Expedia ticket problems

Customer service at Expedia.com has a lot to be desired.

A recent booking using Expedia resulted in a customer not receiving the
ticket until after the flight even with express delivery.

Expedia will attempt to force the customer to purchase another ticket
and then after several months the user may get the replacement ticket
money back after a mountain of paperwork only becaue Expedia is too
cheap to be able to deliver the ticket on time to make a flight. They
got their sale and the customer be damned. Expedai will tell the
customer to file a lost ticket claim even when the ticket is not really
lost. Expedia just did not deliver on time and they know it and they
figure the customer will have no prolem coming up with the extra fare
necessary to make ther eserved flight, which is more than double what
the expedia tciket sold for.

Expedia will tell the customer to file a lost ticket claim even though
there is no lost ticket.

Attempts to track the ticket are fruitless asd Expedia will give a
phony UPS tracking number.

Calls to customer servise make the customer feel at fault even though
the customer is the one who has paid double.

Normal businesses do not hesitate to give refunds when there is the
inevitable mistake. Expedia will not give refunds even when Expedia is
clearly at fault.

Expedia nees to learn that when there are those occasional snafus, the
customer deserves a refund without hassle.

The problem apparently with the low overhaead travel agencies is the
fact that there is basically no customer service.

Expedia is nothing more than a very cheap travel agency but one needs
to allow several days for delievery and bear in mind they will not
hesitate to sell a ticket even when delivery is impossible.

Be advised that they do not deliver on the delivery date which one
thinks during the purchase.

Futhermore being lied to that there will be no problem catching a
flight tends to upset people when they realize they need to make
another ticket purchase for their flight because Expedai cannot deliver
as promised.

The least they can do is not insult the customer when a refund is
requested,

A cheap ticket is worthless if it is useless for catching a
flight.Expedia will tell you that they will get the airline to refund
themoney, but the airlines are not obligated to refund the oney for
several months wich leaves the ticket purchaser with the need to borrow
a few thousand to cover the replacement ticket.

Recetn reviews of EXpedia woth Google do not reveqal that many
complaints, but it wpould be good policy on the part of Expedia not to
hesitate to grant the refund woithout question when there has been an
obvious screwup without making the customer extremely upset and wanting
to sue.

Sometimes it takes a word on Google to get the management of some
companies to wise up...or erhaps these internet companies do not know
the power of Google concerniong their prospective customer base.

My advice: Use Expedia to look up air fares but do not buy their paper
tickets.

And custmer service? Expedia has none to speak of.

None of this is libel and every word is true.
I am sure it is a snafu, but the customer deserves his money back with
no hassle in this case.

But Expedia will undoubtedly not notice this criticism, but I am
satisfied comments like this cost has the potential to cost them a
millions of dollars of lost business from those who know how to read
Gooogle. Expedia simply cannot be used for any business travel under
these circumstances, because business trips are very often arranged
with short notice.

A paper ticket? How quaint.

The only piece of paper I have to get on an airplane is the Boarding Pass
that I print at home, on my own printer. I am way too cheap to pay the
extra $5-$15 for a paper ticket.

Hilary wrote:
A recent booking using Expedia resulted in a customer not receiving
the
ticket until after the flight even with express delivery.

And this is Expedia's fault because...? If you had express delivery
you
can tell when it was mailed, and if the fault is with the mail
service or
whether it was dispatched too late for guaranteed delivery.
The customer who informed me of this complaint talked with expedia two
days before the flight and was advised by customer service the ticket
could not be tracked die to sloppy paperwork as the tracking nmber
showed nothing but error. Several attempts were made to track the
package wich means the express delivery service is bogus.He had
received Email after the purchase advising him of 2-3 business days
which is their idea of express delivery. Expedia neglects to mention
this when the ticket is purchased and the customer had a written date
that the ticket woulkd be delivered two days before delivery and took a
day off work to acept delivery woith that assumption with a no show
concerning delivery. Call to customer service assured no problem with
flyout on the Sunday, but the customer still had to come up with the
full fare when he showed uo foir the anticipated flight...I.E. the
customer was lied to and this is unacceptable concerning business
practices.

An email was ent out 8 hours after purchase advisng of 2-3 day delivery
lead time, and the customer immedaialtey called to voice concern but
was given misinformation for the next two days to keep the cutomer in
the dark concerning problems he would encounter once he arrives at the
airport for his expected flight. Instead Expedia advises he would have
no problem getting his flight, which was completely untrue. Lies and
more lies. Unacceptable concerning business practices.

Expedia is at fault becaue of misimformation concerning a sincere
request.

Expedia will attempt to force the customer to purchase another
ticket
and then after several months the user may get the replacement
ticket
money back

This is an airline regulation for tickets lost in the post (which is
how
yours is counted). You have to wait a certain amount of time to see
if
the original ticket turns up, in which case they send the original
ticket
back for a refund, cross-referencing it with the replacement ticket
you
bought.

If the ticket doesn't turn up at all, they have to file paperwork
that it
was permanently lost. In the UK this can mean you wait up to a year
for a
refund.

Airlines are divided in procedure - a few allow a ticket to be
reissued
for a nominal charge; most require you to buy the new ticket and put
the
other back in for refund.

Expedai will tell the customer to file a lost ticket claim even
when the
ticket is not really lost.

If a ticket is sent to you and does not arrive in time, it counts as
"lost
in the post". If it turns up later, that's a bonus and it makes it
easier
and quicker for you to get your refund. It's not Expedia's policy
but the
airlines'.

Expedia will tell the customer to file a lost ticket claim even
though
there is no lost ticket.

You didn't receive the ticket? And they sent it? That counts as
lost.

