancel as there was a change to my flight booking. I was horrified. I originally spoke to Vivek at about 14.45pm.  I asked to speak to a Manager but was put on hold for over 30 minutes. I was eventually put through to Vinku at 15.26pm who told me that as there had been a schedule change the 'cancel for any reason' was no longer valid.  There was absolutely no 'wriggle' room in her script.

I am absolutely stunned by this.  How can something that has nothing to do with me initiating anything, cancel out the insurance with no one drawing my attention to this.  If it had been drawn to my attention I would have paid another £44.00 willingly.  But to leave me, from April to now, thinking that I was still covered is criminal.  I specifically took the 'cancel for any reason' especially as I have fluctuating health problems and this offered me a 'safety net' in case of unexpected cirsumstances.  I don't understand how I can be penalised for a change I had no control over.  It never occured to me that Opodo would class this as a flight change when the difference was a changed flight number and 5 minutes.  I feel that Opodo should have drawn this to my attention when they sent the urgent email asking me to contact them.  This did not happen. 

I am so unhappy about this that I am also sending a complaint through Resolver, in association with Money Expert.com.  If no satisfactory response is received I will be contacting the media and review sites about the totally misleading way Opodo is extracting money from its clients without advising them of all circumstances when the insurance won't be paid out.  The phrase 'cancel for any reason' is not the descriptor it seems to be and is exceedingly misleading.  I wonder if anyone ever gets refunded after taking this out.

I would be exceedingly grateful if this could be looked at and the refund that I am entitled to, as sold to me by Opodo originally, be agreed and processed. I look forward to your prompt and positive response on this matter. 

I booked flights online with Opodo on the 11th August flying on the 13th June 2020 from London Gatwick to Calgary returning from Vancouver to Gatwick on the 27th June 2020
Which I paid in full. Then the 24th October I received an E-Mail from Opodo saying there had been a modification of an airline change and to contact them which I did, after numerous phone calls they told me they would send an email to Air Transit Canada for alternative flights and I would hear within 48 hours to which I have not heard nothing back & after numerous telephone calls I am still none the wiser can someone please help me resolve this. Email Address is noreen.[protected]@sky.com

I purchased a flight with Opodo with the cancel for any reason guarantee which cost an additional 18 euros per person. When I did try to cancel I was waiting on the phone for hours at a time and no one called me back. In the meanwhile the flight company, Thomas Cook went into administration and i lost all my money. I want Opodo to honour the service I paid for and refund the money. Seeing as I can only get a percentage of the flight money back and taking into consideration the 36 euro I paid for the guarantee, this will actually be a very small amount for Opodo (less than 250 euro) but a lot for me

So I've purchased "flexible dates" product from Opodo. Here's some proof (it's a translation to English from Deutsch).

Here is a page that describes the 'Flexible Reisedaten' product and how to avail.
https://www.opodo.de/blog/flexible-reisedaten/

Despite paying for this service, there is no option online to make this change. The only way to make a change according to Opodo is to call their Indian 'bodyshops' which only train their agents in scamming and legally upholding their scams. I have been on call with these guys over the last 4 days and they refuse to acknowledge my Order (I have a valid booking number).

My issue, despite the purchase and the invoice, these customer service thugs, consistently deny that I have purchased any flexible ticket. Refuse to acknowledge my invoice and quite frankly only know how to talk points from a script without the ability to 'listen' to a customer.

So I paid but will be unable to change my tickets, each day I delay in getting this resolved, the flights get more expensive. I need to get in touch with Customer Support but there seems to be no functionality to. Denying a customer service when they paid for a product in 2019 is just disgusting!

I booked a flight to malaga with opodo. My flight came with a free 23kg baggage. I rang opodo and spoke to one of their colleagues who confirmed that my flight did come with a free 23kg bag. She stated this twice to me over the phone.
I did not think anymore about this until my return to london on the 5th
october 2019. As i checked in my 23kg bag i was informed that i did not have any baggage booked on my ticket!
i reluctantly paid 150.00 euros in order to enable my luggage to go in the hold.
I was devastated, especially after opodo confirmed that i had a free 23kg bag.

