Cancel holiday over corona virus?

[kiplette 8,795]

Yay! At last - good news for you, and what a relief.

[LeonG 14,850]

On 3/21/2020, 7:11:25, arunadasi said:

Opodo is terrible for responding. I had some issue with them recently and they kept me waiting for ages and didn't help at all. Good luck.

 

No luck so far with Opodo.  My friend in China said he spent 3 hours yesterday on online chat waiting for someone to show up but nothing.  He asked me if I could try calling them.  He had two numbers, one in Frankfurt and one in the UK.  The one in Frankfurt would not accept my booking number and I couldn't get any further without it.  The one in the UK would accept my booking number but for most of the day it would just say "all our agents are busy, call back later" or something like that and then hang up.  Finally yesterday evening it put me on hold, played me some call center music and told me that they would be with me shortly.  After a one  hour wait, the call got disconnected so I called again and left it on speaker.  After 5 hours on hold, I got tired and hung up to go to bed  It was then after 2 am.

 

This morning, Opodo sent my friend an email stating that the airline had informed them of a change in our flight plan (the flight got cancelled about a month ago actually) and that we need to call them at another number (Hamburg) and discuss possible solutions.  They added that we should call asap and in any case within 48 hrs.  However, just like the Frankfurt hotline, this one would not accept my booking number.  I tried to call them again a couple of times after that but just got a busy signal.  Not sure how they can expect us to call within 48 hrs. if we can't get through.  

[arunadasi 7,075]

Ryanair has cancelled most of their flights. My daughter's family got their money back for the wedding trip.

[fraufruit 42,493]

I can't wait to start fighting with American Airlines over my May flight that I won't be taking. 

[catjones 1,702]

1 hour ago, LeonG said:

My friend in China said he spent 3 hours yesterday on online chat waiting for someone to show up but nothing. 

 

Just out of curiosity, I wonder what signaled that three hours was the limit and not 15 minutes or 4-5-6 hours.

[atinherne 69]

On 3/21/2020, 7:02:38, LeonG said:

 

My flight to China was cancelled by the airline and the airline says they will refund it but has to go through opodo because my friend booked through them. He can not reach opodo. Nobody answering and they don't officially have an email address. He found one though and tried emailing but they didn't get back yet.

Is there a chat option?- with expedia that was the only way plus emails- couldnt get at any point through the phone.- a lot are doing thefacebook messanger

[keith2011 2,678]

3 hours ago, LeonG said:

 

 

This morning, Opodo sent my friend an email stating that the airline had informed them of a change in our flight plan (the flight got cancelled about a month ago actually) and that we need to call them at another number (Hamburg) and discuss possible solutions.  They added that we should call asap and in any case within 48 hrs.  However, just like the Frankfurt hotline, this one would not accept my booking number.  I tried to call them again a couple of times after that but just got a busy signal.  Not sure how they can expect us to call within 48 hrs. if we can't get through.  

 

Was it not possible to reply to the email, stating that you were unable to contact them by phone?

[LeonG 14,850]

 Thanks for the Facebook suggestion.  I've just tried it.  They have a bot.  The bot gave me the run-around for a while, eventually offered me to cancel my booking if I want a refund.  Then told me my booking is found but can not be cancelled online.  Then offered me to talk to an agent.  Then said no agents are available but I may continue chatting with it.  It is however not offering any further help like to leave a message, get a call back or an email option.  I did however find a reply to an angry customer on the facebook page pointing out a contact form at  https://socialcare.opodo.com/de/support/login  so I tried that.

 

As for replying to their email it came from a "noreply" address.  It's hard to find their email.  I tried info@opodo.com yesterday and it didn't bounce but no reply from it either.  On their website in the impressum, I found customerservice-de@contact.opodo.com  and have tried that as well.  It sent back an auto reply.

 

[Space Cowboy 1,466]

Im sorry for your difficulties, @LeonG

 

It seems, based on hundreds of reviews in the last week, that this firm is simply keeping everyone‘s money.

[Gambatte 972]

^{Topics merged by admin}

 

Months ago via Opodo I booked a JAL flight from Germany to Japan for the upcoming Easter break.

Not surprisingly, Opodo just emailed me telling me to call them to discuss my flight, because the present Corona crisis.

