SJ

Ordered 2 tyres on 10th September, not delivered by 23rd September so cancelled the order, got cancellation confirmation through but still waiting for refund 3/10/25

For those who have dealt with Opodo’s customer services, it may surprise you, but it says that on Opodos corporate website as one of their values. I cannot think of anything further from the truth.

Having spent quite a lot of time researching best flights for our holidays to avoid early starts and long waits in transit I settled for booking with SriLankan Airlines via Opodo. I did this on 8th January and received confirmation on 9th January. So far, so good.

That was until the airline cancelled one leg on both the outbound and inbound flights. I appreciate that’s not Opodo’s fault so I contacted Opodo by phone on 24th January to discuss options. My time is obviously not that important as I was on hold for 16 minutes before anyone answered my call and my first experience of the “customer-first culture” began. After 42 minutes of getting nowhere whilst being charged 10p per minute, I gave up, hung up and emailed the airline.

SriLankan Airlines tried to be helpful but after many emails and phone calls we concluded that the alternatives they could offer were just not appropriate to our travel plans. They informed me that I was entitled to a full refund and that I needed to contact Opodo to arrange the refund.

Each time Opodo emailed me about the schedule change they asked me to call them (at 10p per minute), I always emailed them back to ask them to call me as I did not approve of paying to be put on hold until someone was ready to speak to me. Each time I was informed that they did not make outbound calls (not sure how that fits into a “customer-first culture”). I even emailed them to confirm that the alternatives were not appropriate and just wanted the full refund I was entitled to. The email reply told me I had to call them to confirm this.

SriLankan Airlines had now washed their hands of it, so having a few hours to spare last week I rang Opodo again (at 10p per minute) and once again was put on hold before it was answered. I confirmed, once again that I wanted my refund as the flights I had paid for no longer existed, they confirmed the airline had instructed them to give a full refund.

In a “customer-first culture” that should have been end of story…..but not with Opodo. Before they would cancel my booking for flights that do not exist, I had to agree to the refund taking 2 to 12 weeks. I said this was unacceptable and I would not be blackmailed into accepting their unreasonable timeframe since they did not give me 2 to 12 weeks to pay for the flights when I booked them. They were adamant that was the only way of it happening. They have subsequently emailed me to say that they will not process the refund until I agree to their timeframe and that the booking for the non-existent flights is still “live” until I do so. It amazes me how a booking can be “live” for non existent flights

After receiving another email today telling me to call them again, I did so, but after 20 minutes, of which 15 minutes were on hold, having told 2 different people what the call was about and even having it confirmed that it was my 6th call to them about the same thing, I hung up after getting placed on hold yet again.

I am sick of being told to ring them, placed on hold and no one doing anything. I have informed my credit card company that Opodo are fraudulently withholding my money.

I’m looking forward to the "Opodo Customer Care Team" telling me how my experiences are all part of a “customer-first culture”, and failure to process the refund money despite being told in writing and verbally is an ethical and legal way to run a company.

Once they’ve done that we can look at their Mission Statement, “To provide online and mobile services that help our customers experience the best that travel can offer”.

Update 2/3/15 - still no idea when I'm going to see my refund.