“They are set up to collect that nonrefundable deposit but don't follow through with information about the actual retreat itself. They ignored my messages (while still sending daily spam emails) until I threatened to cancel. At that point I was inundated with calls and texts wanting to confirm the cancelation so they can fill my spot. When I tried to explain WHY I wanted to cancel, they were defensive and combative. They promised to refund the deposit than backed out and offered a store credit, which I will never use, as I will never book a trip through them. Worst customer experience of my life. I only wish I had read these reviews before I considered their service, as I can see many others had this same experience.”
“This company has a no refund cancellation policy, but do not assume that it’s if you cancel your trip…if THEY cancel your trip, they will not give your money back. They cancelled my trip and I was forced to book another or lose my money. I booked another at greater cost as that was all that was viable and NOW THEY HAVE CANCELLED AGAIN AND REFUSE TO REFUND.
You will lose your money if you book through this platform. Go direct instead.”
“I had a $495 voucher for this website as my surf camp was cancelled due to COVID19. When I wanted to book a new camp they replied straight away saying the requested dates were not available. A few days before the voucher expired I wanted to book a new camp and got an email back that the requested dates were available. I was really excited and wanted to confirm the booking right away. Unfortunately the voucher did not appear on the payment page on their website and the only option to confirm the booking was to fill out my credit card details again. Which thank god I didn't do. I sent out an email to ask for instructions. They replied a few hours later saying the voucher should appear on the payment page. I send out 2 more emails to ask for help. This was 2 days before the expiry date. They never replied to me again. I then send them a very direct email telling them that I feel like being scammed. Never got a reply and my voucher expired and disappeared from my account on their website. I'm going to report this website. I wish I read the other reviews about this website before making the booking.”
“Be careful!!! I was doing some research on this website before booking a retreat and I decided to go with BookRetreats instead, because they offer a full refund no matter the issue, and I know many others who have used the site before with a lot of success. From what I've gathered, it seems like BookYogaRetreats isn't a very ethical, yoga-like company which is very disheartening. I just wanted to share my wonderful experience with BookRetreats on these reviews because I don't want anyone looking for a retreat (a trip to BETTER themselves) to get scammed ever again. Hoping others read this before they end up regretting it. Stay safe out there, ya'll!!”
“I can just confirm what others say about this booking service, it is obviously fraudulent. I have been corresponding back and forth with a resort, after making a deposit. They constantly change the days available and different persons reply to my queries. Stay away from this site! What makes this extra serious is that the BookYogaRetreats advertise heavily on Google, and appear to be a serious site to begin with. Google should monitor and expel them for fraud.”
“WARNING!
My booked yoga workshop was canceled by the organizers (not because of Corona, but because there were difficulties with the location). BookYogaRetreats does not want to repay my deposit of 300 EUR and, like many other people here, I am only offered a voucher, which is out of the question for me.
This behavior is not fair and it is certainly not yogalike.
I have already informed PayPal about the matter and if that doesn't help, I'll count on my legal protection insurance on the case.”
“While I did research this company when I booked my retreat and there was very little on the negative side about them, I suspect Covid has caused them to take a major hit and as a result they are trying to stay afloat by not issuing refunds. I was promised a refund back to my credit card (which seems rare after reading other reviews). I was told the refund went through in June sometime (they haven’t given me an exact date). Long story short, there was never a credit back onto my card. When I inquire they tell me to “contact my bank”. Discover (a large credible company), has confirmed they never issued a refund and is investigating this entire scam. They also sent me a pdf of the supposed refund that had no date, or confirmation that it was even received and quite frankly it didn’t look the least bit legit. This company is awful, 100% don’t recommend.”
“I booked and paid a yoga teacher training last year due to pandemic the training was cancelled and the center itself agreed to give me my money back but this company refused and offered me a voucher un exchange which I accepted the problem is they never gave me even the voucher, they kept my money!!! They say that custumers we must understand how difficult is for this big multinational company to refund us so we have to help them survive the covid crisis, It is seems like a joker but it is what they say ridiculus”
“Do NOT book through Book Yoga Retreats - they engage in MISLEADING and DECEPTIVE conduct which is completely against what a platform about yoga should be about.
As their website enables, I changed the currency to pound sterling. I chose a retreat in England, run by a person based in England. I went back and forth negotiating with the retreat organiser and each time, she quoted me in pound sterling and sent me links to payment via Tripaneer for an amount in pound sterling.
Despite all of this, the payment was charged in Euros, meaning I was charged a 50 pound conversion fee from my credit card company. Note that the retreat organiser has no control over this - it is all the responsibility of Tripaneer.
I immediately asked Tripaneer to refund the amount and send me a new payment link so I could pay using a different credit card where I wouldn't be charged a conversion fee, but they refused time and time again. They were unable to give any reasonable explanation for why I was charged in Euros, and were completely unacommodating and uncaring. In fact, they were almost sarcastic in their responses.
Of course, some of the retreats on the platform are amazing, but that has nothing to do with BookYogaRetreats. I'd recommend using their site only to find out about retreats, then if you're interested in one research how to get into touch with the reatreat organiser directly and book through them. That way the organiser doesn't have to pay the commission to this pathetic company.”
“What was supposed to be a lovely experience turn out to be a ripoff from their side and an extremely bad start after excepting the charge of €840 deposit for a retreat that they don't actually run. Their poor and scornful customer service has provided fake solutions when I ask for a refund. Not recommend it at all, please stay away from this deceitful company.”
