steven :: Release 2.0

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Opodo Nonsense

With our second baby due this Christmas last night we booked flights for my wifes parents to come over from Chile to spend some time in the UK. After some looking around we go some decent prices at Opodo, booked them and after many failed attempts to get their paper ticket version working, we just booked the physical tickets. It was "very easy" accoring to their sales guy on the phone who had clearly never actually done so.

It was a little while later that i realised no insurance had been offered with the flight. I called them only to be told that "insurance isn't offered when your origin is outside the UK" and that "I " ... couldn't expect the system to work out that i was coming from outside the UK".

I can only imagine that a label indicating that your selected location was NOT the UK would't be beyond the souls that built the system - i even pointed out to her the fact that it displayed in a large orange box that there IS travel insurance for flights originating in the UK and that if the system can handle that, then the reverse isn't surely too tricky (the "else" part of the statement i'd hazard a guess).

She then started rambling on about reading the detailed terms and conditions, and mentioning that only important things can be placed on the front screen. Hands up who finds lack of flight and medical insurance to a country 2000 miles away a side issue??

The crazy thing is that she is saying it is MY fault even though we spent a reasonable amount of time booking. Sure, there are specific things in the T&C's you have to be aware of, but as a service provider and more importantly a company who would have possibly got repeat business from me, the fact that a fairly serious piece of information was glossed over and not even indicated by the system (or in fact by the rep on the phone earlier in the day) goes to show how bad services seem to be these days.

The response should be "Yes, we see that could be missed and we will look at putting a message to indicate there is no insurance with a link to possible 3rd party providers of your insurance".

The net result is that they are now way down on the list of companies i will any of my future trips with.

# posted by weblivz @ 4:09:00 pm Comments:

Thanks for the post. I won't be in the dark about what provider not to choose when in the same boat.

# posted by

Anonymous : Thursday, November 16, 2006 3:52:00 pm

My tale of woe vis-a-vis the Customer Service folks at Opodo: I purchased a ticket earlier this year through Opodo and paid an extra 30 Euros to have the various coupons delivered by post. The initial transaction was conducted on a weekend and when I realized that I hadn't received the ticket by the end of the subsequent week, I contacted Opodo - both via phone and via email. At that point, the flight was a month away. I was told not to worry the ticket would arrive in time and, in the event I hadn't received it 3 business days prior to the flight departure, to get back in touch. It didn't arrive, and when I again contacted Opodo I was told it was too late to mail me the ticket and I would have to pick it up at the airport. I was told there would be an extra 30 Euro charge, but to keep the receipt and Opodo would reimburse me.

After I returned from my vacation, I forwarded my particulars to Opodo and received the following:
According to our Terms and Conditions, and we quote "If you do not receive your tickets within 3 working days of your booking confirmation email, please contact us - but not before, unless your departure is within this time. After the 3 working days we would ask that you contact us within 24 hours. If you contact Opodo within 24 hour time frame then we will cover the costs to reissue. If you contact us outside of the 24 hours then you will be responsible for any costs".

It is true that I did contact Opodo outside of the 96 hours (3 days + 24 hour window); however, the flight was still weeks off! Opodo did nothing to provide me with the service for which I had paid in the time between learning of my non-receipt and flight departure. This most certainly is NOT good customer service (although in the several back and forths I had with their customer support personnel they assured me they prided themselves in the excellent service Opodo provided its customers). What it IS however, is a surefire money-making scheme for Opodo! My dealings with Opodo took place via their German website and the corresponding "terms and conditions" in the UK are somewhat more lenient, one has 4 workings days and then the aforementioned 24 hours to respond - in either case, Buyer Beware!

# posted by

Anonymous : Wednesday, December 06, 2006 2:37:00 pm