Expedia
Reviews and Complaints

I booked my trip to Ireland 4 months in advance using Expedia. This included a car rental in Dublin with a company called “Payless”. Because we booked early, we got a good rate. Apparently too good, because when we got to Dublin, we couldn’t find a “Payless” counter anywhere. We spoke with several airport employees who said that there was no company called Payless in the airport. Turns out that it was under a different name (doing business as Dooley Car Rentals). Nowhere on the Expedia printed itinerary was this listed, nor was it in the itinerary you can have e-mailed to you. The U.S. number listed on the itinerary was not helpful either due to the time zone change (voicemail). We had no choice but to rent a car for 5 times the amount at another rental counter. When we got back to the states, my husband called Expedia to explain our situation. After over an hour on the phone, we were of course told that it was our fault, because way at the bottom of the booking page on Expedia (not in the print version) buried in a bunch of other links was a link that said ‘Detailed Rental Information’, and that it was our responsibility to click these links and either print them out or remember that it is called Dooley Car Rentals during the 4 months between the time we booked and our trip. With this type of customer service, we will never use Expedia again, since there may be other times where they are ‘hiding’ CRITICAL information deep in the fine print.

I booked a hotel in italy online with expedia in april 2009. My husband is undergoing tests for a brain tumor so I called to cancel the hotel with them. I wasn't listed on the account but had all pertinent information such as our names, hotel, travel dates and most importantly, both locator numbers with expedia and the hotel in italy.
My husband is on their account so they would not even consider speaking with me nor give me a way to cancel the hotel. Donna was quite rude and the supervisor greg would't help without speaking with my very ill husband. I realize privacy is an issue but under the circumstances you would think they would cancel given I had both locator numbers.
I will never book them again. Bad customer service! Absolutely no compassion what so ever! At least give me a way to cancel - what if he was unable to speak? Absolutely brutal!

I will never use Expedia ever again to book a flight or hotel because of the terrible experience I've had with their customer service team. I normally do not have any problems when booking a flight but I booked a hotel for a business trip last month and I got charged by both Expedia and the hotel. When I contacted Expedia customer service about the issue, their customer service representative was rude, unhelpful, and evasive. She tried to help by calling the hotel manager for me but she didn't do what I asked. I needed her to provide evidence/documentation that Expedia paid the hotel for my reservation but she just called and got the same excuses that I got from the Holiday Inn Express in Grants, NM. The Holiday Inn claims that they faxed Expedia to get documentation that Expedia already paid for my hotel but never got a response back. So naturally, I tried to expedite the matter and get the situation resolved by attempting to get Expedia to provide the documentation but the customer service team is inept and could not understand what I needed them to do or would not do what I asked. I have a long stream of emails from Expedia that all says the same thing by 5 different people. It's been nearly two weeks and the charge is still on my credit card and now I have completely given up on Expedia and The Holiday Inn and will dispute the charge formally with my credit card company.

Booking through Expedia is not worth the hassel or the savings. And to be frank, I actually ended up paying more by booking through Expedia because of their booking fees.

We have been told by Expedia that a flight we booked to Asia cannot be changed despite the ticket confirmation stating, "any changes to your ticket may incur additional charges". We were very careful to read the website in full before purchasing this ticket because we might have to change the return date. We read all the "rules and regulations" and including a section which said, "we have not received rules or restriction information for this flight. In most cases the following rules and restrictions may apply". We reviewed these "rules" and noted that we may have to pay additional charges, but there was no statement that changes may be prohibited.

When we called Expedia to change the return leg they refused. We pointed to the website confirmation page and and they explained that other customers had a similar problem but there was nothing they could do about it. Expedia had a problem with the Finnair computer connection and the flight restriction information could not be displayed. They said we should have called Expedia (AT 10 PENCE PER MINUTE!) if we wanted to know what the restrictions were. They claimed that they were required by law to provide the common rules applied by the airlines when their computer could not link to the airline's specific rules. In these general rules (see attachment Page 1 and 2) there is no statement that ticket changes may be prohibited. Inexplicably, Expedia denied that they had any obligation to tell their customers clearly to call Expedia if the airline specific rules were not disclosed on their website. They added that tickets purchased through Expedia would always default to the harsher airline specific rules if these rules were not posted on Expedia's website.

