Warning - Agoda

[williamsf1]

Have had an interesting experience using the Velocity/Agoda partnership. I had to book some clients into a property in a certain area. Normally I use Rocketmiles or Pointshound for this to earn AA or EY miles. Neither had availability but Agoda did. I waited 6 weeks until I could put in a claim for the points (6K worth of accommodation = 18K Velocity points). I've been told that as the booking was not for me I am ineligible to receive the points. There is nothing in the T&C's that says the booker has to be the traveller, indeed Agoda ask " are you the person staying" or some such. Should I pursue further?? I'm inclined to but I want to make sure I've covered all bases. Ive checked and rechecked the T&C's and can't find anything that says I'm ineligible. I advised Velocity to either grant the points or change the T&c's but as a lowly red member don't even get a response.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

Would this not cover your complaint ?

9.1.3 Except as provided elsewhere in the Terms and Conditions, Points may be credited only to the Membership Account of the Member who has acquired the eligible goods or services, entered into the eligible transaction or taken the eligible flight.

ie in your example .. The "service" being the hotel room .... you did not use this "service" ... you may have booked the "service" but it was not under your membership name

 

[JohnK]

I just made a booking through Virgin Agoda and the price was the same as direct with Agoda.

I made a booking yesterday as well and the room rate was the same. A previous glitch that has been rectified?

It would also appear I have received Agoda rewards and Velocity points for a previous booking. I thought it was one or the other but not both.

 

[Cryptarcadian]

I just made an Agoda booking, and while I went through and the VA-branded site and was asked to enter my Velocity number during the booking process, the resulting confirmation was missing the "trusted partner of Virgin Australia" branding.

Does that mean they didn't recognise it in the system? Is there anything I can do about it to get that changed, or am I resigned to being scammed out of points? (I consider it a scam, since I could've booked elsewhere and got a better deal.)

 

[newmarket]

I use Agoda from time to time. You do have to double check the prices. Personally I don't think that it is worth paying more must few some points.

It can take awhile to get the points, but I have never not gotten them. Of course, as mentioned book via the link on the Velocity www site.

 

[bam71]

Would this not cover your complaint ?

9.1.3 Except as provided elsewhere in the Terms and Conditions, Points may be credited only to the Membership Account of the Member who has acquired the eligible goods or services, entered into the eligible transaction or taken the eligible flight.

ie in your example .. The "service" being the hotel room .... you did not use this "service" ... you may have booked the "service" but it was not under your membership name

Damn - that would be correct. No idea why I didn't see that ..

Thanks..

 

[JohnK]

I just made an Agoda booking, and while I went through and the VA-branded site and was asked to enter my Velocity number during the booking process, the resulting confirmation was missing the "trusted partner of Virgin Australia" branding.

Does that mean they didn't recognise it in the system? Is there anything I can do about it to get that changed, or am I resigned to being scammed out of points? (I consider it a scam, since I could've booked elsewhere and got a better deal.)

Are you able to cancel for free and rebook? Other option is to send Agoda feedback and they should be able to fix.

 

[Cryptarcadian]

Nah, it's one of those prepay rates that I can't cancel for free to rebook unfortunately. I'll keep that in mind for next time though!

And I normally wouldn't go out of my way to get the VA points via Agoda... in this case it was the same price as everywhere else. Although, during the booking process I logged in to my Agoda account (on the same page as putting in my VA number) and it dropped the rate by a few bucks more ("insider" deal or something). Come to think of it, would that have caused it to fail to link to VA?

(I know I referenced the idea that it's a scam, or more accurate a bait-and-switch, and that's because even for exactly the same price I could've booked via Hotels.com and got 1/10 of a free night out of it, which is worth more than zero VA points.)

Any suggestions on the best method of sending Agoda feedback that will actually get a response?

 

[JohnK]

Any suggestions on the best method of sending Agoda feedback that will actually get a response?

The "Contact us" link on their website. They have always responded to my queries within 24 hours.

 

[jpk]

Today it's doing that thing where it shows "trusted partner" on the page, but you can't enter your velocity number when you try to book. I can see why people get caught out on this. Pathetic implementation.

