Cranky Customer

I, too, had a bad experience with Expedia in 2004 and will never use them again.

I was travelling with my son to New York from Florida and booked the airline, rental car and two hotels for a 10 night stay through Expedia. Before I booked the hotels I did an online tour to check the hotel conditions and amenities. One was with a major chain so I pretty much knew what to expect but the other hotel (which we would be staying at for the last four nights of our trip) was an independent I was unfamiliar with.

It was rated 3 stars and the online tour displayed a nice looking lobby and small but nicely appointed rooms and it appeared that the hotel was attractive, clean and efficient. At $150.00 per night for four nights, I felt I was going to be pretty satisfied with my choice.

As expected, the first hotel (Hoiday Inn for $150.00 per night) was clean, attractive and comfortable. We stayed for six nights and had a very nice stay. We then drove to the second hotel, also $150.00 per night. What I found was unbelievable!!! The lobby was OK, pretty typical for a New York City hotel. Then we went up to our room. I was horrified at what I found. The bedspread was torn, the air conditioner was broken (it was the beginning of June and the temperature was over 85 degrees - pretty hot) and there were yellow stains all over the walls (I don't want to know what from.) The room reeked of urine and the sink and bathtub were white porcelain with dark brown stains. It was so filthy and unsanitary, I didn't touch a thing. This was NOT what I had seen on the online tour. Apparently the hotel displayed on the online tour was another property, definately not this one.

If I had seen this hotel online, I would NEVER have booked it. We didn't even stay long enough to put our luggage down. I went back to the lobby and called Expedia to report what I had found and to request another hotel. After waiting for over an hour on hold I finally spoke to someone who informed me that I would be charged $150.00 (one night) for changing my reservation because it was not 24 hours in advance. I told her if I had seen the ACTUAL hotel online and not one that was clearly someplace else altogether, I would have never booked it. It was deplorable!

After another hour on hold I finally spoke to a supervisor to report the situation and I was given the same story - revisions and cancellations only honored 24 hours prior to check-in. I was really angry and went back to the Holiday Inn on Long Island. When I got home I sent an e-mail to Expedia explaining the situation. Never received even an acknowledgement or a stock reply. Nothing. Silence. Indifference. I tried to follow up with a couple of phone calls but I spent hours on hold and finally gave up out of frustration.

I now steer clear of all online travel services and either use a travel agent or go directly to the hotel, airline or car rental agency. I since haven't had any problems and I can't imagine why anyone would use Expedia. I suspect that there are many others that have also been burned.

Bought ticket from Expedia to Honolulu, needed to change to Puerto Vallarta, which was cheaper. I was told a credit would be issued for future travel, fine with me. Never got the credit. Expedia said it was sent via UPS, signed for by a guy who worked in my building for about a month. NOW Expedia will not re-issue the credit even though it was not used! Do I really have to lose almost $300? What can I do? Any advice would be much appreciated.

I will never use expedia again and am strongly recommending it to anyone, especially military overseas. I went to book a trip and I had troubles with the website having a US address and an overseas #, way over their heads. Well I called the customer service line and ordered that way. While doing so the man was very rude and asked if this room for two was for me and my husband, I answered yes. He then continued to book. I only had my debt cards on me and the limit is $2k a day. I explained to him and my trip was $3700. I told him if he could split the charges that would be great.

He then asked if I asked my husbands permission, the cards are in my name only! Made me so mad! I bit my tongue and continued. He didn't split the cost 50/50 but 80/20. I said that the limit was only 2k for each. He said I needed to call my husband and ask for a different card. I was at this point mad as heck and he said here I can 3 way him. Well my husband was deployed, and it wasn't his say in it this is a surprise trip for him. I finally got so mad I said "Forget it I want to cancel this trip and all affiliation with your company.

Well I have now been charged almost 6k for this plus a $25 fee for canceling! I have called to get my money back and have not been able to reach even a supervisor with a brain so I am going to have to take legal action against them I suppose. My husband got a surprise alright, 6k in charges for an imaginary vacation!

Expedia lost me as a long time customer today. For health reasons I had to enquire about making changes to a reservation...I had spent hours on hold tirelessy trying to talk to an agent. I sent emails, with the promise of a response within 24hrs - didn't hear back. Thankfully after calling the ariline directly, the situation was successfully resolved. A simple 15 minutes conversation would have saved them a long time customer!

I ordered round-trip tickets from Expedia in July 2007 for Bangkok to Trichy, India. They sent me two sets, at $480 each, for the single order. Customer service has been giving me the form email runaround for three months, and I despair of ever getting my money back. It isn't easy to complain on the phone from Thailand (I did while still in the U.S. to no avail). I've had no explanation or apology. Someone should do something about Expedia's online theft.

EXPEDIA CUSTOMER SERVICE IS TERRIBLE!

I know my story is long but may be useful to other people, I strongly recommend not to use Expedia!

On July 29 I rented and paid in full for a car. The default given by Expedia chose Budget YVR as the location. YVR stands for Vancouver Airport branch. I called Budget to confirm the reservation and learned that someone who is not flying to Vancouver can't access to the location and therefore can't rent a car. Expedia had no information about this.

