Anyone had trouble with expedia.com?

I have booked several trips with expedia & things have always gone very smoothly. However, my latest trip plans to the northwest have been a nightmare. We're calling it "The trip from hell" before we ever leave the house. Delta cancelled a flight & that started our problem. Expedia re-booked us on a flight that has us stuck in Atlanta for about 8 hours. To straighten it out I've stayed on hold for over an hour one time, 20 minutes the next & 20 minutes the next. I tried to send emails (4 tries) noting they promised to reply within 24 hours & never received acknowledgements from any of the four.

Has anyone else experienced problems lately? Is this an isolated case? What methods do use to make travel arrangements?

Thanks!

My wife and I had problems with Expedia the first time we used them. We booked a weekend at a Hampton Inn in Orlando but when we arrived we found there was no reservation and the hotel was full. Not what we wanted to hear at 10 PM with two young sons. We called Expedia and after speaking with a supervisor they found us a two bedroom suite at a timeshare resort, reimbursed our payment and picked up the tab at the new unit for the whole weekend.

The lesson learned was to always call and verify the reservation when booking through one of these travel companies.

I am currently having a problem with Expedia, or at least a subsidiary. In fact, I could use anyone's suggestions here!

Last summer a booked a trip to Jamaica for Novemeber thru Expedia. I was travelling with my 13 yo daughter and according to the Expedia site, she qualified as a child for the hotel rrom. A few weeks later I got a call (I thought from Expedia but it was from Vacations International. Apparently Expedia subcontracts with the for hotel room). They informed me my daughter had to pay adult rates, which was OK with me, just a matter of a few dollars. They asked for my credit card # to allow for the extra fee. In October, I had to cancel the trip. Expedia just cancelled the arifare (gave me credit, that is), but since now Vacations International had my $ for the room, I had to cancel from them. Well, this is the problem from Hell.

I called VI to cancel and just got booted from one person the another. No one would take my cancellation. Either a person "couldn't help me" or switched my to a machine. I sent emails, but no one responded. I called Expedia but they said the couldn't do anything. November came and went, I continued to call and email over and over. I then sent a letter to the president, no response. I sent another letter to the president repeating this and saying I was informing the Attorney General of Texas m(where VI is located).

OK - now it is April and I still have no response and am still out a few hundred dollars. I have given Expedia the full information but they still contend they can do nothing, as it was billed thru VI.

Any suggestions, gang???

I've used priceline a few times, never a problem. Did have an issue but they fixed that right away w/o a fuss.

We have used Travelocity quite a few times a year and have yet to have any problems with either Air or Hotel Reservations. The few times we have used online reservations for a car, it seems the company--Budget, National, Dollar, and Alamo have all managed to screw up the reservation somehow. I think it is a problem of the rental companies inner-communications to the specific airport desks rather than an internet issue.

Maybe y'all realize this, but these services charge small fees for reservations. I usually use Travelocity or Expedia for info only, then go directly to the airline or hotel site and book there. It is almost always a little less expensive that way. Also, you usually get better treatment because these mega websites undercut a hotel (and keep the rest for profit) so you may be considered a "lower class" tourist if your reservation is from a megsite.

lostnthemail,

I would not get down on Expedia too much. They are only an intermediary and dealing with Northwest Airlines is difficult. I book directly on nwa.com and have had many more problems than you cited.

Priceline could be a good deal as long as you can make good your committments or otherwise you are stuck. My wife rented a car for a week to drive from Minneapolis to Washington DC and back. She put in a price of $15 per day. They came back that it was too low. So I suggested $20. They took it through National Car Rental. Our company rents for about $37 per day corporate rate. So the rule of thumb is offer half the going rate. Also select the compact car. Chances are they will upgrade you at no extra charge to a larger car because they have more of them and sometimes all they got. Of course if you try to rent a car in a city where there is a big event going on, forget the bargains. Be glad you can get something.

I deal almost exclusively with Expedia and have never had problems. I use it for airfare and rental cars and have always gotten good deals (and I do check against the airline/rental car sites). The only thing I don't like is that if you have a points system with a particular hotel Expedia won't recognize it if you book a hotel through there, so that I do on the hotel website.

quote:

Originally posted by NYNM

Maybe y'all realize this, but these services charge small fees for reservations. I usually use Travelocity or Expedia for info only, then go directly to the airline or hotel site and book there. It is almost always a little less expensive that way. Also, you usually get better treatment because these mega websites undercut a hotel (and keep the rest for profit) so you may be considered a "lower class" tourist if your reservation is from a megsite.

I recently did the same thing, check things out first and then go directly to the airline or hotel. I've noticed that Travelocity will show certain seats already booked but when you go direct to the airline, those seats are availible.

Our problems were not just with the airline changes. They also had our car drop off about 200 miles from where our flight left. When this got corrected, we went from an SUV to a standard car. Had to get back on hole and listen to the same song for awhile longer. Hopefully, all is fixed now. And I truly wish they had a selection for language at the beginning of the call and matched the operator to that language. Operators were very nice, but English was their second language, and it was very difficult to understand them.

Does Expedia really save you money? I do not know as I always deal directly with Delta, Marriott and others.

I stay an average of 100 nights a year with Marriott and fly almost exclusively with Delta and I use Avis exclusively.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

My only trouble with Travelocity was an identity issue. Some chucklehead in Phoenix really wanted my AOL address, and basically insisted it was his/hers. At one point I got email from Travelocity confirming my weekend trip to Vegas. I called them and cancelled the account and confirmed that they did not have any of my personal information linked to that account. Of course, that also meant cancelling my Travelocity account.

My Wife still has accounts with all of these, but she uses them primarily to research flights. Each is rationed out certain numbers of seats as a flight fills. The airline does the same thing, but they'll usually pull something out for you. Typically you can get the same fare as quoted on the websites. Same with hotels.

quote:

Originally posted by NYNM

I am currently having a problem with Expedia, or at least a subsidiary. In fact, I could use anyone's suggestions here!

.....................

OK - now it is April and I still have no response and am still out a few hundred dollars. I have given Expedia the full information but they still contend they can do nothing, as it was billed thru VI.

Any suggestions, gang???

Try contacting Christopher Elliott, a Travel Columnist with Tribune Media Services who periodically has a question-and-answer column on MSNBC solving travel problems, with an e-mail link. He seems to know all the right buttons to push. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18060730

Try contacting Christopher Elliott, a Travel Columnist with Tribune Media Services who periodically has a question-and-answer column on MSNBC solving travel problems, with an e-mail link. He seems to know all the right buttons to push. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18060730


Thank you. I am up for any and all suggestions.

quote:

Originally posted by NYNM

Try contacting Christopher Elliott, a Travel Columnist with Tribune Media Services who periodically has a question-and-answer column on MSNBC solving travel problems, with an e-mail link. He seems to know all the right buttons to push. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18060730


Thank you. I am up for any and all suggestions.


Dear 6star: I can't believeit! I put in an email to Mr. Alexander and he (his staff?) emailed me back within an hour to say they contacted Expedia for me!

Any suggestions, gang???


Try contacting Christopher Elliott, a Travel Columnist with Tribune Media Services who periodically has a question-and-answer column on MSNBC solving travel problems, with an e-mail link. He seems to know all the right buttons to push. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18060730



Thanks 6!!!! Today I got a call from Expedia saying that they would refund the $ (even tho actually it was the subcontactor, International Vacations that was at fault.) Any, it was thru the help of Christopher Elliott - and of course, you!!!
And, I say "Thank you Expedia!""

You're welcome. Glad I could help you out a little.