Recent Posts by nanda

Topic: Site Announcements / IMPORTANT: My bank account was debited, but booking did not go through

We’ve had quite a few customers who pay through netbanking complaining about their bank accounts being charged and tickets not being issued. Although it’s not a very common occurence (no need to get alarmed if you pay via Netbanking!), but the few times it does happen, it leads to a bad user experience.

It’s not specific to Cleartrip – it can happen on any other website. These kinds of errors are inherent to how Netbanking payments work. In this post we’ll try to explain why and how this happens.

In simple terms this is how a netbanking payment works:

1. Customer selects the bank and hits the “Pay” button on Cleartrip’s website
2. Cleartrip redirects the customer to bank’s website
3. Customer authorizes the payment at the bank’s website
4. Bank redirects the customer to Cleartrip’s website
5. Cleartrip verifies the payment and makes the booking
6. Cleartrip displays confirmation page

For your ticket to be issued step# 4 is essential. Even though you’ve authorized the payment (and your account has been debited), if step# 4 fails, our system will not come to know that you’ve made the payment. If you have not made the payment we will not issue the ticket. (Yes, you have made the payment, but our system does not know about it.)

Step# 4 fails due to various reasons – the biggest being slow or unstable internet connections. For example, after you’ve authorized the payment, your internet connection breaks and you’re stuck with a blank screen on your web browser. (The sad part is, that most bank systems will not execute step# 4 again, if you hit the “Refresh” button on your browser. If they did, everything would just work normally.)

Payments without a corresponding ticket are automatically refunded the next day using a backend reconciliation process which we have with the banks. So, no need to worry about your money not being returned – we will automatically refund it the next day.

We hate it when this happens, but we really can’t do much about it. We, however, will surely refund your money the next day.

Topic: Miscellaneous / Poor response

Roopesh, I’m extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused to you. Someone from the customer support team will be getting back to you with the status of your refund shortly.

After authorizing the payment on ICICI Bank’s website were you redirected back to Cleartrip’s website? Did you finally see the booking confirmation page generated by Cleartrip? If not, your ticket would not have been booked at our end.

This error happens when due to some reason (usually a slow internet connection) the browser fails to redirect back to Cleartrip’s website. In such cases, our system does not know that the customer’s account has been debited and the ticket is not issued. Such payments are reversed by the bank on the next day itself.

If it is of any consolation to you, few other customers also experience this – and not only on our website – it happens almost everywhere. We are working with the banks to close this gap in their Netbanking systems, but till then you will have to bear with us – thank you.

Topic: Site Announcements / TIP: See your trips in Microsoft Outlook

Unfortunately, Microsoft Outlook does not support the iCalendar format natively. This means that without installing an Outlook plugin you will not be able to subscribe to you trip iCalendar feed. We recommend installing Remote Calendars for Microsoft Outlook and coming back here once you’re done.

Signin to your Cleartrip Account. If you’re taken to the trip list view¹, switch to the calendar view by clicking the link shown below.

Right-click on the iCalendar feed link and copy the link location. If you’re using Internet Explorer select the “Copy Shortcut” option from the menu you see after right-cliking on the iCalendar feed link. Firefox users need to select the “Copy link location” option from the menu.

Now, follow the simple flash video prepared by the Remote Calendar team. Paste the URL (copied in the step above) in the box as shown in the video.

Let us know what you think about the trips iCalendar feed and Remote Calendar, both.

¹ We remember where you were in your last visit. If you were viewing your trip list, that’s where you’ll land. Otherwise, if you were viewing your trip calendar, that’s where you’ll land.

Topic: Site Announcements / TIP: See your trips in Apple iCal

Signin to your Cleartrip Account. If you’re taken to the trip list view¹, switch to the calendar view by clicking the link shown below.

Click on the iCalendar feed link shown below.

You should see a dialog box requesting your permission to launch the Apple iCal application. Hit the “Launch application” button.

Hit the “Subscribe” button once Apple iCal starts.

Change the calendar name and alarm settings if you want to and hit the “OK” button as shown.

That’s it! You should now be able to see your calendar with your trips (booked through Cleartrip) showing up in just the right places.

¹ We remember where you were in your last visit. If you were viewing your trip list, that’s where you’ll land. Otherwise, if you were viewing your trip calendar, that’s where you’ll land.

Topic: Site Announcements / TIP: See your trips in Google Calendar

Signin to your Cleartrip Account. If you’re taken to the trip list view¹, switch to the calendar view by clicking the link shown below.

Right-click on the iCalendar feed link and copy the link location. If you’re using Internet Explorer select the “Copy Shortcut” option from the menu you see after right-cliking on the iCalendar feed link. Firefox users need to select the “Copy link location” option from the menu.

Go to Google Calendar and locate the box labelled “Other Calendars” in the bottom right corner of the sreen. Click on “Add” followed by “Add by URL” (highlighted by green boxes in the image below).

You should see a screen similar to the one shown below. Paste the URL you had copied earlier into the box as shown and hit the “Add” button.

After a couple of seconds you should be taken back to the calendar view with your trips (booked through Cleartrip) showing up in just the right places.

¹ We remember where you were in your last visit. If you were viewing your trip list, that’s where you’ll land. Otherwise, if you were viewing your trip calendar, that’s where you’ll land.

Topic: Trains, Indian Railways & IRCTC / Train ticket booking through SBI net banking

Shaik, unfortunately we do not have SBI netbanking as a payment option for any of our products – flights, hotels, or trains. We are trying to tie up with SBI for netbanking payments and will keep you posted about it. In the meantime you can pay through your SBI debit card.

Topic: Complaints / Additional authentication process

Nadeem, in case your bank does support Verified by Visa/MaterCard Secure the authentication process will be similar to the one described here

Topic: Complaints / Payment via Net Banking

Sri, after you logged into HDFC Netbanking and authorized the payment, did you come back to Cleartrip’s website or did the screen just go blank?

Topic: Complaints / Air ticket not recieved

Shreesh, you can definitely book a flight for domestic travel from anywhere in the world. Can you please describe what happened after you logged into your ICICI account and authorized the payment to Cleartrip? Did you get redirected back to our website (with our logo and progress bar) or did you see a blank screen?

Topic: Suggestions & feedback / Difference in fare ?

Suresh, we’ve recently added the ability to generate invoices through your Cleartrip Account. Read about it here

Let me know if it doesn’t work for your purpose.