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Expedia review: avoid! avoid! avoid!!! 17

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Author of the review
10:07 am EST
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eBookers has terrible customer service and their online booking system is dodgy to say the least. It's hit or miss whether your booking fails and when it does they hold on to your money for quite some time and are very unhelpful in the releasing of your funds. The customer services representatives I dealt with were extremely rude and dismissive. They weren't interested in my plight at all and refused to acknowledge any responsibility for their error even though I've read on forums where other people have had exactly the same problem with them!

As a result I ended up booking flights almost 3 weeks later costing me almost £100 more and going by a different airline (the original flight I tried to book on Virgin had gone up almost £700 by the time the money was released back to my card).

Do they care? Not in the slightest. They offered me a £50 voucher which could only be redeemed once the money had been spent with them again. Funny but I don't think I'll ever be using their services again!.

Avoid! It's worth paying a little bit extra to go with someone who will actually get you to where yo need to go!

17 comments
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Disappointed ebookers customer
, GB
Apr 01, 2017 8:54 am EDT

I have been extra charged by ebookers. They have hidden the airline card fees right after the payment was proceeded. Can you believe that? After a call they refun me the money. So they know the costs are hidden and they want to keep doing it on propose to overcharge people who miss the note or don´t have time to get into calls and waiting customer service procedures. Please avoid if you can. Overcharging constantly to users.

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DaniFaerber
, GB
Jun 19, 2016 4:00 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

On Thursday 18th February 2016, we booked a Budapest holiday through a site called Holiday Pirates where they had a deal on. Holiday Pirates website took us to the Ebookers website. The deal was 3 nights flight and hotel included. We selected the first one dates available and put in our Credit Card details. When it had processed the Ebookers website came up with a notification saying those dates we had picked were no longer available and to select other dates. As advised we did so, choosing a date a little later in the month. This is when the same process happened twice again. Which in total ended up us trying 3 times to book this holiday and all 3 times we received a notification to say dates not available. We then decided to use another provider.

24 hours later on Friday 19th February 2016, we received 4 e-tickets and invoice from WizzAir Airline. No confirmation of a reservation was at any time received from Ebookers. We contacted Ebookers immediately and spoke to a number of people at customer services, and each person did not understand what we were telling them and on a number of occasions we received rude answers and unhelpful advice. After finally speaking to a supervisor, we were told that our issue was going to be under investigation straight away (incident no. [protected]). We were told that Ebookers would contact us within 48 hours. 48 hours passed and we did not get a response from Ebookers so we contacted Ebookers again to chase up the investigation; they confirmed our incident was still being investigated so again we were told to give Ebookers 48 hours more and they would get back to us.

We have incurred £80 extra phone costs for the month of February due to the endless times we wasted speaking on the phone to Ebookers, and have also incurred interest charges on the credit care we tried to use to make the booking. We have tried to contact Ebookers via social media and email and still have had no correspondence.

Ebookers promise to give refunds within 12 weeks (which in itself is completely wrong and completely unfair) and were relying on a big company like Ebookers to do as their website says. Now 18 weeks have passed and we still have not received any refund nor have we been contacted by Ebookers.

Ebookers has no customer service, is unethical in the manner in which it trades by holding on to other peoples money for months on end and whilst the customer loses on interest etc and may not have the funds available to make an alternative booking Ebookers gladly keeps the positive interest it receives from the money. We will never use Ebookers again and will recommend to friends and family that they do not use it either.

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Kev Miles
, US
May 14, 2016 6:33 am EDT

I booked a business class flight through ebookers. When ebookers advised of a flight change, they gave me an option to accept the alternative flight or a refund. I chose the alternative flight. However they didn't tell me it was an economy class flight costing around half the amount I paid. If they had told me this, I would have taken the full refund and made a new economy booking. I have only received a small refund which is less than half the difference in fares between business and economy. ebookers customer services aren't very good. I ended up trying to visit their office in London, but it was just a call centre who were not able to fully resolve my issue. I will never use ebookers again.

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Kayaaa
, US
Apr 17, 2016 6:04 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I should have seen these comments earlier. They scammed me for a hotel booking in Bogota. Lesson learnt!

