Opodo review: Flight Ticket from Conakry to Manchester [protected])

Dear Complaint Team,

This is a firm complaint and I'm demanding this is acted upon today, otherwise, I will escalate it to the Ombudsman and other relevant parties including fraud teams.

On Thursday 30th May 2024, I successfully booked the said flight and made full payment from my credit card.

Hours later, an email reached me to say the first part of the journey (Guinea to France) could not be confirmed and that the funds for that part would be refunded in about 10 working days. This was the worst news I have heard in a long time.

I had to purchase a calling card and ring them immediately and I made my position very clear to them (Opodo) that either (1) they find all ways possible to get me an alternative flight/seat to take care of the first part of my journey, or (2) they send me my full (entire) refund of £545.50 within the next 1 hour on that day since I need to use the same funds to buy a flight ticket that can take me from Guinea to Manchester that said day as I need to be at work on Monday since that's the only funds I had. In fact, there was a cheaper and better ticket (£542.14), which popped up the following day which I could have purchased if they refunded me the full amount. I did make the attempt to purchase it but the transaction was declined since I didn't have enough on my credit card since you refused to refund my money- see the third imaged attached for proof of this decline in the transaction.

I engaged them on the phone severally, spending over £15 on calling cards, yet they didn't do any of my requests/ultimatums. I waited for hours till Monday morning, but nothing. In another development, they promised to ring me after I had provided them with my Sierra Leone phone number but they never did. I had to ring them again, yet no positive result.

So I had to borrow £600 to buy another flight ticket so I could arrive in the UK on Monday and resume my work. I am now in the UK, I got here before 9 Am.

Here is my conclusion for now: (1) I want my full refund of £600, which is the cost of my new ticket and I want it today, Monday 3rd June 2024; (2) I am also demanding an awesome financial compensation for the distress, emotional trauma, panic, family inconveniencies, the monies I spent on calling cards, monies I'll be spending to withdraw the pending funds from my credit card and deposit it into my debit card which is what I used to sort out my new flight tickets, among other constraints. If these demands are not met, I will go ahead as mentioned in my opening paragraph f this note.

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