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SmartFares Reviews Summary

SmartFares presents a mixed reputation among its customers. On the positive side, many users appreciate the affordability and efficiency of the booking process, noting that customer service representatives can be helpful and responsive when issues arise. However, significant concerns persist regarding discrepancies between quoted prices and final charges, as well as frustrating experiences with customer service, particularly related to refunds and booking confirmations. Overall, while some customers report satisfactory experiences, a notable number express dissatisfaction with pricing transparency and support, indicating room for improvement in communication and service consistency.

This summary is generated by AI, based on text from customer reviews

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South Africa
1 review
6 helpful votes
Follow Thorin W.
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SCAM - Stay far away from SMARTFARES. They advertise highly discounted fares and once you have booked they say the flight prices have changed and charge you much higher pricing than what you already paid.
Only after I made the booking and paid did I search the internet to find many other people telling the same scam story.
This is a SCAM and false advertising. I believe some people have lost all their money STAY AWAY!

Date of experience: November 13, 2019
New York
1 review
2 helpful votes
Follow Monica W.
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SCAM, DO NOT USE
November 13, 2019

It deserves NO STAR, offer good price for my international flight, 2 days later still no email for my confirmation. I call customer service, he told me the price went up 30% and ask me how much I want to pay. The reason I don't negotiate because I need my tickets to be confirm right away. I agree to pay that price but with 2 aisle seats. Guess what, when I confirm my ticket, he said there's no aisle seat available and that's nothing they can do about it. He tell me to call the airlines. I ask for the Hainan Airlines phone number, he told me to google it. Don't trust Smartfare, made so... many phone calls between Smartfare and the airline. Then suggest me should call 2 days before my traveling days to confirm. So I paid $1050 instead of $733.88. Very bad customer service and they are rule!

Date of experience: November 12, 2019
Spain
2 reviews
3 helpful votes
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Bait and switch
November 7, 2019

After going through booking, got a call saying the airline had raised the price by over 30% and I would need to pay that much to get the ticket. Refused, and immediately booked through the airline which had not changed their price.

Complete scammers

Date of experience: November 6, 2019
Texas
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow Alvin s.
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I booked a flight then a few hours later I decided to cancel it. Their site says you can call and cancel risk free if it's within 24 hours of booking the flight. So I called and first they were only going to give me 80 of 180 dollars back then I kept arguing and they bumped it up to 120. They said it was because of delta. So I got off and called delta and they have the same 24 hour cancellation policy. They said I should have received the full refund. I sent them all the information and am waiting to hear back from them. I will never use them again and I am warning others about how bad they are.

Date of experience: October 26, 2019
Thailand
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow M T.
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THEY STOLE MY MONEY
October 25, 2019

They took out money from my card without giving me the ticket. They said if I want to take the ticket I have to give 60$ extra. If I cancel I have to pay 50$.

Date of experience: October 24, 2019
New Jersey
1 review
5 helpful votes
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Didn't get scammed.
October 26, 2019

All of these reviews had me thinking my ticket was fake and that when i landed to LAX i would have to buy new tickets to Indonesia. My tickets were 100% fine and legit.

Date of experience: October 23, 2019
Florida
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Jorge B.
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CUIDADO! En su página aseguran poder cancelar en las primeras 24 horas,, Lo que no especifican es que te cobran una PENALIDAD,, así tu vuelo sea para el próximo año y quieras cancelar al minuto de haber hecho la reservación, en mi caso por un Ticket de $344.00USD me cobraron una penalidad de $200.00USD,, una verdadera ESTAFA!

Date of experience: October 13, 2019
BA
1 review
1 helpful vote
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Stole our money
October 13, 2019

First they charged my brother's credit card without our consent. (It was after we recieved official email stating that we wont be charged and ticket did not go through.)

After some time we noticed that our credit card was charged. It was a shock.

They promised to refund and we trusted them, and they lied, they kept the money for the ticket which we did not want to buy and did not need.

Stay away from this fraudelent website.

