Agoda accepted BPG Claim & then rejected!! Where do I stand?

kodiplod

So I booked a hotel through Agoda and I found it cheaper elsewhere in another website. All the terms and conditions were met so I filled in their online form and attached a screenshot and a link of the lower rate.

They emailed me approving my BPG claim and asked if I was happy with the difference as AgodaCash (voucher). It was quite a large amount so I preferred to be refunded to my card as nowhere in their terms and conditions does it say I HAVE to be refunded via a voucher.

I spoke to them on live chat. First agent said it can only be refunded via a voucher. I left it and spoke again to another agent later who said as a one time courtesy they will refund the difference back to my card and that I should’ve got an email about this (I didn’t). Either way, they confirmed the claim was approved, they agreed the amount that it was approved for which was all correct and they said I would be refunded within 5 days as it has to be escalated to the relevant team.

Then, the morning of the day I am checking into the hotel, I get an email from Agoda’s Customer Satisfaction & Incidents Team. This is what was said..

‘ We have reviewed the documents you submitted to support and facilitate your request, we regret to inform you that we are unable to approve your claim. 

For your request regarding the cancellation request, we will require the property's approval before we are able to process any form of amendments to your booking in accordance with the cancellation policy. 

At the moment, your booking is still valid, should you decide to use it. If you do choose to cancel, however, you will not be receiving any refund. We’re sorry for any inconvenience.’

This is madness. I also never requested to cancel the reservation. I tried to cancel the reservation but as it had now been past the free cancellation period, it was now non refundable.

Where do I stand with this? I am awaiting a response from them but I don’t see them doing anything and will very likely be disputing this with my bank. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

sheramber

 I also never requested to cancel the reservation. I tried to cancel the reservation but as it had now been past the free cancellation period, it was now non refundable.
A contradiction. Which is it?

GrumpyDil

My only observation is that following all the threads around booking issues related to Covid I'm being much more careful about who I will book with. In this case I can't easily find on their website where they are based as no address or proper contact details so on I'd be avoiding. Good luck OP but I rather suspect you will struggle to get a resolution here. 

kodiplod

sheramber said:

 I also never requested to cancel the reservation. I tried to cancel the reservation but as it had now been past the free cancellation period, it was now non refundable.
A contradiction. Which is it?

I tried to cancel AFTER they emailed saying my claim will no longer be accepted 

Upsidedownandaround

I can't see you getting anywhere with your bank regarding a best price guarantee particularly given the guarantees usually have so many hoops to jump through and any decision will be at the discretion of Agoda accodring to their terms.

These guarantees are usually useless.