Let me begin this review by disclosing that my initial impression with this company was quite positive. The prices were competitive and the ease of booking made it an enticing buy. Therein lies the trap. If anything goes wrong with your itinerary, if there is, perhaps, a global pandemic, buckle up!

We purchased tickets for three passengers prior to the official lockdowns and global closures back in early 2020. The flights were scheduled for August 2020, departing from the US and entering Europe. The official guidelines prohibited nonessential travel and we were left with little choice on how to get a refund.
As many are surely aware, Fareboom offered a voucher that can be used at any point between March 2020 and March 2022. We decided to hold off on the trip until the restrictions eased and we could travel again.

Fast forward to May 2021, we contact Fareboom to book vouchers. The website, the most unintuitive user interface imaginable, purposefully omits the option to book vouchers separately. A notice on the exchange portal reads "Please contact customer service in order to fulfill individual voucher exchange requests". We now begin the back and forth arduous process of setting up appointments, writing chat messages, and emails to secure a desirable date at a reasonable price.

The initial ticket cost was $955/pp purchased back in early 2020. The exchange cost quoted on their own website in 2021 came to around +$550/pp, seemed a bit high, but not egregious. We proceed to contact Fareboom directly via appointments to secure a date and price. We offer all relevant details that pertain to said flights, who will be traveling, who will not be able to, and what dates they depart and return. Meticulously keeping a record of conversations. The first representative we spoke to provided us with a +$963/pp cost for the exchange. I was flabbergasted, the same day and hour we found a better price they are now gaslighting us regarding price. The agent apologized incenserily (who can fault them, it's only a difference of +$400/pp compared to fair market value). Regardless, we continue to hope that perhaps we spoke to them at an inopportune time where prices were higher and given airfare volatility we remained hopeful we would be able to get a good deal.

The process has now ground to a complete halt, emails are not being answered in a timely manner, chats are not being responded to, and appointments are spaced weeks apart. We are now left bewildered wondering how to redeem our tickets at best market value in a timely manner given this impossibly difficult scenario entirely created by Fareboom. Weeks go by with no progress regarding booking, and we begin to press them regarding their business tactics. Immediately they become defensive, accusatory and non compliant with completely reasonable requests. Their customer service effectively begins to ignore us, and knowingly obfuscate the situation.

At this point, we are at our wits end, we have three options. We can cancel the tickets and immediately lose $475 per ticket with an additional cancellation initiation fee of $75 per ticket. An over 50% loss on the value of the original tickets. Option 2, we can book a flight priced significantly higher than fair market value via Fareboom and be stuck with the potential financial consequences when invariably something goes wrong. Option 3, forfeit tickets entirely, taking a total loss.

This company goes above and beyond when it comes to defrauding it's customers, by coercing them into a ridiculous price point via their exchange program. Stay as far away as possible from this business, the fact that they employ telemarketing/mlm/pyramid scheme/ponzi scheme tactics is astounding.

Everyone I come into contact with in the future that has any plans regarding travel will be warned.

I originally booked flights for my son Matthew in November 2019 to Germany for a summer internship on AirFrance flight for May 10th 2020 returning August 5,2020 (cost was $926.18 with $66.17 Travel Insurance included / Order # was O-2B*******). His college advised him not to go due to safety concerns with Covid-19 however the internship was technically not cancelled. When I reached out to Fareboom I was told they couldn't refund my money and -I Couldn't use the travel insurance because I didn't have a cancellation statement from internship in Germany-but I could use ticket another date prior to 1 year from purchase date. I discussed with Matthew and we decided he would take the trip before going back (since we had to use by November) to college so as to not lose the opportunity to visit Germany since I paid the money already. The flight was rebooked for August 3rd on Delta Airlines (Order #O-2B*******) and had to pay an additional fee of $52.00 for difference in Fare. As the date approached in late July it appeared the travel ban to Germany that was in place may not be lifted by August 3rd and his travel may be restricted to Germany. We reached out to Fareboom and were told that if travel was restricted and flights were cancelled then we would get a refund. We were told just prior to flight departure that we would have to request cancelation of tickets to assure we received refund. We followed their guidance and logged into the Fareboom website on July 28th. On the website a "Popup" appeared that said the flight would be eligible for refund due to COVID-19 government mandates... not sure why but this communication is not actually sent in their message system that can be traced back? We followed the steps that they outlined in order to cancel the flight and confirm for refund... We were asked how we wanted to receive reimbursement and we selected putting back on original debit card that was used... No refund came within a few weeks... I messaged them about the refund and was told first that since the flights did depart (with anyone not restricted I assume) and weren't cancelled then I wasn't due a refund... then I was told that since we cancelled the flights and not the airlines we would not receive a refund... Then I was told that I would have to go to AirFrance which confuses me since Matthew was rebooked on a Delta flight?... and I next was told..."but the Airlines are not giving refunds on government mandates...". COVID-19 has turned into the biggest excuse for not doing anything or at least the right things today... I can't actually talk to a person at Fareboom because of COVID-19... no one answers phone and the automated message says you have to message them on website. Hmmm I wonder why the customer service people can be safer typing on computer vs answering the phone forbpeople they've taken money from and given nothing in return... A majority of this nations office staff is working remotely... Can't FareBoom's customer service employees answer a phone at home safely?
My standpoint:
I paid for a flight to Fareboom (Not AirFrance or Delta), Fareboom is then my "travel agent"... they have my $978.18 in their bank account and they weren't able to provide my son a flight; therefor it didn't cost them or the airlines anything for his travel and I want my hard earned money back. Do they think it's ok to take money from people and not give them anything in return. I don't believe their business is charity! I assume they figure we'll just let our money go in their circle of excuses. I'm not asking for a free-ride. I'm the only one here that lost money and although I'm sure the airlines and Fareboom are losing money in this situation its not my responsibility to support their companies for nothing in return.