Date of experience: October 13, 2019
Finland
1 review
2 helpful votes
Follow Joakim S.
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I was going to book a flight from Helsinki-Stockholm with Finnair via SmartFares but luckily checked the price first on Finnairs own homepage. The price was more than a 100 more expensive via Smartfares than Finnair. So if you read this - save your money and avoid a headache by NOT using Smartfares! =)

Date of experience: October 7, 2019
Wisconsin
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Canceled my booking
October 3, 2019

Canceled all three of my tickets claiming they couldn't give it to me for the price I had originally booked it for. Wanted me to pay $1000 instead of the $615 I had originally booked the tickets for.

Date of experience: October 2, 2019
Arkansas
1 review
0 helpful votes
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The website says you can cancel a flight within 24 hours of booking. I called to cancel my flight 1 hour after booking it. They said that I couldn't cancel it if I booked on the phone. I asked the person I was on the phone with if I could cancel within 24 hours, just to confirm, and he said yes. I very much doubt I will find a way to be refunded.
Unfortunate situation.

Date of experience: September 18, 2019
Illinois
1 review
0 helpful votes
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SCAM SCAM SCAM
September 10, 2019

I booked a flight from Shanghai to Tokyo under the impression that the ticket would be $230, and without receiving any kind of email confirmation like they promised when I booked the ticket, the my card was charged $350, when I called they said the changed price reflected the airline, and that there were only 6 seats left (?). I asked for the reservation to be cancelled but so far I am still down $350 and have received no email confirmation. What a joke.

Date of experience: September 10, 2019
Jamaica
1 review
3 helpful votes
Follow Nadash H.
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If I had read the reviews before ordering my ticket through this site I wouldn't have ordered. But I'm glad I did I had no trouble whatsoever connecting from Maryland to Montego Bay i purchased my ticket at a cheaper price than what the airline had advertised and I had No issue.

Date of experience: September 9, 2019
California
1 review
1 helpful vote
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Smartfarea scam!
September 5, 2019

Smartfare is a total scam. I booked from LA to mexico City for Sept 19 flight then back Sept 30, two return ticket and up to now i have nit gotten any confirmation. I called the number and they were so unprofessional. I went to their site again, and so many misspelled words. I will go to my credit card company tomorrow and will try to get my refund. We worked so hard for our money only to be duped by this company. So we have protection against these thieves?

Date of experience: September 5, 2019
Saint Lucia
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Gerry L.
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I booked and paid for a flight one week before travel only to find out that when the person got to the airline desk she is told sorry your name is not on the list, Embarrassing to say the least. Now you have to secure taxi and hotel and pay a higher cost fare. NOT FAIR, NOT RESPECTFUL. NOT CARING

Date of experience: September 3, 2019
Ukraine
1 review
5 helpful votes
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Пожалуйста будьте очень осторожны и ни в коем случае не давайте им свои данные!
Зайдя через сайт kiwi.com (06.08.2019) я получила список компаний через которые я могу приобрести билет. Я выбрала компанию smartfares.com поскольку у них была очень выгодная цена. На сайте я заполнила форму на приобретение билетов и форму оплаты с номером карты и всеми данными по карте.
На мою почту пришло письмо с фейковыми билетами и ссылкой на сайт компании Smart Fares с номером брони и предупреждением о том, что в течении 24 часов я должна проверить все свои данные на наличие ошибок и в случае их обнаружения я смогу их исправить в течение 24 часов бесплатно. Проверив на сайте Smart Fares билеты которые они мне предоставили все было верно и без ошибок.
Когда с моей карты сняли средства (07.08 2019 в 20:36) я сразу написала в службу поддержки компании Smart Fares с просьбой выслать мне ссылку на электронный билет авиа компании Qatar airways билеты которых я должна была приобрести на проверку всех даных.
По моей просьбе компания Smart Fares прислала ссылку на свой сайт (07.08 2019 в 23:01) но не на сайт Qatar airways.

Утром 07.08 2019 примерно в 9.30-10.00 я связалась с представителем компании Qatar airways, которые сообщили мне что бронь билета на мое имя есть но в моих данных допущены ошибки я должна связаться с компанией Smart Fares чтобы они исправили ошибку поскольку только они имеют доступ к правкам.

Напоминаю что ссылки на бронирование билета на сайте Qatar airways мне не присылали и данных ошибок я не могла видеть и об ошибках я бы даже не знала если бы самостоятельно не позвонила в авиакомпанию.

