RE customer service and refund from a cancellation
RE: Canceled reservation, customer service to get a refund per hotel and Agoda's policies. My wife and I were on vacation, with a hotel booked in Chattanooga for 2 nights. A hurricane was forecasted to hit the gulf coast on the evening we were to be in Chattanooga, so we cancelled in the morning and rearranged our plans to go well north of the storm. Agoda's website stated that cancelling on the day of reservation before check in time would result in a one night charge, but all remaining nights would be refunded. I went through the website to notify Agoda that we were cancelling the reservation, and the website told us to contact the hotel directly to let them know of the cancellation. We did that, and exchanged emails with the hotel manager, who confirmed that our cancellation would be honored, but we would be responsible for one night's charge. He also said that we would receive the refund through Agoda, since it was a prepaid reservation. After returning home, we waited a full week to hear from Agoda. They didn't contact us. I then went through their website to find a way to contact Agoda (best of luck, it is very confusing and there is no direct way to do so except to bring up the reservation and then go through a number of steps to set up a chat session. There is no phone number supplied, nor email address.). Once I was on chat, they assigned a service rep to help me - I explained what had happened, then told them I had the email exchange that showed the manager had agreed to the cancellation and that Agoda would provide the refund. Agoda's rep said they would have to contact the hotel, then let me know within 48 hours what they found out. After two days, I'd heard nothing from Agoda. I contacted them again, and this time I got a different service rep. I had to restate the entire scenario, and once again, Agoda said they'd have to contact the hotel. I offered to send them the email chain from the manager FOR THE THIRD TIME, but Agoda will not provide an email address that I can forward it to. Instead, they said they'd contact me again within 48 hours to let me know what the hotel said. At this point, I don't care when they provide the refund (which, btw, they wanted to send me in "Agoda Cash" that is only good on their website and expires in 6 months!); instead, I just want anybody that is thinking about using Agoda to beware because it seems like a bit of a scam. I suppose that as long as you don't try to cancel you'll be fine, but if something comes up that forces a change in plans, good luck. I will say I also had to cancel a room that was booked through Expedia on this same trip, and they confirmed the cancellation in less than 5 minutes. The refund was also on my credit card the next day. Meanwhile, it's been 14 days now trying to get a refund through Agoda. You make your own call, but I know whom I will use the next time. I think you know as well.