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crediblepress
, US
Dec 29, 2015 8:49 am EST

Total ### - AVOID AT ALL COSTS

They’re complete scammers.

They charged my card then cancelled the booking saying they couldn't verify payment with my bank.

THAT's A LIE! My card is registered with "Verified by Visa" and, if they'd tried to verify it, they would have KNOWN that.

They are now telling me I must wait 7-10 days for a refund so I can't afford to book a flight with another carrier until that arrives.

I'm making a formal complaint to ATOL, Skyscanner.net and discussing legal proceedings with counsel.

### of the earth

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Jaimi1
, US
Nov 16, 2015 6:12 pm EST

Booked a package holiday but error message kept on appearing saying their system is down. Airline then emails me to say 2 out of 4 passengers on the flight have been booked and in euros not pounds! Called ebookers they said it was their fault but left me with just the flight booking costing more than if a package was booked. Been promised call backs from a supervisor, manager and a UK operator but no one calls. Have chased for days but even the managers ignore you. Have now contacted UK watchdog and the media.

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NeverAgain7
London, GB
Nov 13, 2015 10:32 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I spoke to Virgin Atlantic who were so sympathetic they advised that I should travel to New York on the departure date. Then once I got to New York send them a copy of the death certificate, once received they changed my flight free of charge and gave me back £100. Now that's customer service. Ebookers deliberately ignored me until the time of travel ran out. Very poor customer service.

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SP van Zyl
, US
Nov 13, 2015 9:50 am EST

Thieves! Stay away. Worst booking agent ever. They take your money for tickets that doesn't exist. Customer service very poor-they refuse to honor their deals.

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NeverAgain7
London, GB
Sep 16, 2015 5:41 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I booked a flight with an ebooker agent over the phone (which was diverted to India), I requested 18th Sep-27th Sep 2015. They booked me for the 18th Sep - 23rd Sep instead and insisted that's what I asked for, UTTER RUBBISH. My grandmothers funeral is on the 26th Sep 2015 in NYC, why would I return back to London 3 days before the funeral? I also had a 2 day emergency trip from NYC via US airline from JFK - ATL on 22nd Sep - 24th Sep, I am not in NYC on the 23rd to even take that flight back to London. WHY would I advise them to book a return ticket back to London for the 23rd when I'll be in Atlanta and the funeral is in NYC on the 26th? It makes no sense, I spoke and explained until I had extreme heart palpitation. Its as if their trained not to have any sympathy, not to care, and just totally ignore any situation other than booking a flight and to get your MONEY. Horrible, Horrible and ruthless behavior/service. No bereavement services was even offered, and all they kept on reiterating was that I had to pay the penalty fee of £100 to change my fare and all additional charges. I point blank refused because it was their error in the first place, the investigation is still pending and I'm suppose to leave in two days time. Hmmm. I have been waiting on a 24hr investigation from Friday 11th Sep, it is now Wednesday 16th Sep and my flight is on Friday 18th Sep, since then I have heard all the excuses other than we are sorry and we will change your return date ASAP without any further charge to you (SIMPLE). Instead I'm being passed from one agent to the next, speaking to a supervisor was just as bad. I have booked over 12 flights with ebookers and have been a loyal customer for years, and this is how they treat their loyal customer. Total Shambles.

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mmmm_mmmm656
, EG
Jul 02, 2015 8:07 pm EDT

I've just got Terrible experience, Like you said there're NO customer services AT ALL online. I should call them & see. I booked throuhg them on France Airlines & wanted to cancel after one day because of Visa issues, They mention " Contact the airfrance firectly to change or refund"
When I called AirFrance they was very surprised & wonder how come the agent (stupid ebooker.com) wrote that on their website !
Eventually I'm still suffering with ebookers to get my money back & I've no single idea how I do that.

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Smudge1960
Andoer, GB
Sep 21, 2014 6:59 am EDT

Similar experience... after cancelling a hotel booked through ebooker, they claimed the hotel was charging £100 cancellation fee. So I rang the hotel and was told that there are no charges. 3 Phone calls late to ebooker, some heated discussion and finally got my money back. VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET ... shop elsewhere. Ebookers a extortionists at best.

