Complaint Review: Kiwi.com - Miami Florida

Our flight was delayed which meant we would miss our connection. The kiwi.com guarantee states that they would have us covered every step of the way. We fit all of the criteria for the guarantee, but they refused to honor it. Customer service took over 30 minutes to get through each time we called and then they said we would need to use their online portal. The portal only offered us flights over 24 hours later which meant we would need to purchase a hotel room at our own expense. Plenty of other flights were available, but Kiwi left us hanging. Multiple times we were told a manager would call us back and nobody ever called back. We started the process a good 5 hours before things became critical and we would not have been able to make any flights out that day. Every step of the way kiwi.com brushed us off and provided no solution. As a result, my brother and I then needed to purchase a flight for $1000 each to get home. Not only that, but Kiwi then refused to refund us for the flight that was missed due to the delays because they said they offered us an equitable solution and we refused. The solution was not equitable and did not follow their guarantee guidelines which are clearly outlined on their website. We got absolutely screwed big time here and have no recourse whatsoever.

Attached below are actual email exchanges for proof:

Customer_Satisfaction_Team_Kiwi.com_Booking_309463528 10 messages [email protected] <[email protected]> Sun, May 21, 2023 at 6:56 AM Reply-To: [email protected] To: [email protected] </[email protected]>

<[email protected]>Hello Robert, This is Asad! Your case manager from the Customer Satisfaction Specialist Team of Kiwi.com. I was assigned to your recent booking and wanted to discuss solutions regarding your experience. I have thoroughly reviewed your reservation details and I realize that you have gone through a challenging experience. I can imagine how frustrating it must be when travel plans do not go as expected. Schedule alterations are done by the airline and as a travel brokerage agency, we do not have any control over them. The flight from GPS -> to GYE was delayed and as a result, you missed all the connecting flights. In case of such voluntary schedule changes, we can provide paid alternatives as well as a refund option. I understand that you did not find the alternatives suitable however, they are offered considering the original itinerary. This reservation has Old Guarantee where in exceptional cases, the free alternatives are offered by our automat system. When you shared your alternate flight preference, the assisted refund option was already selected. We did reach out to the airline for a refund. As the flight GPS -> GYE was already used and as it was under a different PNR than the other connecting flight, it was nonrefundable. Furthermore, the connecting flights were operating as per the schedule and they did not undergo any changes. Hence the refund was rejected by the airline as it is considered voluntary cancellation according to the airline policy. This is not the experience we want you to have however, situations like these last-minute schedule changes are beyond our control. We value you as our customer and your business means a lot to us so I would like to offer 100 EUR in the form of Kiwi.com credits. The credits are valid for 2 years and you can use them to book another flight with us. Please let me know if you accept this so I can transfer the credits to your account. If you have any other queries, please feel free to ask, I would be happy to assist you. I genuinely hope your subsequent experience with us is a pleasant one. Thanks & Regards, Asad S, Customer Satisfaction Specialist, Kiwi.com ___________________________________________________________________ The information contained in this email (including any attachments) is privileged and confidential. The content is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify me immediately by telephone or email, and delete this message from your systems. 6/7/23, 11:48 AM Gmail - Customer_Satisfaction_Team_Kiwi.com_Booking_309463528 https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ik=8fbae3e18d&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f:1766500961563339583&simpl=msg-f:1766500961563339583&simpl=msg-a:r6784490746491187723&simpl=… </[email protected]>

<[email protected]>2/4 Bob ---- <[email protected]> Fri, May 26, 2023 at 2:28 PM To: [email protected] Hi Asad, Thank you very much for reaching out. I have to say that your message and offer still does nothing for me. The flight was delayed from GPS -> GYE. I knew this in advance and contacted your customer service team while still in GPS asking for proactive options. They told me i needed to wait to arrive in GYE and miss my connection before giving me options. When we arrived in GYE for connecting flights, the only alternative options were 24 hours later departure, which would have required i not only pay and stay in a hotel room in GYE, but also arrive 24 hours later in my home airport. I found an alternative flight myself that would get me to arrive in my home area within 2 hours of what was originally planned, i called KIWI customer service again and asked them to give me this flight option. They said they would email me back within 1 hour. After more than 3 hours of waiting, my brother and i had to pay over $800 per person ($1600 total) for a one way tickets back ourselves because Kiwi didn't do anything nor respond. The best i had hoped was to get a substantial refund from Kiwi because of the situation and your email is offering $100 in Kiwi credit (which means i would have to use and pay more to Kiwi just to get access to it). I am sorry, but this is completely unacceptable in my view. Please review the above situation and provide a better customer experience. Thanks, Bob ---- [Quoted text hidden] </[email protected]></[email protected]>

<[email protected]><[email protected]>[email protected] <[email protected]> Tue, May 30, 2023 at 7:24 AM Reply-To: [email protected] To: Bob ----</[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]>

