Looks to be a non-ABTA "bucket shop" type agency. Probably offers cheap tickets to India but a case of "pay cheap - get cheap" - hense the poor service.

Best pay slightly more (or infact you might not need to) and book with someone like Trailfinders.

Mailbuk, firstly sorry to hear about all your problems. I have suffered something very similar to yours with the exact same company. Our problem still isnt resolved, ive even reported them to Trading Standards. Infact they phoned us last night - the first time they have ever phoned us/returned our calls/emails and the exact same thing happened to us ..... they hung up when they didnt have an answer for a question I asked.
Ive opened a thread about my problems in the Goa forum, if you want to read about it, sorry I am not sure how to add the link for it in here.

LINK TO GEMMA'S POST IN THE GOA FORUM

Gemma, to copy a link, click on the address at the top of your browser, either press Ctrl + C together or right click your mouse and select Copy, go to where you want to post the link and press Ctrl + V or right click and select Paste.

HTH

luci

Thanks Luci, thats brilliant, youre a star

Thanks for your messages. I have reported them to trading standards as well and waiting for a reply from them. Will update the post once I hear from them.

Thanks Mailbuk and good luck, please let me know how you get on.

Hi. I have had such a bad time with this company too. I booked a flight for my mum last monday to travel to chennai. First they called and said that the payment has been taken but they need verification of the address. I wasn't happy about faxing a statement with my mother's full name, address and card number, so I asked if I could black out most of the card number leaving the last few digits. The person dealing with this did not understand and it took more than 24hrs for them to finally understand what I was saying and agree with it. So on Tuesday my mother faxed the statement. I called up and let the person know that the statement had been faxed, he said that the fax dept. is busy and once he receives is he will call me. He didn't. The next day (wed) I called in the afternoon and again he claimed he hadn't received the fax. I lost my temper and miraculously he found in on his desk. He said that now he had all the information the ticket would be issued. Thursday morning still no ticket. I called up and after they hung up on me twice, then kept me on hold for 20min, I was told that the ticket would be issued. Friday morning, still no ticket. I called up and was told that someone would get back to me. They didn't. Finally while I was travelling on the underground they had tried calling and obviously I couldn't pick up. I called once I got off the tube around 7pm. Apparantly, they needed a copy of my mother's passport and a front/back copy of the card faxed over to them. I ws irate that they didn't tell me this when they wanted the statement. He apologised. I asked him if it was ok to fax it on monday and whether it would affect the ticket, and I was reassured that the ticket is confirmed and not to worry and as long as I fax the documents monday the ticket will be issued. The documents were faxed monday morning, and i called to confirm this. They confirmed this and said that the ticket will be issued within one hr. 4hrs later I was still waiting. I called up and was told that sometimes the airline takes anything from a few minutes to several hours to issue an e-ticket number. I called the airlines and said that they never take this long and that they do have a booking for my mother but no reference number. I called ticketstoindia again and they claimed that this was false but they will treat this as a matter of urgency. Then 15min later I called them back and am told that unfortunately the flight is not available for that price anymore and they have made another reservation for my mother and to pay £45 on top. I lost my temper and asked to speak with the manager. The manager, was the most rude and arrogant man I have ever dealt with. When I went through what happened he blamed me for sending the documents late, and for not prioritising it over the weekend. He said that it was my fault for using a credit card with no balance on it (that was the first I heard of it as the same card paid for the flight so why was there a problem to begin with??), and that it was human nature to make mistakes and his staff will learn from it or he will sack them because he can. He also told me that I should provide a phone number that I answered (I work full time and can't always answer the phone but clearly he hadn't heard of voicemail or noted the fact that I made most of the phone calls to them). When I asked him why noone rang me to let me know that the flight had been changed he said that its my responsibility to call as its my ticket and that it wasn't their business. My mother is flying out on friday morning. Its wednesday evening and I still haven't received the e-ticket and she is very anxious. I am going to report these guys to trading standards for the way they can put up the price or change reservations without warning.

Oh My,

Why on earth would a regular agency need such information such as copies of proof of address and a copy of the front and back of your card.

You are buying a ticket, not obtaining credit for anything.

Personally i would refuse to give any agent a copy of my personal details. As an agent myself for 13years, i have never encountered such information being required.

If i were you, once you have recieved your ticket (i hope that you do), inform your bank of such antics and ask for their advice. I think it would be wise to have your card cancelled and account number changed.
I know this may seem extreme but it all sounds very fishy.

Good Luck and let us know how you get on.

As an agent, such information is not required to process a simple ticket purchasing transaction.

Thanks

I think it would be wise to have your card cancelled and account number changed.

I would call them now. Tell them what it is about and they can then monitor any transactions via this company. That is one way in which people get information to carry out card f.r.a.u.d. It also protects YOU.

fwh

I've just been looking at their website and find it very worrying that when you get to the page where you enter your card details that there is not a padlock on the right side of the address bar, this comes up on all other sites for airlines etc. as it means the information you enter is encrypted so it can't be seen by anyone else.

I have no idea if they are are a good, bad or indifferent company but I would be very wary of entering card details into their website simply because its not secure. If the company is genuine then I would make my booking by phone.

