Deplorable business practices and customer service that cost me time, money, and my vacation
I booked roundtrip flights with Exploretrip for a great price of about $100 for two people where the departure and return were with different airlines. I had no issues with the the first leg, but when it came time to check in for the return flight with Ryanair, Exploretrip's horrible business practices and customer services cost me a night of sleep, a day out of my trip and more money than the cost of the original tickets($130). I have been in touch with customer service consistently since this happened and they still haven't made things right. Avoid this company at all costs! So what happened? I couldn't check in for the flight because Exploretrip hadn't used my email to make the booking. This meant that I couldn't check in for the flight and add priority status/pay for my carry on bags in advance per Ryanair policy. Rather than just providing me the email used, I later found out that they have ANOTHER "third party supplier" who is the only person that can complete check-in. I was never notified of this, nor given an opportunity to request purchase of baggage that is 12 euro online and 60 euro at the airport. So I spent HOURS of my day on vacation finding wifi to call customer service per their request "call back in 2-3 hours and we'll be able to give you the email used for the booking" and getting promises of "just 30 more minutes" (at midnight for an 8 AM flight) where not one representative informed me that I would be unable to check myself in (as I was later told by another representative is a known protocol with Ryanair bookings). It wasn't until 3:52 AM (8 minutes before check-in closed) that I was emailed boarding passes for the flight- no baggage. So, at the airport, with little to no sleep as I wasn't sure if we would even be able to get on the flight and was constantly waking up to check my emails; I was then required to pay 60 euro per person to get our bags on the plane when it would have cost 24 if I could have done it myself the day before. Fast forward to my return home. I have called customer service multiple times to give them a chance to make this situation right and reimburse me for the added expense incurred by their poor practices (they shouldn't be selling flights they cannot check customers in for or access/change/add baggage to with adequate time) and customer service (if they couldn't get me the information they should have told me, not cost me an entire day of my vacation leading me on with "2-3 more hours", though this cost is not reflected in the receipts I've submitted) and have escalated it with supervisors. What has happened? I have gotten the same tactics! "Our supervisors will call you within 24-48 business hours. We apologize for the inconvenience" Guess what? It's been three weeks! There hasn't been a single contact in that time beyond me calling to follow up. Please don't use this company. Please take your business somewhere else. Please learn from my mistakes. Please guard your time, sleep, and money from people who obviously have no regard for any of them.