Thread is in reverse chronological sequence:
Dear Mark,
I do apologize if you feel that our agent did not address your concern properly. I do understand your concern. However, after reviewing your case, I was able to determine that you booked for Expedia Special Rate Hotel. These hotels have corresponding cancellation and change penalty fee that are advised to the clients before making the reservation. Because of these, we asked our customers to review first the details of their booking before completing their purchase online. We have placed this part on the Cost and Summary Page (just before we ask our customers to place their credit card information online to make the purchase) where the complete details of your hotel booking with the corresponding rules and regulations are given so that you may have the option to make the necessary changes if there is a need, to just complete the booking if everything that was presented are all right or to cancel the reservation if the booking requires total revision.
Expedia negotiates special arrangements with our partner hotels in this kind of reservation to guarantee the lowest prices available. Our pricing is based upon selling a certain number of room nights to each of our hotel partners. If a room gets cancelled within 24 hours prior the check-in date, the likelihood of reselling that room becomes very remote. This is the reason why we need to charge corresponding change or cancellation fee given to us by the hotel. These fees allow us to give our customers, the best possible hotel rates in your future travel. If we are unable to meet our commitment to the hotel, our rates will go up and this will affect all of our customers in the future.
Again, I apologize for any confusion this may have caused. We value your business and hope that in the future you will find the hotel prices on our site to be a great value.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to reply to this e-mail.
Thanks for choosing Expedia.com!
Meagan
Expedia.com Customer Support Team
Don’t just travel. Travel Right.
—–Original Message—–
From: Mark Fetherolf
Sent: 1/23/2003 11:55:01 PM
To: Expedia Travel Support
Subject: Case ID: [REQ:6559758]
* please refer this case to your supervisor immediately *
Your answer is not acceptable. I’m not sure you understood my message. I
booked the hotel in the wrong city (cleveland), should have been pittsburg.
Dumb mistake on my part. I’m flying to Pittsburg and driving on to
cleveland.
Having realized I screwed up, I did not cancel the first reservation. I
simply booked a hotel in pittsburg through Expedia.
Then I emailed you explaining my mistake and asking you to:
1. cancel the cleveland reservation for me
2. waive the 100% penalty
Had I just cancelled, I would understand that you might waive the penalty.
Had I not notified you within 15 minutes I wouldn’t even ask.
Please don’t tell me that you CAN’T waive the penalty. I know darn well that
you can.
I TRAVEL A LOT, OFTEN MULTIPLE FLIGHTS, HOTELS, CARS ETC. PER MONTH, OFTEN
WITH MY WIFE AND DAUGHTER. IN THE PAST, I EXCLUSIVELY USED TRAVELOCITY. I
HAVE BEEN TRYING EXPEDIA FOR SOME TRIPS TO SEE HOW I LIKE IT. AND I LIKE THE
USER INTERFACES BETTER AND FIND I CAN GET THROUGH THE TRANSACTIONS MORE
QUICKLY.
BUT IF THIS IS THE BEST YOU CAN DO FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE, DON’T EXPECT ME
BACK ANYTIME SOON.
I’m a reasonable guy, really! Of course if I make a reservation and hold it
for awhile, making the hotel room unavailable and then cancel at the last
minute, I realize I am costing somebody money and I don’t mind being
obligated to pay a cancellation fee.
I held the rooms for fifteen minutes before I notified you of the mistake.
Nobody lost money on the deal, including expedia – I booked the correct
reservation through expedia.
If the best you can do is regurgitate the contract language that I already
read on the website, why not just reply with a simple f*** you! I would give
you some credit for saying what you obviously really mean.
And if you are reading this and don’t have the authority to fix it, please
forward it to YOU SUPERVISOR. If you don’t, based on my considerable
knowledge of the cost of answering customer service emails and phone calls,
I assure you that I won’t go away until I’ve cost you a lot more than you
cost me.
Also please be advised that I’ll make sure to tell everyone I know about the
responsive customer service I received from Expedia, or lack thereof.
And if you really truly don’t have the authority to waive the penalty and
you can’t forward my message to someone who does, I respectfully suggest
that look for a new job. You will do much better in the long run working for
a company that cares enough to want to keep its customers. If you need
suggestions email me. I am a contact center productivity expert. I’ll let
you know who’s hiring in your area.
Best regards,
Mark
itinerary number 15831371452 booked by mistake (wrong city). New reservation
15831864118 replaces it. Please cancel the cleveland reservation. (Please do
not cancel the pittsburg reservation).
—– Original Message —–
From: “Expedia Travel Support”
To:
Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2003 1:22 PM
Subject: Re: hotel questions or comments – Case ID: [REQ:6559758]
> Dear Expedia.com Customer,
>
> Thank you for contacting Expedia.com!
