Travelocity India - The Travel less preferred (Part 2)

The Travelocity battle continues (Part 1 here). It's been 20 odd days now since the battle began. The customer care refuses to accept their mistake. After some 8-10 mails exchanged between them and me & some 20 odd mails exchanged between them and my wife, we are back to square one!

As a last resort, I took the help of Social Networking. In an hope to be heard I scouted Facbook, Twitter & LinkedIn for some contact or a person higher up in the hierarchy. LinkedIn worked, I got in touch with the Head of Marketing for Travelocity India and sent him a message on 28th Dec, asking for help.

On 29th Dec 09, I got a reply from him asking me what the problem was and if I could share the details with him. The task of reciting my story all over again began with an email to Mr. Head of Marketing. As funny as it may seem, there was no response from him on this issue.

Then, on 2nd Jan 2010, I got a call from Mr. Amit from Travelocity telling me that that call is in regard to the call back I had requested. So I plainly asked him if he was aware of the issue and if he would help me resolve it. Well, he said yes he is fully aware and will help me out. He started rattling the same line (Sir, as you are aware, the terms and conditions clearly state that we have the right to cancel a ticket if 2 eVouchers are used) which I think has been repeated by their customer care department some 100 times now.

My reply was again the standard one, which I have repeated about 200 times (Please try and understand, it was a problem with your website and I DID NOT use 2 eVouchers!). Then ensued a conversation for 8 mins which as all about trying to convince me that it was my fault and Travelocity had all rights to cancel my ticket!

After battling Amit for 8 mins, he told me he would get his supervisor Mr. Avijit on the call who will be able to help me out better. So, then after a 4 min hold Mr. Avijit came on the line. After the exchange of pleasantries, I asked him if he was aware of the situation or would I have to repeat the story again? H said he was aware and would do all that it took to help me, but then he threw the same line at me the 101st time!

I was shocked! I told him the same story yet again! And also that I am really disgusted by the service Travelocity is offering and they have no right to call themselves 'Customer Care'. Then after another 5 mins of explaining to him the harassment that I underwent because of 2 wrong debits and the Rs. 1000/- they charged me for no fault of mine, I told him that if he cannot help me, then this conversation isn't heading anywhere!

He told me that he was sorry for the inconvenience and promised to get back to me by Monday (today, 04 Jan 2010) after getting in touch with his Senior Management and figuring a way out to resolve this issue.

But, Travelocity customer care are true to their word! They never get back and they never call back! I am still waiting in hope to hear from them!

I am irritated and frustrated with their attitude! This isn't customer care, it's more like customer harassment! I will also put the email conversation that we have been having with their customer care department! They seem to be a bunch of retarded people who neither know how to read English nor comprehend it!

Isn't there a way that I can send an invoice to them and charge them for the canceled ticket, 2 wrong debits & the mental harassment? I will wait for their call and this time I will record that conversation and put it up here for everyone to hear!

Spicejet - The airline less preferred!

Well after Travelocity, its time for some Spicejet bashing! I was flying from Mumbai to New on Spicejet flight SG118 departing Mumbai at 9.30 PM!


We made our way to the airport well in time! Proceeded for check-in & then the security check! Everything was fine, then the boarding announcement happened and we proceeded to board the aircraft!

Now 9.30 is typically dinner time for most of the people, hence we decided to eat at the airport or in the aircraft! Now Spicejet being a low cost carrier, you have to buy your food, even though you pay Rs. 4k per head for a stinky low cost carrier, yet you have to buy your food!
The aircraft took off and we were flipping through the page of their in-flight magazine called 'spice route', which also serves as their menu card.

So i turn to the menu card and it reads 'spice it up. Hunger pangs need not torment you on a long flight. Our All-Day Fresh Feast offers both vegetarian and non-vegetarian meal option'. I thought to myself, Hurray! Something to look forward to! The choices were
 
1. Newly launched All-day Fresh Feast. A wholesome combo, this includes an option of vegetarian or non-vegetarian kathi rolls, delicious walnut brownie and a beverage of your choice. Onboard - Rs. 150 &  Online - Rs. 125
2. The special Breakfast Box comprising stuffed croissant, Danish Pastry, yoghurt, fresh fruit compote and a choice of beverage, is available on all flights departing before 9.30am. Onboard - Rs. 150 & Online - Rs. 125
3. Wholesome Sandwich Combo (vegetarian & non-vegetarian) are available throughout the day and include a brownie and a choice of beverage. Onboard - Rs. 150 & Online Rs. 125
4. Mixed nuts available for Rs. 60

Well the choice was obvious. Kathi rolls rule all the way!

So i am seated Row 9. The crew get into the act and start serving the meals from Row 1. And it took them a good 30 mins to reach row 9! All this while i was dreaming of the delicious kathi roll and the brownie! The flight steward comes to me and asks me what i'd like to have, i am by now jumping with joy because finally someone has come to serve me those rolls!

So i quickly ask for a kathi roll and the steward politely declines, saying that the non-veg sandwiches and kathi rolls are over! OVER!!? From row 1 to row 9... OVER! I was very irritated and to rub it in he said we are serving only Tea, Coffee & juices. So my wife asks me to ask them if they have anythung from the breakfast menu! And what do you know? Nada! Nothing! So i proceed to ask for some Mixed Nuts from these nuts, and yes the Nuts are over too! (Row 1 to Row 9 - the food is over)
And the reasoning they gave was that some passengers ordered the meals online at the last minute and we had to serve them! I mean what kind of an excuse is that? Since you had confirmed number for your Kathi rolls you should stack more!

Or better still, why dont you just say that if you want to have a meal onboard then you book it along with your ticket! And nothing will be sold onboard! You want to eat? You book it with you ticket and pay beforehand!

Anyways, I land in Delhi at 11:30 PM and i havent had dinner, i aint getting anything when i get out of the airport either. I have decided never to fly Spicejet again, unless its a matter of life and death!

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!