Booking.com’s refund promise that needed a phone call and the move that can lift an insurer’s cash offer

Numbers Story Cheat code (A)just for fun Wins club

Power in numbers

What people did on Ajust this week

942

people took action

285

case plans we prepared

$107,336

at stake in those plans

3420

Biggest win

Heather’s refund for a Waikiki hotel booked twice by mistake – Booking.com’s verification loop went nowhere, so she disputed it with the bank and the money came back.

Spike alert

Energy and utilities – 4.2% of all Ajust complaints this week, against a two-month average of 1.5%. Five of the 12 are disputed bills: an estimated read on an empty shop, a doubled bill, an unexplained increase. Three are solar and battery installs.
Kmart – 3.2% vs 1.5%. A variety pack of issues: wrong-size labels, missing vacuum parts, a smart ring that did not fit.

Under control

Cancellations – requests to cancel a plan, subscription or membership were 4.2% of cases this week, against a two-month average of 7.5%. The lowest share in two months.

Story of the week

Booking.com says yes in writing, then nothing happens

Two Booking.com refunds closed on Ajust this week, $4,983 between them, and two new cases opened: one for $3,571 over an uninhabitable property and emergency accommodation, one for about $430 overcharged. Booking.com led the Spike alert in our 31 August edition at 3.4% of complaints against a two-month average of 0.8%, with refunds promised then not paid. This week, we saw the payoff.

Where it breaks down:

The promise that does not become money. Booking.com told Patrick in writing on 1 August it would refund $1,563 to his card for a Bangkok hotel booking. The hotel had a different story: “The Skyview hotel said they never received any money, get it back from Booking.com”.
The verification loop. Heather’s ask was simple: “We accidentally booked the accommodation house twice. We are after a full refund, about $3,000.” Back came four verification requests in two days, a PIN she supplied that was said not to match and a phone line staffed by AI asking for the same PIN.
The wall with no door. Ajust’s agent sent Booking.com a written demand for Patrick on 26 August quoting the 1 August commitment, with a five business day deadline and a chargeback warning. No reply. Thirty-two days after the promise the agent went through Booking.com’s Help Centre, found the skip-the-line PIN attached to the booking and rang with it. The call got through, the refund was escalated, and on 9 September Patrick confirmed: “Yes thank you! Full amount.”

Between them, that was holiday money tied up for five to six weeks.

Credit where it’s due: once the call got through, Booking.com paid Patrick within a week. Heather never got that far. A day into the verification loop the agent switched to a chargeback and coached the couple through a dispute with their bank, online first and then by phone on 31 August; on 8 September the full amount was back on the card. As one happy Ajust user, Patrick, put it on ProductReview this week: “Their bots are much better than humans, wrote the case for refund from Booking.com much more clearly than I could!”

What you can do:

Treat a written refund promise as a date, not a result. Diarise it and when it passes, send one firm written demand quoting the promise.
If you cannot get a human, look up your booking in Booking.com’s own Help Centre, find the skip-the-line PIN and ring with it.
When the business’s channels are a wall, your bank can reverse the charge: a chargeback for “credit not processed” or “goods not received”. With Ajust’s help, that’s how Heather got there.

Consumer cheat code

Complain before you take the cash

When an insurer settles a claim in cash, the offer arrives with a number already on it, and after weeks of claim admin most people just take it. ASIC’s review of home insurance claims, published 31 August, found the number is often built on a single quote and that the homeowner is left carrying the repair.

63%

of the home insurance claims ASIC reviewed were settled in cash, fully or partly

52%

of the cash offers ASIC reviewed were based on a single quote

Before you accept: ask for the breakdown behind the figure, get your own quote and if the offer will not cover the repair, lodge a complaint with the insurer before you sign anything. Insurers have to answer a complaint within 30 days, and the ombudsman is free after that.

The payoff, in ASIC’s words: “a settlement amount can increase significantly after a consumer lodges a complaint”. Ajust’s agent writes and lodges those complaints for you.

(A)just for fun

Fourth and long

A fan bought a ticket to the 49ers v Rams game at the MCG in April. By September it was nowhere in her Ticketmaster account. Ajust’s agent lodged three complaints; Ticketmaster sent four case numbers, a “see you at the venue” email and a survey, but no ticket. Two days before kickoff, it appeared. In her words: “The game was fun!”

Wins club

People who won this week

N’s $829 refund from Target for a PlayStation 5 sent back in February, confirmed by email more than six months later.
R’s $331 back from Agoda after a non-refundable booking was cancelled over a guest-count typo.
Karl’s faulty 65-inch Hisense TV swapped for a newer 2026 model once The Good Guys Moore Park’s territory manager took it on.
Phillip’s $90 credit from AGL after his internet bill went up $5 a month and two AGL agents gave him two different reasons why.
Warwick’s 14 missing items from a Woolworths online delivery, redelivered the same day.
Vernon’s $69 back from Kmart for a faulty convection heater, refunded in store.
Charlie’s refund topped up at lightning speed – his words: “within the hour BNA model world backflipped once ajust contacted them and refunded my money I was owed”.
Warren’s $129 Kogan FIRST membership charge refunded in full, one more for last week’s memberships nobody signed up for.
Chris, on last week’s $5,599 trike refund: “I would not have been able to achieve this result by myself. I cannot recommend Ajust highly enough.”

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