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“Lots of charges and very little protection.”

Written on: 27/06/2011 by rwmiller

I needed to book a flight for my wife from St. Petersburg to Paris so Opodo showed up as the first link and I gave it a shot. They were able to provide some flight information and I tried a couple of variations on the flight dates and departure locations to see what would make the most sense. Once I decided I booked the flight only to realize almost immediately that I had accidentally booked one of the alternative routes I had been examining instead of the one that I really wanted. My fault but easy enough to solve right?

Nope, I was booking this on the afternoon of a weekend and all the help staff had gone home so there was no way to cancel the flight or adjust it. So I went a booked a second correct flight and would take care of the mistake the next day.

The next day I called Opodo support (at 10p a minute) to be told that I could cancel the flight but that there would be no refund. The Opodo extra fee of £10 that I was charged only protected me from Opodo charging me their normal £25 cancellation fee and didn't protect me from the airlines not refunding the fare. I went ahead and cancelled it not that it mattered since it was money down the drain.

I then got an email from Opodo stating that my second booking had not gone through as my bank had flagged the transaction as suspicious and blocked the card. Yet again Opodo was closed by the time I got this so on the next day I called again at yet again another 10p a minute call to get this cleared up. After being put on hold for some time I was told that the price of the fare had gone up £18 and that I would have to pay this if I wanted the ticket.

So, because of a poor website design that allowed me to book an incorrect flight I was down over £260 for a flight I couldn't use. I had spent probably another £15 on telephone calls to their support line. Plus they had no sympathy or even the slightest willingness to discuss how to assist me other than to take more money from me.

Written communication to Opodo has gone unanswered and looks as if they don't care at all.

So, basic issues are:
1. Opodo charges an online booking fee of £10 for the flight.
2. They charge a credit card fee.
3. They have an Opodo extra guarantee that is poorly written and implies it will protect you but doesn't.
4. Any issues go to a billable number that cost you 10p a minute to call when they could have just as easily used a regular non-cost number, I am not saying a toll free number but using an extra cost number just sucks.
5. They seem to add no value to actual purchase or finding of a ticket or hotel.

Pass them up or better yet use them to do a search and just book directly yourself.

Horrible company with horrible service and people and I recommend you avoid using them.