Agoda booking deposit ransom

Neilozuk

Hi

I booked a hotel in France for 2 nights, on the day, a few hours before I arrived at the property. Received the confirmation email and cycled towards the city.

When I arrived at the city I checked the address on the app. The address was scrambled and I could not find the property.

I then found out I could send myself a confirmation email. The address in this was better but still muddled. This wasted at least an hour including asking locals for help.  I don't speak French.

Finally I arrived at the accommodation, but I didn’t have the key code so had to phone the management company for this.

I was told that I could not get the code till I paid a €300 deposit. Agoda did not mention this on their website. I thought this was a scam.

They would not budge. Pay up or loose the booking. I was coerced into paying. I got them to lower the deposit to €200 because I had not been informed.

This conversation and making the payment and then confirming I’d paid took another 90 minutes of standing in the hot sun.

To make matters worse they said that they do not deal with Agoda but only booking.com and Airbnb. They said Agoda had listed it without their knowledge. This made me even more suspicious of being scammed. They did however have my booking!

Finally they confirmed my payment and gave me the key code. However it was apartment 5 and not 3 as the confirmation said. I had been held to ransom.

I arrived in the city but wasted about 3 hours of my time sorting entry and paying a ransom not notified on the website.

I later found out that the email demanding the €300 went in to my spam so I was not aware of it.

This caused me enormous stress and has reduced my enjoyment of the property and city. I was exhausted from cycling all day.

After days of worrying I did get the deposit back but that is not the point.

I have been dealing with both Agoda and the management company.  Both blame each other and deny being responsible for the scrambled address and the missing information about the required deposit. Agoda did say that they did not allow booking companies to take a deposit.

Agoda played me along for weeks telling me the managment company was to blame.  They kept contacting the mangement company to sort it. 

I booked and paid Agoda for the booking.  They are responsible for the booking.

Agoda says they contacted the management company who have agreed to pay 10Euro as compensation.

This is an insulting amount. 

How do I resolve this.

1. An unreadable address

2. A demand for 300 Euro which was not mentioned anywhere in the booking

3. Agoda refusing to take any responsibily for the scrambled address and demand for deposit which was not stated in the booking.

4. The management company saying the details in the booking were Agoda's, and nothing to do with them.

I don't want other people to go through what I did.

Any advice greatly recieved.

thanks

swingaloo

What exactly do you want them to do in order for you to get a resolution?

Very annoying as I'm sure it was, you did get your deposit back so what are your losses? There is no compensation due really.

sheramber

It is not Agoda’s fault that the email went into your junk and you did not see it. 

Pollycat

Why do you consider you were 'held to ransom' because you had booked room 3 and got room 5?

The requirement to pay a deposit for the key code was communicated to you.
You just didn't read it.

Neilozuk

swingaloo said:

What exactly do you want them to do in order for you to get a resolution?

Very annoying as I'm sure it was, you did get your deposit back so what are your losses? There is no compensation due really.

The point is that there was no mention of needing to pay a deposit on the booking on the app. I would never have booked it if they required 300eu.

Neilozuk

Pollycat said:

Why do you consider you were 'held to ransom' because you had booked room 3 and got room 5?

The requirement to pay a deposit for the key code was communicated to you.
You just didn't read it.

They told me AFTER I had made the booking.  It wasn't mentioned in agoda booking page.  Held to ransom meaning "pay 300 or lose your booking with no refund"

Neilozuk

sheramber said:

It is not Agoda’s fault that the email went into your junk and you did not see it. 

It didn't mention a deposit in the agoda page

silvercar

Either they lied and do take Agoda bookings, or Agoda act as a third party and book you through booking.com or Airbnb themselves.

Both of those are possibilities and it is entirely possible that Airbnb or booking.com require a deposit, something that you wouldn’t necessarily have been told by Agoda. Also entirely possible that a subsequent email was sent telling you about the deposit. It’s not really anyone’s fault you didn’t see it.

silvercar

Neilozuk said:

sheramber said:

It is not Agoda’s fault that the email went into your junk and you did not see it. 

It didn't mention a deposit in the agoda page

Which makes me think that Agoda then booked through Airbnb or booking.com. 

Pollycat

Neilozuk said:

Pollycat said:

Why do you consider you were 'held to ransom' because you had booked room 3 and got room 5?

The requirement to pay a deposit for the key code was communicated to you.
You just didn't read it.

They told me AFTER I had made the booking.  It wasn't mentioned in agoda booking page.  Held to ransom meaning "pay 300 or lose your booking with no refund"

Can you provide proof of that to Agoda?

Can you provide proof of the unreadable address?
Or was it that you couldn't understand the address?

You said you booked room 3 instead of 5 and immediately afterwards said 'Held to ransom'.
What was the difference between the 2 rooms?

It sounds suspicious that the management company said they don't deal with Agoda but had your booking.

swingaloo

Neilozuk said:

swingaloo said:

What exactly do you want them to do in order for you to get a resolution?

Very annoying as I'm sure it was, you did get your deposit back so what are your losses? There is no compensation due really.

The point is that there was no mention of needing to pay a deposit on the booking on the app. I would never have booked it if they required 300eu.

So again, what do you want from them in order to get your resolution?