Money spinning travel sites

Makemytrip fiasco

A bit spurned by a last minute change of itinerary of a planned vacation, was anxiously looking for cheaper tickets that night (in an effort to reduce the damage caused by cancellations and resulting losses). Tried different airlines sites and the known travel sites to hit upon a 40k ticket at Makemytrip (MMT). Merrily went ahead for booking 8 tickets (to & fro).

What was disturbing was that the booking failed in spite showing the availability - this does not happen with other sites like Yatra and GoIbibo.com - they give you a good 15-20 min to complete the passenger details and payment forms and the ticket is blocked till then. The excuse given by the MMT executive was the seats disappeared while I was booking the tickets (2-3 min to fill the forms online). This is unfair, since they lured the customer with a low fare and "available" status and did not honour the booking. By this time seats may go down (or fares up) in other sites ! So by the lure of MMT you neither get any tickets here - you also lose the opportunity in other sites. Who pays for the difference of fares?

But even worse was waiting. Ticket not booked but payment transaction was "Successful" !! (for whom?certainly not for me !)
Who told them to book 2 of 4 tickets - that too for the adults and not the kids ! Do MMT personnel leave their babies home while on vacation? The person who created this logic in their software must be an avid fan of 'Home Alone' !




Booking failed - however full amount deducted

Promptly I put a complaint on their website asking for full refund. Next day they had not called after the stipulated 6 hrs and more. So a phone call from my side and they confirmed the 'error' and promised a full refund. But the mail in response to the telephone call talked about 7k refund !

Full refund sought

These guys should work in horror films - I felt stoned ! 33k lost for their mistake?

Refund 1 - 'peanuts'

The Email battle began. Took days before the refund started trickling in ! Literally in droplets. First they gave 7k, then another 7k. Then a few more phone call and email complaints (sample below). Then another 20k. Fortunately I'd paid by card, else your money gets stuck. And you may not have more left to plan the vacation till they refund. Unfair is probably a subtle word.

Refund 2 - still incomplete & partial

In spite of their acceptance the full refund was not happening. The excuse was for Rs.5000 they had escalated to the 'concerned' team ! So we are supposed to wait for our money to be refunded to us for an erroneous transaction on their part while their various teams interact with each other ! By their description it could take even a month to get back the amount.

Acceptance of error by MMT

On 31st Mar, finally there was a mail formally acknowledging the error and notifying the processing of the full refund.

The actual refund took another few days of waiting and finally on April 3rd 2013 the levied cancellation charge of 5k was returned.

Finally !!

In all there are about 20 Emails to & fro. How many people facing such problems have the connectivity, knack, time and interest to pressurize these guys for refunds. I am sure if there was any slack shown from my side, part of the amount would never have been credited back. Is this one way of earning ?

Finally got tickets through GoIbibo. No hassles this time. Got GoAir tickets although GoAir site was not showing availability. No seat droputs etc. (how did they manage the same situation?)

Guess next time I shall avoid Makemytrip. You decide for yourself !

Seems lot of others have faced similar situation with them !