Travel Complaints
There are various modes of transportation in India be it through air, sea or land. Indian transportation, due to its immense population, is one of the most widely used in the world.
For traveling within India people generally prefer to rent a car or travel via train or bus as they deem convenient. Ola and Uber are prime examples of this. These startups have skyrocketed and are one of most used traveling apps in the India.
Meanwhile, many people prefer to travel via plane as it saves times. For this they either book the ticket through the website directly or look for agents to do the same.
Apart from big names there are some private travel agencies in Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata etc, which try to lure customers by offering them lucrative discounts. Travel agent frauds are quite prevalent in India. The most common travel agent/agency complaints include refund not provided, hotel denying check-in, fake promises etc.
Travel complaints have a sense of urgency and responsibility attached to them because no one wants to board a late flight or wants to stay in low-quality hotel.
We all want our travels and trips to be smooth right from the beginning. And if something does not go as per our expectations, the mood gets spoiled!
Therefore, it brings a significant responsibility on the shoulders of the travel companies to solve the issues faced by their customers. One should only book their hotels/flights via trustworthy sites to avoid getting duped. However, sometimes even these reputed travel companies commit an error.
In this article, we have covered the common travel complaints that are faced by customers and how you can resolve them.
But first lets check out the famous travel companies in India
Famous Travel Companies in India
1. Make My Trip
Make my Trip is one of the leading online travel companies in India. In 2000 it was founded by Deepak Kalra and had its headquarters in Gurugram, Haryana.
They have more than 14 company-owned travel stores in India and have over 30 franchisee-owned travel stores in India. They also have offices in Dubai, Phuket, Bangkok, New York, Kuala, and Lumpur.
2. Yatra:
Founded by Manish Amin, Sabina Chopra, and Dhruv Shringi in 2006, Yatra.com is the pre-eminent Indian online travel agency. It is based in Gurugram, Haryana. According to the sources in 2012, Yatra became the second-largest online travel service provider company in India.
3. OYO:
Oyo rooms, popularly known as Oyo hotels and rooms and stylized as OYO, is the fastest and largest growing hospitality chain in India. They worked on the franchising and leased system, which fortunately turned out to be the best for the company. Founded by Ritesh Agarwal in 2013, OYO gained much popularity right from the beginning.
4. GOIBIBO:
Subsidiary of Make My Trip Limited, Mauritius Ibibo, is a travel organization in 2006 by Ashish Kashyap. In 2013 Goibibo made it among the top five most trusted e-commerce brands in India.
5. HappyEasyGo:
Happy Easy Go is one of the emerging online travel company founded by Boris Zha in 2017. In 2019 it became the second-largest online travel booking platform in India and had more than 10 million customer bases all over the world. It has its headquarters in Gurugram, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hong Kong, and Singapore. During late 2018 HappyEasyGo established its hotel business.
6. Thomas Cook:
Thomas Cook (India) Ltd has its headquarters in Mumbai and caters to all the travel related requirements from visas to foreign exchange. They established themselves in India in 1881 and expanded its business to all the nearby countries.
7. Clear Trip:
Clear Trip earlier was known as Clear Trip Travel Services Private limited is a universal online travel company established in 2016. It has its headquarters in Dubai and Mumbai. In India, they started with a vision of making travel simple by bridging the gap between the Indian hospitality and travel sector. It was founded as an air and hotel aggregator by Stuart Crighton, Mathew Spacie, and Hrush Bhatt.
8. Travel Guru:
Travel Guru is India’s leading and growing travel website. It offers flights, holiday packages, and hotels at the best prices; they aim to make your trip smooth and convenient.
9. Travel Triangle:
Founded by three IIT graduates Sanchit Garg, Prabhat Gupta, and Sankalp Agarwal. It is India’s first fully stacked Holiday Marketplace that connects verified travel agents and travelers. It was founded in 2011 and competed with companies such as Thrillophilia. It is a platform that is trusted by many.
