Beware of affordable holiday packages! From our recent experience with the “cheap as chips” travel agency, TripADeal on a 14 day Sri Lanka/Maldives trip there is absolutely no flexibility. Once you’ve booked and paid there is no flexibility and no changes can be made. It doesn’t matter if you’ve moved interstate, had a death in the family or fallen ill. You either go on the trip or lose your money! There is no credit available or even ability to transfer to someone else.
Sure these holiday packages are cheap and offer travel to some great bucket list destinations. But you need to make sure you are aware of the small print and read some travel reviews before you even think about booking.
The Maldives
We made the mistake of pouncing upon a great deal on a 14 day trip to Sri Lanka and the Maldives back in October last year. Although we thought we had read the booking terms and conditions thoroughly we missed one thing! This one thing was about the city of departure for the flights. We understood that we had to pay extra to depart from Brisbane but much to our surprise we discovered after we booked and paid that the international flight actually departed from Melbourne. We immediately contacted TripADeal to ask for our flight to be changed to depart from the Gold Coast and they flatly refused. A very smug girl with a ridiculous name (spelt in a trendy fashion – as you do!), told us that once we paid there were absolutely no changes that could be made to the booking as per the terms and conditions of the holiday package.
Fast forward to March this year when we relocated to Northern NSW. I once again contacted TripADeal explaining that Brisbane was no longer a viable departure city for us and could we cancel the domestic flight to Melbourne. I was met with a brick wall nor any understanding of my situation and was told I couldn’t change the booking whatsoever!
So I persisted and emailed an official complaint to TripADeal and asked for the contact details of the manager or CEO of the company. They refused to give me this information so I was dealing with a reservations assistant! I also lodged a complaint with AFTA (Australian Federation of Travel Agents). I tried to appeal to them to make them see that I had a justifiable reason to change the flight booking. Alas, they were unmoved!
Sri Lankan Girl
Eventually they offered me a solution, but that solution involved paying an extra $300 each to cancel the Brisbane to Melbourne flight. Things were getting out of hand, so I then lodged an official complaint with Sri Lankan Airlines asking them to justify these ridiculous cancellation fees. Keep in mind our trip isn’t until September and the flights were only booked in March this year.
After about a month Sri Lankan Airlines agreed to waiver their cancellation fee but they weren’t prepared to give us a refund on our originally paid for flights from Brisbane to Melbourne and we had to pay TripADeal another $90 in taxes and administration fees. You can imagine by this stage I had smoke coming out of both of my ears!
In short we’re snookered! Unless we’re prepared to lose our originally paid airfares and pay the extra fees to TripADeal. You can imagine my response to that! There was no way I was giving this company another dollar of my money.
A common complaint about TripADeal is flight scheduling
I decided to take a peek at TripAdvisor to see what other traveller’s experiences have been like with this travel agency and not surprisingly they don’t stack up too well. Here’s some of the things travellers have to say:
These are just a selection of TripADeal holiday package reviews I’ve copied from TripAdvisor, so you basically get the drift.
TripADeal China Holiday Packages have been complained about the most
There has been this nagging thought in the back of my mind and that is “you get what you pay for”! However in saying this I still think that TripADeal and other affordable holiday package travel agents should have a duty of care to ensure that you are safe on your trip, that tour guides are experienced and speak reasonable English, accommodation is clean and comfortable and that trip schedules are doable.
I recommend that you look closely at these affordable holiday packages prior to making a booking. Look at things like:
Make sure hotels are of a reasonable standard
At the end of the day if you’re not happy with a travel agent or a booked holiday package then complain and make sure you give them a bad review. Unless we speak up there may be others who have bad holiday experiences with these overtly competitive travel agents.
We’re off on our Sri Lankan/Maldives holiday in mid September and although I’ve had a bad pre-holiday experience I’m hoping that the trip will go smoothly. You will certainly be the first to know if we don’t!
Comments are closed.
Shannon
July 17, 2019A good read thank you. I had wondered about their trips which seem so incredibly cheap!
