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★☆☆☆☆

“AVOID! Atrocious Customer Service”

written by spacetraveller1980 on 12/05/2014

Myself & my wife recently travelled to Portugal. On past trips we had used a2b for airport transfers whilst there, so decided we would use them again.

My wife made the booking on her Visa card. Subsequent to this, but prior to actually travelling there was an incident of potential fraud on my wife’s card. The result of this was that she had to cancel the card & the bank refunded our a2b transfer booking to us.

As a result of this I made a subsequent booking, under my own name, using my own Visa card.

My wife made contact with a2b and advised them that the bank had cancelled her card & requested that they refund the transaction as I had made a subsequent rebooking.

At first a2b communication was fine. There was prompt communication. My wife sent on the trade reference that needed to be refunded & included her phone number with the mail asking that they ring her should they require any further information.

Given that we heard nothing back by phone prior to travelling, we assumed that all had been processed without issue.

To add weight to this assumption, when we arrived in Faro airport, I checked in to the bus, using my name & reference number, and no questions were asked in relation to an extra booking. The bus transfer left without delay and we arrived at our destination, happy with the service thus far.

Then, on our return trip, the issue became apparent. The return driver showed us a booking form showing 2 bookings, one under my wife’s name & another under my name. We explained (through the help of our receptionist) that the booking under my wife’s name had been cancelled. We got to the airport & travelled home.

Having been of the understanding that our first booking had been cancelled, it transpires that this was not the case. Whilst we were travelling we did not have ready access to email (due to the expense associated with Roaming charges). It appeared that, even though my wife had given a2b her reference & asked them to cancel it prior to the trip, they also needed to know the replacement reference which I booked to process the cancellation. I fail to understand this requirement. The 2 bookings were essentially separate transactions. One which was cancelled & another which was used.

The result of this is that we have now paid twice for a single service, and according to a2b we have no recourse as their t&cs do not allow for the cancellation. If myself or my wife had been in an accident & we had to cancel the journey, would we still be billed? We gave notice prior to the trip that there had been an issue with the booking.

My wife has made contact with the customer service unit of a2b and been passed from person to person, each of whom has provided a different reason for reneging on the refund of the cancelled trip.

The first reason given was that we did not provide them with the rebooked reference. Again, I do not understand this logic, as the rebooking is irrelevant with regards to the cancellation.

The second reason was that our reply communication was not received in time to cancel the booking. Again, to note, my wife contacted a2b my mail initially 2 days prior to our travel date, which I would see as ample time.

The third reason we have seen is that the a2b terms & conditions do not allow for refund for cancellations.

To me, this feels like the company are looking to use any loophole that they can find in order to avoid refunding our transaction.

We travel to Portugal regularly, as we have family with a home there. Whenever we do travel, if not renting a car we would have always considered using a2b.

After this experience, I can safely say that we will never again use this service. We will actively advise our friends & family to also do so.

I would advise you to consider your options in using this service in future, to save a few pounds is not worth the trouble that this whole debacle has caused us.

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