Finnair, to their credit, said that if Expedia were to call them, Finnair would be willing to discuss this case. However, Expedia refuses to call Finnair saying that it is our fault that we did not call Expedia to clarify the rules using Expedia's 10 p per minute "help" line.

Amazing. We have now booked a separate return from Asia costing us an additional £500 and this airline and its website clearly states that "changes are not permitted". An expensive lesson.

So ever wonder why they keep changing their name? Its to fool the customers. I wouldnt trust any company that has pissed so many people off they have to change their name. So they went from Expedia Home Loans, to whenever the market crashed, they had to make money somewhere, to Expedia Loss Mitigation, trying to take more money from the people they already screwed over on their first loan, by modifying their loan for 2, 500 bucks. Dont you think taking these peoples money once was enough? So they set their customers up with the worst loans possible, with option arms, with high intrest rates, and Neg Am loans to just take more money from them when they are in so much debt they cant pay their MTG? Well before I knew all of this I worked there. It was going ok at first, it was really hard to get any customers, but I didnt know why yet. So no one was getting any customers, and they "laid off" the whole group of employees they just hired a little over a month and a half ago, I thought to myself "thank god" the work sucked, I was relieved, I just took my check and left. Well about a month later my bank sends the check back, they couldnt pay it, it bounced! This is the worst co. ever, so they are screwing the customers, and the employees! I went back to the building, and they are gone! But please look out people, because that doesnt mean they didnt go change their name to Expedia Mtg or something like that, trying to fool more people again. Are they ever going to stop?

Plainly put, I went on Jetblue Website to get information on a Charlotte to New York r/t ticket. Found lots of flights for $158.

Came across an Expedia promotion "trueblue36" whereas, you get $36 off your new Jetblue reservation made on expedia. I go to expedia.com, choose identical flights as Jetblue website and find they charge $214. Being new to this, I attempted to get through to Expedia to find out if they charge more than Jetblue for identical flights, times, dates, etc.

Took 30 minutes to get through and was told no, that expedia has best price guarantee. I was connected to the Philippines (employee 32654) who for the next 79 minutes would be on and off hold, gathering information from someone standing beside him as to what to say to me. Mind you I now have almost an 1 hour 40 minutes invested in this (feeling like a total loser for wasting this much time).

Outcome was he booked my flights at the higher rate and said the Jetblue36 doesn't work because of a time zone problem but, I would eventually see a credit. Keep in mind he charged me $214 each ticket (x2). So, basically I am now paying $178 (if he applies credit)for a ticket that I could have booked on Jetblue for $158 and no booking fee. He then says someone will call me to review price guarantee.

The call came after 10pm eastern time, I repeated entire story and was told a call back would come and was given incident number. 30 minutes later a different person calls with a different incident number and says he will call back. Approaching 11pm (my time) I get a call back again saying I will receive a credit for the price difference and an additional credit for future Expedia travel.

So, having spent over 3 hours on this debacle to save $36 I get a $50 expedia credit (p.p.) 3 hours wasted, total nonsense explaining a problem they caused and I get a lousy $50 credit.

Basically I prepaid Expedia.com for hotel reservation of 13 nights
but only stayed 8 nights due to unforseen circumstance.
I requested to get refund for the 5 nights that I didn't stay, but been refused. It's a rip off policy that they are practicing...talking about unfair business practice. I've been spending way too time talking to them over the phone with various managers and customer service agents but couldn't get anywhere. It's over $1000 that they are ripping me off here...Somebody/someone has to do something about this as there are way too many people are getting ripped off by this company, Expedia.com.

— original message —
From:
Sent: 4/16/2009 1:51:04 pm
To: [protected]@customercare. expedia.com
Subject: refunds questions or comments - case id: [req:[protected]]

* tpid: 1
* eap: 0
* name: marc
* tuid: guest
* e-mail address:
* phone numbers:

* itinerary number:

* subject: refunds questions or comments

—
* comment:
Customer: marc
Reference #: [protected]

I spoke with a representative earlier today about an issue I noticed in my itinerary this morning. it was brought to my attention when I handed in my expense report for the business travel I had booked through your website on april 3rd, I noticed an incorrect departure date for may 8th from louisville, ky. to orlando, fl on my credit card statement when the date should have been for april 23rd. I immediately called expedia to straighten out the error only to find that I am now being charged $150 per passenger to correct the error. this is for a business trip booking where I was to leave orlando on april 22nd in the afternoon, conduct a meeting the following day in louisville and then head back the same day as the meeting on the 23rd (thursday) of april. instead I found while submitting my expense report that the date I was to return is may 8th (friday).

