Agoda Customer Serivce - A Huge Thumbs UP!

[craigt3365]

As some of you know, our house was flooded out in Pattaya last week. We'd planned to go to Bangkok on Saturday, but were evacuated from our house late Thursday night. Friday was all slow motion. Mom in one hotel, us in another, the dog elsewhere. And the car in the shop. A nightmare.

I tried to call Agoda to cancel our reservation, but we were just so busy with stuff, and with no internet, the connection was never made. I contacted them today as we were a no show for the booking. Guess what? The hotel wouldn't honor the no show (even though we called them Saturday and they said to contact Agoda and it'd be OK), but Agoda did! Out of their own pocket.

I'm impressed and wanted to share that. This is my second very positive experience using Agoda customer service. A huge thumbs up.

[Chao Lao Beach]

Great Craig, my last experence was a "5 star"room in HK (9000b a night), the room filthly, not just 1 bad maid, but a huge amunt of mold in the shower etc, toilet not working for the first 18hours, (had to use a house cleaning toilet down the hall) and a bunch of other stuff, the hotel was over booked. Only ever got a automated response from Agoda, and when I left a honest review, it was deleted.

Very disapointing and just pathethetic.

[curtklay]

Sorry to hear about the flooding, Craig. I know what you're going through. We got flooded back in 1995 in Sacramento, CA. 9 inches of water in the house. All furniture, carpets were ruined, drywall had to be cut out 3 feet up from the floor. Just an incredible mess. We had to move out for 2 months while they rebuilt. Even though we didn't have flood insurance, our carrier graciously covered everything to the tune of $30,000. It was traumatic, but actually turned out in our favor after all was done. Practically a new house.

Hang in there, my friend. Things can only get better from here.

[curtklay]

Duplicate post.

Edited September 23, 2015 by curtklay

[DogNo1]

It's nice to hear of your good experience with Agoda. Sometimes the number of stars that they give a hotel is overdone but I've never had a problem with their service.

[t8769]

Agoda were great when I had a problem, I'll always try to use them, though Trivago offers more variety.

[craigt3365]

Last year, something came up and we couldn't get to Bangkok, so called the hotel. Same one. They said, NO problem, Call Agoda. And Agoda allowed us to move the dates. I'm not sure if it was for free, or a small charge. But either way, we were quite happy.

This was great customer service as we totally missed the dates. A few pics of our beautiful flooded house, before the water rose another foot! It's getting better, but we're totally exhausted from all the work.

My car was in the shop, luckily, getting cleaned out from being flooded in Pattaya the previous day. We had no way to get out and the water literally rose 2 feet in less than 2 hours. We had to be rescued and taken to a nearby hotel. Which didn't take the dog, so we left mom and her caregiver there, then walked down the road with the dog to find another hotel. I had no shoes. It was all kinda surreal.

[phuketrichard]

Yikes!!!

[xen]

Sorry to hear about your house Craig .It is a tragedy when your house gets flooded. Hope you didn't loose anything of sentimental,un- replaceable value . Hope you get everything cleaned up without too much fuss

And i agree that Agoda is okay , after 10 years or so of using them i have never really had a issue.

Edited September 24, 2015 by xen

[craigt3365]

Thanks, Xen. Nothing sentimental. I went digital years ago and tossed a lot of stuff when I moved here. It's the hassle of having to live in a hotel for 3 weeks or so until they finish everything. Since we lost the laminate floors in all 3 bedrooms, we've no place to stay. And they are working from 8am till 11pm every day! Can't live here, unfortunately.

[curtklay]

Craig:

What a nightmare! Sincerely sorry for you; not just the flooding, but all the personal trauma as well.

Are they really going to be able to "fix" all that? I would think that the lingering contamination and mold danger would be extremely high, requiring a lot more than just drying out and new flooring. Like I said, they had to cut out the drywall in our US house because it soaked up so much water. I could see black mold growing on it before they even got started. They literally gutted the whole house. Be sure you're getting a complete and competent repair to USA standards. That flood water looks like sewage, and I would not be comfortable moving back in until getting a clean bill of health by contamination experts. Down the road, it could be very dangerous to your health.

I sure hope everything works out for the best. But remember, this is Thailand. You have to be super diligent. I know you've got a million things going on, but don't let even the smallest detail slip by you.

I will never know why bad things happen to good people, but my thoughts are with you. Good Luck!

(P.S. I too have always had positive experiences using Agoda.)

Edited September 24, 2015 by curtklay

[craigt3365]

Yes, that's a big worry for me. They are taking out all the baseboards, cleaning out behind them, and we're spraying it with some chemicals to kill the mold. I don't think they have much experience with mold here. I asked about industrial dryers/dehumidifiers like we have back home. No luck.

They don't have any contamination experts here! Unfortunately....we're doing the best we can. Thanks for your post.

[dddave]

I just Googled "What to do after a house flood" and there is a lot of information, especially on dealing with mold.