>
> Unfortunately, we are unable to waive the 100% cost of stay penalty if we
cancel your reservation on-line. Please be reminded that in item no.3 of the
rate details page, under “Review the rules and restrictions”, it is clearly
stated that:
>
> “Cancellations or changes made within 1 day of the check in date are
subject to a 1 Night Room & Tax penalty.”
>
> Furthermore, also on the same page under “Payment and deposit
information”:
>
> “Credit card is charged for the total cost listed above at the time of
booking ”
>
> For you to have proceeded with the booking you would have to have clicked
on the option under item no. 4:
>
> “Continue with booking. I have read and accept the rules and
restrictions.”
>
> If you have any further questions, please feel free to reply to this
e-mail.
>
> Thanks for choosing Expedia.com!
>
>
> Sarah
> Expedia.com Customer Support Team
> Don’t just travel. Travel Right.
>
>
>
>
>
> —–Original Message—–
> From:
> Sent: 1/23/2003 9:20:22 AM
> To: travel@customercare.expedia.com
> Subject: hotel questions or comments – Case ID: [REQ:6559758]
>
>
>
> * TPID: 1
> * Name: Mark Fetherolf
> * TUID: 37088679
> * E-mail Address: mark@fetherolf.com
> * Phone Numbers:
>
> * Itinerary Number: ****************
> * Subject: Hotel questions or comments
>
> ——————————–
> * Comment:
> itinerary number 15831371452 booked by mistake (wrong city). New
reservation 15831864118 replaces it. Please cancel the cleveland
reservation. (Please do not cancel the pittsburg reservation).
>
> Since I rebooked through expedia, I would appreciate your waiving the 100%
cancellation fee.
>
> thanks
>
> Mark Fetherolf
>
Expedia: Changed my $2700 FIRST CLASS choice into a $1050 COACH booking and I did not know until I went to choose seats which was far too late to change. YES, I agreed to pay $2700 and have no idea why EXPEDIA chose to change my booking unless they never had the FIRST CLASS seats and wanted to retain the book. EXPEDIA customer svc was no help and neither was her supervisor. Now I am 6’4″ cramped into a center seat for three flights of several hours each over four days.
Expedia – You changed my first class booking from first class to coach on USAIR and UNITED.
USAir Lost a first class booking
UNITED – Lost a first class booking
This is a multiple city flight and I am 6’4″ tall. I prefer to fly first class. I specifically chose each airline and airplane before booking.
I went to your site and picked the flights. Your “first flight” choice told me there were “only 2 seats at this price.” I chose it and proceeded to choose the other two flights all in first cabin. At check out, the price was $2700 and I clicked OK- I agreed to pay $2700 for the flights. A red notice came up on the screen and said there was a change, click here. It told me the flight was now $970 (or so) plus taxes making it just over $1,000. There was a box to explain WHY and it had three possible reasons why the price was lower and that you pass the savings along. I was very surprised so I checked to make sure it was still first class (by hitting the back button) and ALL of the legs. I had already priced this flight in coach on another site and it was $580 so it seemed feasible that YOU, with your buying power could get these flights in FIRST CLASS at just over $1,000. (All three are one-way flights). Your disclaimer even told me there were no changes to my flight. I WAS FULLY INTENDING TO FLY FIRST CLASS ONLY.
I looked at the itinerary you sent out moments later and it did not indicate this was first, coach or anything so I continued to appreciate the value I had received and told my friends about it. It was not until I returned to my office several days later that I decided to choose my seat and could not get into the first class cabin. Then I saw that my first class preferred booking for which I was willing to pay $2700 and had clicked OK, was actually a coach seat. (I wonder if there were no first class seats and you switched me unscrupulously just to keep the booking)
I called the 800 number immediately. Your agent and her supervisor were of no help. They told me to contact United, saying United was the ones who ticketed the whole fare, though it was USAIR for the first two legs. And she said there was a $150 charge from each airline to change the flight. I did call United and they could not upgrade me on the first leg because, as I had told your agent, it was USAIR. United emphatically told me to call Expedia (and provided the same phone number that I had already waited in line for 25 minutes for service to call).
Needless to say I am very unhappy and can’t imagine why Expedia would want to alienate a business traveler who is willing to pay almost $3,000 for three flights, OR why you changed my approval of a first class fare into a coach ticket. I did not want to save money or I would have booked it in coach myself – I wanted comfort for all of those flights.
