cdnnomad

ps. I had to cancel a booking last Nov and it went through flawlessly.

ribeirasacra

mjdh1957 It seems that flsd posted the details on the story here:
http://www.fodors.com/community/trav...omment-7533288

simpo

On March 29, 2012, I booked a no deposit, free cancellation, breakfast included stay at a hotel for September, 2012. I checked very carefully with the fine print and terms and conditions that no deposit would be charged and there would be free cancellation. Immediately after I filled in the credit card info and submitted the booking, the confirmation I got back from Booking.com was Non-refundable, breakfast not included in the title, but free cancellation and breakfast included in the body of the confirmation. The confirmation also said no deposit has been paid.

I immediately contacted Booking.com via email and told them about the discrepancy in the title and body of the confirmation. The reply from Booking.com was that they checked with the hotel and that it should be non-refundable and breakfast not included. They apologized for the confusion and inconvenience but refused to rectify the mistake.

I replied to them that if it is non-refundable then I did not want the booking because that is not what was shown at the Booking.com website and please cancel the booking, which they did not do.

Then a couple days later we saw a charge of $730.43 (for the entire stay) charged to our card by some company in the city I am travelling to, but not under the hotel name. The charge was made March 30, 2012 , one day after I complained to Booking.com about their mistake. I logged in on Booking.com to our account to see our booking and still saw the booking showing as no deposit has been paid.

After two emails to no avail, I called their 1-866 number and told them about the charge to my credit card, and asked why the Booking.com confirmation says no deposit has been paid. When I show up at the hotel half a year later, how can I proof that I paid in full already.

Booking.com at first said they would not charge our card but they have no control what the hotel would do after Booking.com has supplied the hotel with my credit card info. So they were not going to do anything. I insisted that Booking.com provide me a receipt or confirmation of my payment for the entire stay at the hotel because the confirmation they have provided me says otherwise, meaning that even though I have paid the entire sum half a year before I arrive, I have no proof and might still be asked to pay again. Only then did they agree to call the hotel to see if the charge on my card was done by the hotel, and they did find out from th hotel that the charge was for the hotel stay and they did get the receipt from the hotel and emailed me the confirmation.

So I still end up having to absorb Booking.com's mistake. I did not want to pay for the hotel 6 months up front, I ended up having to. Booking.com, while acknowledging it''s their mistake, said that if I wanted to cancel it, they will only refund half of it! Also, now it is totally non-refundable, and cannot be cancelled. No breakfasts included either.

Lessons learned:
1. DO NOT BOOK THROUGH BOOKING.COM
2. If you really have to book through them, make sure you do a Print Screen of the rates and free cancellation term of the deal you are booking first, before you proceed to fill in their booking form. The Print Screen will also show the time of your booking. Then they cannot say you misunderstood or misread anything or clicked on the wrong special.
Anyway, in my case, they knew it was their mistake because even the confirmation shows the discrepancy, saying non-refundable in one part, and free cancellation in another part. They just refused to rectify it.

Weegie

The moral isn't don't book through booking.com, tens of thousands do so without mishap and have experiences every bit as valid as the one above. The moral is be aware with any online booking that sometimes things go wrong. Can happen with direct bookings as well as indirect bookings. Sometimes indirect booking makes mistakes harder to rectify.

flsd

I never received confirmation of the original booking, cdnnomad. No email. Forgive me if I didn't pursue it further; at the time my mother was having a lot of health issues and I thought I would be planning a funeral.

My story is not "screwy." What is screwy is both a hotel and a booking service refusing to be courteous to a customer after I courteously explained my dilemma.

lincasanova

I just booked a rom I had been watching for several weeks. There was a sudden 20% off Europe sale at booking.com that was NOT at the hotel website, so I grabbed it.

I have called the hotel, they have my booking. pre-paid, non refundable. I use them quite often among many others to check prices. Then I book at hotel directly or cheapest system.