 

[jpk]

Today it's doing that thing where it shows "trusted partner" on the page, but you can't enter your velocity number when you try to book. I can see why people get caught out on this. Pathetic implementation.

I worked this one out, the hotel I was trying to book didn't have the "promotion eligible" banner (which is weird as I've booked and received points here in the past). I wonder if this is what catches people out, as there's no other explicit warning that you will not receive points?

 

[24601]

Agoda introduced PointsMAX recently. Includes a number of top US based airlines.

I haven't seen too much information on it so started digging around. Please do not think this is a rewards program. You are in fact buying the miles from Agoda instead of United, AAdvantage, SkyMiles etc.

Unless there is some generous promotion with the airlines then take the 5% accumulated towards Agoda rewards and any cashback sites all the time.

I see you can earn/"buy" Velocity points on Agoda Points Max too. Does anyone know if the points earned this way reflect a VA status tier bonus, like the normal Velocity-Agoda "promotion eligible" bookings? That is, does a WP get more than SG? If not, then the points max earns more than the normal WP bonus in many cases. That would be good if you have no status. But it would also be a benefit lost. Anyone know?

 

[Cryptarcadian]

An update from my earlier query in this thread, better late than never I hope!

I didn't get it resolved in time through Agoda customer service. They said I never put in my Velocity number when I made my booking (not true), but couldn't update it unless I could email them from the same address I made the booking from (and I use a different version of it to avoid spam, didn't have time to change it over).

Except... it worked anyway! I got the points credited to Velocity within a week of my stay, including the +100% status bonus.

It seems whether you get an email confirmation with the "trusted partner of Virgin Australia" (I didn't), or whether customer service tell you they can see your Velocity number or not -- neither seems to be an accurate reflection of whether a booking will successfully track for your Velocity account.

Conclusion: it works, but you don't really have any way of knowing that beforehand

 

[madmouse58]

just want to update all. I made a agoda/velocity booking (only $100), didn't bother taking any screenshots.

Got credited within 5 business days with the points as expected.

 

[aaronm]

After a number of bookings which required a follow-up missing points claim, I was stunned to see points credited this afternoon from a weekend stay. Hopefully it's not a once-off and this continues to keep happening...

 

[JohnK]

Has something changed here?

I've been going to the Velocity website the past few days and clicking on Agoda link and when I do a search it times out and takes me to normal Agoda website. This is on Samsung Galaxy S5.

I have booked through Hotels.com instead as they were a little cheaper anyway for the hotel I wanted.

 

[Edge]

I've been burnt by Agoda once before. This time it worked as it should. Glad I tried again because a seven-night stay (costing around $3k, ending last Saturday) just posted and netted almost 20k velocity points (plus ~10k altitude points for booking on Amex). I price checked all the key websites (including booking direct with the resort) and Agoda had a comparable price as well as only charging my credit card a few days before check-in, whereas other websites required upfront payment.

Thumbs up, will be using them again for sure.

 

[dzzr]

Interesting so many people have had issues. I have probably made 50+ bookings and never had a single issue *touch wood* and points have always arrived between 5-10 business days.

 

[JohnK]

That's the wonderful thing about moronic internet programming that is not tested properly.

I booked an Avis car last week on my Samsung S5. There was no way I could enter frequent flyer number anywhere. Why do they release this rubbish to the public?

 

[Pleb Status]

Booked with Agoda via Velocity this morning as they were significantly cheaper than elsewhere (when comparing about 10 sites with discount codes/rebates where available, including my favourite Cheaptickets.com with an 18% off coupon code and also ~22% cheaper than QF hotels). It was almost like they had forgotten to include the 20% UK VAT....

Received the 'trusted partner of Virgin Australia' booking receipt so should be good for the 6pts/$ earn.

I did note that the price on the Agoda Android app was ~2.1% cheaper than when booking via the Agoda Velocity link (worth the extra cost for the points however). Has anyone used the Agoda PBG to price beat Agoda themselves? Most likely not compliant with the PBG T&C's as they are not a competitor to themselves.

 

[andy2015]

Booked via Velocity 2 days ago. Entered Velocity ID during checkout flow. Email confirmation doesn't have any "trusted partner" details on it. I've sent an email checking that it is noted in their system so we shall see. Worst case scenario the price was better than all other booking sites.