Because of the late date, I am unable to get even an aisle seat in coach and am in a cramped middle seat for 4.5 hours, 2.5 hours and 2 hours on all of these flights. Remember I am 6’4″ tall. I also have extra baggage that would have been free on FIRST CLASS that I will have to pay for flying COACH. I NEVER INTENDED TO FLY COACH…EVER FOR THIS BUSINESS TRIP. My client is paying my entire travel expense. Why would I choose coach when they were paying for First Cabin?
This is an EXPEDIA problem and not mine but I will have to pay for your mistake for the entire four days I am away and three days on these planes.
Is there someone who can get to the bottom of this and get me some satisfaction. While it is not about the money, there needs to be some sort of concession to show you regret the error. I WANT FIRST CLASS and if you can’t get it as I ordered to begin with – I think you should comp these sorry coach tickets since there is no way to pay for my cramped and unhappy suffering on these flights.
Dear Expedia:
If I have to worry about your fine print, or if I have no opportunity to ever be able to work out something so simple as a mistake with you (even if it’s your fault), then why should I ever bother booking anything with you?
You’ve made customers unhappy with you manipulative techniques. Your guidelines suck, then you point a finger at the service provider and say it’s their fault. It isn’t. It’s yours. You are, as far as a good Google or Bing search can provide, the worst company to exist in the history of… ever.
Change your customer service slogan to something a bit more appropriate and honest to something like “Expedia: Don’t just travel. Get ripped off and stranded.” There, that sounds much better.
Better yet, give your money to charity and go out of business. Soon. Because you are hated.
Expedia listed a hotel Super 8 Mariposa CA. Dirty and unsafe. After we spoke with local police we ended up leaving and booking another room. Even the local police would not take family there. Thanks Expedia for really looking out for yourself and not us.
I ordered tickets for Cirque du Soleil’s Ka through expedia along with flight and hotel accommodations. I am scheduled to arrive in Vegas on the 22nd of May, 2010 around five thirty pm. The tickets that I purchased for Ka were supposed to be for the 26th of May, which is a Wednesday. However, the tickets that they reserved for me were for the 22nd at 7pm. It’s obvious that there’s no way I have the time to get from the airport, to my hotel, and then to the show by 7pm and I’d have never ordered tickets on the day I was arriving. Somewhere, something got screwed up.
I called to get them changed or canceled, but all I was told was that they don’t refund or cancel these kinds of shows. They didn’t seem to get the point that I wouldn’t have had to call to ask them to fix the problem if they hadn’t made the mistake in the first place. Those tickets aren’t cheap and this is the first vacation I have been able to afford to take in about six years. I want my money back as I have already gotten the right tickets from somewhere else after their refusal to simply give me the right night for my tickets.
Worst customer service EVER. Completely unhelpful. Can’t speak plane English. Acts as if they are robots….no mental judgment on their part. They only read a policy that basically says “we will not do anything to help you at all…thanks for your money” I spent hours on hold, spoke to supervisors, but to no avail. THEY SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I didn’t read the whole thread, but the title says it all! I booked a Delta flight thru Expedia. The original ticket price was $450. I then needed to change the itinerary. The new ticket price was $295. The airlines have a $150 cancellation fee…que sera. Even after the fee, I had enough on credit to cover the change. I spent 2 hours on the phone with folks I assume are in Mumbai trying to explain that I did not need to give them a credit card for an extra $150 because simple math shows the costs were already covered. Finally, I gave up and called Delta directly. In the end, I had to pay Delta an additional $45 because the impose an extra fee if they change a reservation that is booked thru a third party. The Delta agent agreed that if the morons at Expedia knew their jobs, the change should not have cost me anything. Lesson learned: use Expedia to locate the flights you are interested in and then call the airlines directly. The service will be much better if you need to make changes and they speak English as a primary language!!!
DON’T USE EXPEDIA THEY HAVE LEGAL TEXT ALL OVER THE PLACE TO SCAM YOU OUT OF YOUR MONEY
I got screwed over too by Expedia!!! THIS IS THE SECOND TIME
#1 BOOKED A FLIGHT WITH INSURANCE AND THEY SAID ITS NOT UNDER THE RULES TO REFUND YOU.
#2 BOOKED A FLIGHT FROM CHICAGO WITHOUT INSURANCE AND THE AGENT SAYS SORRY WE CAN’T GIVE U UR CREDIT UNLESS U FLY FROM CHICAGO. HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN TO THOSE RETARDS THAT I LIVE IN CALGARY?!?!
Typical.
I recently got sick on Vacation.
Expedia would not change the flight for me even though I had bought a cancelable flight and had a letter from the doctor saying I could not fly.
They were nice enough to offer me a 4500 dollar package for 2 one way tickets and 3 nights stay at a new hotel.