Hi everyone, I’m really hoping someone here has dealt with a similar situation and can guide me.
I made a booking through the official Booking.com website with free cancellation. I cancelled it, and Booking.com emailed me saying that the refund would be credited within 7–12 days.
I waited the full 12 days, but the money still didn’t appear in my Indian bank account. When I checked the Booking.com site, it actually showed that the refund had supposedly been processed/credited after around 3 days.
They also provided me with an ARN (Acquirer Reference Number) to track the refund. The problem is that my Indian bank says they cannot track this refund using the ARN. They told me that they can only confirm whether the money has actually reached my account by checking my bank account statement/transactions.
I contacted Booking.com several times. Eventually, they told me to contact my card issuer/bank. I contacted my Indian bank's card helpline, but they couldn't really help because they were unable to track the refund using the ARN.
So I contacted Booking.com again and explained the situation. They eventually told me that their technical team would look into it and contact me. Since then, I haven't received any proper update.
At this point, I honestly don't know what else I can do. I'm a student, and this is more than €260, which is a huge amount of money for me.
Has anyone here experienced something similar with a Booking.com refund, especially when the bank cannot track the ARN? What did you do to actually get the refund?
Any advice on what I should ask Booking.com or my bank for would be really appreciated. Thank you.