On July 30th, I started calling Expedia in order to have a change in location or to receive indication of what to do. After an average of 45 minutes of waiting on the line I talked to Ryan, Ashley, Courtney, Cassandra, Nadine and Diana in different occasions. I also sent several e-mails to Expedia customer service that nobody replied.

First, I was told that I could have picked up the car at YVR2, a second location at the airport, and then changed my reservation to Budget at the 99 West Pender location. When I arrived to that Budget, the gentleman told me that the information he was given by Expedia was incomplete and that he couldn't honor the price I had paid since that location belonged to a different franchise. I called Expedia from that location and I talked to Sebastian, a supervisor who mentioned that couldn't provide me with his last name because of a Company policy.

Sebastian told me to go to Budget at 416 West Georgia where I could pick up the car. The personnel of 99 West Pender Location drove me and my husband to the other location and dropped us at the parking lot.

At Budget West Georgia location, I was told that my reservation showed as cancelled and that they couldn't give me the car. I called Expedia again from that location. After more than 45 minutes waiting, standing at a Budget counter, the gentleman indicated that they were about to close. He suggested me to take a car, creating a new reservation and solve the situation while I had the car. After about 4 hours waiting and going from location to location I had 2 options: give up the car and ruin my holidays or take the car and trust Expedia's customer service in helping me with the situation. I chose the second option and took the car.

During my holidays I called Expedia again and nobody could do anything about it. Sebastian was not available and I was told that when a supervisor takes your case nobody else can help you.

I returned the car on August 06 and I was billed again, this time by Budget -- $672.75 for the car I had already paid to Expedia. Now I had 2 bills and 1 problem to solve.

After this time I have called several times, requesting for a refund of the amount I paid Budget on August 06. I talked to Sebastian, sent faxes with the information and I have been said that I'm going to be called back again and again.

Nobody has called me and my case is still pending. Expedia has showed no respect for my case and my time, ignoring my demands.

Expedia could not provide me with the service I paid for and is reluctant to refund me. This double charge has generated interest that I have to pay. It is unfair that I had to pay twice for the service and spent literally hours on the phone waiting and begging for help.

Expedia's personnel are careless, its customer service is uninformed and processing a claim with them is ridiculous.

Do not use Expedia!

Get this folks: check out investor relations at Expedia at http://investors.expediainc.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=190013&p=irol-irhome

You will learn that this company had a net income (after all expenses) of $99 Million in the last QUARTER. Are you telling me they can’t afford more people on the phones…?!

Their Nasdaq symbol is EXPE and the President / CEO’s name is Dara Khosrowshahi. He (or she) ought to be ashamed. The top of their quarterly report conveniently lists all their affiliated companies you should avoid.

Here are some phone numbers that I’m guessing DON’T have the violins playing:

Investor Relations: 425-679-3555
Communications: 425-679-4317

BE AWARE OF EXPEDIA'S NONREFUNDABLE POLICY

I spent countless hours w/ an Expedia customer Rep. When I couldn't get anywhere w/ her, I requested the supervisor. Why even bother: he too claimed he couldn't help me.

My dilemma started when I booked a hotel and car package with Expedia. After booking my reservation I did additional search on the hotel I was staying. Silly me I should've done that prior to booking. To my amazement the hotel in Plantation FL was not a desirable hotel. There was a blog online about this hotel and the comments were undesirable about it. I became a little concerned.

I decided to call expedia and request another hotel and was was told by both customer service and supervisor that they cannot switch the hotel and will not issue a refund because of the agreement they have w/ the hotel. She suggested that I pay for another hotel. I was livid! I was also informed that since I checked that legally binding agreement online (as if i had any other choice) I cannot and will not get a refund/credit to my credit card. I contacted my credit card company and started a dispute -- I wasn't going to allow them to take charge my account for a hotel stay that was not going to take place.

I contacted the hotel and the night clerk was more than happy to cancel my reservation. However she was unable to do so because I didn't make the reservation with the hotel itself. She instructed me to contact expedia. I called them again and got another customer service rep who did more than the other two incompetent employees were able to do. I felt as if I was dealing with a totally different company. She contacted the hotel, confirmed that they were willing to cancel the reservation and she then issued me a credit.

The bottom line is don't take no for an answer. Go the extra mile and try to accomplish that goal. I WILL NOT book another reservation with expedia again. I will be reporting them to the BBB because the consumers should not be treated in this manner. I should not have to make multiple phone calls to get a credit/refund.

---

I'm amazed you actually got a refund. Congratulations! But lesson learned: do you homework BEFORE you book, no matter who you book with. -rc

Please use caution when booking through Expedia.

I cancelled a flight, the Expedia rep advised I had one year to redeem the credit. When I called back to rebook the flight (within the year) expedia refused to redeem the credit. The airline would not give the credit either, it was not their policy. Now I'm out over $600.

It's MUCH easier to deal with the airlines direct.

Has anyone received back their money for the double charges with Expedia? I am in the process of fighting them and if they do not refund I am going to look into a class action lawsuit - has anyone done this yet?