Online travel agency Kiwi.com has been the subject of multiple complaints, most of which have gone unanswered, with the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
The agency is accused of not dispersing refunds on air travel canceled by airlines due to COVID-19. It claims the refunds have been delayed by the volume of requests due to the pandemic.
The BBB has designated Kiwi.com as having a “pattern of complaints,” 114 in total, of which 99 have gone unanswered by the company. The majority are for nonreceipt of refunds. It currently has a rating of “F”, determined by a number of elements the bureau takes into consideration.
“Answering complaints is very important, and businesses must respond in order to maintain a good BBB rating,” said a BBB national spokesperson. “If we keep seeing the same complaint over and over, we’ll reach out to the business. It’s always our goal to help businesses be better, but they have to be willing to work with us. If they don’t resolve the underlying problem that led to the pattern of complaint, their rating will quickly fall from a D or even an F."
Most of the unanswered complaints against Kiwi.com claim the customer is owed a refund on flights canceled by airlines but has not received it; some also state the agency has been unresponsive. A few complainants state they have, since filing their original complaint, received a refund.
Kiwi.com said it is working on refunding clients.
“The pandemic has, of course, hit the whole industry incredibly hard, whether you are an airline, a travel agent or an airport - the extraordinary levels of requests for refunds has sadly impacted greatly on customer satisfaction for all involved, and there is not an airline or an agent currently who is not experiencing a public backlash,” a spokesperson for Kiwi.com said in a statement.
“We sincerely apologize for the unprecedented delays and thank our customers for their patience as we continue to work with airlines to obtain their refunds and manage every individual case to get what they are entitled to."
* This article originally appeared on Travel Weekly.