As a frequent traveler, I am an avid user of kayak.com for my flights. However within the last year, Kayak began using Vayama as a major agency instead of redirecting to the airline sites. The prices offered by Vayama were often much lower than those obtained directly from the airline website. My wife and I decided to try Vayama for our upcoming vacation to Mexico and were pleased to save around $200 on the flights (CLE - ATL - MEX - ZIH) [August 29]. This was our first mistake.
Almost immediately after booking the flight [September 4], we received a change of flight notification that added an hour and a half to our already long travel day (~13 hours). We now were to leave Cleveland at 5:40AM instead of 7AM. This was after we deliberately paid more for the flight leaving at 7AM instead of 5:40AM. I understand this happens and airlines explicitly state they have the right to change our flight (though it costs the consumer $200 for the same privilege). We accepted this annoying but minor change.
The next flight change [September 15] was a notification cancelling 2 legs of the flight so that the trip was from Detroit to Mexico city. It completely eliminated our home airport and final destination. When I called to complain (and wait for 45 minutes) I finally spoke to someone who assured me they would fix the error and I needed to give them time to communicate to the airline that this change was "unacceptable to me" (in what world would that change be acceptable?).
A week later [September 18th], I called again, and spoke to another representative who seemed to have no record of the first phone call. I was pushy and finally had them agree to issue a full refund; however, I received no correspondence until I called back the next day requesting such (even though they promised I would receive an email within 24 hours).
I was told at the original cancellation that it could take UP TO 4 weeks for the refund to appear in my account. It has now been 6 weeks and they are telling me it could be another 30-40 business days before I get my refund. I am calling every day requesting they fast track our refund but they keep insisting they have to wait for the airline to issue my refund. Additionally, they are unable to tell me the claim number given for the airline to track the refund with them.
I am perplexed how their company works and why I have to wait for a refund on a flight they failed to provide. My dealings were with Vayama, but now they are the middle man between me and Aeromexico?
Almost immediately after booking the flight [September 4], we received a change of flight notification that added an hour and a half to our already long travel day (~13 hours). We now were to leave Cleveland at 5:40AM instead of 7AM. This was after we deliberately paid more for the flight leaving at 7AM instead of 5:40AM. I understand this happens and airlines explicitly state they have the right to change our flight (though it costs the consumer $200 for the same privilege). We accepted this annoying but minor change.
The next flight change [September 15] was a notification cancelling 2 legs of the flight so that the trip was from Detroit to Mexico city. It completely eliminated our home airport and final destination. When I called to complain (and wait for 45 minutes) I finally spoke to someone who assured me they would fix the error and I needed to give them time to communicate to the airline that this change was "unacceptable to me" (in what world would that change be acceptable?).
A week later [September 18th], I called again, and spoke to another representative who seemed to have no record of the first phone call. I was pushy and finally had them agree to issue a full refund; however, I received no correspondence until I called back the next day requesting such (even though they promised I would receive an email within 24 hours).
I was told at the original cancellation that it could take UP TO 4 weeks for the refund to appear in my account. It has now been 6 weeks and they are telling me it could be another 30-40 business days before I get my refund. I am calling every day requesting they fast track our refund but they keep insisting they have to wait for the airline to issue my refund. Additionally, they are unable to tell me the claim number given for the airline to track the refund with them.
I am perplexed how their company works and why I have to wait for a refund on a flight they failed to provide. My dealings were with Vayama, but now they are the middle man between me and Aeromexico?