Your advice here is helpful as we see the customer should have no
problem retrieving the full fare, However, the customer in this case
would prefer to pay the full fare and penalize Expedia and request the
money paid to Expedia on account of bad business practice and insincere
customer service. If the customer wishes to pay more, this is his
option but he should be no longer bound by Expedia contract obligations
and should be entitled to full refund because of bad service. The
customer has every right to have his business expectations fulfiled or
get a refund of the money requested. The point here is to improve
customer relations with the problem company.

In addition the purpose of this post is to remind potential buyers of
what experienced buyers have encountered as well as to suggest
improvements in a public forum. It is a small matter to refund a few
hundred dollars so as to attract more business rather than drive away
potential customers. Driving away the business of a frequent flyer is
very bad for any travel agancy.

Attempts to track the ticket are fruitless asd Expedia will give a
phony UPS tracking number.

Calls to customer servise make the customer feel at fault even
though
the customer is the one who has paid double.

That is a problem with Expedia and if you do a quick internet search
(including the travel newsgroups) you will find *many* other people
reporting bad customer service. It's apparently worse with ebookers,
but
I wouldn't use either of them.
I did do an internet search, but recent Expedia complaints wer not that
frequent which is the reason why I see it as a snafu. There is no
reason why expedia should not cooperate with the customer in these rare
cases, if they are indeed that rare.

Normal businesses do not hesitate to give refunds when there is the

inevitable mistake. Expedia will not give refunds even when Expedia
is
clearly at fault.

If they posted it then it is not their fault the mail carrier did not

deliver it in time.

No travel agency will give you a refund on a ticket like that - I
don't
think any of them will give you a refund before they've received the
refund from the airline.

Expedia nees to learn that when there are those occasional snafus,
the
customer deserves a refund without hassle.

The problem apparently with the low overhaead travel agencies is
the
fact that there is basically no customer service.

You gets what you pays for. Pay peanuts, get monkeys. If you want
*service* don't book with one of the huge online consolidators who
only
want the money. Pay a little bit more, book with a reputable agency
and
get the service you want.

Expedia is nothing more than a very cheap travel agency but one
needs
to allow several days for delievery and bear in mind they will not
hesitate to sell a ticket even when delivery is impossible.

I'm glad you're finally recognising that fact.

You could have paid to get the ticket set up at the airport. You
could
have paid extra for guaranteed next-day courier delivery.

Be advised that they do not deliver on the delivery date which one
thinks during the purchase.

Unless Expedia have bought out a postal service or hand deliver in
your
area this is hardly something you can fault them on - unless they did
not
mail the ticket on the date you purchased it.

Expedia failed to address the issue two days before the flight when the
customer brought up this very same issue. Instead Saturday delivery was
assured when it was known by Expedia that the delivery service did not
deliver on weekends. Again vital information was withheld from the
customer. Bad business practice again. The customer deserves requested
compensation.
A cheap ticket is worthless if it is useless for catching a
flight.Expedia will tell you that they will get the airline to
refund
themoney, but the airlines are not obligated to refund the oney for

several months wich leaves the ticket purchaser with the need to
borrow
a few thousand to cover the replacement ticket.

It's not a matter of obligation, it's a matter of paperwork and
billing
cycles.

Excuses.The cusotmer is out cash which takes more then a few business
cycles to recuperate.It is not amatter of obligation, it is a matter of
good customer service, and you admnit there is no customer service to
speak of.
And custmer service? Expedia has none to speak of.

Most of the people in this newsgroup already know that.

But Expedia will undoubtedly not notice this criticism, but I am
satisfied comments like this cost has the potential to cost them a
millions of dollars of lost business from those who know how to
read
Gooogle. Expedia simply cannot be used for any business travel
under
these circumstances, because business trips are very often arranged
with short notice.

I would *never* use someone like Expedia to book business travel at
short
notice for a paper ticket.

I believe the customer has learned this from this incident, and he is
simply reenforcing your comment here. Your input is appreciated
however.

Hilary

wrote in message
...
A paper ticket? How quaint.

The only piece of paper I have to get on an airplane is the Boarding Pass
that I print at home, on my own printer. I am way too cheap to pay the
extra $5-$15 for a paper ticket.

I'm guessing it's an international ticket because of the paper thing. The
paper ticket stuff is different for international than for domestic.

"bunny" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...
A paper ticket? How quaint.

The only piece of paper I have to get on an airplane is the Boarding
Pass
that I print at home, on my own printer. I am way too cheap to pay the
extra $5-$15 for a paper ticket.

I'm guessing it's an international ticket because of the paper thing. The
paper ticket stuff is different for international than for domestic.

Many carriers do e-tickets for International

"Miss L. Toe" wrote in message
...

"bunny" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...
A paper ticket? How quaint.

The only piece of paper I have to get on an airplane is the Boarding
Pass
that I print at home, on my own printer. I am way too cheap to pay the
extra $5-$15 for a paper ticket.

I'm guessing it's an international ticket because of the paper thing.
The
paper ticket stuff is different for international than for domestic.

Many carriers do e-tickets for International

Yes, they do. People who are only familiar with domestic tickets may not be
aware that while paper tickets are seldom used for domestic flights except
in certain instances -- when the customer requests a paper ticket, for some
types of mileage tickets, etc. -- paper tickets are much more common for
international flights than for domestic US tickets, and aren't really
"quaint". :-)

"Hilary" wrote in message
t.cx...
A paper ticket? How quaint.

The only piece of paper I have to get on an airplane is the Boarding
Pass
that I print at home, on my own printer. I am way too cheap to pay the
extra $5-$15 for a paper ticket.

I'm guessing it's an international ticket because of the paper thing.
The
paper ticket stuff is different for international than for domestic.

There are some routes where most airlines don't offer e-ticket yet -
Russia and parts of Eastern Europe spring to mind.

Hilary

Exactly.