Samuel.m from traveler help desk.com tried to help me book a round trip flight for my daughter to Europe. The first thing they asked for was my credit card info even before they confirmed the flight.
I asked him to send me the itinerary before I gave my credit card info which he did and I agree with it and gave my payment info not knowing that he has not confirmed the flights yet with the airlines. He put me on hold to confirm with the airlines and found out that one of the legs of the flights could not be confirmed.
I told him to go ahead and cancel but he had to leave because his shift ended and that he would continue with the transaction the next day. I told him never mind and cancel everything but he never responded. I received an email from him the next day asking if I still wanted to book a flight for my daughter. I said never mind and I just wanted reassurance that my credit card would not be charged and he said that the flight was not confirmed so that my card will not get charged. That was on April 20, 2015.
I called my credit card company and sure enough my card was charged. I emailed Samuel again but he never responded. When my credit card statement came in May, the charges were still there. I called my credit card company and disputed the charges as there was no flight purchased because the whole trip could not be confirmed. Today, my daughter received a call from a collection agency as my credit card company has taken back the payment for flights that I did not agree to.
Should I call the collection agency back or should I call my credit card company to stop the harrassment?
We booked a flight on smartfares but needed to cancel. We called only to inquire about any fees since if it was cost-prohibitive to cancel (if they were going to charge a lot), we would go ahead and take the flight. The person on the phone spoke English very poorly and it took us several calls to get an answer which was that it would cost $85 a ticket to cancel the two tickets but we would have a $694 credit. But when the cancellation email came, it said that we would also have to pay $200 per ticket to rebook plus any fare differences (wow, are there never any cases when the new fare is cheaper?).
Do the math now: We are only promised a credit just above $100 for tickets that were almost $800. No one would cancel a flight if they knew they were basically going to be out practically every penny. And the promise of the credit even seems iffy ... though the amount is hardly worth bothering with anyhow.
We think the poor English speaking is part of the ruse to take all your money if you cancel because the language barrier ramps up the risk of confusion for sure, but in our case, the extra $400 charge was definitely not known to us at the time of cancellation. But seeing the tons of complaints online about ticket problems, including constantly changing fees and tickets never bought with the money they were given, I'm not sure we ever had tickets anyhow. It may be the tickets were never purchased anyway.
As I write this, my husband is calling United Airlines. Whether they can help us or not, we want to be a cautionary voice against buying tickets except directly from the airline. UA may have some interest in this since this sort of thing is basically stealing from them. Also, we'll call our credit card company in the morning to see if we have any recourse that way.
When we got the cancellation email today and saw the additional $400 that would be charged, we called the customer service number and he basically said that's just how it is. When I got angry and said you people are criminals and hung up, he called my cell back twice and now I'm wondering if I will be harassed till the end of time. Hard lesson, but lesson learned.
I needed to make last minute travel plans. Called SmartFares to book. they quoted me a price saying it was the best fare they could do. I didn't have options so I booked.
I paid $564.20 for 2 one-way tickets from Florida to Neward. When I picked up my boarding passes they listed the total fare. $157.10 USD!!!!! That means I paid $250.00 to SmartFares. Lowest price!? I don't think so.
I contacted them in hopes of some resolution and got no where.
I contacted the airline to let them know that this company is ripping off their customers.
I booked a flight for 3 people to Rome with British airways and asked them several time "It is British Airway plane right?"
They said YES. After I received my conformation, it was American Airline plane. I called several times and they put me on hold , got cut off several time and more after I asked for a manager. Nobody seems knew who is the manager.
After few hours of my time , I finally talked to Z Johnson and after keep repeating himself , he did fix it but with a day lost in transit in London.
They don't know what customer service is and they are unreachable. They say their base is in California but it acctualy its in India.
Smartfares.com Reviews
Samuel.m from traveler help desk.com tried to help me book a round trip flight for my daughter to Europe. The first thing they asked for was my credit card info even before they confirmed the flight.
I asked him to send me the itinerary before I gave my credit card info which he did and I agree with it and gave my payment info not knowing that he has not confirmed the flights yet with the airlines. He put me on hold to confirm with the airlines and found out that one of the legs of the flights could not be confirmed.
I told him to go ahead and cancel but he had to leave because his shift ended and that he would continue with the transaction the next day. I told him never mind and cancel everything but he never responded. I received an email from him the next day asking if I still wanted to book a flight for my daughter. I said never mind and I just wanted reassurance that my credit card would not be charged and he said that the flight was not confirmed so that my card will not get charged. That was on April 20, 2015.
I called my credit card company and sure enough my card was charged. I emailed Samuel again but he never responded. When my credit card statement came in May, the charges were still there. I called my credit card company and disputed the charges as there was no flight purchased because the whole trip could not be confirmed. Today, my daughter received a call from a collection agency as my credit card company has taken back the payment for flights that I did not agree to.
Should I call the collection agency back or should I call my credit card company to stop the harrassment?
We booked a flight on smartfares but needed to cancel. We called only to inquire about any fees since if it was cost-prohibitive to cancel (if they were going to charge a lot), we would go ahead and take the flight. The person on the phone spoke English very poorly and it took us several calls to get an answer which was that it would cost $85 a ticket to cancel the two tickets but we would have a $694 credit. But when the cancellation email came, it said that we would also have to pay $200 per ticket to rebook plus any fare differences (wow, are there never any cases when the new fare is cheaper?).
Do the math now: We are only promised a credit just above $100 for tickets that were almost $800. No one would cancel a flight if they knew they were basically going to be out practically every penny. And the promise of the credit even seems iffy ... though the amount is hardly worth bothering with anyhow.
We think the poor English speaking is part of the ruse to take all your money if you cancel because the language barrier ramps up the risk of confusion for sure, but in our case, the extra $400 charge was definitely not known to us at the time of cancellation. But seeing the tons of complaints online about ticket problems, including constantly changing fees and tickets never bought with the money they were given, I'm not sure we ever had tickets anyhow. It may be the tickets were never purchased anyway.
As I write this, my husband is calling United Airlines. Whether they can help us or not, we want to be a cautionary voice against buying tickets except directly from the airline. UA may have some interest in this since this sort of thing is basically stealing from them. Also, we'll call our credit card company in the morning to see if we have any recourse that way.
When we got the cancellation email today and saw the additional $400 that would be charged, we called the customer service number and he basically said that's just how it is. When I got angry and said you people are criminals and hung up, he called my cell back twice and now I'm wondering if I will be harassed till the end of time. Hard lesson, but lesson learned.
I needed to make last minute travel plans. Called SmartFares to book. they quoted me a price saying it was the best fare they could do. I didn't have options so I booked.
I paid $564.20 for 2 one-way tickets from Florida to Neward. When I picked up my boarding passes they listed the total fare. $157.10 USD!!!!! That means I paid $250.00 to SmartFares. Lowest price!? I don't think so.
I contacted them in hopes of some resolution and got no where.
I contacted the airline to let them know that this company is ripping off their customers.
I booked a flight for 3 people to Rome with British airways and asked them several time "It is British Airway plane right?"
They said YES. After I received my conformation, it was American Airline plane. I called several times and they put me on hold , got cut off several time and more after I asked for a manager. Nobody seems knew who is the manager.
After few hours of my time , I finally talked to Z Johnson and after keep repeating himself , he did fix it but with a day lost in transit in London.
They don't know what customer service is and they are unreachable. They say their base is in California but it acctualy its in India.