The 'paying a deposit then paying the balance' idea is a good one in theory but in practice in can definitely go wrong. I had a business tennis trip booked through Easy Jet Holidays...........which is different to Easy Jet Flights. Their website would not accept the references from the other side of the company. So I couldn't update details, couldn't pay etc. I spent a very fraught couple of hours on the phone (peak rate charge thanks) trying to get Easy Jet to sort themselves out. Needless to say I would be using them again.

Hi
I'm very sorry to hear this has happened to you and just wanted to say that next time please do try us at Flight Centre. We are due to open our new store on Northcote Rd and pride ourselves on our customer service with every customer having their dedicated travel specialist who is always just an email away. This means that you would never find yourself in a situation where you can't speak to the person you need to should any problems arise (although we don't expect such problems to occur!)
We are also an Australian company so do get fantastic offers on flights to Australia.
In the meantime though I do hope you enjoy your long awaited trip!
Happy Travels
The Flight Centre team

Having read the Guardian article - WOW. Awful customer service.

James from Opodo, I really hope you're going to sort this out.

Dear James,

I have already replied to your Tripadvisor message and I am looking forward to your response. I feel very strongly about what has happened to us, and I now know that I am not the only person to have had this issue with Opodo. So whilst I appreciate the time you have taken to reply to this post and the post on TripAdvisor, what I now want is a full explanation from you and I want to know what you are going to do to rectify this situation.

Dear BDB,

It's James, from Opodo Customer Care Team. We have already replied you on TripAdvisor thread, sending you also a private message. We'd love to hear your response with your booking reference and email address so we can retrieve your case to check what occurred.

If you prefer, You can also fill the following form:

http://www.opodo.co.uk/contact-trustpilot

Our apologies in advance for all the inconveniences we might have caused you.

Best regards,
James - Opodo Customer Care Team

Thanks Mungo ! I am on a bit of a roll on this one... I have contacted a journalist at The Guardian who has already written a couple of articles on Opodo, and have also written a review on Trustapilot (and it again appears there are many who have been in the same position as us)

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/s ... el-refunds

Awful
Did you book with a credit card? Can you get some compensation that way?

Thanks Annabel - having done a bit of research it seems that it has happened to loads of people who book flights with Opodo and then turn up to the airport only to be told there is no booking. The end result could have been worse I guess but I literally aged 10 years in 2 hours. This is one of those trips we have been saving for a long time for ... I have reported them to Watchdog. I really just don't want to see anyone else going through this !

Hi
How horrid for you, I'm please you have it resolved though.

Something similar happened to a friend of mine with a trip to Euro Disney but I'm not sure which firm they used to book.

They paid a deposit and then didn't receive any emails about paying the balance. So in the melee of their busy lives they assumed they'd paid it!

They're still not entirely sure what happened but they think the reminder mails went into junk (and that folder is auto emptied every four weeks).

A week or so before the trip they logged on to check details of the trip and were told it had been cancelled!

They had to rebook but it was the same thing, more expensive and less star ratings on hotels etc.

I think it's probably a reflection of the huge systems these firms use whereby they have processes that can result in your trip being bounced although I can't believe it wouldn't be possible to sent an SMS or something which would almost certainly get through.

Anyway I'm pleased it worked out OK in the end and thanks for posting the warning!

Sorry I should have added... we are flying this Friday which is why it is even more unbelievable that they would cancel our flights 7 days before departure ! I am not sure we will ever find out what happened as it is impossible to speak to someone at Opodo that has half a brain cell....

The most unbelievable thing happened to us yesterday. 4 months ago we booked some flights to Australia with Opodo. In the last few weeks we have been receiving numerous e mails from Opodo saying "Enjoy your flight to Sydney" etc. We had an e mail confirming our booking and with a booking reference. Friday we noticed that we had been refunded the money for our flights - confused we called up Opodo yesterday (we could not get hold of anyone at the weekend) and they told us that our flights had been cancelled for non payment !!! In the last 24 hours we have been unable to speak to anyone at Opodo who makes any sense whatsover... the customer service has been SHOCKINGLY bad with one of the managers actually shouting at us yesterday when we were asking them to explain what had happened. We eventually this morning managed to find some other flights - clearly not as convenient and with possibly a slightly inferior airline. We are about £500 out of pocket which is the difference between the original flights we booked and then ones we booked this morning. Having Googled "Opodo flight booking" I see that this has happened to others... so I wanted to warn you all !!! Please don't use this website !!!