Opodo

My friend who is Ukrainian asked me to buy a ticket for his girlfriend to fly back to the Ukraine as they can't read English and so therefore were unable to do it themselves. I shopped around and found a reasonably priced ticket with Opodo. I made the reservation and the e-ticket got emailed to us. However, I had made an error with the surname and accidentally put the issuing place name as her surname instead of her actual surname. Not recognising it as a place, it hadn't clicked with me what I had done until my friend pointed it out. I emailed Opodo who said that I needed to call them, so I called them and explained the situation. They said that as it involved changing more than 3 letters, they were not able to do anything about it and it was a non-refundable ticket so couldn't refund me. They were incredibly unhelpful and didn't seem to care whatsoever. I then went onto ring British Airways, who were the company the flight was with and they said that as they had sold the ticket to Opodo, it was at Opodo's discretion as to whether they would let me change the surname or give me a refund. I rand Opodo back again and explained what BA had said but still refuse to help me even and kept saying that the rules of the ticket set by BA said that name changes weren't allowed even though I explained that the incorrect name wasn't even a name, it was a place and that BA said that they could change it if they wanted to. I asked to speak to a manager and a went through the whole thing again. She didn't care and seemed eager to get off the phone to me and passed me back to her college to finish off the call. I was then told that they could refund £42 worth of taxes but they would charge me £25 for the pleasure of doing so! I said that as I was unable to use the ticket as they wouldn't help me out, that they might as well cancel it so that someone else could use it but they said that they would also charge £25 to do that so I didn't bother as they had already taken enough money. I had to buy another ticket but I did it directly with BA this time and skipped out the middle man. I really wish I had gone online to look at Opodo's reviews before using them as I have never seen such bad reviews for a company but I completely understand why. They are a heartless, money grabbing company that don't care one bit about their customers or customer service or retention/repeat business. I am absolutely disgusted that they treat people this way over a simple human error. DO NOT USE this company - ever. You have been warned and I will be telling everyone I know not to use them either as well as posting this all over social media.

I booked a flight for my daughter through Opodo. The confirmation came through within minutes with the wrong name as passenger, they had put me (as buyer) on the ticket instead of my daughter (passenger). I contacted them electronically within 5 minutes of receiving this confirmation as their call centre was closed and then called them the next morning as soon as the call centre opened.

The attitude was breathtaking. They refused to change the name, or provide a refund, expecting me to effectively lose £650.

Luckily I booked with Amex, who will fight this with them on my behalf, despite their headline grabbing fare only being valid with "Visa Entropay" - over £30 more to pay with either a debit or credit card.

I contribute widely on many review sites with balanced reviews. I would urge people NOT TO USE OPODO. You might be lucky, but to be charged £650 for their error is simply unacceptable. The Spanish lady that I spoke to in their call centre was quite hostile and unhelpful.

Do consider what you will do if you have a problem with Opodo, I will never be using them again.

I booked a one-way flight to Tokyo. When the confirmation email arrived, it said I'd also purchased a return flight.

I called the customer helpline (and had to stay on hold for 20 minutes) and it was explained to me that the cheapest ticket for that date happened to be a return flight, so Opodo gave me a return flight. OK, fine - but that isn't explained before you purchase, or in the confirmation email, which caused me confusion and worry.

The person on the helpline also told me that the return flight will be "automatically canceled" when I take the outgoing flight - which I don't understand. Haven't I bought that return flight too? What if I want to take the flight? Will money be refunded to me? How does it work? It isn't clear at all.

Canadian university students trip of a life time!
Booked a flight for the first time ever from Dublin to Glasgow and was charged additional 580 Canadian dollars to my credit card, had to cancel my credit card and was left to continue my trip without secure funds. As of today,(july30th 2015) with multiple contact attempts, my funds have not been returned to me and I have filed a dispute with my bank. As a struggling student this company really made this trip a "once in a lifetime" experience. And stressed me out!

Never again after 10 years booking with OPODO.CO.UK will i book again ever. They had me thinking at the end of my booking that add there opodo extra for just £27 per person, we could be able to change our flight as many time as we like, if need be for FREE of charge, just paying any airline differences in flight price?. Well i wanted to change my out going flight to a diffrent day. I phone opodo, to be told yes that ok BUT i have to pay airline charges of £100 per person. I told them that they must of had this print very small, as i wouldn't of taken out the extra for £27 each if i had known this was the case. They also told me that they were not under any circumstances in customer loyalty NOT giving me a refund. OPODO YOU STINK LIKE THEM ALL. I WORN PEOPLE DON'T TAKE OUT THE EXTRA WITH OPODO, IN FACT DON'T BOOK WITH THEM. WHEN YOU RINGING THEM UP THEY CUT YOU OFF THE PHONE, AND CALL CENTER MUST BE IN INDIA AS HARD TO UNDERSTAND THEM.

