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Travel and Opodo

Afternoon.

I have a bit of a problem I think regarding Opodo and their 80% money back on a cancelled flight. I ticked the cover 2 box which starts " Any other cause...." this I took as the correct insurance that has been talking about in different threads here on the forum. On paying for every thing for St Petersberg and receiving confirmation with the insurance policy wording which actual states as below.

Any other cause unintended  by and beyond the control of any person insured which is not otherwise excluded which can provide evidence for the case. I can not see an England game played elsewhere is going to cut the mustard with insurance so where have I gone wrong. Tried talking to a human today to try and amend or at least what I can do or not do , but have found that their system has crashed and he could not tell me any thing for 5 hours at least.

What he did say was that I could now not amend my insurance policy and can not cancel it ( if at all possible until he can bring my details up). I was going to book Rome today as well, but I am really shying away with that one now with so much money involved.

Have i missed a box which states cancel for any reason guarantee with 20% excess somewhere.

Help anybody please

27 Replies

  • David Lilley

    It's quite a while since I booked my trip to St Petersburg so I can't remember what the booking screen looked like. But, the wording which you quote above sounds like what you would expect in a bog-standard travel insurance policy rather than the Opodo 'cancel for any reason' guarantee.

    After booking, Opodo sent me 2 emails : Booking request received and Booking confirmed. Both emails gave extensive details of my itinerary. They both also included a box with this wording :

    Cancel for Any Reason Guarantee

    Destination: St Petersburg
    Departure date:01-07-2020
    Return date:06-07-2020

    You can check the conditions of the service here. Please note:

    Cancellations must be made directly with Opodo by telephone. Should you need to cancel outside of our opening hours, close to your departure time, then you can cancel directly with the airline and the respective hotel/venue. The cancellation must be made no later than 24 hours before your departure was scheduled to have taken place.

    The total price is £X

    Look at your own emails from Opodo and see whether this wording is contained in them.

    This is the first time I have added this guarantee to a booking. I don't know how good the guarantee is in terms of trying to activate it and get some money back. I have my fingers crossed that it would work smoothly, as advertised.

  • David Lilley

    In reply to David Lilley:

    My itinerary involves a change of flight in Frankfurt. When booked, the transfer time was 1 hour, which is tight but can be done. Subsequently, flight #1 has been put back 10 minutes so I now have a transfer time of only 50 minutes. This is risky and, normally, I would have phoned the airline and asked them to change the booking at no cost in order to give me a reasonable chance of making the connection. But I can't do this because any change of the booking invalidates the Opodo 'cancel for any reason' guarantee. So, for any member who added this guarantee to their booking, be careful if your flight(s) get changed.
  • Nick howell

    In reply to David Lilley:

    David.
    Just been through the emails from them and there is nothing there as described. Could this be maybe because I already purchased the wrong cancellation policy before check out they deemed unnecessary to offer the policy I really wanted. So like wise people who are thinking of buying multiple flights so they cover all bases with England results they could go through the process, buy the ticket then not get offers of cancellation for any reason policy.
    I even went trough the process of booking a random flight to another country, Euro unrelated, and also nothing came up. Hope other fans have not made the same stupid and costly mistake, no idea what to do about Rome now, maybe pray for the match to be at St Petersburg . The price we pay.
  • Philip Hackett

    In reply to Nick howell:

    I booked flights through Opodo for the match in Kosovo (Pristina) Unfortunately Adria Airlines went bust and therefore the flights were obviously null and void..
    My Travel Insurance Company (Saga) told me to get in touch with Barclaycard using a templated letter they sent me informing Barclaycard of the section 75 consumer credit act indicating that Barclaycard were liable to refund this money (£559.98 for two of us),
    Barclaycard have now asked me to obtain written confirmation from Opodo that they have not refunded this money.
    On telephoning Opodo they have refused to email or write a letter confirming this non-payment.
    I am now awaiting a letter from Barclaycard that I can forward to Opodo asking for evidence of this non-payment.
    This has been going on since the Kosovo trip.
    I am getting heartily p****d off with the whole affair. Even been awarded £100.00 by Barclaycard for the amount of time and effort that has gone in to recover this money but am still chasing the £559.98
  • James Siggins

    In reply to Philip Hackett:

    This is my worry about Opodo, I have literally heard so many poor reviews about them & people waiting an eternity to even get through on the phone never mind a refund. This example should be cut & dry, airline has gone bust, full refund. As Nick says, I can’t see how phoning up stating England have finished ‘X’ in the group so you require a refund for your flights will be met very well.

    There is a lad on the Facebook ECTS group that said he’s been successful in a refund for a flight during the Russia WC, he’s the first I’ve had any positive comments from regarding Opodo.

    I personally have risked us finishing top currently & have booked outright flights & hotels (which are thankfully refundable) for Dublin/Rome. Fingers crossed
  • Nick howell

    In reply to James Siggins:

    James

    Who did you use for the refundable flights and accom?
  • Matthew Isle

    Just a heads-up that this thread is within the fully open part of the forum.

    As such you are discussing your travel arrangements with anyone who cares to search for your name on the internet.

    Be it someone who wants to know you're away, Opodo themselves, your work, etc etc etc.

    The thread below (or at least the area of the forum it's within) might be more appropriate:

    englandsupporters.thefa.com/.../15501

  • Tim Powell

    In reply to Matthew Isle:

    I've had some involvement in both issues mentioned here. I too booked that Adria Air flight via Opodo and they made it clear that any refunds due to an airline going bust has to be dealt with by the airline or your credit card. I had loads of correspondence with my credit card who temporarily credited me back the amount spent whilst they investigated it. At first they said the airline wouldn't agree to any refund which confused me because I thought the credit card companies took the hit and then tried to get back what they could. Anyway, after a couple of months, my credit card confirmed the refund they'd given me would remain permanently so it ended up well so hopefully you'll get yours back too.

