Why never book with Cleartrip?

Some days back I was furiously supporting this cleartrip thing. I used cleartrip from long since my friends were trying to get their tickets in IRCTC for 3-4 hours and I secretly used to get my tickets from cleartrip. But those gold days extinguished when IRCTC applied some new rule and it asked for password or some crazy account authentication stuff which always stuck. Either OTP doesn’t come, either password is forgotten or mostly the account is locked as we used to do a trick to reserve normal seats using tatkal quota. Just google out, that was a cheap trick.

So what happened was I was travelling to Kota to admit my sister. Firstly it was a flight to New Delhi, then to Jaipur, then from Jaipur we were supposed to catch the train to Kota. Even I booked a hotel named ‘The Leisure Inn’ through the cleartrip.

So my flight to New Delhi got delayed for 4 hours and hence I got a tiny piece of email and then when the shit starts.

Dear Cleartripper,

Trip ID 15042111840 – Change in BBI-DEL segment

This is to inform that there have been some changes in your trip ID 15042111840 for BBI-DEL segment.

PNR 4SKY7M | Air India AI-878 | BBI – DEL | Departure time: 0940 on 23APRun

The flight has been cancelled by the airline.

Alternate flight option given by the airline:

Air India AI-874 | BBI – DEL | Departure time: 1345, Arrival time: 1545 on 23APR

Ok. It was fine, then a second email.

Dear Cleartripper,

This is to inform that there have been some changes in your trip ID 15042111604.
As per the new itinerary, minimum connection time* between the two flights is not met. We request you to check with airline or Cleartripwithin 24hrs from the mail received. Delay in reply will lead to itinerary cancellation by airline.
If you wish to claim refund for the cancelled flight, please cancel the Trip ID by logging into your Cleartrip account on www.cleartrip.com or else, write to us at customersupport@cleartrip.com
You can also call us (24 X 7) on +91 9595 333 333 (India) / +971 04 389 8888 (Middle East)
*Minimum connection time – time interval required in order for a passenger to transfer from one flight to another connecting flight.

Ok, So I need to get a way to Kota from New Delhi as my schedule is messed up there is no way I can also catch the train I was supposed to catch from Kota as we had to travel by train to Jaipur, it would take considerable amount of time but as per my calculation, we were still able to catch our night train if we managed to take one of two trains we had seen from New Delhi.

But, awesomely, don’t know why, we were circling over Agra and then into some dessert sort of place for one hour and the flight made a delay of 2 hours, so first thing was to cancel the rail ticket and get refunded. They refunded almost instantly within 1-2 hour. I got 50% back. (Don’t remember exact figure , 50% is the maxima).

Then there was no train with seats to Kota, so we hunt out a broker who sold tickets to Kota in triple price. It’s common practice in New Delhi, they had “settings” inside with the officers, so it is all-share thing. [TIP: Never eat in the resturants near New Delhi Station, they charge like 5 star hotel and their food is utterly crappy]

Then we reached Kota, the hotel guys were another lol. They asked for like 2000 INR extra where I had paid all the amount with cleartrip, they said they had forgot to update their cleartrip account and we have to oblige the latest price. Have you ever asked in the middle of movie for more money for the ticket ? I had no options. What should I do? Should I run to local police station ? I don’t think Indian Police will bother until there is some murder case.

So, whatever, leave my experience of Kota, let the cleartripping chapter begin. The return journey was all fine which includes my vomiting all over the station as it was too hot in Kota and I got heat stroke. So, I was expecting a return from cleartrip for cancellation of New Delhi to Jaipur flight. There were 4 tickets. I , my father, my mother was in one trip id and my sister’s ticket was processed later, so her trip id was different.

First, I got a horrible mail –

Why should I donate my money where I didn’t travel to New Delhi and Jaipur and oh, another thing, I talked with the airlines, they had refunded whole amount , I mean WHOLE.

So, after a series of crappy emails and chasing for nearly a month , they have refunded 1000 INR for my sister while for the three person, the refund amount is 4258 INR.

Now here are the rules as I collected from the email –

1. If you had paid 999 INR as a broker fee from Bhubaneswar to Jaipur and your trip got cancelled in between New Delhi to Jaipur, they will deduct 999 INR, so if both flights cancelled, they might demand a more 999 INR.

2. They refund 1000 INR as a full amount to Jaipur-New Delhi flight, pretty cheap.

3. When I asked about 1000 INR, they say, only base fare is refunded but the airlines said all the amount is refunded.

4. Then they change the statement that – “rest is tax”. So I had to pay tax of more than 50% amount where my trip was forcefully cancelled.

This was their second last email –

Dear Mr. Ghosh?,

Thank you for writing to us regarding your flight reservation under Trip ID: 15042111604 and 15042111840.

We understand your concern and apologize for the inconvenience caused to you.

We would like to inform you that we have processed refund from our end as follows:

1)
Trip ID: 15042111840.
Date of refund: Apr 30th, 2015
Refund amount:  Rs. 1,000/-

2)
Trip ID: 15042111604.
Date of refund: May 05th, 2015
Refund amount:  Rs.4758/-

The amount has been credited to the same account/card, which was used for making the payment.

Kindly note that it usually takes 5 to 7 working days for the amount to reflect into your account, depending upon the issuing bank.

Please be informed that we have processed full refund for DEL – JAI flight (Trip ID: 15042111840) after deducting Convenience Fee of Rs. 200/-.

We charge the convenience fee as Banks have a Payment gateway fee on the overall value of the booking. Due to rules associated with the payment gateway charges, we cannot call it as Payment gateway fees and hence, we need to display it as convenience charges.

This fee is charged even if the airline refunds the entire amount back to us in case of flight cancellation. This is in lieu with the Non Refundable payment gateway fee put by the Bank on us.

I replied –

So I sent in May 6. and they replied in May 24

They are still searching with ‘concerned department’ for last 30 days. The worst part is , in one of the emails they have asked me to call them, I emailed to call them, they replied, it is a company policy so they can’t call. So I called, the guy bared talked with me, kept me hung up for an hour, costing me 75 INR.

But when it comes to money – Suppose when I booking with cleartrip, many time it happened my number in debit card went wrong and they will call up in seconds to help you process the payment. So when comes to take the money, they are a lap dog. and when the money is taken, they will take you as a shit.

Let’s buy tickets directly from airline next time or your money will not refunded ever in scenario like this. ! Cleartrip is a shit, a white collar thief and they don’t give a fuck when they have your money.