I’ve never had such a terrible experience in my life. I had a family gathering in Bangalore, so I booked a hotel in Indra Nagar over the phone. I clearly mentioned that I needed an early morning check-in (around 6 a.m.), as I was arriving in Bangalore with my family after a long overnight journey. The customer service representative (CSR) informed me that early check-in would incur additional charges, which I agreed to pay. After making the initial payment, I received the booking confirmation, which showed the check-in time as 12 noon. Concerned, I called them again. This time, they told me that the early check-in request had already been raised with the hotel, so I didn’t need to worry. However, on the day of arrival, I reached the hotel at 5:50 a.m. When I gave the front desk my booking reference, the staff told me the hotel was fully booked and that they hadn’t received any request for early check-in. I was shocked. I called the CSR again and explained everything. The CSR then asked me to hand the phone to the front desk staff. After speaking with them, the CSR informed me that no rooms were available and admitted that although they had raised the request, it had somehow failed. I was furious—my son was literally falling asleep on the sofa in the reception area. The CSR then said, “Don’t worry, sir, I will find another hotel for you,” and asked me to wait. After about 10 minutes, they arranged a room at a different hotel, located a bit farther away from Indra Nagar. I had no other option, but before accepting the new hotel, I specifically asked the CSR about the standard of the hotel. He assured me that the new hotel offered the same standards and facilities as the original one I had booked. After waiting another 20 minutes, I got a cab and reached the new hotel. But by the time I arrived, they had already removed my booking reference from their system, so I couldn’t even reach the CSR using the original booking number. To make matters worse, the new hotel was awful—completely substandard. I immediately checked the pricing online and found that this hotel was around ₹1300 cheaper than the one I originally booked. I called the customer service again, explained everything from the beginning, and requested a cancellation due to the poor quality of the new hotel. They put me on hold and then disconnected the call. I tried calling four more times, and each time the call was either disconnected, or I was put on hold indefinitely. On the fifth attempt, I specifically requested, “Please don’t disconnect the call after I explain everything,” and the CSR agreed. After explaining everything once again, I requested to cancel the booking. The CSR told me they couldn’t cancel it because I had accepted the new hotel. I explained that I only accepted it because they had assured me the standards were the same, which was clearly not the case. Finally, the CSR said they would raise a ticket for the cancellation and that the initial charges would be refunded soon. However, it has now been nearly 20 days, and no action has been taken. I’ve called twice since, but still no resolution.