Julian R.

I have travelled hundreds of times and used my fair share of online travel agencies but Travelgenio has provided the worst and most blatantly dishonest experience I've ever had. Even if their flights might seem cheaper, I would strongly advise against using them. Sharing my experience here so you know what you're getting yourself into if you book with Travelgenio. I only wish I read the many negative reviews before I did.
The issue: I received an email saying that the route for our flight was no longer serviced by the airline and the proposed new itinerary was 30 hours long and had 3 layovers. The flight I booked was less than 23 hours long and had 2 layovers. So, I felt that any new flight should be on par with our booking in terms of time travelled and number of stops. Below is my experience dealing with the Travelgenio customer service people when I called to make what I feel is a simple and reasonable request.
Day 1: First time I got through a customer representative, he greeted me in English and when I proceeded to provide my booking code and explain why I was calling, he asked whether I could repeat it all in Spanish or Portuguese. Hmm... I restarted in my basic SpanishHe understood the situation but said that I should check with the airline directly to which I replied that we booked and paid Travelgenio so therefore we'd rather they look into the new itinerary. After that, he said he needed to check in with the airline and get back to me. He also promised a call back from an English-speaking customer representative to give me an update on my new itinerary within a few hours. Never happened.
Day 2: After 24 hours, I tried a few times to call the help line again as our flight was imminent. The number just cuts off after 10mns or more waiting on the line. The 3rd time it worked! And I got through to an English-speaking lady. I had to explain the situation again and I got the same response. In short, her script was we need to check with the airline and I need to speak with my supervisor... We will get back to you today. Again, no call back.
Day 3: After another 24 hours of not hearing back from anyone from Travelgenio and our departure date around the corner, I called again. Got through to an English-speaking customer representative and proceeded to have the most irritating phone call ever. This time the script changed.
1- I was told that I had confirmed the new 30 hours long itinerary and therefore no changes could be made. The flight was final. I provided no such confirmation and after 10mn of back and forth with the customer representative, I was unable to get him to provide me with evidence that I had.
2- I asked to speak to his supervisor. He said that this decision was made with the supervisor. After I insisted, he said the supervisor was in a meeting. I said I'd hold and he said that I won't be speaking to the supervisor.
3- By this point I was in total disbelief and having spent 20 very unpleasant minutes with someone who was making stuff up, I asked how long a refund would take. After being put on hold for 6 minutes, he came back online and told me that it would be up to 3 months! I don't have $3,500 lying around so this effectively meant that I couldn't cancel my flight with them and book with another agency.
So, after this 3-day ordeal, I'm trapped into flying with Travelgenio and I'm expecting an absolutely horrid start to my holidays with the flight from hell. #travelgeniosucks