A frustrating mistake left an Australian father out of pocket $3,800 and eight months later he’s still waiting for a refund.
Scott Mitchell, from Melbourne, booked a flight through Booking.com at the last minute in December for his son’s partner to join the rest of the family on their trip to the US.
But when the generous father booked the flight, he never received a confirmation email.
Mr. Mitchell then rebooked the same flight, but both flights ended up being processed.
“I checked the refund policies of Booking.com and United Airlines to make sure that if there was a double booking, they were refundable,” she said. 7news.com.au.
The airline has a system that detects double bookings and refunds the money within 24 hours.
But the money was not returned directly to Mr Mitchell.
The money is still held by the booking agency, but in the form of credit.
Scott Mitchell (far right) with his family on holiday in the United States.
‘(Online travel agency) Gotogate makes the bookings for Booking.com and Gotogate received the refund, and they had chosen to put a travel credit against the flight, not a refund,’ Mitchell said.
Since the accidental double booking occurred, the father has sent weekly emails to the third-party booking platform.
Eight months later, she still communicates with customer service chatbots.
“I’m being tenacious in my search,” he said.
Mr Mitchell has since sought help from consumer advocate Adam Glezer.
He described Mr Mitchell’s battle for reimbursement as “an absolute disaster and a game of cat and mouse”.
The consumer advocate said there have been similar cases and transparency is needed from third-party companies.
“If you book through a third party and there are issues with refunds, in most cases it will be much more problematic than if you booked directly,” Glezer said.
The father booked a United Airlines flight last December through Booking.com so his son’s partner could join the family on their trip to the United States. But when an accidental double-booking occurred, the father said he was only offered a travel credit (pictured, a United Airlines flight)
The booking platform, Booking.com, uses a travel partner for all flights booked on its site (pictured, the Booking.com app)
Booking.com is based in the Netherlands (pictured)
Mr Glezer said that if Mitchell had booked direct he would have got his money back and the experience would have been much less “painless”.
Mr Mitchell has vowed to never book through a third party again and instead arrange directly with an airline or hotel.
Booking.com told 7news.com.au that they were “sorry” to hear about Mr Mitchell’s experience and had “reached out” to offer assistance.
The company also said that when double-booking is made, the customer has to request a refund based on the terms and conditions and the airline must authorize it.
The platform said flights booked on its site are actually booked through its “flight partner” Etraveli and its Gotogate brand, which is mentioned to customers when they book a flight.
Customers are also informed that they have signed an agreement with Gotogate.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Booking.com for comment.
The company, which is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is a stock market favourite, with its share price having risen by 92.99 percent over the past five years to $3,830.58 per share.
