CheapOair.com hidden fees New York New York
CheapOair.com shows up as a search site that specializes in finding cheap airline tickets just like the other ones like orbits,priceline, travelocity, etc. The thing is the price they offered me was higher than the price I could have gotten by booking directly through the airline and along with the higher price quoted, they dropped a booking fee of 24 dollars on my credit card bill for them "helping me" book a better price. better price? no way.this airline ticket was booked by me online as an E ticket, and they just tack on the 24 dollars for doing nothing. when I called to ask about a price match they told me they are a travel agency. no where on the web page does it say they are a travel agency. I did not need help booking a ticket. all I needed was a search page to find the fare then I would click through to finish the deal. they did nothing for 24 dollars, including giving me a price higher than the airline actually sells the flight for. that is a double whammy. They billed the CC as a tax for 24 dollars. Thats fraud as well. the tax paid on the ticket was billed with the ticket price. they drop the booking fee as a separate charge but continue to try and hide it as a "Tax" on the CC bill. This business deserves to be avoided. book your tickets somewhere else. you cannot trust the price quote they show. it is not the lowest price. before you buy the ticket, they show the price you will pay but it is not a list of the items broken out to see what you are paying for. they just lump the fee in with the ticket price and taxes to hide the $24 fee. you only see it when It comes in as a separate charge on the credit card bill.
Lester
Austell, Georgia
U.S.A.
5 Updates & Rebuttals
Lester
Austell,Georgia,
U.S.A.
CC company puts an end to it
#6
Sat, September 19, 2009
As expected cheapoair did not respond to the credit card charge dispute so the credit card company ruled in my favor and removed the charge from my bill permanently. Do not rely on this company to resolve issues. work it through your credit card company to show them that you will not be caught in their rip off trap.
Renee Customer Service
New York,New York,
U.S.A.
Renee CheapOair.com customer support
#6UPDATE Employee
Fri, July 31, 2009
Lester, please provide the booking confirmation so I can review the file once again. I don't remember the case off hand, but I do know that I am the one who forwards the request for a refund and if it has not been posted to your account I would to investigate into why.
Send the confirmation to:
randrews@cheapoair.com
put in the subject line BLOG POSTING
Lester
Austell,Georgia,
U.S.A.
still no refund
#6Author of original report
Mon, July 20, 2009
Just to update. still no refund posted to my credit card. I sent a follow up e mail to Randrews@cheapoair.com to ask for confirmation of the refund and no response was sent. I have read through so many other other complaints on this company that say just contact them and they will try to work it out yet nothing happens. As mentioned in other reports I have had trouble contacting them. The phone system in India seems to be broken many times. Even when on the phone with a heavy delay in the conversation they claim you are talking to someone in NY but it is most likely an overseas call. I recommend to everyone to work the dispute through their credit card company for better results.
also to address some things mentioned in the company rebuttal in this thread. The customer service agent stated "but we did refund it back to you as you had mentioned". this is clearly not true, no refund has been issued and no refund was promised when I call to ask why 2 charges showed up on my credit card. in fact I was told that "they had my electronic signature and so I will pay the full bill". I told them that the signature did not authorize the hidden fee. They didn't care. During the same call I explained that the ticket they charged me for was 9 dollar more than what the airline was listing the flight for, but they refused a price match guaranty.
additionally, they say this "On All Airfares purchased Online CheapOair charges a transaction booking service fee of USD 24 per person for all passenger." in reality on a part of their web site that does list fees, (but you have to click down through several links to get to it) it say "may be charged" to airline tickets. big difference between "may be" and "on all".
they claim that the price you pay is shown and clearly listed. its not, the fee is in the total price but not spelled out how the total added up, its just the final price, when you get the credit card statement you see 2 charges. one for the ticket and taxes, and the other for the fee that at that point is clearly defined.
This business has complaints posted all over the place. I still find no reason to do business with them.
Credit card service rep says they have 30 days from time they claim a refund will be provided. their 30 days are up July 25 as I sent in a print out of the rebuttal saying they did a refund as evidence with my charge dispute. One way or the other I am not paying the $24 fee, either cheapoair sends my refund or the credit card company cuts the charge off my bill in trade for the missing refund. I will not book anything through this company again nor would I recommend it to others. If you are a fellow victim of this company, use the companies posts against them as evidence in the charge disputes, it makes your case for you with the credit card company.
Lester
Austell,Georgia,
U.S.A.
no credit was returned to me
#6Author of original report
Thu, July 09, 2009
Although The company claims there has been a refund of the $24 booking fee, no such refund has posted on my credit card. I understand it may take 10 business days to post, but for now they have returned nothing to me.
Renee Customer Service
New York,New York,
U.S.A.
CheapOair.com Customer Support
#6UPDATE Employee
Thu, June 25, 2009
Dear Lester, I am very sorry that you were not aware that you were booking on a travel agency site, just like Orbitz, Expedia, Priceline as you mentioned above. So I can only assume that you did over look that our company does charge a service fee upto 24.00 per booking. It is displayed with the base price of the ticket and is listed on the flight page "base price + fee's EXCLUSIVE OF TAXES. This is right next to your flights that you requested. It is also listed on our TERMS AND CONDITIONS; I have pasted the information for future reference,
ONLINE TRANSACTION BOOKING FEES
On All Airfares purchased Online CheapOair charges a transaction booking service fee of USD 24 per person for all passenger.
I am sorry that you didn't see this, but we did refund it back to you as you had mentioned. Most travel sites do charge a service fee for the automation and processing of your reservation. I assure you we hid nothing from you, it is pasted on our website for everyone to review. I just want to mention that if you called the airline directly to make a booking, they will charge you $25.00 guaranteed!
Randrews@cheapoair.com
Customer Support
866-636-9088