Travelocity India - The Travel less preferred

Well, when it comes to Air Travel everyone uses a website as a service partner to book tickets, unless it's an emergency, very rarely do people go to the counter to book their air tickets. Well, we have to then trust the website/ticketing partner for everything going smoothly. This is more like a compulsion than choice.

One such incident has let a bitter taste.

www.travelocity.co.in claim to be 'Your Online Travel Agent'. And like an unsuspecting customer i logged on to find the best travel deals (considering that air travel isn't as cheap as it used to be, so we have to hunt and hunt for the best deal).

So i started out on 16th December (Morning), logged on the site and behold, i came across an offer from ICICI bank that said, i could an additional Rs. 300 off if i have an ICICI Credit or Debit card, which i can use to generate an eVoucher.

So i thought to myself, Hey! why not? I generated an eVoucer and proceeded to make my bookings. And then drama. At the first try, i got an error saying that the booking did not go through, so i said yeah could an erratic data package that my ISP sent out, so i proceeded again, and then another error, this time it was about the eVoucher (which has expired, thanks to my previous try)! Life for getting a little irritating! So i thought that i would give it one more try and if it doesn't work, i will go somewhere else.

Try number 3 was a little to much to take. Error message yet again! And this very time, my phone beeped with an SMS, and what do you know, the account has been debited! No ticket has been issued! I picked up the phone on the 'Customer Care' department and told them of my problem! They promised to call me back with the relevant details.

The day just went by without any revert, so i called them back and they told me, that they cannot do anything, i would have to speak with my Bank and then get the amount reversed as the transaction was tried using a debit card! So, I promptly called my bank and they said that it will take 7 working days for the refund to happen! In the meanwhile the customer care representative (travelocity chooses to call them Travel Advisors) informed me that there is a problem with the website and it will be sorted in about and hour and your previous eVoucher still holds good!

I let the say pass and in the evening got to booking my ticket yet again! Same story repeated - Try#1: Error | Try#2: Error (expired evoucher) | I generated another eVoucher and thought of giving it another try and at that time Travelocity was the cheapest website for booking tickets. So Try#3 was a surprise, the transaction when through successfully! My joy know no bounds! A New-Delhi to Mumbai ticket for Rs. 2460 was a definite steal!

December 17 2009: Email from travelocity

Dear Travelocity Customer,

Greetings from travelocity.co.in

This email is regard to your recent booking under the Trip Id: 99966441

We find you have used more than one ICICI VISA promotional eVoucher in this
booking. We had outlined upfront at the time of eVoucher generation, and in
the terms and condition of the promotion that usage of more than one
eVoucher in a single transaction would result in your booking being
cancelled without further notice.

As you did not fulfill the required criteria, wherein you were supposed to
redeem only one eVoucher, we have cancelled your booking. Please find below
the break up of the cancellation charges:

Airline cancellation fee      : INR 750.00 per person
Travelocity Administration fee: INR 250.00 per person

Total refundable amount       : INR 1430.00 per person

Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to
contact us.

Calling from within India:
Tel: 1800 180 1222 or 0124 239 8222
Fax: 0124 239 8233
Calling from outside India:
Tel: +91 124 239 8222

Kind regards,

Sahrish Naseem | Sales & Customer Care | Travelocity India |
www.travelocity.co.in

I was shocked beyond my wit! Rs. 1000 down the drain! So i decided to take it up with them. After a call with their 'Travel Advisor' i was told that i had f***ed up and i am to blame and i used to 2 eVoucher when i could use only one!

So while this battle is on, i still need to travel from New Delhi to Mumbai in Jan! I Scouted the web for a cheap deal and everything went back to travelocity! I gulped my pride and ego and said maybe they have ironed out the issues, so lets try again! Another eVoucher was generated and proceeded for booking!

Try#1 - ERROR! No Ticket! Account debited again! Damn!

Spoke with them again! They promised me that they would refund the amount in 48 hours!

I have been left with a few questions:

a. Who monitors these websites for errors?

b. If only 1 eVoucher can be used for the booking, why wasn't i prompted at the time of the booking that i already have an active eVoucher?

c. If they can charge me an admin fee for cancellation of a ticket (for no fault of mine), can i not charge them some harassment fee?

d. Customer Care? Who coined this term? When all Customer Care departments of all products and services are only trying to tell you how its your fault and they cannot do anything about it. Where is the care?

e. Is there an organization/association that can be approached or any website that can help with grievances like these?

Do share this will all the people you know! Maybe this story can be helpful to get people to be cautious!

Will post the followup to this when i receive a response from travelocity!

Until then - Happy booking! Happy Flying!