10. Travelocity India:
It is rated as one of the best online travel portals in the world and perfectly caters to the local needs of the people by launching specialized programs. In India, they cater to both business and leisure requirements.
Types of Travel Complaints
1. Tickets canceled, but money is not refunded:
One of the significant problems that are being faced by customers of major travel companies is that they cancel the tickets, but money is not credited to their bank account. This is the most common issue faced by almost all the consumers in cities like Pune, Mumbai, New Delhi and Bengaluru.
During COVID-19 times, many have reported on the internet that they have booked tickets, and they got canceled due to the pandemic. However, the companies did not refund the amount. Either they are saying that they have refunded the amount, or instead, they are offering a credit voucher.
2. No refund for flights canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic:
Due to the global pandemic, suddenly, flights were canceled. It was reported by customers of many major travel companies that they did not get their refund; however, the airlines did return the full booking amount. Many customers were upset because the travel companies did not inform them about the refund from the airlines.
3. Partial refund for the flights canceled due to COVID-19:
Many customers reported that they did not receive the full amount of flights they booked pre-corona. However, airlines have refunded the entire amount, but travel companies did not credit the whole amount; instead, they deducted a certain amount without giving any valid reason.
4. No refund against booked packages:
Many planned trips in June assuming that pandemic will end, but in the wake of current times, still, the tourism industry is on hold.
As people booked packages for traveling and now are requesting for a refund, but many companies are simply denying it.
However, many customers are disturbed with it because, in these uncertain times, they are struggling so much to get their refund.
5. Unable to connect with customer care service:
Many customers from significant travel companies face this very issue when they contact the customer care, they are not entertained, or their complaints are not correctly handled.
Many faced this particular issue while they were contacting the customer care, and their complaints were not appropriately welcomed or they were not able to connect with them.
6. Fraudulent booking agents:
Many travel companies have their booking agents, but some fraudsters just dive in and cheat people.
Many customers from significant companies, including Make My Trip and Yatra complained that they had been cheated by fraudsters in the name of these companies, and they have demanded a refund from the company.
7. Rescheduling of flights due to COVID-19:
Due to Corona pandemic, many people had to reschedule their flights, but travel companies are not helping them or are not considering their request.
8. Over billing by travel companies:
The most common types of complaints regarding Ola and Uber include over billing issues and not returning the left item in the cab. But you can try contacting the customer care number of Ola which is 098842437 and customer care of Uber which is 1300091272.
How to resolve travel complaints?
1. File support ticket/send an email:
You can always contact travel companies through their official website by going to their contact us section and by sending them an email. Customer service emails of some leading travel companies are:
Yatra- support@yatra.com
Make My Trip- care@makemytrip.com
Happy Easy Go- cs@happyeasygo.com
Clear Trip- customersupport@cleartrip.com
Goibibo- travel@goibibo.com
Travel guru- service@travelguru.com
2. Call Customer support:
One of the perfect ways to directly come in contact with the travel company is by contacting it through phone call for customer support. All these well-known travel companies have a 24*7 working customer care number which helps in resolving complaints as they value customer feedback. The customer care number of some of the leading travel agencies and hospitality companies in India are :
Cox and Kings Customer Care Number - 1800 209 0400
Thomas Cook Customer Care Number - 1800 209 9100
Club Mahindra Holidays Customer Care Number - 044 6695 3435
Expedia Customer Care Number – 800-319-4834
Yatra Customer Care Number - 0124 3040500
Goibibo Customer Care Number - 1800 208 1060
Makemytrip Customer Care Number - 1800 102 8747
Travelguru Customer Care Number - +91 92111 77444
Oyo Customer Care Number - 093139 31393
RedBus Customer Care Number - 1860 121 2102
3. Report to the airlines/hotel directly:
As we have seen above, many customers have reported that the airlines and hotels have issued a refund, but the travel companies have not refunded the money in the bank accounts. It is always better to contact the airlines or hotels directly if the companies don’t issue a refund by time. You can contact the airlines and hotels by calling them on their customer care number or by sending the email.