As soon as i came back i submitted a complaints form to ba, im yet to recieve a response, i then called opodo, in order for them to trace the recording of their staff confirming the free luggage.

I called yesterday and it was verified by one of opodos colleagues that it was an error by their staff, which i paid 150 euros for, when it was an error on opodos behalf.

I therefore request a full refund of the costs incurred to me.
Thank you.

Regards
bina devi jeetoo

I tried to change the date of my flight which I booked with Opodo. For 9 days I contacted Opodo every day, via phone and Facebook. Every day I spent around 2-3 h waiting for someone to help. I was promised that Opodo will contact me within 72 h, then 48 h, then 24 h. I was promised the airline will contact me within 2 days. I was charged for flight change 3 times. I spoke to around 12 different customer agents. I spoke to supervisor, then to manager. I was ignored many times, and agents hung off when i was waiting for reply. I was advised to contact the airline, though Opodo was my travel agent. And all nothing. Opodo was not able to change the date of flight for 9 days. At the end I made one more effort and contacted the airline, only to learn that Opodo never contacted them regards my flight change. I feel disgusted by this practice, especially that I didn't expect this service to be free, and I wanted pay for it. My flight was never changed just because ... i wish to know the answer. Never will book with Opodo again, I don't event want to remember this name.

We called several times the international hotline and talked to many different people who were REALLY hard to understand due to hteir accent and the line. We spent a massive amount on several phone calls, just to be hung up on.

We had these simple questions which your call center agents could NOT answer:

1: What is the amount to change the date of flight?
2: How much is covered by insurance?
3: What other fees/penalties are due?
4: Up to how long before the flight (which is THIS THURSDAY!) do we need to cancel/rebook/change flight dates?

all prices in EUR and booking ref is: [protected] email: [protected]@gmail.com

We expect IMMEDIATE SOLUTION AND RESPONSE TO OUR QUESTIONS!

I bought a flight ticket from Opodo in May 2019 heading from Cairo to London and back on the 4th of july with booking number [protected] This was a refundable ticket, it was expensive because it guarantees a 80% money refund under any reason in case I cancelled the ticket at least 24 hours before the flight.
Unfortunately, I got rejected from the British embassy and I couldn't have my visa, I contacted the customer service for a full refund as it's a visa issue and they asked for the refusal documents which I sent immediately and they replied with an email that after contacting the British airways, I'm eligible of a refund. And that I just have to call them to confirm the way of refund. This email is dated June 17th, 2019.
Prior to the flight with more than 48 hours, I called Opodo and I got into a one hour and a half talk with an agent that asked for every single document that confirm my visa refusal and I provided them immediately, he sent me an email confirming that the ticket is successfully cancelled and another one stated my refund amount and that it shall appear in my account within 30 to 90 days. This was on July 2nd, 2019.
Through these 90 days, I contacted the customer service several times to check there's no problem in the process, I even called them and they told me there are no problems, I just need to wait. It happened I also sent an email and Opodo replied that I just need to wait for the 90 days. This email was dated September 19th, 2019.
After the 90 days passed, I contacted another agent from the customer service who arranged a call with Opodo customer service, and the agent who called me started everything from the beginning, He told me nobody did anything and that he needs the visa refusal documents. I provided him everything from the beginning when he suddenly told me" Ma'am you'll not have any refund, the documents are not enough". I tried telling him that my ticket is refundable anyways and that I have a confirmation email of the amount of refund I shall receive but he was very rude and told me you'll receive nothing. This was on October 3rd, 2019.
Then I asked him that I need to escalate my case, So he put me on hold and came back with an offer than he will only refund less than 80% from the ticket. Desperately, and after he told me that I cannot have the full refund, I agreed. He confirmed with me that he processed the refund and that I will find the money in my account within 10 working days and sent me an email from Opodo with the same content. And He added that I should not call again.
Another 10 days passed, nothing happened. So I tried contacting the customer service through the messenger again, the agent was so surprised and told me that the refund was never processed. I asked him what I should do, he told me I arranged a call for you with top priority, they will come back to you within 48 hours. And as usual, 48 hours passed and no one called.
I have all the supporting documents

Dear all,

I contacted you 3 times already but no resolution.

