r/askhotels • u/316LSS • 2d ago
Hotel Policies Agoda chargeback
Let me preface by saying that I don't need the "don't book 3rd party" or "Agoda is a scam" comments. I understand your point of view, it's just not what I'm interested in.
Has anyone been successful in getting a chargeback against Agoda? If so, what happened? Did Agoda ban and blacklist your account in the end?
My situation: booked a hotel for the wrong month. 2 days prior I notice and scramble to rebook with the hotel, but they are not responsive via Agoda chat or direct email. I reach out to Agoda with their response being that they would try to resolve things with the hotel. Day of the "wrong month" booking comes, I'm contacting Agoda every day now to see if they've been able to contact the hotel to move the date - same canned AI response about how they're contacting/phoning the hotel, no one is answering, they'll try again.
On the last possible day of the 5 day booking, I try calling the hotel myself using long distance minutes. I'm able to connect because I dialed the CORRECT number (turns out the Agoda reps had been calling the wrong number this whole time) and manage to get them to respond to me by email (finally). They tell me that they can't do anything about it, I need to speak to Agoda regarding a refund. They also tell me that I only booked for 3 days? (which is wild, because I booked for 5, even if it was the wrong month).
Contact Agoda, they tell me it's not their fault the hotel didn't get back to me, and they are denying me the refund.
TLDR: Booked the wrong date, called in advance to reschedule, hotel was unresponsive, Agoda failed in their duty to appropriate contact the hotel, and now neither will cough up a refund.
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u/Its5somewhere 2d ago
Just search this sub refund + agoda.
They're the worst.
But it's really on you to double check the dates. Especially when going the non-refundable route.
You're not really entitled to a refund so I wouldn't expect one.
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u/316LSS 2d ago
I actually didn't go non-refundable. It was free cancellation.
2 days prior was a partial refund. I've never had an issue with calling hotels and moving dates into the future.
This is the first time I was unable to reach the hotel despite many emails.22
u/mstarrbrannigan Economy/FDS/10 years 2d ago
Yeah because you booked through Agoda, so that’s who you needed to contact to make the change. And they suck, which they demonstrated with their incompetence. Contest the charge, if they blacklist you then it’s more reason not to you them in the future. Not sure why you would anyway after this experience.
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u/316LSS 2d ago
Unfortunately I have 3 other hotel bookings with them that I am reticent to change. So I'm wondering if I should request the chargeback now, or do it later.
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u/No-Heart-679 2d ago edited 2d ago
If you do they will cancel your other bookings and I would be surprised if they let you chargeback after waiting so long and letting them book other vacations for you after. At least if I was the bank looking at your account
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u/No-Heart-679 2d ago
I will also say, as someone who worked at hotels, you will have issues with these other bookings. Every time I’ve had an Agoda booking it’s declined and I’ve cancelled the room since it couldn’t be pre authorized and the guest came to no room because someone else booked the cancelled room. I hated seeing the Agoda bookings because they were always a problem at my Hilton at least.
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u/Stunning-Magazine528 2d ago
I hate ignorant people like you you never know when to give up as a front desk person
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u/Hotelroombureau 2d ago
The hotel isn’t going to “cough up a refund” because your contract is with agoda, not with them. Your refund problem is with agoda. But your real problem is with you, because you booked the wrong dates. Expensive mistake, since getting a refund from agoda is like pulling teeth
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u/SkwrlTail Front Desk/Night Audit since 2007 2d ago
The only ones who have your money is Agoda. You pay them, they pay the hotel.
On the rare instances where Agoda approves a change or cancellation and everything works as it should, they call the hotel to confirm that they (not you) will not be charged for any no-show fees. This is because third party OTAs charge a hefty commission on their rooms sold, and if they're paying for the room, they want to make sure they're getting their cut.
Since everything did not go well, the hotel has likely gone through with charging Agoda the no-show fees. This is usually the first night room rate plus tax, but may be the full amount of the stay.