Now I have used your website religiously for over 8 years at least and am fully competent in maneuvering around your website and booking travel. I have never had an issue in the past using your website. obviously some technical issue took place while booking for this trip. I would understand accidentally choosing the wrong month (maybe) but in no way would I have mistakenly booked for not only the wrong month but also the wrong day and date. especially considering the 8th is not even close to the 23rd. I explained the situation initially to a customer service rep who was kind enough through the conversation; she said she would first need to check with technical support and then came after a few moments on hold. she then said I needed to speak with a supervisor and passed me off.

Malik the supervisor proceeded to tell me that there was no error in the system and that I had made the mistake. I realized from the start of the conversation that malik was going to be the right one and I was just completely wrong and that I was getting nowhere in having the issue resolved. it is a business trip and obviously there was no way that I was to spend the next two weeks in louisville and had to make the necessary changes to what was originally suppose to be my itinerary.

I am still steaming from my conversation this morning with malik. I have been a repeat customer for over 9 years with expedia and you have been my default website in booking any kind of travel arrangements. I am extremely technically savvy with a degree in computer networking and I have been a manager with an it staffing firm for over 2 years if that can help explain a bit more at the ease I have with navigating through your website. if I could see the possibility of this being my error I would have no problem swallowing the $300 being charged to me but this is in no way a user error and obviously a technical glitch.

I would like to have the $300 charge waived for this issue and I will continue to do whatever necessary until it has been resolved. I expect prompt feedback and please provide me with proper contact information of who I need to speak with at the next level if need be.

I understand that you give ample time to review the full details of the itinerary before completing the purchase and I took the time to confirm that the details were correct before finalizing my purchase. the details were correct at that point yet the technical issue seems to have taken place immediately after completing the transaction. I will admit I didn't check my email thoroughly since I knew it was a confirmation email of my purchase and not the actual itinerary that usually comes days after purchase. which I might add, I never did receive any additional email past the 3rd of april with my itinerary information.

I spoke to us airways prior to even giving expedia a call yesterday and explained the situation. us airways said they would love to assist me in this matter but since I purchased through expedia, they were not able to move forward with any course of action. so seeing that us airways was willing to work with me directly if I had purchased through their website tells me that though you are bound by these rules and policies, certain situations should be no problem to override. I cannot tell you how easy it is for a company's initial response to say "sorry there is nothing we can do!", yet after persistence from the customer something is done to rectify.

Again I am done with conversing with customer service over this issue and want this matter taken to the next level within expedia's management.

— original message —
From: expedia travel support [mailto:[protected]@customercare. expedia.com]
Sent: thursday, april 16, 2009 9:59 pm
To: marc
Subject: re: refunds questions or comments - case id: [req:[protected]]

Dear expedia customer,

Thank you for contacting us about your refund request.

Please accept our apologies for any lack of service you received while trying to resolve your situation. it is never expedia.com's intent to mislead or to inconvenience our clients, and we are sorry that you feel expedia has done so. it is disheartening when our clients feel that we have not met the standards to which we hold our organization and employees, as we attempt to provide the most efficient, quality service available.

We at expedia are dedicated to providing knowledgeable service and support to our clients, but we are constrained by the policies of the vendors whose services we provide on our web site. when a flight or hotel itinerary is purchased on expedia.com, we act as the agent between the client and the vendor. any transactions are governed by the rules and regulations put in place by the vendor providing the service.

We regret any inconvenience this may have caused and would like to assure you that every reservation is important to us.

If this does not answer your question or solve your problem, feel free to reply to this message or call us at 1-800-expedia [protected]) and reference case id: [protected].

Thank you for choosing expedia.