Kathy
July 18, 2019They are incredibly cheap and although they do have some great reviews there appears to be a lot of bad ones as well. This always makes me skeptical and now I’ve had such a bad booking experience I would never book with TripADeal again!
Christine
July 17, 2019Grrrrr – how annoying. You just have to forget it now though so it doesn’t spoil your holiday. I did once investigate one of these but they couldn’t tell me what airline the included fare would be with, nor of course the exact day and time, so I didn’t pursue. I’ve similarly read bad reports, although my sister did go on a cheap Chinese tour and was happy with it and they had lowish expectations. I did book a holiday once with Luxury Escapes and two months out realised I’d written in the wrong month when booking, but when I approached the hotel in Thailand about the incorrect dates, they changed it willingly without any fuss. I suspect I was lucky as that would have been at the discretion of the hotel. You certainly have to be careful so thanks for all this good advice. Will share.
Kathy
July 18, 2019Yes we’ve been on several Luxury Escapes and have found they are a lot more flexible with changes and the holidays have been fantastic. I really was skeptical about TripADeal, but several people told me that they had great holidays with them and decided why not give them a go. I’m hoping that the holiday itself is better than the booking process. TripADeal weren’t prepared to give us any of the flight details until I persevered. Their “policy” is to only give you your flight details about 6 weeks prior to the trip. I find this completely unacceptable too!
Katherine
July 18, 2019Gosh, certainly something to look out for.
Kathy
July 18, 2019Yes I always appreciate information like this to make travellers aware of the pitfalls of budget travel holiday packages. You really need to do your homework first and in this case I wasn’t thorough enough!
Jane
July 20, 2019Great article Kathy and well done for bringing it to everyone’s attention. We tend to skip over terms and conditions.
Kathy
July 21, 2019I think we can all be guilty of getting overly excited about the holiday deal and skim through the small print. This has taught me a very good lesson. You really do need to be aware of terms and conditions. But in saying this there should be some flexibility for change of circumstances. It’s very mean spirited of TripADeal.
Janet
July 22, 2019About this time last year we saw a great deal to go to China and were seriously considering it. I’m not sure if it was with Trip a Deal but a lot of what you have said here is very familiar. Fortunately before we booked anything we investigated thoroughly and checked out a lot of reviews … and decided against it. I’m all for a bargain holiday but not if it means I hate it!!!!
Kathy
July 22, 2019I’ve seen plenty of these cheap deals to China and so far it has not appealed to me. Friends of ours went on an organised tour in March (not with TripADeal) and they had a long list of complaints. It certainly is a great idea to do your research first.
jan
July 22, 2019Thanks for sharing your experiences Kathy.
Kathy
July 22, 2019You’re welcome. I think it’s important to warn others of the pitfalls of budget holiday packages. Once bitten, twice shy!
jo
July 23, 2019Arggh. I can feel your frustration. Like you I would also have been a bull terrier. I absolutely hate that the travel world has become so removed from human beings who can understand the troubles and challenges of individuals. Seems as if this company have a lot to answer to though. I hope your holiday goes well in the end. Maybe you’ll be upgraded?!!
Kathy
July 25, 2019Yes I feel this particular travel agency has depersonalised the travel booking experience with absolutely no flexibility or willingness to provide basic customer service. I will never book with this company again and fingers crossed our holiday experience will be better than the booking experience.
Jan Wild
July 31, 2019What an annoying experience. I do hope your on-ground experience is excellent and helps to remove the bitter taste for you.
Kathy
August 1, 2019You and me both Jan. I really despise bad customer service!
Gary Francis
August 5, 2019We certainly discovered that some company’s definition of ‘luxury’ does match with the everyday person…. It does surprise me that-in the age of online reviews-a company is prepared to mis-represent it’s products…
Kathy
August 5, 2019This travel company is certainly trying to make a quick buck without taking each of their customers needs into consideration. They simply don’t care because they know that there are plenty of other new victims ready to pounce on their “cheap as chips” holiday packages. When I threatened them with bad reviews and publicity they couldn’t care less!