4. Send Legal Notice:
Consumers can send legal notices to travel company in case it is unable to resolve his complaint. It is one of the efficient ways to handle the issue legally. Check below to know how to send a legal notice to travel company?
Step 1: Firstly, get a legal notice drafted by a lawyer.
Step 2: Check it properly and make sure it is signed by lawyer.
Step 3: Keep a copy of it for future purposes.
Step 4: Send the legal notice to travel company by registered post.
Step 5: Keep the slip or delivery report for evidence.
5. File consumer forum case:
Consumer forum deals with consumer complaints and you should approach consumer forum if you feel that your rights as a consumer have been violated.
If travel company is not responding to your complaints even after sending legal notice by a lawyer then you should file a case against it in a consumer court.
Here is how you can file a case in the consumer court?
Step 1: Intimate the aggrieved party via legal notice.
Step 2: Draft the consumer complaint
Step 3: Attach all the relevant documents and proofs to support your complaint.
Step 4: Select the appropriate court for filing the complaint.
Step 5: Pay the prescribed court fee that is required to be paid along with the complaint.
Step 6: Submit the case along with the affidavit & fees in the court.
If you feel uncomfortable doing all this yourself, then you should use Voxya to file a complaint against travel company. We will send Legal Notice and prepare Case for filing in consumer court. We, at Voxya, are generally receiving more than 100 travel consumer complaints every month.
Most Common Issue Reported for Travel Complaints
Complaints
Refund for cancellation of air tickets (Goibibo) Open
I have booked tickets from Dehradun to Mumbai for **th April from Goibibo of jet airlines. As the flight was not working for that day they cancelled my ticket & said that I will get a full refund from Goibibo. Now as I m calling Goibibo for my ...
Jun 02, 2019 by Sonia Amit Duggal
Tour package not delivered completely (Travbond) Open
I have booked a Singapore package from Travbond and in spite of written items they did not deliver as per the amount paid and also there were few included items missing in the final itinerary after making the final payment. The office staff wa...
Jun 01, 2019 by Chirag Mehta
Arbitrary ticket price (Orbit Aviation Pvt Ltd) Open
I am a resident of Talwandi Sabo, Bathinda and for business-related reasons, I often travel to Chandigarh. There is one AC coach that runs between Raman (Raman Mandi, Punjab) and Chandigarh every day and I have travelled in it often between Tal...
Jun 01, 2019 by Gaurav Kalra
For not refunding cost of tickets (Happy Easy Go) Open
Booked a flight from Delhi to Lucknow and back for me and my son through HappyEasyGo portal for GoAir flight on ** June and returning on ** June. Mode of payment was the credit card. Tickets on being booked were being shown as refundable. Scree...
Jun 01, 2019 by Bishwajeet Ghosh
Nonpayment of refund fee (Lakshadweep Holidays) Open
I had booked a vacation package for * passengers through this travel company named Lakshadweep Holidays (https://www.visitlakshadweep.com). The date of travel was **.*.**** but the trip got cancelled due to bad weather. I made a total payment o...
May 31, 2019 by Saikat Mukherjee
Fake information about international hotel booking (Make My Trip) Open
I booked a hotel through MMT from Sep *-* for Langkawi city. The problem is that some information given by MakeMyTrip is wrong and confusing. While searching the hotel address in Cenang area it filters out but after booking it's showing **km aw...
May 30, 2019 by Priyabrata lenka
Fraudulent charges & driver's misbehavior during trip (Uber India) Open
Trip Details - Uber Date - May *, **** Total Distance - **.* Km Total Charges - INR *,***.** / - Trip Detail- From- **:** pm | **, O Shaughnessy Rd, Langford Gardens, Bengaluru, Karnataka ******, India / To- **:** pm | Bengaluru Interna...
May 30, 2019 by Moushmi Parmanik
Mental harassment misbehave and forgery (Oyo Total Holiday Packages) Open
These are the series of event: *. OYO's sales representative called me and explained everything and told me per head price for Nainital tour package as rupees **,*** per head. I found this package within my budget so I agreed to it. *. Ini...