Pushed into a refund and then charged $150
Greetings. This is our first time using Fareboom. We purchased tickets to fly from Tampa, FL to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and back to Tampa (August 14th - August 21).

We were happy with the tickets we were able to reserve through Fareboom. But then... we received an email.

When Fareboom emailed me that our flight(s) had run into seating/cancellation problems, they gave me two options: allow them to reschedule us on alternative flights (which is the choice we first made and wrote them)... OR... pursue a refund.

Their response to finding us alternate flights was to confirm out cancellation (which we did not choose in our initial response).

Having to confirm the cancellation (we didn't make), we were left with choosing a refund. Fareboom gave us two refund options (allegedly).

First option, accept the cancellation through them and pay $75. Second option, basically go request a refund from the airlines (in this case United Airlines).

Having read reviews, I learned the standard answer from the airlines is that my wife and I purchased our tickets through a 3rd party (Fareboom) and therefore the airlines were not responsible for any refund.

So basically, it appears that Fareboom did not give my wife and I any refund options other than to pay a $75 fee (per ticket) for them to provide me a refund within 2 months.

This is the email I received after having to accept their refund process with a charge of $150:

"This is to confirm that your Fareboom Order O-2B******* has been cancelled and filed for full refund per United Coronavirus waiver conditions. You chose the expedited processing option with $75.00 per ticket administrative filing fee."

My problem is, Fareboom used the phrase "expedited processing option" to justify the $75 fee per ticket (and we had 2 tickets, so its costing us $150). This "expedited processing option" is included in their response but not given as an option when I was forced to pay the $150 fee for the refund.

There was no option to get the refund from Fareboom without having to pay for the "expedited processing option".

It appears Fareboom is forcing people to pay $75 (per ticket) when the industry and government regulations / standards clearly say "Full Refund", is a terrible way to do business.

Since this whole process just occurred 30 minutes ago, I'll wait to see if Fareboom does the right thing and refunds my entire amount or keeps $150 of our money.

I'm far less than impressed with how complicated the booking process was, the charges that ended up going through which were slightly different than what was quoted (even the ticket and itenrary email still show a different amount than what my bank statement says), the rebates were not INSTANT as advertised and the payment verification charges were not reversed within 24 hours as promised. That could be quite possibly the reason behind the variance in charges, that however was not explained to me upfront on the site, but rather in a surprisingly confrontational email that I received directly from the CEO. This review was edited for clarity after an email request from the CEO. I was contacted by a customer support representative who was professional and sympathetic to my situation, he apologized for the miscommunication and misunderstanding validating my experience and assured me that Fareboom is constantly striving towards improvement and doing things better.

Fareboom takes a lot of steps to ensure payment security, and I commend them for that, they pre-auth a small amount to verify that you have access to the card that you're using for the purchase, the email asking you to enter the verification says that the charge will be reversed within 24 hours, that's incorrect, it takes about 48 hours during normal business operating hours for this to happen. The site also says that they have an "instant" rebate, that rebate is not instant and will have to be charged to you first then applied within several business days, which is not instant, nor clearly communicated to you at the time of purchase.

Now this may not seem like much but here is what I'm comparing this with, my experience with [other provider] which I used to process another flight recently. That experience was phenomenal if not flawless, super straight forward in terms of me providing my information for payment and otherwise and guess what, no change in the amount charged the final amount ended up being exactly as quoted, no surprises there.

This experience has been traumatizing to say the least, save yourself the hassle and use any other provider, no this review is not planted by a competitor as the CEO claims in his hostile and condescending email I'm a customer who feels extremely slighted and irate by a lack of empathy and professionalism by this organization. My issue is not with the additional amounts that were charged, it's about the difficulty and complexity of the process, the false information and the variation in charges quoted vs applied and the hostile email communication I received from the CEO himself. I had many options to choose from in terms of providers for the price I paid, unfortunately Fareboom was the wrong one.

I am more than happy and willing to provide evidence of all my claims including emails and screenshots of communication with Fareboom and my bank statements.