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

Non refund of travel amount (Make My Trip) ^Open

I booked a holiday trip and flight via make my trip to Kerala. Just a day after booking floods affected in Kerala. I was about to travel with my wife and an infant and paid ***** rupees to Make my trip for booking confirmation. But when got new...

Aug 19, 2019 by Sameer dhingra

Unreasonable additional charges (Akbar Travels Online) ^Open

I made an online flight ticket booking from www.akbartravelsonline.com to fly in DOHA-COCHIN-DOHA sector for my family. The fare shown on the website was Rs. **,***/- and I paid it online. After a few minutes, I received an email stating that m...

Aug 19, 2019 by Ismail

Cheating by Century Holidays (Century Holidays) ^Open

I wish to lodge a complaint against Century Holidays as I have taken Gold Membership to vide above ref ID Nos and I have already paid Rs **,***/- balance Rs **,***/- were to be paid after availing the first-holiday trip, accordingly. I have pla...

Aug 19, 2019 by RAJESH JATANA

Hotel check In denied by hotel management (Goibibo India Private Limited) ^Open

I had booked this hotel for ***₹ for a day on Goibibo App. I went to the hotel reception and told him that I have a booking. He then picked up a tab and checked for the bookings. But my booking did not reflect in his device. Then he started s...

Aug 18, 2019 by Satish Badiger

பயணத்தொகை திரும்ப பெற வேண்டியது குறித்து (Mjt Travels) ^Open

...

Aug 17, 2019 by Veerakumar

Cheated and yet not initiated refund (Goibibo) ^Open

I booked tickets in Archana express from JAT to PNBE. I received a message from Goibibo in which time of departure of the train mentioned is incorrect due to which I missed my train. So l want a full refund of the amount which I paid....

Aug 16, 2019 by Upma Sahay

Fraud and cheating (Elite Group Of Loyalty Services) ^Open

By making false promises and cheating, they have taken a sum of Rs. *****/ (Forty-one thousand six hundred sixty-six only) from us. First, they were at Pavani estate, Liberty, Himayathnagar Road, Hyd-****** and in this office, they cheated on ...

Aug 14, 2019 by Daisy devi

Refund not processed (Oyo) ^Open

Booked an OYO house on the **th of June **** via the OYO mobile app. The partial amount was deducted but the booking was not confirmed (email screenshot has been attached). Called up OYO immediately and was informed that there was a glitch in t...

Aug 14, 2019 by Reehan Ahmed

Refund for cancelled flight not provided by goibibo (Goibibo.com) ^Open

I had booked to and fro ticket from Hyderabad to London via jet airways through Goibibo website for mother and paid rupees ***** along with the travel insurance. Later I had to reschedule the journey on a need basis so I contacted Goibibo for k...

Aug 13, 2019 by Sidhartha Reddy Mandala

Worst service by Makemytrip team (Make My Trip) ^Open

I booked a hotel through makemytrip for my client from South Africa. We had a very worst experience at a hotel so we went to one more hotel. I requested to make my trip people cancel the existing and go for a new booking. The issue finally reac...

Aug 13, 2019 by Surya

Double amount charged for my trip (Uber Cab) ^Open

I travelled from Secunderabad railway station to Hyderabad airport on **-**-*** around * am and got drop around *:** am. Post drop off application showed that the bill amount to be paid in cash which I have shared in screenshot too. The driver ...

Aug 13, 2019 by Rahul rampal

Took extra charge (UBER) ^Open

The extra charge took while it was showing between Rs ***-Rs ***. Do the needful....

Aug 11, 2019 by Md Hamza Ikram

Package not delivered (Make My Trip) ^Open

I have booked a package from Make My trip on **rd May **, Executive of MMT Rakesh Sharma (**********, **********) is dealing with me at that time. On **-May-** he is demanding to pay ***** Rs through a payment link he sends me the payment link....

Aug 10, 2019 by VEERU SINGH

Cancellation amount not refunded back (OYO Rooms) ^Open

I made a booking with Oyo in Natraj Inn Lucknow ( booking id: sdrz****) for three nights (**th -**th July) and cancelled it on *th July as it was promised to get a full refund until **th July. I was told that refund amount of INR **** has been ...

Aug 09, 2019 by Mohammad Meraj

Bus cancelled but refund not given (Redbus.in) ^Open

I purchased a ticket on **st July ** o'clock from Allahabad to Lucknow. I was there from **:** and eagerly waiting for the bus. The bus didn't come. At about **:** pm one of my co-passenger told that the bus has been cancelled. I was not even i...

Aug 09, 2019 by Amitava Roy

Hotel denied check in after online payment (Make My Trip) ^Open

PNR: ********** Booking Id: NH************* They said their minimum tariff is *** and they stopped me to check-in. Kindly followup. Payment is already done. I was very helpless. I tried calling MMT support but their executive said to wait for...

Aug 07, 2019 by Jayant

Uber charging extra tolls (UBER) ^Open

Below is a summary of the excess amount charged on my recent trips in the form of tolls stating MCD and DND charges where in effect nothing was paid and I am witness to it. The tolls charges are not prevalent anymore but still Uber is attaching...

Aug 07, 2019 by Abhishek Soni

Promised hotel for which I paid was not given (Antilog Vacations) ^Open

For the Egypt trip with my family, I booked the trip through Antilog Vacations. They took money for Le Meridien Giza which is a * Star Hotel and a superior property and gave me Mercure which is a * star and poor property....

Aug 07, 2019 by Rajesh P Nair

Ola fraud and extortion (Ola Cabs) ^Open

I have paid Ola ride twice *** Rs because of error from Ola app and after verification from Ola service after ** days they have checked their transactions and initiated a refund and asked me to wait for ** days. After ** days I still didn't rec...

Aug 05, 2019 by Sairam Kolluru

At midnight harassment for confirmed booking (Oyo) ^Open

*rd of Aug I booked hotel * rooms for Poorv location. When I reached that place & hotel around **.** pm no one was available to contact it's like an empty building. The number provided by Oyo was invalid number as per Vodafone and Airtel. I cal...

Aug 04, 2019 by Rajendra natha bhalekar