[Stay_away_from_eDreams]

Sadly, my own experience echoes a lot of what I read on this site.

Over the summer, I used eDreams to book a refundable flight from San Francisco to London. I paid extra for the refundable trip, because I knew there was some chance my travel plans might change. They did. I cancelled my flight and asked for a refund.

First, I was told that I would be refunded the price of the ticket, and not any taxes or fees - which meant that they would keep about $100. Nowhere on the site had it indicated that the refund would be less than the full purchase price.

Second, I received a message from eDreams telling me that they could not refund the credit card that I'd used to make the purchase (why not?), so I would need to provide them with my bank account details so they could issue the refund directly to my bank account. They sent me a form that asked for IBAN and SWIFT codes. I am American, and very few American banks use IBAN and SWIFT.

Third, I called their customer service - many times - to inform them that this refund procedure would not work with any bank account that I have, and that they would need to provide me with another funds transfer mechanism, find a way to reimburse my credit card, or mail me a paper check. This got nowhere. After each call, I would receive another email with a link to the same form, asking for my IBAN and SWIFT codes.

Fourth, I finally asked a friend in Europe if I could provide his banking data, so at least someone would get the refund. He agreed, and filled out the form for me. eDreams claims that the refund was issued to his account on Aug 30, but he sees no record of receiving any such funds.

I hate to leave it like this and walk away from my $217, but I've put in way too much time fighting with these incompetent idiots, and it's time for me to cut my losses! Stay away!!!