I get your point about making the booking by phone and I tried that as well in the first place with them. However the guy on the phone could not get the spellings right even after 10 minutes and I gave up as i didnot want to have the wrong names on the tickets.
We booked the tickets on friday afternoon on the internet and after booking we got an e mail saying that the tickets are not confirmed yet and it will be 2-3 days before they are confirmed. soon after we booked the tickets we realised that the return date should be 19th instead of 17th and we phoned them to change the return date as the tickets were not confirmed yet. However they never done anything about it. despite repeated phone calls, I received the confirmation 3-4 days later saying tickets are confirmed and they are non changeable and non refundable. I phoned 3-4 times after that requesting to change the return date however everytime I was given a different price (penalty) I will have to pay to change the return date varying from £85 to £175. I phoned Air India and they said the first change should be free and subsequent ones are chargeable. However they wouldn't change the date. I wrote a complaint e mail and had no replies for 4 weeks, ultimately I phoned and I was told that I have sent the e mail to the sales address and this needs to go to customer services, therefore it might have been read by someone however that person didn't bother to inform me or forward it to the right address. I wrote again and still no replies. Looks like they just throw them in the bin....

I have had major problems with this company. the staff is extremely rude, one of the guys shouted at me when i complained saying "you listen to me.....i disn't ask you to book the tickets with us, it was your choice..."
I have complained to Trading standards already and awaiting their reply. However please say away from this company it simply isn't worth it .........even if they offer the tickets for free..........

birunthini so sorry to hear about your bad experience with this dreadful company as well.
Like Mailbuk, ive already passed all my details onto Trading Standards who have told me they are very interested in how this company operate. My complaint with full details has been passed to Trading Standards in Ilford where Tickets to India Head Office Office and I believe they are monitoring the situation.

Oh heck - just read this thread and wish I'd done some proper research on these guys - now I'm really sweating.

I have just this morning booked some tickets to India over the phone through these guys. They guy on the phone was cracking, very polite, patient and helpful. Got an email to ask to confirm my details and cost which I replied and did, then no reservations have come through... So I phoned a few hours later to see, spoke to the same guy and he said they would be coming through shortly - and still have not arrived. Office hours on website say they're open till 9pm, but called at 8pm and no reply on sales or customer service lines.

Having read this thread, phoned my bank and the payment of £800 has gone through. I paid by Maestro, so there is no refund and no way to cancel and was told tickets are non refundable.

It was only today that I booked them, but surely I should have had the confirmations and tickets through by now?

Still awaiting a reply from the Trading Standards. Haven't heard from them. However the tickets for my preferred return date are going fast and I have been dreading been told by the airlines that there are no seats available anymore. Therefore I have ended up paying another £150 per ticket to change the return ticket date. Not a bargain after all....

The whole situation disgusts me though...Once you have paid you lose all control and there is no check on companies like these by the regulatory bodies....Something needs to be done otherwise they will continue to take advantage of innocent customers who make the mistake of trusting them....

**Edit to remove potentially libellous comment - Admin**

Hi, thought I'd update the thread - our booking confirmations have come through, and all seems well, so in fact was actually about 24hrs to come through in the end, which I suppose is not too bad considering the price we paid.

I'll confirm with the booking directly with the airline too though.

I have also been a bit of an idiot - I have given my partners first name as her shortened name (for example 'Jess' instead of 'Jessica') - does anyone know if it is imperative that they match that on the passport? If so I'll have to try and get the name changed... will let you know how I get on with that if it comes to it.

Yes the name on the ticket must match the passport. Some airlines are more strict about this than others.

I would suggest getting the name changed by the travel agent as soon as possible, before the tickets are issued if possible, otherwise you are likely to have to pay an amendment fee if it can be changed.

luci

Hey guys, sadly this is just another tpyical case with me and ticketstoindia.
Luckily a few hours after I booked this flight I already started to freak otu considering the e ticket and/or confirmation had not come through and I was use to getting an e ticket almost instantly, so I gave them an e mail asking politely for them to confirm this information etc...
No reply came back to this so the next day I gave them a call to which the lady answered that the processing of the ticket usually takes 48-72 hours. Giving her the benefit of doubt I waited another 2 days and then this morning I gave them another call. When I asked for cinfirmation they said they just needed a photo copy of my credit card and passport (front and back) Again my experience had told me that this was totally not nessicary so I asked why they would need such information. The man on the phone didnt even know what they were needed for he just continued to say "we just need it". Without getting myself into too much of a stress of what I was getting myself into I just asked for him to cancel the ticket. He then forwarded me onto another call center linked with myvacations.co.uk where I was able to cancel the ticket for a fee of £50.

I think this is money well spent considering what could have happend. I was lucky that they still "needed" information from me so the tickets had not yet become non-refundable.

*IMPORTANT* what I would highly suggest for everyone out there to do, is just go straight to the airline website and book it from there.
I went to the turkish airlines website after my ticket got cancelled and booked it from there, not only did it actually come out cheaper but seconds later I had an e ticket waiting in my inbox.

Im glad that I became so paranoid and my sympathy to all those who will only find this site after they have tried to book over flightstoindia

I can honestly say that I've had a great experience booking my flight to Delhi online with this company. I searched extensively online before choosing the £270 fare I found with Kingfisher Airlines and it was the cheapest by far! I received a ticket confirmation literally seconds after making the booking! I then received a call from an agent asking me for a copy of my credit card and passport as I had made the booking within 7 days of the departure date. Although initially hestiant, the agent clearly explained the reasons for such documents to be provided and also told me that I could pay by bank transfer, cheque or in person at their office if that made me feel more secure. I emailed my documents over and received an e-ticket within 12 hours.

I'm now all packed and ready to fly and can't wait to visit Delhi. With these prices & service I'll be sure to be booking with tickets to india again.
MODERATOR EDIT:
Thank you for posting your 'honest' opinions, jetsetter. It was very kind of the company concerned to allow you to use one of their computers to post that glowing recommendation on their behalf. David HT Mod

Good catch David