I wouldn't usually do a review at all, unless my experience was exceptionally great, and I want to help the company I am reviewing. In this instance, my experience was so bad that I see it as a duty to warn others to steer well clear of this unconscionable company.
My wife and I had booked tickets that we could not use due to catching covid around five days before our flight. As soon as I received a positive test result, I advised Agoda that I could not travel and would like to reschedule. My initial intention was to move the tickets to another city within the same country destination so that I did not have to move too many bookings around. While this should have taken Agoda 5 minutes to answer, they caused so many delays that my flight departed without any rescheduling. They also did not advise the airline of my inability to fly, which meant that the airline did not place my flight in credit until I called them myself on the morning of the flight. Unfortunately, the airline was unable to process any bookings for me under these tickets because Agoda had not booked the tickets under my name. They had instead listed the tickets under “China Travel Services” (CTS), and I was advised that CTS should be able to simply issue the credit to me.
I then spent the next week calling and emailing Agoda to receive the credit which I had already paid for. During my covid quarantine, Agoda attempted to force me to leave the quarantine, thus breaking the law in order to provide them with a doctor's certificate when I had already provided a government certificate of proof of covid.
Agoda did not tell me that the flight had been credited and that I could reschedule my flight. Instead, they advised me that there would be no refund available and that there was nothing that they could do. Essentially that they intended to keep my money/credit for themselves. They only admitted to the credit once I advised them that I had spoken with the airline and threatened legal action if they did not release my credit to me.
Agoda then forced me to spend an additional two days emailing and calling both them and the airline for a resolution which ultimately took 10 minutes.
This company lies. If you are not prepared to go to Court, they are quite happy to steal your money under the guise of non-existent covid policy. They conduct themselves in such a way that when the airline tries and send you emails and text messages in regards to your flight, you will not receive them because the notification will go to their travel partner, who will not advise you of any such notification.
Their treatment of customers is disgusting, and that is putting it lightly. If you are after an entirely unsatisfactory experience that may involve theft with the intention to commit fraud, then this is the company for you. Otherwise, stay far away from Agoda!
