Horrible experience! Stranded

So I felt it necessary to address the injustice I’ve experienced through Agoda. Please note, it is my first and only bad experience I’ve had with the company, my issue does not lie with the company but rather how my situation was dealt with.

From get go, I found a really great deal for a room in a penthouse based in Camps Bay. The only review the property had was a negative one, hence I immediately contacted Agoda support and stated my concern, I also mentioned that upon researching the confirmation address I found that the property was “under offer”. I was assured that my concern will be dealt with and they’d communicate with the property and get back to me prior to check-in. Red flag number arose when the website then changed the address of the property, number two was that even on the day of check-in no instructions or guidance was offered by the host and the numbers Agoda provided and ASSURED was reachable still remained off and no contact with the host was possible, still remaining hopeful, red flag number three arose when we tried to go to the booked property, none of the addresses were correct and the place largely nonexistent, and Agoda has still not communicated with me as they assured me they would. I then contacted support and told them the horrid situation I was in. Bare in mind, it was a long weekend, most property’s were already booked or extremely pricey and I was already in the area, trying to find the place with my luggage and a meeting scheduled the following day in the area.

They then not only took significantly longer than alternative times to respond to my concern, but then let me wait for more than 2hrs until they decided I was able to get a refund. Hardly any consideration for the horrid experience of being stranded with nowhere to go. I was then refunded the R399 I paid for the accommodation. Yes agreed, it’s a relatively great place for the area I was in but that was not the issue, the issue was that Agoda advertised the property at this rate and then confirmed my accommodation and credibility of the host. The refunded R399 done nothing for the inconvenience I’ve had to go through, what about the absolute state of panic I was in, the cost of the fuel I used to find the property (to no success), or even the extra money I had to folk out to find alternative accommodation. They then further offered me a R40! Rather insulting in this day and age and with the cost of living in South Africa. Fuel alone costs more that R20 a litre. They were not even partially bothered about the mishap on their side or even considerate of the situation.

As much as I’ve loved Agoda and recommended the company to many I will never again! Their customer service is highly poor and their problem solving skills pathetic.