Rachelle
Expedia customer service team

— original message —
From: marc
Sent: 4/17/2009 6:32:30 am
To: expedia travel support
Subject: re: refunds questions or comments - case id: [req:[protected]]

I mean you didn't really just copy/paste me some standard rhetoric as a response to my serious issue. first I don't have a question that I need answered and second; no your response is not even close to solving my problem. I obviously need this taken to the next level above a customer service representative. I will once again post my initial email below for reference and if there are any more details needed in rectifying and removing the $300 charge on my credit card, I can provide that.

— original message —
From: expedia travel support [mailto:[protected]@customercare. expedia.com]
Sent: friday, april 17, 2009 10:04 am
To: marc
Subject: re: refunds questions or comments - case id: [req:[protected]]

Dear marc,

Thank you for contacting expedia about your refund request.

There are no reports that indicate problems with the site. our website is equipped with recapping the details of the itinerary twice throughout the purchase path. all guests are given ample time to review the full details of the itinerary before completing the purchase.

Kindly take note that each of our airline partners established their own rules and policies for canceling or changing reservations. we are bound by these rules and policies and must adhere to them.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused you. please be assured that the entire team at expedia.com is dedicated to not only providing the most efficient, user friendly, and accurate travel application, but also to the highest standards of support for our members.

Comments such as yours are read by numerous people within expedia and help shape our policies and practices as we learn and grow.

Unfortunately, we cannot handle refund requests through email. however, we would be happy to assist you over the phone. please give our customer service desk a call at the number provided below or [protected] for callers outside the u. s. and canada.

If possible, have your itinerary number and/or booking id available when you call.

If this does not answer your question or solve your problem, please call us at 1-800-expedia [protected]) and reference case id: 4976737.

Thank you for choosing expedia.

Jardine
Expedia customer service team

— original message —
From: marc
Sent: 4/17/2009 10:38:30 am
To: expedia travel support
Subject: re: refunds questions or comments - case id: [req:4976737]

I understand that you give ample time to review the full details of the itinerary before completing the purchase and I took the time to confirm that the details were correct before finalizing my purchase. the details were correct at that point yet the technical issue seems to have taken place immediately after completing the transaction. I will admit I didn't check my email thoroughly since I knew it was a confirmation email of my purchase and not the actual itinerary that usually comes days after purchase. which I might add, I never did receive any additional email past the 3rd of april with my itinerary information.

I spoke to us airways prior to even giving expedia a call yesterday and explained the situation. us airways said they would love to assist me in this matter but since I purchased through expedia, they were not able to move forward with any course of action. so seeing that us airways was willing to work with me directly if I had purchased through their website tells me that though you are bound by these rules and policies, certain situations should be no problem to override. I cannot tell you how easy it is for a company's initial response to say "sorry there is nothing we can do!", yet after persistence from the customer something is done to rectify.

Again I am done with conversing with customer service over this issue and want this matter taken to the next level within expedia's management.

We have tried to book a flight with Expedia and we ended up getting charged by Expedia and Ebookers when we did not even visit Ebookers. Now after cancelling and getting a conformation, we are still getting charged by Visa, and the interest is piling up.

I was going to book a hotel with Expedia at Lakeside Inn Hotel/Casino in Stateline, NV. The quote on Expedia.com was about $199 + tax and fees for check in and check out dates 2/15/09-2/16/09. But I found a better price at priceline.com which was $109 for the same room type and same dates at the same hotel.

Since I am a long time Expedia.com customer and I had booked a lot of vacations with Expedia.com in tha past, I called and asked for the price difference. The representative told me that they can match the price and offer a $50 coupon to be used in future purchases. However she said I needed to book the hotel first with the Expedia.com listed price and then she would transfer me to another representative for price matching. I agreed and she booked the hotel for me.

After she transferred me to the representative (which I had to wait for 30 minutes to talk to), first, the representative confirmed the price on priceline.com. However he claimed that the hotels were not the same because the addresses were listed slightly different on priceline.com and expedia.com. Later he agreed that the hotel in question was actually the same.

Later on, he said he could not accept priceline.com's price for the price guarantee and said the terms of use for the price guarantee explicitly indicates that. During the time I opened the terms and conditions for the price guarantee on expedia.com and did not find any explicit exemptions about priceline.com prices. I asked him to e-mail me the information about the policy for priceline.com prices for price guarantee program. He said he is going to mail it to me right away and hung up. However as you might have guessed I haven't received any information.

