Why I will never book with Cleartrip again!

This year, I am a girl on an agenda. It might seem small, or unnecessary to some, but in my heart I know how much it means to me. I want to remember the year 2015 as the one where I left behind apprehensions and traveled non-stop to explore India. This ain’t no small task, but planned and executed very diligently up till now, keeping in mind the holidays, long weekends and the limited number of leaves that a work-place allows. The people who keep asking me how I manage work and extensive travel together, I am not going to let the secret out anytime soon. Okay, I’ll think about it. Maybe I’ll write about it when I celebrate the #JoyOfGiving week. Today, it’s the joy of letting you guys know why I will never book with Cleartrip again.

 Even though this is yet another post that sets out to celebrate travel, it is not about another beautiful destination. This one is about a terrible experience I had with Cleartrip a couple of days ago. The 2nd Oct long weekend was all chalked out, the Volvo seats booked, hotel reservations done. Mukteshwar was the destination I was supposed to be headed to as this small town tucked away in the hills had fascinated me for quite sometime. Given the long-weekend rush and my intentions of not letting it go waste by sitting in the city, I decided on Mukteshwar to avoid crowds. Though it isn’t as offbeat as it was a couple of years ago, I believed Mukteshwar would provide me the much-needed solace. But all thanks to Cleartrip, this wasn’t meant to be. 

On Sep 25th, a week in advance of the travel, I booked myself and a couple of friends on a Volvo to Kathgodam, from where we would have hired a cab till Mukteshwar. Then, I started looking for a decent hotel, keeping in mind the innumerable things one checks while booking a stay. We were an all-girls group, so I had to be cautious and book the best of whatever was available. After hours of going through reviews, I finally zeroed in on a property and booked our stay, through Cleartrip. Little did I know that time that choosing Cleartrip was the biggest mistake. One that I would not repeat ever, and assume its my duty to make people aware of what they are signing up for while planning their holidays through the site.

So, the hotel all booked and the travel arrangements done, I was already dreaming about three amazing days in the hills. But, Cleartrip made sure my dreams don’t convert to reality. A day before the travel, I got a call from an executive from Cleartrip informing me that the hotel I had done the full payment of through their site was all booked and unavailable at the time I had made that booking through the site. But, this small detail wasn’t updated on the site. So, now I had been given an alternate property to stay at. I asked them to give me a couple of minutes to check the property and contact me in an hour. 

In the meanwhile, I called up the hotel to check how this could happen and why was I being informed just a day before the travel. The response I got was shocking and imposed a belief that Cleartrip sure doesn’t take their customers any seriously. The hotel administration had informed Cleartrip of this booking which went through( even though there were no available rooms) a couple of days ago, and they waited till the last moment to inform me about it. Heartbroken, I hung up the call requesting them to inform me in case there are any last-minute cancellations. 

Now, the property they selected for me was a cheap hotel, somewhere 8km away from Mukteshwar. There were no reviews or ratings on Tripadvisor. I am someone who would never book accommodation before making sure it’s the right one and this pissed me off a lot. Since more than an hour had passed and I got no callback from Cleartrip, I decided to call them myself and ask for an alternate option which at least has reviews about it on the internet. After going through a couple of routine queries, I was again given another option. Once again a basic, budget property, 8km away from where I had originally booked. The reviews on Tripadvisor were mixed, but each one stressing on how it was a ‘budget hotel’ so keep no expectations. This was definitely not the hotel I would have liked to spend my holiday at. 

So, I took the task of finding another alternate by myself because Cleartrip wasn’t helping at all. Even after specifying my requirements, telling them that I don’t need a budget stay but a decent, safe hotel, they would come up with horrible options with lowest fares. This, I presume was because I had got a hefty 40% cashback on the property I had booked earlier. Browsed through the afternoon and I couldn’t find one property in Mukteshwar which was good and available. How would I,just one day before the long weekend when half of Delhi was headed to the hills? 

So, even though it was all Cleartrip’s fault, I had to suffer by changing my destination to any place where I get an accommodation.That’s not a criterion most of us follow to decide where we want to spend our long weekends. Add to that, long hours of wasting time finding a decent hotel, reading reviews and checking availability by calling up hotels directly, instead of relying on the faulty services provided by Cleartrip. I finally changed my destination, decided on a property and decided to call Cleartrip to book me on the one I had chosen. What followed was pure harassment from Cleartrip’s side. Their customer care is the worst I have ever experienced. I called them umpteen times, narrated the whole story to a new executive every single time and asked them to do the needful. The response I got was that they’re checking with the property and will get back to me in an hour. Only, that time never came. 

With my trip going for a toss without a stay anywhere, I was already in panic by now. Cleartrip neglected the fact that they were ruining a holiday for me. Instead, I got the same response on every call I made, narrated the whole incident and reasoned with a new executive why I need to be booked on the hotel I had decided upon, instead of the one that is showing on my Trip Id. This went on for a good six to seven hours before they told me that they’ll be able to confirm the next day. I didn’t even know if I should pack a bag for my travel which was supposed to be the next day. All thanks to Cleartrip. Talking to their customer support team, which by the way doesn’t do an iota of a job to support the customer was such a pain and it left me really angry the way they handled the whole thing. The people were insensitive and would just hang up the call if they didn’t have answers. 

Their social media team kept reassuring me that ‘the concerned team is looking into my request’ for a while and then comfortably, stopped responding to my tweets. It was a whole new round of humiliating experience trying to talk to customer support team who would just utter ‘sorry’ without actually trying to help me in any way. I understand the long weekend rush and the volume of calls coming in, but that should not be why one customer is left un-attended to. 

They had already ruined a trip for me and no apologies could bring it back. I waited for another couple of hours, made a few calls to the customer care which yielded nothing, before being told that the property I had chosen is not available anymore. Their site clearly showing otherwise so that someone like me could fall for it and book it. I cancelled the whole thing and felt really cheated. Later on I booked the same property via another portal. 

The whole thing being Cleartrip’s fault, it never seemed they were really sorry for what they did to me. It was business as usual for them. Their Twitter timeline is a proof of how it’s a routine practice to say sorry and move on, without reflecting on how they are ruining someone’s holiday. 

So yes, I will never book with them again. Not even if they’re giving it for free, because the mental trouble one goes through after the booking is made is not worth it. Cleartrip, might just clear your entire trip and that too without any regrets. So, think twice before you are tempted to block your money on a deal that seems too good to be true. Dear Cleartrip, Thank you so much for ruining my holiday. I will not forgive you for this one. Bye, forever.