    Re Opodo's Cancel for any reason policy, it appears towards the end of the booking when it asks whether you want all the add ons that they try to screw more money out of you with. They also say you can only buy it at that point of confirming your flight payments. It amounts to around an extra £5-10 per leg of the flight so I'll see in the Summer whether it's been worth it!
  • Frances Mcquarrie

    In reply to David Lilley:

    You will be fine. If its Lufthansa your flying with they are very efficient and from our experience they come looking for you if connection is tight and get you through security etc.
  • David Lilley
    I've just had to invoke the Opodo 'cancel for any reason' guarantee. This guarantee related to flights to and from Copenhagen for the Euro 2020 R16. I received an email saying that my itinerary had been changed. When I looked, the airline had cancelled the service which I was on for the homeward journey and they had booked me on to the corresponding flight 24 hours earlier, before the match would have taken place. I checked the airline schedules but there was no alternative flight which would work for me.

    My booking confirmation email from Opodo included a link to the terms and conditions for the 'cancel for any reason' guarantee. In that document was the phone number you were supposed to ring : +44 80 0026 1621. This number does not work ! Sure, you get through to the automated answering system with the 'if this press 1', etc but the system would not recognise my booking number and there was no way to get past the automated system to speak to a person. There is a 'help chat' facility on their website but it can only be used by people with a Facebook account.

    I found another number through google : 0333 300 0291. This goes to an automated system with exactly the same options, but this time my booking number was recognised. When I had gone through the sequence of key choices to the 'cancel for any reason' guarantee, the system told me that the refund system was automatic, but the call didn't then end. I don't know whether that's it or whether something else was going to happen and I should have stayed on the line. I'll wait a couple of weeks to see whether the refund arrives and, if not, I'll have to try again.
  • Kerry Gillen

    In reply to David Lilley:

    I too have purchased flights with this guarantee. I have also had big problems with Opodo's customer service in the past. It is due to this that when I booked flights with this guarantee I did a dry run of cancelling flights. I did find an automatic way of doing it online. I think I found cancelling flights in their FAQ. There was a link there which did give you the opportunity to do it online despite all the instructions with the guarantee saying it must be done by phone. Sorry its a bit vague but I am supposed to be working. When I get home I will retrace my steps and try to post the link
  • David Robinson

    In reply to Kerry Gillen:

    I can't cant comment on Opodo, I but had problems with E Dreams and their cancel for any reason guarantee.
    It was a nightmare trying get the money refunded and took a lot of time and expense to get sorted.
    Contacting E Dreams customer services to cancel cost over 12 pounds as it's a premium rate number, and I then had to keep chasing-up the refund for weeks before I finally got reimbursed.
  • Kerry Gillen

    In reply to David Lilley:

    I have checked their website for the original link to cancel the flight and it has now gone. The whole site seems changed since I run my checks last summer.

    I did try the +44 80 0026 1621 number just to see if it worked using my booking reference number for my flight to Milan for the quarter final in Rome. As soon as I entered the ref number an automated message said straight away that they were only dealing with bookings in the next 5 days due to the corona virus then cut me off.

    It doesn't help you I know but I think you were screened out by a hastily arranged 5 day rule due to corona.

    Keep us informed on how you get on with the "cancel for any reason" guarantee. I have a few flights booked with it and very small windows to cancel in should we progress/not progress in the competition.

    As already stated I have had bad experiences with Opodo. It was only this guarantee that brought back to them. If someone else had been offering the same guarantee I would have gone through them
  • Chris Fletcher
    Opodo are the worst company I have ever dealt with by far!!

    I booked some flights to Florida with them about 3 years ago

    My plans changed so I tried to get a refund, was told no, fair enough, my mistake so not much I could do

    A couple of months later they contact me to advise my flight times had been changed

    I rang them and the person I spoke to said he would try and find me new flights

    I said I would happily take a refund to which he said would be fine but would take 4 weeks

    I said fine and was happily jumping for joy

    After 4 weeks nothing

    I rang back and was told it could take 6 weeks

    This went on and on

    Me chasing

    Them fobbing me off for almost 3 months

    I then had enough, I set up a twitter account, followed everyone under the son to gain followers and started hammering them on social media 15-20 times a day

    Took 3 or 4 days then they did my refund which took another few days and I had my money back

    Utter cowboys

    If they mess you about take to social media and don’t stop

    Your problem will soon be sorted
  • David Lilley

    In reply to David Lilley:

    Following news that Euro 2020 is to become Euro 2021, I have just been back on to the Opodo phone number to invoke the 'cancel for any reason' guarantee. I went through the cancellation process for my flight booking for St Petersburg and, in case I did it wrong the first time, I also went through the process again for Copenhagen.

    The process was entirely automated. At the end, before the system terminated the call, the 'voice' said that, due to the coronavirus issue, they were currently only dealing with cases where the flight is within the next 5 days. I hope this means that my request is deferred rather than ignored. In any case, if the process truly is automated then high call volumes shouldn't affect anything. According to Opodo's blurb, refunds are supposed to take no more than 10 working days. We will see.

    I really hope that Opodo have properly insured their liabilities under this guarantee. If they have tried to bear the risk themselves then I can imagine the coronavirus crisis and Euro cancellation could hit their cash flow so hard that they collapse. In that case, I would just be another creditor with no chance of any pay out.
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