<[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]>Hello Robert, I have checked the interaction in which you shared the alternate flight preference and I can see why you felt the options were not good enough due to the long layover. However, when you called on the 28th of March to provide alternatives according to your convenience, our agent passed the preferences to the relevant team. We were searching for the flights and meanwhile, the assisted refund option was selected on the same day 28th of March. Due to this reason, you did not receive the alternate flight option. I get your point that you are looking for a monetary refund of a higher amount however the Kiwi.com credits are useful as well. They are valid for 2 years and you can use them to book another flight with us. I genuinely hope your subsequent experience with us is a better one and you will have my extended support for your future bookings. Please let me know if you accept the credits so I can transfer them to your account. [Quoted text hidden] </[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]>

<[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]>Bob ---- <[email protected]> Thu, Jun 1, 2023 at 10:04 AM To: [email protected] Hi Asad, Thanks again for your reply, but no i do not accept the credits. I feel what you are offering is not sufficient to mitigate my very bad customer experience, nor the extra out of pocket money i needed to put out to get home. I tried working with your teams proactively, but as you can see from the whole case, i still was not given reasonable options nor appropriate compensation when things went wrong. 6/7/23, 11:48 AM Gmail - Customer_Satisfaction_Team_Kiwi.com_Booking_309463528 https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ik=8fbae3e18d&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f:1766500961563339583&simpl=msg-f:1766500961563339583&simpl=msg-a:r6784490746491187723&simpl=… </[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]>

<[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]>3/4 Saying an option was offered and wasnt acceptable to me undermines the actual event that it would have gotten me home more than 24 hours later and caused me to pay out of pocket for a hotel myself. All of this could have been avoided if the Kiwi process allowed us to proactively plan when the first flight was delayed, guaranteeing i would miss the rest of the flights. Please escalate this case to a senior manager and advise how Kiwi plans to make this right. Thanks, Bob ---- [Quoted text hidden] [email protected] <[email protected]> Tue, Jun 6, 2023 at 10:57 AM Reply-To: [email protected] To: Bob ----</[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]>

<[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]>Hi Robert, I regret to hear that you did not find the offer suitable. We could have provided alternatives after you use the delayed flight hence our Guarantee team suggested that to you. This case is already considered as an escalated complaint and after thoroughly reviewing it, I offered the possible solution. I understand that you are upset with the whole experience, however, this is the possible refund amount that I can refund. There are no further possibilities that can be done. [Quoted text hidden] </[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]>

<[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]>Bob ----<[email protected]> Tue, Jun 6, 2023 at 11:47 AM To: [email protected] Hi Asad, Can you expand on what you mean here and explain what your Guarantee actually means? "We could have provided alternatives after you use the delayed flight hence our Guarantee team suggested that to you." My brother and i were stuck in GYE, every time i spoke to your team on the phone (5 times that day) i was told to use the online tool for alternatives. The only alternatives i was given were over 24 hours delay which would have caused me to buy a hotel room. It was 6 PM and the only flight that could have prevented that was departing at 10:30 PM. When i gave your team 1 hour to revert and heard nothing, i was forced to make a decision to avoid a hotel and get me to arrive home close to the original date. So in the above, please tell me what your team could have done or what the guarantee actually meant? This was a major customer service failure and your remedy is to give me credit for your site which would require even more money out of my own pocket just to access this credit. Put yourself in my shoes, is this reasonable and working to help create a good customer experience and loyalty? Thanks, Bob ---- [Quoted text hidden] </[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]>

<[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]>[Quoted text hidden] [email protected] <[email protected]> Wed, Jun 7, 2023 at 7:48 AM Reply-To: [email protected] To: Bob ---- <[email protected]> Hello Robert, As the flight from Baltra Island to Guayaquil was delayed, our agent suggested you take the delayed flight and then contact us once you reach Guayaquil. This is because we can check about the delay and then provide alternate flights from Guayaquil accordingly. The alternate flights were offered by our automated system. Later you shared your own flight preferences a the options offered were not suitable for you. You do not need to spend more money to use the Kiwi.com credits. In fact, you will save 100 EUR next time you book a flight with us. I completely get your point, however, this is the only possible amount that I can refund. [Quoted text hidden] Bob ---- </[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]>

<[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]> Wed, Jun 7, 2023 at 11:48 AM To: [email protected] Hi Asad, Two things. I shared my own flight preferences, your team did not respond or come back on that and i and my brother were stranded in GYE. Had i not been forced to buy my own flights out (after 2 hours of waiting for Kiwi customer service), i would have had to spend even more money on a hotel and returned home over 24 hours later. This is what happened, if you have a different version of these events, please share. 2nd thing, to use Kiwi.com credits, i need to buy a flight on Kiwi. There is not one option on there that is 100 EUR or less, so in fact,just to access what you are "giving" me as compensation for this horrible experience, you are asking me to spend even more money with your company. You have stated repeatedly that this compensation is the best you can do. I will give you one more chance to make this right. I have a large network of friends, family and business associates. I am looked to for travel advice as i travel often. This experience with Kiwi wants me to warn all of my network away from ever working with Kiwi. I am not typically that type of person, so if i do share this experience, it will be even more impactful to my network. "Customers will tell an average of 9 people about a positive customer service experience but will tell 16 people about a negative experience." Thanks, Bob ---- </[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]></[email protected]>