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Shenita Moore
Chandler, US
Jun 15, 2014 5:35 pm EDT

SCAMMERS! AVOID AT ALL COST

I usually use Priceline, but someone referred that I use ebookers.com because I needed to go home for a funeral, which I did for the 1st time. I purchased a roundtrip ticket that said 376.70 in Euro and when I used the currency calculator to show me the amount in US Dollars it came up to $509.99, fine because all the other airlines were charging $521, so I purchased the ticket. I look at my bank account and notice I was charged $652.30, needless to say I was NOT HAPPY! I was told that if I had looked at the SECOND PAGE I would have saw that it was in pounds not Euro, but when I used the currency it had the Euro sign in front of the dollar amount. I was then told I couldn't get a refund AT ALL. For $55 more dollars on PRICELINE I could have got a Flight, hotel and car! I think there needs to be more clarification on the PRICE when booking your ticket. I WILL NEVER USE THIS SITE AGAIN and I WILL BE SPREADING THE WORD TO OTHERS through SOCIAL MEDIA. You guys are SCAMMERS!

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CDor
Isleworth, GB
May 25, 2014 2:27 pm EDT

Avoid at all costs! When everything works, of course they are fine! But real customer service is put to the test when something goes wrong! Ebookers has atrocious customer service and if you try to cancel a flight, they keep up-to 80% of the ticket EVEN if the air line offers a full refund. This means they make profit when they sell and when you cancel but they never CLEARLY explain the cancellation policy and charges at the point of sale, their policy is conveniently vague which is no doubt driven by their Venture capitalist culture!

Don't waste your time arguing, they just avoid your questions and they have ZERO interest in trying to help you, it is all about money. Do yourself a favor, use their website for information ONLY and then book direct because they will screw you over time and again. If you doubt this comment, try asking EBookers for the cancellation policy explanation in the event you want to cancel and ask them to state the total amount you will receive back compared to what you are being charged? My guess is that you won't get a straight answer! Good luck but I for one am going to exercise my right to choose and I won't EVER use EBOOKERS again

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Julie289
Durham, GB
Apr 14, 2014 4:59 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Booked flights with ebookers and received confirmation of return journey. However, I received an email of an 'unconfirmed booking' for the outbound journey. When I contacted customer services I was told I would receive confirmation within next 4 hours. I didn't and when I contacted them again, they were most unhelpful. Eventually after several phone calls and emails I have been told I will be re-imbursed my outbound flight which is totally unacceptable. I cannot buy flights for this amount so will be complaining. Totally unacceptable service from ebookers.

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KATHY CRAFT
Belton, US
Jun 22, 2013 8:41 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

OMG I JUST BOOKED A FLIGHT WITH THEM TONIGHT AND THEY HAVE CHARGED MY CREIT CARD DOUBLE WHAT IT SAID I WOULD PAY..THEY SHOULD BE SOMETHIGN WE CAN DO..THEY WONT ANSWER THE PHONE..I SENT A EMAIL..IT CAME BACK OUT OF OFFICE EMAIL..I CALLED MY CREDIT CARD COMPANY TOLD THEM I HAD CONFIRMATION OF WHAT I AGREED TO..THEY SAID THEY WOULD REEMBURSED ME AND DISPUTE THE CHARGES

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mr. Louzouaz
london, GB
Apr 18, 2013 4:45 am EDT

I ve made a booking for 3 return ticket going out of london on the 23of july returning on the 30 of august paid 900 pounds online, when i received my booking confirmation the return reservation was wrong it was done for the 30 th of july when i called the ebooker team in india iwas told that they would check the screen shot and will come back to me, the next day i did receive their call only to tell me that i was the one that ve made the mistake therefore if i wanted to change the return date i ll have to pay an extra 700pounds?i know the date i ve booked for and there is no screen shot that would proof that i m in a desperate situation here even if i wanted to cancel thetickets they would only refund the taxes?Please can someone help

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Cari Bean
, US
Nov 14, 2012 2:21 pm EST

eBookers are a total sham. We booked a holiday with them, they took money but didn't secure the room... We only found out we didn't have a hotel room the day before we travelled. If we hadn't pulled some favours we would have ended up sleeping on the beach!
I'm just about to start the complaints procedure... Wish me luck.