BookYogaRetreatsReviews 130

I would never use this company again. They have refused to refund my fully refundable deposit offering me their useless voucher which under EU consumer law I am not forced to take and have refused to take clearly and in writing multiple times. They kept sending conflicting information saying they will not issue refunds until March 2021, then May 2021, and in the end sending a badly put together piece of paper that says it's a voucher but doesn't even have a code or any clear instruction on how to use it, even if one wanted to. When I finally raised a claim with my insurance company and asked them to confirm they won't be refunding my money and that I have refused their voucher, so I can recover my costs with the insurance company (which by the way costs them absolutely nothing), they stopped responding completely to my emails and would not even help with that. Absolutely disgraceful, copying and pasting the same response at first and then closing all communication channels. Oh, and by the way the host of my retreat confirmed they have not been paid either - so Tirpaneer are just holding my money for no good reason, they have not even paid the organiser. Make sure you avoid, whether you're a guest or host, and avoid all their other websites too. I will be posting negative reviews for all of them until I get a response.

I would have preferred to put zero stars but you must have one!
Very quickly, the one month internship in India was canceled due to COVID 19, so far nothing unusual.
At the time of the refund request, everything becomes complicated!
The 1st installment is not reimbursed because the pandemic does not fit into the reasons for reimbursement! Ok no worries I accept it (around 400 euros offered)
The second part of the payment (and the contract provided for this one), i. E. 1223 euros, is reported in the form of vouchers to be used on the site or reimbursed from April 2021! The reason mentioned is the crisis problem! Ok, but it is not up to us little person also undergoing the crisis of paying to maintain the financial level of this big company... there is nothing human and despite the exchanges by phone and email, nothing works!

Emails:
Hello Arnaud, I'm Shweta, customer service manager at BookYogaRetreats.com, continuing for Sarah and Blaine.
We understand your frustration and we are sorry that we cannot help you, as we would have done under normal circumstances.
As you already know, the travel industry has been severely affected by the pandemic and due to the increasing number of cancellations, as a travel agency, we are also strongly affected. We can only offer the refund option as a voucher at the moment for the refundable amount of EUR 1222. 50. We will only be able to issue a monetary refund for this amount after April 15,2021 if the voucher remains unused.
If you still want me to call you, please confirm the appropriate time next Monday, and we can discuss it further. Unfortunately, there is no other solution we can provide at this time.
Thank you!

(The full force of my frustration at the end)
Initially, I had booked to attend a yoga teacher training in May in Barcelona and paid a deposit of 570 euro which is just under $1000 New Zealand dollars.
It stated on the website and in the email communication that it was fully refundable up until 1 month before. I work as a nurse in NZ and with the whole COVID situation, it became obvious early in the year that I would not be taking this holiday. So I contacted the people running the course and informed them that I will no longer be able to attend before the 1 month cut off, and they confirmed that they will be refunding me and that Booking yoga retreats are processing this request and there will be a longer waiting period due to a lot of cancellations. Understandable.
What I deeply concerned about is the integrity of this company, especially given the market is yoga retreats which have certain values attached to it.
I was sent an email about 2 months after my confirmed refund indicating that they will be giving me a voucher and when I replied with my surprise they claimed that my deposit was non-refundable and that they were doing me a favour by giving me the voucher and that I needed to check my facts. They sent me this response within 24hrs.
I replied with a timeline of events and attached the previous email correspondence for them with the facts and stated I would be making a complaint so that other people won't be subjected to the frustrations I had experienced.
That was 5 days ago now so I feel like they have had their chance to make amends and do the right thing so here is my scathing review as promised.

Extremely poor customer service, to the point where I visualise the whole office barricading their doors with hoarded toilet paper and using N95's masks as a way to hide from all the yogis wanting their money back.
Makes me wonder what else Dutch companies get away with, this one definitely is a stain on their economy. To think that such a revolutionary company as the Dutch East India Trading was seeded by them just shows that with great innovation comes its equal share of incompetence.

Nous avons réservé un séjour de surf et yoga avec une option remboursable 1 mois avant notre arrivée.
Nous avons reçu un message nous précisant que notre lodge serait fermé à cause du covid-19 pour notre séjour. Le lodge nous a précisé que l'on pouvait annuler notre réservation sans frais un mois avant l'arrivée --> donc normalement tout est ok... Sauf que...

Nous avons donc décidé d'annuler notre séjour 2 mois avant notre arrivée.
Donc contractuellement ils sont obligés de nous rembourser nos 1250 euros... c'est la loi.
Malgré tous nos e-mails il ne veulent pas rembourser. Ils nous envoient les memes réponses automatiques. Et ils nous demandent d'être compréhensives.
Ce sont des VOLEURS
Ils proposent des contrats mais ils ne respectent pas leurs propres conditions...

Will NOT refund money for a retreat cancelled due to the COVID-19 global crisis. Do not book with this company! They are keeping people's money for retreats that aren't evening being held. Just appauling customer service. Every other business I have spoken to during this crisis have responded with compassion and given a full refund for cancelled flights, tours and accommodation. Given these extraordinary circumstances, which are completely out of the customer's control, you would think this company would be more understanding and provide a refund for bookings that are cancelled. Very disappointing this company is taking advantage of people during this current crisis.

DONT BOOK AT Flowers and Fire Yoga Garden, Gili Air; I had to go home from my Bali trip earlier then expected due to sicknes, even though the Flowers and Fire Yoga Garden in Gili Air could rebook my room, they won't return the money back of 219! Yoga should be peace and love and should certainly not be about money! Really greedy from their side, I would not recommend this place in any way! Thank you Flowers for your kind support!

The whole experience was fantastic. All the staff were incredibly professional from the ladies in the kitchen, Lorna and Sue to the reception staff Kaya, Nicola, Jamie, Noemi. All the mentors Tessa, Amanda, Tania, Sylvia. All the instructors were so knowledgeable which is incredibly important as I learnt more than ever about my practice. They would talk youbtheough why you were doing moves the way you were. I loved the Yin yoga with Tessa and the Hatha flow with Amanda. The walls were wonderful, great choices - probably my favourite part. Great food, I feel so healthy after a relatively short period of 3 days. The freedom to come and go as you please without pressure was brilliant. Just an all round excellent experience. Thank you all!