How a Booking.com error left an Melbourne dad $3,800 out of pocket
A frustrating mistake cost an Australian father $3,800 and eight months later he is still waiting for his refund.
Scott Mitchell from Melbourne booked a last-minute flight through Booking.com in December so his son’s partner could travel to the US with the rest of the family.
But when the generous father booked the flight, he never received a confirmation email.
Mr Mitchell then re-booked the same flight, but both flights were processed.
“I checked both Booking.com and United Airlines’ return policies to make sure refunds were available in the event of a double booking,” he 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 paid back directly to Mr Mitchell.
The money is still held by the booking agency, but in the form of a credit.
Scott Mitchell (far right) with his family on their American vacation
“(Online travel agency) Gotogate arranged the bookings for Booking.com and Gotogate arranged the refund, and they had chosen to put a travel credit on the flight and not a refund,” Mr Mitchell said.
Since the unintentional double booking, the father has been sending weekly emails to the external booking platform.
Eight months later, he’s still communicating with customer service chatbots.
“I’m really hunted about it,” he said.
Mr Mitchell has now enlisted the help of consumer advocate Adam Glezer.
He described Mitchell’s fight for repayment as “an absolute disaster and a game of cat and mouse.”
The consumer advocate said there have been similar cases and that third-party companies need transparency.
“If you book through a third party and there are issues with refunds, it is often a lot more problematic than if you book directly,” Mr Glezer said.
The father booked a United Airlines flight through Booking.com last December so his son’s partner could join the family on their American trip. But when an accidental double booking occurred, the father says he was only offered a travel credit (pictured is a United Airlines flight)
The booking platform Booking.com uses a travel partner for all flights booked on its site (pictured is the booking.com app)
Booking.com has its headquarters in the Netherlands (pictured)
Mr Glezer said that if Mr Mitchell had booked directly he would have gotten his money back and the experience would have been much less ‘painless’.
Mr Mitchell has pledged to never book through a third party again and will instead book directly with an airline or hotel.
Booking.com told 7news.com.au it was “sorry” to hear about Mr Mitchell’s experience and that it had “reached out” to the owner to offer assistance.
The company also said that in case of a double booking, the customer must request a refund based on the terms and conditions and the airline is the one who must authorize it.
The platform indicated that flights booked on their site are actually booked through their ‘flight partner’ Etraveli and their Gotogate brand, which is mentioned to customers when booking a flight.
Customers are also informed that they have entered into an agreement with Gotogate.
Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Booking.com for comment.
The company, headquartered in Amsterdam, is a real stock market favorite: its price has risen by 92.99 percent over the past five years to $3,830.58 USD per share.