I asked him that I only booked this because of the representative told me you would match the price and he said he could cancel it and that was what he did.

Later on I e-mailed the customer care department. I received a few unrelated replies and after those they started me giving reasons like "the itinerary is not purchased" and here's a quote from the e-mail reply I received:

"Thorough review of our records and verification through the Priceline.com web site, we found a difference in room type description. Please note the following:

Expedia.com web site - Standard Room Two Double Beds room type

Priceline.com web site - Superior Room 2 Double Beds Satellite Tvsmoking Or Nonsmoking Upon Request "

As it is clear from the quote, the two rooms are completely different. For example one room has "TWO" double beds while the other one has "2" as well as a smoking tv.

I asked them in my e-mails about getting to the bottom of this because that agent was bluntly lied to my face and canceled my reservation. Of course they never did and I think it is their policy to lie to customers to save a few bucks. I don't think I will ever deal with their false advertising and impeccable implemented cover-ups. I have already filed complaints by BBB.

My son purchased an airline ticket through Expedia for me in March of 2008 so that I could come to see him graduate from College. The graduation was scheduled for June the same year and the ticket was to be my mother's day gift.

Unfortunately and sadly, my son passed away suddenly in May. A few days after he died, I called Expedia to cancel the trip and was told that I would most definitely receive a refund for this ticket, since I would no longer be attending a graduation in Denver. It was in a timely manner, more than 4 weeks before the scheduled flight.

I was told to send them a certified letter along with a death certificate and the refund would arrive promptly. I received a death certificate from Denver in July and that day sent it to Expedia along with my pertinent numbers they had assigned to the case. I never heard back from them.

Since that time, I have sent countless letters, made many phone called, several emails, each time I was told that it was 'pending' and I would receive compensation no later than 6 weeks. It has now been nearly 9 months.

When I call, they put me on hold and then disconnect me. They refuse to refund the money or give me a voucher for future travel. Once I was even told that they would credit my son's credit card. Strange, since he is deceased now and does not have a credit card anymore, so this is totally unacceptable to me. I cannot seem to get any resolution in this matter. I am heart-broken at the loss of my 22 yr old son, but this incident is making it worse, they are taking advantage of a death for their own pockets. Any help or information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Last Saturday, my friend booked a flight ticket and hotel from
Expedia. Just today I've realized that the hotel she booked was out of
the way so we called Expedia to cancel the original hotel, pay the $27
cancellation fee, and booked another hotel within the city of
Barcelona. After booking the new hotel we discovered a better price
offer from the actual hotel itself, so we told Expedia customer
service. Here's Expedia's "Best Price Guarantee":

"Expedia guarantees you're getting the best price. If you should find
a better price online for the same trip within 24 hours, Expedia will
refund the difference—and give you a travel coupon worth $50."

And here are the reasons they provided for not following-thru:

• Apparently $7.43 price difference is too low; therefore they refused
to honor it. Customer service is not able to provide me with the
"MINIMUM" required price difference or anywhere on their legal policy
where this was stated. After I insists on seeing the legal document
that state this, she finally told me she's going to talk with her
supervisor to get his sign-off to approve the difference.
• A few minutes later, she came back with a new reason. Apparently, I
"changed" my itinerary instead of "cancelled" the previous hotel and
booked a new one. The 24hrs policy is only valid based on the original
reservation, not "changed" reservation. Understood, so what's the
problem? When we called Expedia, we specifically asked to cancel the
previous hotel reservation, paid the cancellation fee of $27, and paid
a higher price for a new reservation at another hotel. So, I guess
according to Expedia, the customer has to paid for their customer
services' screwed up.

I asked to speak with the supervisor, but the supervisor never got on
the phone. So instead I asked for Expedia corporate information so I
could contact them directly and here's what I've got (They wouldn't
give me a direct contact person):

[protected]@customercare.expedia.com

Expedia Travel
PMB 290
2897 North Druidhills Rd
Atlanta, George 30329
800.397.3342

These people are only curtious when taking your money as an initial deposit, after that they are horrific. They refuse to return my calls when I tried to get my furniture delivered. They promised a delivery date and did not deliver till almost 4 weeks later. They are rude and have no sense of what customer service means. In addition, they destroyed my furniture and property, not only were my glassware broken, clothes and furniture were water soaked with mildew and severe water damage. They refuse to honor their claims for repayment of damged property, and they hide from the Better Business Bureau. I would not reccommend them to my worse enemy. Save yourself some headache and money and get a real moving company that won't treat your property like garbage!