Opodo now provides a rubbish service all round. We strongly urge you to book your air tickets elsewhere, directly with the airline if possible, which you now can in the case of Air Europa, the airline my wife and I always use to go to Madrid.
Since we last booked our flights through Opodo, they've changed their online check-in pages and, in the process, mended what wasn't broken and broken something which worked OK, with the result that the new system is more time-consuming and complicated than the old one, certainly in the way you choose your preferred airline (if you want to travel with only one and not opt for two or more carriers). You can't delete all the unwanted airlines in the same operation, but instead, each time you delete from the list an airline you don't want to travel with, the page shoots back up to the top and you have to scroll all the way down again to delete another one, and so on until you're left with the airline you want
However, that's a minor issue compared to two other time-consuming and irritating problems we've just had with them:
The first issue was with the flight booking confirmations they sent us. My wife received three documents which correctly detailed outbound flight / inbound flight / outbound+inbound flights with correct return air fare price), but I was sent only two. One of them correctly detailed the outbound+inbound flights and correct return air fare price I actually paid with my bank card, but the other detailed the outbound flight only and also showed an air fare price for an outbound flight only, which was obviously different to and less than the price for the return flight). This issue may, but should not have arisen partly because, unlike the old system, which allowed us to check in under one booking even when we were travelling out together on the same date but coming back separately on different dates (as we are this time), the new system didn't seem to allow us to do that, and we had to check in under two separate bookings.
The second issue arose because I was obviously a little concerned that I might be booked on only the outbound flight (even though one of my two flight booking confirmations showed that I was booked on both the outbound and inbound flights and showed the correct return air fare) and accordingly phoned Opodo's helpline.
The last time I phoned Opodo (about changing a flight, as I recall), I spoke to someone in the UK with an English accent and the matter was dealt with little hassle. This time, after I was kept in a queue for some time having to listen to an irritating jingle over and over again before someone attended my call, it soon became quite apparent that he was a part of a call centre somewhere in India, not that I necessarily object to dealing on the telephone with somebody in India, or anywhere else overseas. What I do object to is having to talk over a poor line (with a slight time lag) to someone who, like this chap, not only has clearly limited English, a very strong accent and talks too fast (gabbling whole sentences one after the other I could hardly understood a word of), but is also unable to understand me properly, even when I speak as clearly and slowly as possible. As an example, I had to repeat my booking reference number over and over again. When I said the number "eight" (making sure I sounded the ‘t' at the end) he repeatedly understood it as the letter ‘A'.

So I am meant to be flying to Germany to see my best friend have her baby. I stupidly decided to book with Opodo. Their website advertised a flight From Frankfurt International Airport to London City airport. Everything seemed fine so far however when I went to check myself on-line, I saw that they had actually given me a ticket from Frankfurt Hahnn Airport to Stansted. Both airports being miles away from where I actually am.
I spent over 2 hours on hold to 4 different members of the customer services team for them to tell me that there is nothing that they can do. The airline that they have booked my flights with only fly from Frankfurt Hahnn to Stansted. There is no way that they can change my flight and the refund will take up to 14 working days, leaving me stuck in Germany.
Not only have they broken trading standards and my rights as a consumer by Advertising a product and providing something else, I was talked down and spoken rudely too. This is possible the worst customer service I have ever experienced and would like to advise never to book with them. Their customer service skills are absolutely appalling and I am meant to be flying out in two days with no no way back unless I pay over 100 pounds for their mistake which they refuse to acknowledge

This was my first and definitely last time I booked a flight with Opodo! It was booked on July 6, flying from Berlin to Cartagena on August 1. I used Opodo because I wanted to join a friend who already had a ticket and was able to find seats on his flights through their website.
I received a "booking confirmation" where I was told to take a printout of this confirmation to the airport, checked my bank account and saw that the ticket fee plus a ridiculously high transaction fee had been deducted. So all good I thought...
That was at 3 pm on July 6. As I am on holiday in Berlin I went on to visit some sights. As i come back later that evening I see an email in my inbox stating:
"For security reasons to protect both you and Opodo from fradulent transactions on your credit card, we carry out random checks on bookings made through the Opodo website. Your booking has been selected and these checks have been made on your reservation.
We regret to inform you that your booking has not passed our security checks and therefore, we have no option but to cancel your reservation."

