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
>