I patronized expedias service and was appauled by the horrible experience I had with them. I urge everyone that if you plan on using them "don't".

I booked my flight and rental car through them and ended up stranded at chicago airport christmas eve 2008.

My flight was fine, san francisco to chicago. I was then instructed to wait outside in the freezing cold for a shuttle to pick me up and take me to advantage rental car office offsite. I waited forty five minutes and still no shuttle, so I call info and get the phone number to advantage because the one on my paperwork doesn't work. So I call and get a recording that puts me on hold for over a half an hour and eventually hangs up.In the mean time my friend whom i'm traveling with calls expedia and is put on hold the entire time i'm trying to get a hold of advantage.

Finally we get a customer service rep from expedia and she puts us back on hold while she trys to get a hold of advantage. Another half an hour later she gets comes back and tells us that there is nothing she can do. I told her that was unacceptable and I wanted to talk to a supervisor, so she puts me on hold. Half an hour later my friend starts calling other rental car companies to see if we can get a car some how, and we are told that there is not a car to be had. Its christmas eve and we have now been at the airport three hours and still have nothing.

After an hour and twenty minutes on hold waiting for a supervisor she finally gets on the phone and informs me that advantage went bankrupt a couple months ago, and there is nothing expedia can do. So we were stuck in chicago even though we were suppose to drive to detroit that day for christmas. I told the supervisor that was not acceptable and she needed to find another rental car for us. She then told me that they knew they went bankrupt two months ago and it wasn't there responsibility to notify their customers. She told me that it was my responsibility to confirm all reservations. I then reminded her that I had a confirmation from expedia two days prior saying every thing was fine. She then told me that she could do nothing and hung up on me.

So please please please pass this along to anybody looking to use expedia...
Don't use them...

I have tried for many hours to contact Expedia by phone at 13 pence per minute and no one answers. I have written 7 e-mails and they reply telling me to phone. I have sent them my number and no one calls.
I now face a loss of business because I cannot change a flight. I normally never use Expedia for my monthly intercontinental flight. I never will again. It is the absolute worse service I have ever encountered.
A call to Expedia USA did result in a reply but they cannot enter the same system and cannot contact them on other numbers.
ADVICE DO NOT USE EXPEDIA.

EXPEDIA RIP OFF

Folks I don't normally go off on a subject like this, but my experience with Expedia is a slap in the face. They must view their customers like cattle, just dumb enough to fall for anything. When you book a hotel with Expedia, beware. While any hotel will allow you to cancel your reservation, with varied time clauses from 48 to 72 hours, not Expedia. They charged me $25, 99 for a cancelation that I made, six weeks prior to staying at the hotel. When I questioned them on this, this was Expedia's explanation.

"Expedia negotiates special arrangements with our partner hotels to guarantee the lowest prices available. In order to continue offering these great rates, we need to charge a $25 change/cancellation fee. But that fee allows us to bring you the best possible hotel rates in your future travel."

Germaine

Expedia.com Customer Service Team

Well, I thought I would see what kind of savings that the expert negation team at Expedia had achieved to justify this claim. This is what I found. I compared a booking for December 18th, with the Marriott in Budapest. Going directly through the Marriot web site, my rate was $165.39, or 130.00 Euros. Through Expedia

Expedia itinerary number: [protected]

Hotel confirmation number: [protected]

Reserved for:

Dennis Maroney Hotel: 2 adults Deluxe Room 12/18: $164.81 per night

Hmm, now I really feel validated, and assured that the expert negotiation team of Expedia has actually saved me .58 cents! Folks, please get the word out, under no circumstances use Expedia for hotel bookings. We have been a very active customer of Expedia for the past three years. They do not give any customer appreciation points and will jump at the change to gouge you for any nickel or dime they can get away with.

Expedia's response to my .58 cents savings was:

"Unfortunately, we are unable to process your request for a refund on the cancellation fee. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused you and would like to assure you that every reservation is important to us".

Meredith

Expedia.com Customer Service Team

Hmm, what is important to Expedia is squeezing every cent from your wallet!