This is my experience with MakeMyTrip. I choosen the travel agent thinking that they will help with my rather complex travel plan. My wife needs to travel to India before Mar end. And she will accompany my parents if they get visa (appt at consulate on Mar 30th). So, we planned her travel with makemytrip with a reason that we can book my parents tickets with makemytrip. Since they have toll-free nos in US and India, I really thought it will be helpful to choose a travel agent with a presense in US and India. After I purchased the ticket, just 2 weeks before travel, we needed to cancel/reschedule the ticket. Sent an email in this regard to customercare@makemytrip.com and got the following reply: _________________________________________________________________ Dear Customer, Namaste and greetings from MakeMyTrip! Please find below the answers for your questions: 1. Start date of my journey (to a later date): Ans. date change is not allowed 2. Return date of my journey. Ans.USD 250 based on availability 3. Cancel the trip. Ans.USD 290 before departure only Should you need any clarification/assistance you may call us on our toll free number at: 1 800 INDIA 10. We have 24 hrs / 365 days customer service else you can also reply back on the same email. Thanks and regards VSP (shortened to hide the customer service rep name) _________________________________________________________________ An email sent by customercare, after we requested for procedure to request for cancellation, they sent an email: __________________________________________________________________ From: customercare@makemytrip.com Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 22:36:36 GMT The customer is requested to FAX a signed copy of this letter to MakeMyTrip at 212 656 1303 along with a copy of any photo ID (driving licence, front/back copy of credit card, etc). The tickets will be deposited to the airline once this letter, and the paper tickets are received by MakeMyTrip from the customer. In case of e-tickets we just require this FAX letter. Letter Of Cancellation The Manager, MakeMyTrip Inc. 40 W, 37 ST, Suite 1105, New York, NY 10018 Subject: Cancellation of tickets. The below given tickets have to be cancelled. Passenger Names: Last Name X / First Name Y MRS You are requested to submit these tickets to the airline for refund. I understand the refund processing time may take six to eight weeks, which starts from the time tickets are deposited to the airline by MakeMyTrip. Total price paid for purchase of tickets: USD 1165 Total cancellation penalty:USD 290 Amount to be refunded back through check: USD 875 _____________________________ (Name of credit card holder in CAPS) (Signature of credit card holder) __________________________________________________________________ After we got a verbal confirmation of receipt of Cancellation Form and couple of days later >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> the real fun started >>>>>>>>. Out of nowhere, we got the following ’’reconfirmation of itenerary’’. OH MY GOD - that’s my first response!! ____________________________________________________________ Dear Customer: We are pleased to inform you that your outgoing reservation has been reconfirmed by us. Should you be travelling on a return ticket or having a stopover of more than 72 hours in a city, please do get your return/onward reservation reconfirmed by calling the airlines local office directly at least 72 hours prior to the departure time of flight. You need to report at the check-in counter at least three hours before the flight departure time. Kindly take a moment to review the details of your itinerary given below: TRAVEL ITINERARY: ____________________________________________________________ 4 days before the intended departure date - We have called up and spoken to a rep about this ’’reconfirmation of itenerary’’ while we have submitted a cancellation. The rep asked us not to worry about the email and verified and confirmed positively that our ticket has been cancelled and we should get our refund in 8-12 weeks. ______________________________________________________________ And a day before the intended departure date, we are on phone with a rep (P.S) who tells us that the ticket has to be used for an alternative date by paying $250 and fare-diff if any and can’t be cancelled (inother words can’t be refunded fully). We were not in a position to give an alternative for which we wanted to cancel the ticket. But she left us with no choice and forced us into choosing an alternate departure and return date. The matter ended with $250 towards date-change fees and a tentative new itenerary. _______________________________________________________________ Today, we want to finalize the itenerary and confirm the ticket. We spoke to customer rep (P.S) who asked to give 3 hrs to get back. After 8 hours, we got a call from another rep (S) who has no idea of this entire story upon receiving a mis-spelt email from (P.S) asking to just call us (and find out how we are doing!!). ________________________________________________________________ Out of my curiosity, I asked rep (S) what are the departments and people responsible for ticketing and related activities. Here is what I learnt: Me: Who handles booking and other activities? S: 1) Pre-Sales handles booking (and billing?) 2) Post-Sales handles cancellation, date-changes and etc., And they work with many other groups (airlines/sub-vendors/onsite group at US etc., ). I think both the groups have serious challenges in handling billing, cancellation and date-changes efficiently and also fail to set correct expectations with the customers. For example, S asked me to communicate with the same ’’person’’ for all my queries. I couldn’t believe it. How am I going to know what shift/timeframe that ’’person’’ works in India. Then S suggested me to write email which is the best way to communicate since the ’’person’’ comes on night and day shifts alternatively each week. ___________________________________________________________________ Pros > Pre-Sales (Toll-Free Nos; 24 x 7 Customer Helpers (Yes we need a lot of help to do business with MMT) through email, chat and phone; Brand Name) Cons > Post-Sales (Systems + People + Processess - MMT should fix/replace some or all of them) Reps, Don’t lose heart; work smart. Mgmt, WHERE ARE YOU? If you want earn one more star (*), just reply me back. Offer expires tonight!! __________________________________________________________________