I call them and can only speak with a computer. I give the Buchungsnummer and the only reply I ever get is that such booking does not exist. Although their website says this booking DOES exist, and for a possible rescheduling I must call and speak in person.

Not matter which of their numbers I call (I tried many), I always get this outcome: the telephone-computer says the booking does not exist. I never managed to speak to a person.

I tried to contact JAL, the aircompany itself, and they say the travel agent is actually responsible, so it's with them that I must discuss.

 

Any suggestion...?

[LeonG 14,850]

I have the same problem.  There is a customer service email address in that post and a link to a website contact form.  

 

I had the same problem with the call centre in Frankfurt.  It would not accept my booking number.  There is an international call centre in the UK you can reach at +44-207-660-2215 and it did accept my booking number but then either said "all our agents are busy, please call back later" or it put me on hold and had me waiting for hours.  Never got a person through it at all.  My friend had booked for me because I was supposed to be visiting him and he'd booked another ticket for someone else at the same time.  He's also tried though online chat but hasn't had any luck.

[Gambatte 972]

Hello LeonG

I emailed  customerservice-de@contact.opodo.com  of course no reply yet. I will try the other adress too.

I will try the UK number, we will see...

[keith2011 2,678]

On 18/03/2020, 09:56:56, keith2011 said:

I am very pleased to report that an email arrived this morning detailing a full refund for the holiday we booked and paid for to Egypt due to begin next Sunday.....

Just an update, as of today the refund is not yet on my bank account. I have emailed the travel agent and await a response, bit worrying.

[arunadasi 7,075]

I will never use Opodo again.
Expedia is better. I recently booked two flights through them on the same day by mistake, Ryanair flights. So I wanted to cancel one of them. I called and I got through to a real person who told me to call Ryanair directly as it was their call.

I did, but unfortunalely I couldn't cancel. (If you make such a mistake they do cancel without cost, by the way; but I had booked flights from two different London airports so I couldn't.)
 

[atinherne 69]

22 minutes ago, keith2011 said:

Just an update, as of today the refund is not yet on my bank account. I have emailed the travel agent and await a response, bit worrying.

Expedia told us the refund will take around 30 days 🤷🏽‍♀️

[El Jeffo 42,135]

2 hours ago, atinherne said:

Expedia told us the refund will take around 30 days 🤷🏽‍♀️

If they don't declare bankruptcy first, which would effectively protect them against all liabilities.

 

Don't mean to be Debbie Downer here, but it looks like travel companies might try (and be allowed) to issue vouchers for missed travel instead of cash refunds. Governments hope this move will keep the tourism and travel companies from hemorrhaging too much cash, which would make a government bailout that much more expensive.

 

Given this fairly recent development - I just read about the proposals this week - if I were expecting a refund, I wouldn't expect to get it any time soon.

[atinherne 69]

30 minutes ago, El Jeffo said:

If they don't declare bankruptcy first, which would effectively protect them against all liabilities.

 

Don't mean to be Debbie Downer here, but it looks like travel companies might try (and be allowed) to issue vouchers for missed travel instead of cash refunds. Governments hope this move will keep the tourism and travel companies from hemorrhaging too much cash, which would make a government bailout that much more expensive.

 

Given this fairly recent development - I just read about the proposals this week - if I were expecting a refund, I wouldn't expect to get it any time soon.

To be honest deep down I was thinking the offer of the refund sounds too good to be true 🤷🏽‍♀️

[fraufruit 42,493]

I'm booked to the U.S. in May. Just attempted to start my cancellation process and this is what I got from Expedia after entering my info -

 

Given the exceptional circumstances, we may not be able to respond before your travel date. Please know that we are working to process your request as quickly as we can. No additional action is required unless you hear otherwise. Thank you for your patience. Please do not contact us for status updates. We will respond by email as soon as we are able to process your request.

 

I did take out travel insurance and tried contacting that company first but they told me I have to go through Expedia. 

 

Time to wait and see.

 

 

[LeonG 14,850]

I am also waiting at this point.  Emails have been sent and we'll see what happens.

 

[Metall 14,557]

I held off on my Easter travel plans when the first rumblings started, and am very glad I did. But I miss the people I was going to see...