Be careful when booking with SmartFares.
SmartFares notes on its website "free cancellation within 24 hours".
This is NOT entirely true. Be careful.
I booked my flight through SmartFares, but I changed my mind so I called its customer support line to cancel my flight within the 24 hours of purchase. The first time I called, the customer support representative informed me that the purchase was not processed through the system yet so he could not load my flight details to cancel and asked me to call me in few hours but assured me that I will get a full refund.
A few hours later, I called the customer support line again to cancel my flight - still within 24 hours of purchase. The customer support representative was able to load my flight details this time but told me that because the flight is within 7 days of purchase I was not eligible for a refund. The website did not show this additional condition when I booked. I personally felt robbed as 1) I was not made of this additional condition when booking the flight and 2) the previous customer support representative assured me that I will get a full refund. When I voiced my frustration and complained, the representative offered a partial refund which was still not acceptable.
How did I get a full refund? I disputed the transaction through my credit card company and I received a full refund. (I highly recommend Chase Sapphire Reserve - more on this another post)
Based on my experience, I will not book another flight with SmartFares as I have no confidence in what I am getting myself into.
