Laurene O.

I wish I had read through reviews on this site before booking my flight with Student Universe! Absolute worst travel booking service ever. For all students, please don't be penny wise and pound foolish -- you are better off paying a little more and buying directly from the airline or using a more reputable booking service.

I booked my Turkish Airlines flight for May 30th through Student Universe. A few days to the flights, I received a notification that my flight had been canceled. I called Student Universe, asking what would happen. They said there wasn't any alternative flight they could offer. So I asked about a refund because I read through their policy, which had stated that I would only forfeit my payment should I be the one to cancel the flight. They said they would offer a refund after deducting a $40 processing fee. I pushed back because there was no mention of such a fee in their policy, to which they offered a "discounted" fee of $25. I also pushed back again, referring to their policy. After being placed on hold forever, they came back and said they would waive the cancellation fee. I asked when I would receive my money but to which they mentioned that it could take 4-6weeks because the money had been passed to the airline. Before contacting Student Universe, I had actually called Turkish, who had informed me that the flight had been canceled and explained that Student Universe would be responsible for issuing a refund because Turkish had not received any money yet. So I pushed back and told the Student Universe customer rep what Turkish said. He said he understands my frustration and that they had received so many similar complaints and that to be guaranteed a refund, I should go ahead and file a dispute with my bank.

I went ahead and disputed the charge. Two days later, Student Universe calls and says I should go ahead and tell the bank that I had mistakenly disputed the charge so they can quickly issue a refund to me. I guess this is because of reputation issues. I told them I would not do that because that would be a lie as the dispute claim was not false, and actually, their representative was the one who told me to file the dispute.

Fast forward August 7th, I receive communication from my bank that Student Universe says they will not go ahead to issue the refund because I was the one that canceled my flight. I am baffled! Why would they choose to lie? Honestly at this point, should I not be able to find resolve through my bank, I think the next step should be taking them to court.

So for anyone looking to use them, please don't. But in the event, you have to use them, keep all documents and record all phone calls because you don't know when you will need it.