I immediately contacted Opodo through their contact form and asked them what was happening and what did we need to do to get this sorted out. No response. The next morning I contacted them again, telling them I needed to confirm my ticket ASAP, otherwise I would have to book with someone else. No response. Finally, I decided to call their so-called customer service number, was on hold for almost an hour and was finally talking to someone in Barcelona with such a strong accent that it was almost impossible to understand them.
She informed me that there was an issue with my credit card. I told her that obviously there wasn't since $1,760.16 plus $52.80 had been deducted from my account. She went on to offer me the same exact flight for about $300 more if I rebooked with her right now. I was not amused and kindly informed her about my displeasure with their service and asked to speak to her supervisor which she claimed she didn't have, put me on hold for another 20 minutes and then hung up on me. I rang back, finally got through to another agent, was informed that it was my fault for not checking my emails more frequently (why didn't they call me then if that would have solved the issue?), requested a full refund, was put on hold again and then they hung up on me again.
I called KLM and confirmed that I did have a ticket with them and that Opodo cancelled it. How can that be?
I informed my bank on possibly fraudulent charges.
I informed IATA that their affiliate is screwing customers around.
All this time, effort and hassle because of Opodo's shady business practices and utter incompetence. Let's see what happens to the refund...
And isn't it their fault I will have to buy a more expensive ticket now from a reputable seller and what if I can't afford to buy one since my money is tied up with Opodo? Based on the reviews of the company I have seen here and on other sites it seems incredible that they are even still in business. Legal action is probably the only way to go.

Opodo are the worse company we have ever used! My partner David Ginn had made a booking with Opodo for our flights to Spain which we are due to go to in June. After making the booking my partner received no booking confirmation and had to call Opodo for them to advise that the flights were no longer available. My partner then requested a refund from them as they had taken £1075 from our account on the 13th May and still to this day we have received no money! This money needs to be refunded as a matter of urgency as we need to use this money to book alternative flights! They are thieves! We will now be taking this matter the the Financial Ombudsman as this is absolutely disgusting service. We will be going to the press to ensure everyone knows how $#*! this company is! It's absolutely disgusting!

You book your flights four months in advance from a European capital to a Latin American capital through the Pod People, and pay by credit card.

A week later you get an email telling you that some of your flights have been changed. The timings are OK.

A week later you get another email telling you that some of your flights have been changed AGAIN. The Pod People won't tell you what the changes are. They tell you that you MAY be able to learn about them if you hit a given link and provide your details. (You hit the link, and discover that the timings are impossible.) In any case the Pod People ask you to phone them as soon as possible to discuss the changes.

You ring the supplied number, and for twenty minutes you endure an assortment of hold-the-line musical inanities. You wait for a while and try again. Same story. No one answers.

You complain by email, and receive an immediate automated response which urges you to ring the same useless number that you have already tried.

You try to ring the number anyway, and are rewarded as before.

On the following day you get another email telling you that some of your flights have been changed AGAIN. Before trying to ring, you hit the supplied link, and enter your details. It doesn't recognize your surname, and won't tell you anything.

You decide to cancel, and manage to get through by phone to the cancellations department. You read out the reference number on the Pod People's most recent email, and are told that this number relates to a 'Mr Chadwick', not to anyone of your name. You read out the reference number for the Pod People's first change-of-timings email, and confirm your identity. Halfway through the cancellation process you are cut off.

Start again. You ring up once more, read out the reference number for the Pod People's first change-of-timings email, and confirm your identity.The process of cancellation takes half an hour, most of it filled with hold-the-line inanities (or actual silence when the man at the other end forgets to hit the music button).

You lose over $1200 because the fares are unrefundable. Why should you lose anything when you paid for tickets on certain flights which the Pod People chose to change?

Let me not weary readers any further with my second-person tale of horrors. If I have to travel in the future to some distant part of the world, I shall build and sail my own boat before I use the Pod People. In conclusion, a few words of advice.

NEVER, EVER, USE THE UTTERLY USELESS POD PEOPLE.

Books a flight for a surprise holiday for my wife and myself with Easy Jet through Opodo,.
Understood there would be a small service charge imagine my surprise when my card bill showed an increase of £50-00p + the card fee, contacted Opodo they stated this price was shown on the conformation, I couldn`t find it, sent another "E" mail to them advising this guess what a conformation suddenly appeared showing the addition of the £50-00p.
I for one will never use this company again!

Like many of the reviewers on here, I booked two flights and received a booking confirmation e-mail.

