I would not touch them with a ten foot pole

Otel.com - www.otel.com
★★☆☆☆
2.1
27.0% of users recommend this

aussieinrome's review of Otel.com - www.otel.com

“I would not touch them with a ten foot pole”

★☆☆☆☆

written by aussieinrome on 04/06/2013

Wanting to book a particular hotel in Rome (from Australia), Otel.com appeared to have the best rate. Made the booking, gave my credit card details, got a flash message that the funds were deposited to a bank in Turkey before the page quickly reverted back to the Otel.com home page. There was nothing else: no confirmation, no receipt.

I waited 30 minutes to see if any email confirmation would turn up, but again, nothing. I then attempted to ring their Australian toll-free number, but the number kept ringing with no one picking up. I then rang long-distance their US number, which picked up: it transferred to their call centre/office in Turkey. The fellow I spoke to claimed there was no record of any booking for me in their system, and no record of any credit card charge. He suggested I try again.

As a precaution I called my credit card provider, who advised me that a charge had been made by the parent company, in Turkey, and the charge was then reversed. The person at Otel.com was clearly lying. I advised my credit card provider to flag a warning on my account to not make any payments to Otel.com or their parent company.

I then went back to booking the same hotel in Rome through another provider (expedia.com.au)who charged a bit more but provided immediate confirmation of both the transaction and the hotel booking - much more professional. Out of curiosity, I went back and checked if Otel.com were still advertising this hotel: indeed they were, but the rate had now gone up. I would not deal with these guys again and would caution others.

Otel.com's Response to aussieinrome's Review

Written on: 08/12/2014

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for your notification about the inconvenience with your otel.com experience.

Before all, we fell really sorry to hear that you have been unhappy with the service provided. As otel.com, customer satisfaction is and will be our number one priority and the most important matter for us in the upcoming period. Therefore, please let us know if you still have an on-going issue with otel.com, so that we can try to do our best to assist you.

Best regards,

Oguz Hasanusta
Social Media & Complaint Management Specialist
otel.com

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