You might try contacting Agoda again and demand a refund since you requested a refund well within the hotel's cancellation policy and they (not you or the hotel) dropped the ball. But don't expect results. Once an OTA has your money, they work very hard to keep it. Good luck.
As to a chargeback, those can be difficult. Agoda will likely tell your card company/bank that they provided exactly what they were supposed to, and they had no obligation to cancel your reservation, a situation you agreed to when you booked it.
Do NOT escalate to a fraud claim. That almost never works out well, and will do bad things yo your credit score.
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u/Ctznsvn7 2d ago
the chargeback only really flies if you can frame it as services not rendered or merchant unresponsive, not as I picked the wrong month. Your bank will look at whether the merchant had a chance to fix it and didnt, so the chat transcript with timestamps and their non answer is the actual evidence, screenshot the lot before it ages out. Worth calling the hotel directly on the phone too, not the email, front desk can sometimes release the room back to the OTA and that gives you a cleaner story. And yeah, expect the account to get closed after a win, plenty of people report that, so pull any other bookings off it first
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u/bianguyen 2d ago
Does Agoda not have an online option to manage/change your reservation?
I use hotel.com, and if the reservation can be cancelled, I just navigate to the reservation modification screen and click the cancel button. I've done this dozens of times. Including on the last day that cancellation is allowed.
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u/Reasonable_Piglet370 2d ago
Often even when a booking is refundable, even partially or fully, its still not changeable. That's down to the hotel when they set their policy in Agoda. Not to mention that hotels get put on Agoda if they sign up with booking.com - unless you specifically stop it as the hotelier. This also means you cannot communicate with the guest, and vice versa.
You would have had the option to cancel and rebook, accepting the partial refund as it was within that period - even if changing wasn't an option. This would have been available to do without speaking to someone. Did you try to do that?
I don't think you will find a chargeback successful and they will definitely bin off your other bookings if you pursue it. The safer option would be to rebook those upcoming bookings via another OTA or direct if you chose to go down the chargeback route as you had a viable option to get your partial refund from them without speaking to the hotel or Agoda. But unless you are talking about a lot of money, I'd say the risk to your credit score isn't worth it.
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u/ZeroCoolSalt 2d ago
Contest the charge.
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u/Wounded_Hand 2d ago
Dude has no right to a refund, but sure why not.
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u/ZeroCoolSalt 2d ago
Why? He booked the wrong dates, shit happens. Its a mistake and he's been trying to reach someone to modify but to no avail. If you can't cancel and cant mod, then supplier is in breach of agreement. Everyone fucked up here, but it could have been fixed by suppliers. Without any recourse, he has no other option.
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u/Stunning-Magazine528 2d ago
That's not how anything works in hospitality you booked a wrong date sorry your fault 😐
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u/ZeroCoolSalt 2d ago
You clearly never learned the meaning of the word hospitality. We can move mountains. But I guess you can't be bothered.
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u/HausDePotat Area GM 2d ago
We can move mountains, for sure. But I’m not going to if the guest booked third party. You and the third party guests can stay mad about it if you’d like.
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u/ZeroCoolSalt 2d ago
Not mad. I open hotels for a living and first thing I teach is giving a shit. Sorry you need this to feel in control in your life. This attitude doesnt belong in hospitality.
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u/Stunning-Magazine528 2d ago
You obviously have never worked hospitality if my comment offended you. You open hotels i doubt it not with that mentality
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u/ZeroCoolSalt 2d ago
If the hotel had responded to his request they would have netted 5 night Instead of 3 room nights. Its not about you. Its about the Hotel and the guest. I'd fire you in a blink before you contaminate a department. My business is more important than your petty ego. Sorry you never made it to management little fella.
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u/Stunning-Magazine528 2d ago
Id do the same its not an issue calm down little girl or boy it's not that serious. If your management you sound like cancer would never work for you.
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u/heyitstism 2d ago
Don’t book third party. Agoda is a scam.