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
Extra payment for Ola Postpaid (Ola Cabs & Ola Money) Open
I had an Ola rental booked on */*/** CRN: **********. During the ride, the driver did not have cash for fuel or toll. I even tried to change the payment to cash but the same could not be done. I had added Ola money and remaining was paid out of...
May 22, 2019 by Daniel Gnanaselvam
Refund of cancelled ticket not received (Make My Trip) Open
I cancelled two train tickets on the same day details are in the attachment. I received only one ticket refund. Refunding and booking details are in the attachment....
May 22, 2019 by Abhishek John
No refund received (IRCTC) Open
After again and again they are saying the train was not cancelled but it was cancelled. I have all proof legal via newspaper and media report news. I try to cancel the ticket but they were showing an error ISl deleted again and again now they a...
May 21, 2019 by Kushal choubisa
Very Poor Service (Goibibo India Private Limited) Open
I am fromCorrespondent, NSRIT, Satyam, Visakhapatnam. We sent two of our faculty members to Germany from the college side for Applied Robotic training in Germany. I booked the tickets for them on Mr.Ch.Kranthi, registered mobile no with Goibibo...
May 21, 2019 by Sai Varma N
Ticket cancellation not informed (Make My Trip) Open
I booked my flights from Krakow to Delhi earlier this year. My departure date was the **th of April. I was travelling from Delhi to Abu Dhabi and further to Poland. On *th May I was supposed to return to Delhi via Amsterdam. I had booked a comb...
May 21, 2019 by Sahil khurana
Refund of security amount (Oyo Living) Open
Not refunding security amount being the fault of them of ac not working and selling that flat pg to me without ac. When told to resolve it they didn't reply instead of **-** emails and **-** calls. At last, it forced me to vacant the room....
May 21, 2019 by MUDIT LALWANI
Bus timings mismatch (Abhibus) Open
I've booked a bus ticket from Tirupur to Bangalore with boarding point as Avinashi new bus stand. Actually, during the time of booking of ticket, the Abhi bus App showed the time as **:** pm at Avinashi so that got registered in my mind and I d...
May 20, 2019 by Krishna Kumar R
Charged three times (Ola Cabs) Open
I have been charged * times (Rs.****/-) than that of the estimated ride fare (Rs. ***). The fare shown to me was of Rs.*** during the booking. I have been charged Rs. ****/- which is nearly thrice of the estimated fare. I had taken rides to the...
May 19, 2019 by RACHANA
Refund is pending (Goibibio) Open
I have my refund pending with Goibibo since *th April. I am continuously following up on emails/calls but nothing moving. The only revert I get is we are working on it and we will get back. Booking Id: RMDJLHUEL I have never seen more ridiculo...
May 19, 2019 by Gaurav Midha
Unprofessional bus service (Labbaik Travels Kolhapur) Open
I have booked two tickets for the journey from Kolhapur to Nashik online on Goibibo & scheduled departure for this travel was **:** hrs. But the bus has not arrived till **:** hrs. So I called to the following numbers provided ****-*******, **...
May 19, 2019 by Bharat Appa Pagar
Booking get failed (Makemytrip) Open
I booked the flight details attached. The payment was deducted but the MakeMyTrip site said booking failed. Now when I tried to book the flight again within * minutes the price of the same flight ticket is raised by **** approx. With no fault o...
May 18, 2019 by Aakash Varshney
Tour not complete as per itenary (Travbond) Open
We had booked a package tour for Singapore through travbond and they have completely failed on all their commitment. They cheated on us on providing the service as per the amount paid to them. The itinerary agreed on by the salesperson before p...
May 18, 2019 by Chirag Mehta
Make my trip refund (Make My Trip) Open
My father had booked a ticket from Make My Trip. Unfortunately, we lost him a few days back and we are in a moment of grief. We cancelled the ticket and applied from the refund which the airline (United) has already processed. We have already p...
May 18, 2019 by Ashish Tergaonkar
Hotel cancelled my booking after 3 months of booking (Hotel indore marriott) Open
I was booked the Indore Marriott hotel ** Feb from booking.com and they give me confirmation mail but from last * to * days they can send me the mail your credit card details is invalid and I updated also * to * times valid card details and sud...
May 18, 2019 by Prashant Thaokar
Money not refunded (Cheap Ticket) Open
I had booked a Jet Airways flight ticket through www.cheapticket.in. Now that all Jet Airways flights have been cancelled. I am not being given a refund as according to cheapticket.in. Jet Airways is not processing any refund and as per Jet Air...
May 18, 2019 by Alfred Sigo
Makemytrip are not refunding amount worst company (Makemytrip (india) Pvt. Ltd.) Open
I've booked a flight ticket from MakeMyTrip on **-April-**** from Delhi to Amritsar. After a few days, I got to know that Jet Airways are not operating due to their financial crises and they are staring refunding amount. I called MakeMyTrip cus...
May 18, 2019 by Chirag kwatra
Cheated and high amount charged for ordinary bus (Red Bus) Open
I have booked * tickets from Chandigarh to Manali in Indo Canadian Mercedes Benz bus thro redBus on **.**.****, **.**. I have waited more than *.** hours at the Indo Canadian company office. At last only ordinary bus came to office. I have aske...
May 18, 2019 by Jeyalaximi
Poor facility by Oyo room service (Oyo) Open
I booked * AC deluxe room stay in Srikalahasti but very dirty poor facility. Not able to meet the very basic cleaned facility room....
May 17, 2019 by Senthil Kumar
Transaction failed but money deducted while train ticket booking via irctc (IRCTC) Open
Tried booking train ticket via irctc but the transaction failed and deducted the amount. Please help. Ticket ID *******....
May 17, 2019 by Chingakham Yaipha
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