Tour Travel Complaints - Travel Agent Complaints

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

Money deducted, Ticket not booked

No Refund

Booking canceled

Customer care not responding

Bad hotel booked

Misbehavior by staff

Fraudulent Booking agents

Fake Club membership sold

Train canceled without knowledge

Booking dates changed

Room was not clean

Cab did not arrive on time

Cab driver canceled the trip

Fraud with us (Jai Prakash Tempo Transport) ^Open

Today i booked a truck from Wani(yavatmal) to tarapur industrial area(boisar). and transferred above mentioned amount as token money.....but after transfer of money..transporter is not picking up my phone or responding my phone calls....

Apr 04, 2020 by Nikhil Sanghi

Refund against cancellation of flight ticket not received (Happyeasygo India Private Limited ) ^Open

I booked an Indigo flight (PNR - LFLZQV, Kolkata-CCU to Chandigarh-IXC, scheduled on April **, ****) on February **, **** through HappyEasyGo. Later on March **, amidst COVID-** scares, I cancelled the booking directly through the Indigo websit...

Apr 03, 2020 by Suman Das

NOT RETURNING CUSTOMERS MONEY PATHETIC CUSTOMER SUPPORT (Oyo Life) ^Open

I was supposed to check into my accommodation on **th of March, ****. But due to covid ** crisis, I had made a cancellation request on the **th of March, and did not check in. I am writing this complaint on April *, ****, and still not received...

Apr 02, 2020 by Jayson

Not giving refund for Covid cancellation (Goibibo) ^Open

Had booked * tickets from mumbai to Melborne (Booking Id: AMDO*SO*Y ), Sydney to Gold Coast (Booking Id: MYSMF*********) and then Brisbane to Mumbai(Booking Id: MYSMF*********). most of the travel is by Malaysia Airline ... when i spoke to ai...

Mar 31, 2020 by Sudesh Ravi Malik

SECURITY DEPOSIT REFUND (Oyo Life) ^Open

They say **-** days of time takes for the refund, but its has already been a month and I still haven't received the refund. During these times of COVID-**, a company is harassing its customers by not providing what is theirs....

Mar 31, 2020 by Satyajit Baliyan

Refund And Cancellation waiver By Make My Trip Cheated as No one Picks Call for existing booking (Make My Trip) ^Open

I have canceled my flight ticket to Booking ID - NN ************* Mumbai to Sharjah - Round Trip On travel dates - ** April **** & ** April ****. Just because Make My Trip has not guided their customers whose tickets were already booked. They...

Mar 30, 2020 by Rahul Pathak

Refund for tour cancellation from Travel Triangle (Travel Triangle ) ^Open

We had booked a tour to Assam & Meghalaya from Travel Triangle from *nd April to *th April. An advance of **k odd was paid towards the booking amount. Now due to country lockdown we asked them for a refund or an extention of the tour for a year...

Mar 28, 2020 by Niyati Whawal

Wrong refund issued (Make My Trip Pvt Ltd) ^Open

I have a problem with my booking no. NF**************. It was an Indigo flight booking from Bangalore to Bhopal on **th Apr booked through Make My Trip. I got the flight ticket canceled directly from the airline on Mar **. The airline issued a ...

Mar 28, 2020 by Ashish Chaturvedi

Flight cancellation and refund not happening (Make My Trip) ^Open

Airlines has cancelled my flight and make my trip has not initiated my cancellation request and not refunded till date. Tried contacting there customer support serval times but the IVR is not allowing to connect me to the concern department and...

Mar 25, 2020 by Chethan B N

Air Asia Cancelled the flight didn t refund the ticket cost (air asia airlines) ^Open

Hi , I had booked a ticket from hyd- bbi on *th of jun **** . Air Asia cancelled the flight due to operational issues and I asked my travel agency IRCTC to cancel and get me a full refund. Irctc without even reading the mail cancelled the ticke...

Mar 23, 2020 by RAJENDRA KUMAR JENA

Coronavirus IssueGoLeisure Holidays Denied to reschedule my Trip to Goa (Go Leisure International Holidays Pvt Ltd) ^Open

I have booked a Family trip to Goa which is scheduled on **rd March,**** till ** March,****. When asked to reschedule this trip due to Coronavirus issue in the country and locked which include Goa state too, company denied to reschedule and not...

Mar 22, 2020 by Ganesh Dattatray Bharte

Fraud Travel Agent (Thetravelclub Co In) ^Open

The Travel club.co.in / The ride travel First of all, they go by the other name “the travel club” when you reach out to them for any travel enquirers and if you search by that name in google you will end up seeing lot of other “legitim...

Mar 22, 2020 by Arvind Agrawal

MISLEADING INFORMATION GIVEN DURING ORDER BOOKING (Country Holidays Inn & Suites) ^Open

They had contacted me that I win lucky draw for free * nights stay, movie tickets etc. They insisted me for meeting on *st March ****. I met them then they had introduced their holidays products. During presentation, they informed us many count...

Mar 21, 2020 by PAYAL SHARMA

Not refunding money (Goibibo) ^Open

Visa on arrival was cancelled by thailand on the day I was departing .I booked tickets from go ibibo of air Asia ..while air Asia is giving refund to its customer go ibibo isn't .. air Asia told to ask refund from goibibo but they don't have an...

Mar 21, 2020 by Kshitij Ranjan

Refund not initiated (Holizone club and resort India pvt ltd) ^Open

I got a call from CLUB HOLIZONE company executive who provided me the information regarding our selection for attending their event at Chopra Residency, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh on * May, ****. They told me that being a Hyundai customer made ...

Mar 20, 2020 by Komal Jain

Hotel room (Booking.com) ^Open

I booked * room in abu dhabhi in emirates palace they showed me picture of suite and gave me coral king room ...

Mar 19, 2020 by Nikita jain

Cancellation issue with goibibo (Goibibo) ^Open

Hello, I recently made a booking (purchase) through goibibo of an international flight from India to South Korea with Air Asia airlines. Because of the corona virus the airlines offered full refund allowance for cancellations done and I reques...

Mar 19, 2020 by Veda Pragna Yalamanchili

Negligence in resloving Reschedule of Flight Ticket (Goibibo airlines) ^Open

I booked a ticket from GoIbibo on **-**-**** as detailed below: GoAir (G****), PNR K*SM*Y, {**:** am Ranchi} to {**:** pm} New Delhi at Rs.**** for two persons. Due to Corona pandemic, I rescheduled it to **-**-****, using the online service ...

Mar 18, 2020 by SIRISH KUMAR SONNY

No response form Air india regarding cancellation postponement of tickets (Air India Airlines) ^Open

We have booked flight tickets using Air india website from Vijayawada to tirupathi on March **nd and return flight on **th March from Tirupathi to Vijayawada,Due to Corona out break and as per the government guidelines and TTD guidelines we hav...

Mar 18, 2020 by K Raja Rajeswari

Oyo not refund my money (Oyo) ^Open

I have booked Oyo hotel Jagdish for one day. When we checked in they said they will not take Oyo bookings but I was already paid money . Then I was calling Oyo customer care they said that they will initiate my refund but till now Oyo was not ...

Mar 18, 2020 by Sheetal verma