SINGAPORE: After an online travel agency refused to refund a double booking, a man took to social media to warn others that what happened to him may also happen to them.
“Hi all … Be careful while you planning to make any bookings via Agoda App,” wrote Mr Kenneth Low on the COMPLAINT SINGAPORE Facebook page on Sunday (Apr 30).
He had booked a hotel room on Apr 28 (Friday) on the app but realized shortly after that that a duplicate booking had been made for the same date, posting screenshots of the bookings.
Mr Low then called Agoda’s customer service and was told that he couldn’t get a refund as it was a non-refundable booking.
He reasoned out that he did not book the second booking but it had been caused by an Agoda system glitch issue.
The agent told him, “I understand your frustration but this is a non-refundable transaction, I am sorry.“
Nevertheless, Mr Low told the agent that he wanted a full refund for the duplicate booking, as it had been made without his acknowledgement on the app.
“I believed nobody will book 2 rooms with the capacity of (02 adults and 02 children) for a family of only 02 adults and 01 children on the same day vacation for 3D2N,” he wrote, adding, “Please be vigilant everyone.”
When The Independent Singapore reached out to Mr Low, he told us that he called his bank to block the transaction. “I requested to talk to the manager and she told me that bank will liaise with the merchant, will respond in 3 working days.”
He also wrote to the property where he booked, SkyWorld Hotel, but unfortunately, received a negative response.
Some netizens commenting on his post wrote that Mr Low may have mistakenly authorized both transactions, pointing out the time delay between the two and that each one has a different number.
But Mr Low also told us that he wishes to escalate the matter to the authorities since he received an OTP (one-time password) for the first transaction but not for the second.
“The transaction just go through without my acknowledgment,” which means that it could be considered an unauthorized transaction.
However, a number of netizens said what happened to Mr Low also happened to them.
We have also contacted Agoda and SkyWorld Hotel for comment and will update the story accordingly. /TISG
https://theindependent.sg/singapore-hotel-room-prices-highest-in-10-years-ranging-s259-night-on-average/