May 29, 2019 by Nidhi Burman
Poor customer support taken extra cash and not refunding (UBER) Open
I was riding to some event via uber cab on last Sunday night. I choose to google pay as I was on dropping gate of some *-star hotel. The driver asked me extra cash for some receipt and said its uber policy. I avoided argument as I had the trust...
May 29, 2019 by Swati Bhatia
Refund denied by Makemytrip (Makemytrip) Open
I had booked a flight via MakeMyTrip app. l had cancelled it since it’s refundable. There are * things: *. The ticket does not mention that the ticket is not refundable when cancelled before *-*** days. It even shows the cancellation charg...
May 29, 2019 by Lentina Longkumer
Room booking refund (Oyo) Open
For ** May I booked a room for * people for one day in hotel New Nataraj, Kolhapur for Rs.**** through Oyo App after seeing the *.* rating and pics of the room that they have posted in the app which was really good. Booking Id: WRBI****. I went...
May 28, 2019 by Athul S Anand
Refund not received for flight cancellation (Goibibo India Private Limited) Open
I booked the flight from Goibibo * month ago and they showed me a connecting flight from Delhi to Bangalore i.e Delhi to Hyderabad (SpiceJet - *:** pm on **th April) and Hyderabad to Bangalore (Air India - *:** am on **th April). When I reached...
May 28, 2019 by Mayank Garg
Fraud travel agent (Trip Go Craft) Open
They have put an advertisement for a Gangtok package. We paid them to advance of ***** after that no response. Not taking our calls....
May 28, 2019 by Nidhi goenka
Refused to refund package when Visa got rejected (Makemytrip (india) Pvt. Ltd.) Open
I booked a package for Australia and I paid *.** lakhs amount. My visa got rejected. Now they are saying that they will refund only *.* lakhs and they are not refunding another amount. Makemytrip doesn't respond properly. It's almost two and a ...
May 27, 2019 by Rangaswamy A M
Excess amount charged (Parking Charges) for OLA cab services (Ola Cabs) Open
The excess amount charged as parking charges although there is no parking facility available and driver has not dropped only at the destination and also fare increase amount also charged. Uber charged for the same location only Rs. 96....
May 27, 2019 by Vikash Kumar Saini
Met with an accident due to negligence of MakeMyTrip (Makemytrip.com) Open
I had booked a cab from MakeMyTrip (MMT) from Pune to Mumbai airport on ** April with booking ID NC***************. I received an SMS with the details of the cab and driver. The cab was Hyundai XCent MH**CP**** and driver's name was Sarjerao G...
May 27, 2019 by Vikram Kakapuri
Membership cheating with me (Country Club India) Open
With the name of a lucky draw they are fooling around with people and I also fell victim for this and I paid ***** towards membership fees. After paying the membership fees when I tried booking country club resorts the answer always has been no...
May 27, 2019 by Ramesh P
Required my money back (Countryard Imperial Inn & Suites) Open
On **.**.**** company called me to collect the free gift voucher on my name. When I reached Hotel somewhere in Jaipur somehow they sold me there package for holidays. After the given promises by the company which includes my packages for that, ...
May 27, 2019 by Dr. Avinash Gupta
Makemytrip did fraud by booking flight of Lufthansa instead to book Air Canada (Makemytrip) Open
This is regarding the booking which is done through a makemytrip agent named Irfan Ahmad on *th May ****. I paid the price of Air Canada flight with a minimum layover from Delhi to Toronto. I booked this flight for my mother Mrs Sunita Rani who...
May 27, 2019 by Mukti Sharma
Excess baggage not given (Goibibo India Private Limited) Open
I booked tickets from Bangalore to Paris on the Goibibo website. At the payment stage, there was an option to select excess baggage. I paid INR ***** for it. There was no indication that it would only be applied to the domestic sector of the fl...
May 27, 2019 by Kripa Fernandes
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