I phoned Opodo up to find out how my booking was doing and that told me that it had been cancelled due to RyanAir increasing the fare in between my booking and their ticket confirmation. This was after the initial response saying that there was a problem with my card. I aske if it was possible to rebook the seats. "Oh yes" they replied, "that'll be an extra hundred and odd pounds"

I stated that they had taken the full amount from my bank account so there fore the transaction had been completed. I likened it to me buying a jumper from a store, paying for it and on the way out the doorman asking me for an extra tenner.

After some complete rubbish from the indian guy on the other end of the phone (ANKIT is his name) he stated that my money had been refunded. At this point I was looking at my account on-line. No sign of the refund. Although for some reason they had taken £7:49 out of my account twice and refunded it twice. Then the full cost of the tickets. No refund. It was Bank Holiday weekend here so I can't check with the bank until Tuesday after the holiday.

I asked to speak to a manager and was put on Hold by ANKIT for around twenty minutes at 10p per minute and eventually spoke to another guy who knew nothing about it. Ankit had obviously just put me on hold and left it at that.

The new bloke wanted me to go through the same thing all over again and delayed the conversation (at 10 p per minute). I asked to speak to a manager or supervisor and he refused. Then he just rattled off some rubbish about not being able to help.

I still haven't got my money back. OPODO are a complete set of lying thieving con men and I wouldn't use them to get to the supermarket, never mind another country.

AVOID OPODO AT ALL COSTS.

Booked a flight online with Opodo, received confirmation of the booking then 2 hours later receive an email saying the booking had been cancelled by their 'internal' system due to suspected fraudulent activity. Telephoned and made exact same booking again and lo and behold, booking cancelled again by Opodo. Phoned and reached an alleged 'customer service representative' who, when I asked to speak to a supervisor said they 'didn't have time to take this kind of call.' Booked directly, spent less-don't bother with Opodo.

Unimaginable that this is even a licensed operating entity! My best friend booked our tickets with her credit card and got an email 20+ hours after the fact indicating that the purchase could not be completed. She contacted her credit company who confirmed that there was no problem with her card or the ability for the payment to process. I then encountered the same exact problem and, again, my credit company confirmed there was no problem and that, in fact, they had not even attempted to charge my card. I then tried with my American Express. I received an email indicating that I would need to give approval to AE and to reply to let them know to go ahead with the payment.
Upon replying to the email with the confirmation from AE, the email bounced back that this is a NO-Reply email acct. Opodo's email does not include any other email address, only a UK number.
Thus, I called them and asked that they call me back as it was international. The lady, who refused to give her name, indicated "that is not part of our procedure." She then indicated that the price had now gone up, would I agree. Fine, since I was now paying for an international call. When she ran my card she indicated that it was declined.
I asked to speak with a Supervisor/Line Manager, same response "that is not part of our procedure." She indicated that there were no supervisors on the floor, she could not transfer me to one, nor could I leave my name and number to have a call back.; thus, no way to speak to a manager. She indicated that I should call AE again and then call back but, of course, the price would most likely be higher as they could not guarantee any booking for any time.
I contacted AE again and they indirectly indicated they have many problems with this company.
Never will we even consider trying to book with this company. If there were to be a problem with any part of your booking you will NEVER get a response, solution or avenue to assist with your concern, delay, complaint, etc. BEWARE

We know what they are doing is deceitful and probably fraudulent. I've just been caught the same way, but as long as people use them in their thousands they will continue their dubious practice.

Has anyone considered going legal? I'm going through the Ombudsman at the moment but the worst that will happen to Opodo is they will have to refund the money they questionably took from me.

How about a class action? From the reviews I've read there must be thousands of disgruntled customers out there. Several hundred going through the courts might get them to change practice, or go out of business.

G. A.

I booked this flight transaction via your website on 2 March 2015 and my email confirmation stated a total price of GBP £291.33 for this transaction, made up of £139.96 for the London-Ancona outward flight, £99.29 from the Ancona-London return flight and £52.08 for your Opodo handling fee. Today I noticed in my bank account that there had been a payment taken of £105.55 for the return flight. Neither Opodo nor Ryan Air sought my approval for this extra payment. When I raised this with Paula Juan this morning at Opodo she advised me that her manager was unavailable to speak to me and that I should write a complaint on the Opodo website and take up the matter with Ryan Air. I consider that Opodo's misrepresentation of the price of my flight and Opodo's removal of money from my debit card without my approval to be dishonest and fraudulent, and I seek immediate recompense, both for the money taken without permission, and the cost of my telephone charges this morning in seeking to achieve a refund.
I am raising this matter with Ealing Borough Councils Trading Standards Officer, the fraud/disputes department of my bank and IATA. Having researched Opodo this morning I have discovered numerous complaints about your customer service.