Когда я опять же самостоятельно за свои деньги позвонила представителям компании Smart Fares с просьбой исправить ошибку и прислать мне код бронирования на официальный сайт авиакомпании Qatar airways
представители компании Smart Fares начали манипулировать и запугивать меня что мой билет пропал и все мои деньги тоже.

07.08 2019 в 12:10 Мне пришло письмо с электронными билетами на сайт Qatar airways где мои данные были указаны с ошибками.
Напоминаю на сайте компании Smart Fares данные, доступ к которым я имела, были указаны верно!

Все мои официальные письма в компанию Smart Fares игнорировались
Компания Smart Fares вела со мной чат переписку и телефонные разговоры в которых требовала деньги за исправление их же ошибок манипулируя тем, что я увидела ошибку после того как прошло 24 часа с момента бронирования.

Напомню что письмо со ссылкой на сайт Qatar airways где была допущена ошибка я получила этот же день в 12:10

Сначала представитель компании Smart Fares назвал сумму в 80 USD за каждое лицо за исправление ошибки.
Затем сумма постепенно возрастала до 439 USD.

Я потратила целый рабочий день на выяснение этой ситуации мной все время манипулировали запугивать и угрожали
Мой день превратился в кошмар.

08.08 2019 в 20:18 Мне пришло письмо (No-Reply)
что с меня зпишуть деньги в размере 439 USD и мы якобы согласовали такую сумму ранее.
После чего я поняла что я здесь бессильна что я имею дело с мошенникками и прекратила всякие разговоры с компанией Smart Fares.

08.08 2019 в 20.36 с моєй карти Universal Bank было сделано попытки снять средства на сумму 349 USD
в операции было отказано поскольку на карте был установлен лимит оплаты в интернете в 50 USD

09.08 2019 в 00:04 с моей карты было снято 50 USD
На тот момент я разговаривала с представителем Universal Bank после чего моя карта была заблокирована в целях безопасности.

Напоминаю данная операция проводилась не мной а скорее всего представителями компании Smart Fares, которые завладели моим данным мошенническим методом воспользовавшись моим доверием.

Весь следующий день я провела в полиции а также писал жалобы на различные ресурсы в том числе в Universal Bank и Qatar airways

Мне нанесен финансовый и моральный вред.

Сейчас я понимаю, что это или мошенничество или служебная халатность и то и другое являеться уголовным нарушением.
Конечно я не оставлю это дело просто так я буду пробовать вернуть средства и наказать виновных за причиненный мне вред.

Я очень надеюсь на помощь и поддержку представителей Universal Bank и Qatar airways а также представителей правоохранительных органов так как сама я бессильна в данной ситуации.

#qatarairways #kiwi.com #universalbank #visa.com

Date of experience: August 10, 2019
New York
1 review
4 helpful votes
Follow lifepc M.
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Dont use them
August 10, 2019

They sent me my travel document that confirmed already before 2 days ago from my flight date. Then one day left to my flight they sent me a cancel information mail. They said that there is an issue and canceled so they offered an other ticket that I need to pay more. And then their customer service was very bad, and rude. Don't use them never!

Date of experience: August 9, 2019
Minnesota
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Jumai K.
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I called them before I booked a ticket that has a stop over in Canada. I was told I would not need a transit visa in Canada to the US since I was not exiting Toronto airport in Canada. Big Lie! They told me that because they wanted to make money. Departure airport would not let me board the plane without the transit visa. Had to purchase a new ticket entirely. As I type this, Smart fare is yet to refund me. Never ever again!

Date of experience: August 9, 2019
New Jersey
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Aimee H.
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Scam
August 7, 2019

Hice una reserva por un precio y resulta que era más! No me lo notificaron nunca y al llamar y ver q eran 100 dolares mas les dije que no lo quería y cobraron 50 dolares por una reserva que nunca hicieron

Date of experience: August 7, 2019
Spain
1 review
1 helpful vote
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A disaster
August 4, 2019

A disaster. I bought 3 tickets to fly me and my family on August 3 from Miami to Madrid, but when they sent me the confirmation with the final tickets, they sent me tickets to fly the day after the one I had bought (for August 4!). I called them and ask them for changing my flight date (from August 4 to 3) and they told me that the solution was buying a new ticket (with the subsequent new payment).
I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY FOR ANYTHING IN THE WORLD.

Date of experience: August 3, 2019