Shortly, on August 29th, I tried several times on your website www.opodo.ro to buy some Wizzair plane tickets Bucharest to Lisbon and back but I received an error every time and not even once any request of 3D Secure code. Because it was our honeymoon and there were 2 days until the wedding, the wedding being August 31st, we went to a physical agency, Gotravel, and bought the tickets. During the day of August 29th, I noticed that the amount of a payment to Opodo was missing from my account (booking reference: [protected]), which meant that we had two sets of identical tickets, the same airline - WizzAir, the same destination, the same hours, the same people.
I also contacted Wizzair 3 times and they said by phone that they have returned the entire amount to you. I also submitted 3 written complaints to wizzair but no answer yet.

So, please, help me with the money, € 768.31, back to the following account: RO11 RZBR [protected].

Much appreciated,
Violeta Marilena Sasu (ex Matei)
+[protected]

We booked Thomas Cook flights via Opodo and are still waiting for Opodo to provide us with an update and guidance on what we can do and what our rights are due to Thomas Cook becoming bankrupt 4 weeks ago. We can't get an response from Opodo and despite calling and live chatting with Opodo most days we don't have an answer. It is a very stressful and unsetting situation and would like our money returned as soon as possible and a response from this terrible company.

Dear Sir / Madam,

I am writing to you to raise an issue about: Travel Agents

The issue that I have experienced was: Hi there,

I paid £2, 640.81 for 2 return tickets to Tokyo departing 22nd sept 2019.
These tickets were for:
First leg - premium economy to Beijing
Second leg - economy to Tokyo
And return flight of:
First leg - economy to Beijing
Second leg - premium economy to London.
When we boarded this flight, we found that our seats were intact ECONOMY CLASS for our first leg.
My worry now is that our return flight to London will be in ECONOMY class also.
I specifically paid a higher price for our flights to Tokyo as it is our honeymoon.
I got emails from opodo before telling me my class has now changed to Economy but when I phoned up to complain, they assured me that it remained the same and that I would be travelling premium economy on the long haul flights.
On top of this, due to late take off from our first leg - we had to run to our transfer flight and when we reached Tokyo, we were told that my husband's luggage did not make the connection flight and he would not be getting his luggage for at least 2-3 days.
I dread to think what class we will be sitting in on the way back.

It occurred on: 22/09/2019

This has not only meant that I had paid over £1, 200 each for a class that I was not intending to sit in, my husband is now currently without his suitcase.
Paying over the odds for flight tickets and having changes to my class without any form of refund or options to amend bookings is unacceptable. I was lied to when I phoned up opodo - they assured me that my flight was not changed and i would still be sitting in premium economy on my long haul despite receiving emails about change of class. It has undoubtedly had a negative effect on our honeymoon, our finances, comfort and our travels.

I would first like Opodo to confirm what exactly has happened and why we were assured on the phone that everything was in order when infact it isnt the case.
I would like a refund on the difference between economy and premium economy and be upgraded for my return flight.
I would also like to seek compensation for the luggage error from our connection flight due to their delay.

I look forward to your prompt response on this matter. As recommended by Trading Standards, I would like to keep a complete record of my case, so please reply to this email address.

Yours faithfully,

Chau Tue Tran

Booking Reference [protected]
Airline reference MESDYW
Passengers Chau-Tue Tran, Jimmy Yuen Diep