Is Vayama a scam?

Vayama FAQ on Coupons

Unfortunately, online travel agent websites are filled with so many scams. Most of the sites that you would find in well-known listing sites such as Skyscanner do not fit into the traditional definition of a scam. Therefore, they easily evade any lawsuits. Their terms and conditions are listed in fine-print, if you manage to read them when you purchase the flight ticket before the page times out in a few minutes.

Vayama is one of those shady predatory sites that you must avoid, if at all possible. If you must use them, especially if you have found the cheapest of the flight, make sure not to buy any of the add-ons. They promised a 40$ discount coupon for my next flight purchase when I purchased their premium package for my previous flight for 26$. I always land on Vayama from Skyscanner. But when I try to use my discount code, there was no way to input it. 

I contacted them  after purchasing the ticket, as their FAQ page seems to suggest that: "If your booking is not older than 2 days and if it meets the conditions, we can still add the discount code to your booking."

Their India-based support team replied to my complain. Their only repeated reply was "Your flight purchase is ineligible for this discount code since you landed in our web site through Skyscanner." Their logic, I must land on their site directly to be able to use their coupon code. Not through Skyscanner, Google, Kayak, or any other listing or search engines. Seriously? There was no mention of that when promoting their 26$ garbage package.

The only mention is in FAQ, which is no way linked to that terms and conditions listed for the 26$ premium package. The FAQ mentions:

"- Make a purchase directly on our website, not through one of our partners' website"

I and many others who complain on the same situation. Vayama using Skyscanner as an excuse not to provide the discount that we PURCHASED! Even Skyscanner got involved as a courtesy. Skyscanner sent me the below email with their reply:

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 Hi again Pradeeban,

I hope you are well.

I have received a reply from Vayama group and they said they will make it clearer in their terms and conditions that the discount can only be applied when the search and the booking are both made on their website directly.

I'm sorry about this issue and that I wasn't able to help.

If there anything we can do or you have concerns  - please let me know, Pradeeban.
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Vayama is such a shady business. Please also read some other serious allegations against Vayama here. If they at least fix their wording on their page that sells their discount coupons, customers won't be deceived to purchase the 26$ package, hoping to get a 40$ discount in the next purchase. Hope they will stick to their promise and make these conditions clearer.

Verdict: Avoid this shady travel website.