Pushed into a refund and then charged $150
Greetings. This is our first time using Fareboom. We purchased tickets to fly from Tampa, FL to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and back to Tampa (August 14th - August 21).

We were happy with the tickets we were able to reserve through Fareboom. But then... we received an email.

When Fareboom emailed me that our flight(s) had run into seating/cancellation problems, they gave me two options: allow them to reschedule us on alternative flights (which is the choice we first made and wrote them)... OR... pursue a refund.

Their response to finding us alternate flights was to confirm out cancellation (which we did not choose in our initial response).

Having to confirm the cancellation (we didn't make), we were left with choosing a refund. Fareboom gave us two refund options (allegedly).

First option, accept the cancellation through them and pay $75. Second option, basically go request a refund from the airlines (in this case United Airlines).

Having read reviews, I learned the standard answer from the airlines is that my wife and I purchased our tickets through a 3rd party (Fareboom) and therefore the airlines were not responsible for any refund.

So basically, it appears that Fareboom did not give my wife and I any refund options other than to pay a $75 fee (per ticket) for them to provide me a refund within 2 months.

This is the email I received after having to accept their refund process with a charge of $150:

"This is to confirm that your Fareboom Order O-2B******* has been cancelled and filed for full refund per United Coronavirus waiver conditions. You chose the expedited processing option with $75.00 per ticket administrative filing fee."

My problem is, Fareboom used the phrase "expedited processing option" to justify the $75 fee per ticket (and we had 2 tickets, so its costing us $150). This "expedited processing option" is included in their response but not given as an option when I was forced to pay the $150 fee for the refund.

There was no option to get the refund from Fareboom without having to pay for the "expedited processing option".

It appears Fareboom is forcing people to pay $75 (per ticket) when the industry and government regulations / standards clearly say "Full Refund", is a terrible way to do business.

Since this whole process just occurred 30 minutes ago, I'll wait to see if Fareboom does the right thing and refunds my entire amount or keeps $150 of our money.