YYZlover

So here I am sitting in Toronto again. Landed yesterday. Only a short trip but still. I booked my flight october 29. Nov 1 I go online through expedias website using the link on the confirmation to check in only to find that the ticket is not confirmed. WHAT? I call expedia and they don't know what went wrong but will look in to it and get back to me. I call again and speak to a different CS agent who tells me the ticket is cancelled and tells me to call the airline to have them refund me the money (yes, they charged me, or rather put the cost on hold). I call the airline and the CS agent gets really upset and almost screams at me. Says it's not the first time this happens and expedia knows exactly what they shall do. According to the airline expedia never confirmed the booking with them.

I call expedia again who now confirms that the ticket is indeed cancelled and the only option is for me to purchase a new ticket. The money for the first ticket will be refunded. The new ticket is at a higher price but after a few stern words from me they agree to sell it to me at the original quote. They take my credit card details, the confirmation comes through and everything is fine, apart from the fact that no money is taken off the card. I'm thinking that they are probably using the first payment for this.

An hour later the CS agent calls me and informs me that this didn't work either so that ticket is also cancelled. By now I'm fuming. I go on the KLM website and book a ticket through them, using the same credit card. The e-ticket is issued and the next morning I'm off to the airport. Calling expedia about my refund. They say they will get on it straight away and make sure the hold on the first ticket is released back to me. They will email and let me know the process. I land in Toronto - no email.

Today I go to hang out with some friends in Cambridge. Something urged me to check my card statement and there it is. The charge for the first ticket has now been confirmed and Lufthansa now has my money for a ticket Expedia said was cancelled. I instantly call Lufthansa here in Canada and they check the logs. Are you ready for this?

The second ticket was confirmed BEFORE they called me to say that it was cancelled and Lufthansa now has me as a "no show" and has therefor cancelled the entire ticket rendering it non refundable. This CS agent at Lufthansa said that it is very common that this happens with tickets from Expedia and Expedia are the ones at fault and are the ones who have to refund me.

I have also found out that other people who have booked through expedia have had similar to identical to even worse experiences with the. One turned up at the airport in Shanghai only to be told by the airline they had no ticket so they had to buy a new ticket. This person did get a refund but not a full refund and is still fighting them. Another person has seen no refund at all. Almost everyone I know who travel a lot has either turned up at hotels with he expedia confirmation in hand finding out the hotel never got it from expedia, or paid for non existing tickets and getting partial or no refund.

Basically Expedia now owe me $1000 for a ticket they told me was cancelled although it turns out it was confirmed. I hope I will get my money back and I will fight them for it.

The moral of the story is - DO NOT USE EPEDIA!

(Add the $900 I paid to KLM to the initial $1000 Expedia cleared for Lufthansa and this is turning out to be a very expensive trip in economy class and a fare that is non-changeable and non-refundable)

jg2802

I love Expedia... (sorry ha)

iaink

Wow, that sucks.


I'd call the credit card company now and get them involved too. Expedia have likely not received the actual money yet from the card company, so you have some leverage.

mandymoochops

Wow i'd be shaking with anger - and wanting to scream at people - altohugh that only prompts the response "if you continue to use that tone I will terminate the call."

I shall not be using Expedia based on this happening thanks for the heads up

dbd33

I think expedia is a reasonable enough mechanism for booking simple to and from flight pairs. Where you're buggered though is that there's no effective means to change anything. You can phone them if you're in the US or Canada but, if you find the need for a change when you're already in London, nevermind 500 miles up the Limpopo, you've had it; the airline can't deal with you directly.

BristolUK

I imagine that someone somewhere has had a major complaint against every agency/airline there is.

It's like Canadian Affair whenever the subject comes up. People have been very satisfied while others haven't.

dormy

They are known to screw the suppliers too...I run a hotel..all expedia bookings are prepaid by the client directly to expedia and we charge a ghost credit card belonging to expedia, less a huge commission. All bookings are non refundable unless extreme circumstances prevail; we daily get expedia on the phone trying to cancel bookings. I have learnt to say no as they never refund the guest. I regularly get clients calling asking me to refund them as expedia are refusing, despite the fact we have refunded the stay to expedia, thus expedia get to double dip on one booking. be very careful with any "discount" internet booking agencies, they truely are not always the cheapest option.

Alan2005

I've never had any problems with expedia and I've had to change/cancel flights with them. On the other hand I always check that code you get back actually exists at the airline.

mardyarse

funny because after years of my hubby using them for all his hotels, airline tickets, car rentals for business the exact same thing happened to him. Needless to say they only had to do it once and now he no longer uses them.

It took him nearly 6 months and constant phone calls, emails, to get his money back and quite frankly if he wasn't so persistent it would never have happened. They didn't book the flight he paid for and they charged him for when he was in Peru and he had to buy another ticket. Thing is he flies so much normally this could have slipped through the cracks.

They were nothing but hassle for 6 months and something very wrong is happening.

snowshoveller

Sorry about your experience, personally I have used expedia dozens of times over the last 6 years or so and never had an issue, even with quite complicated multi destination/carrier trips.

Steve_

I've had problems with them charging in the wrong currency.

Having had a problem with travelocity years ago I always double-check what the prices are on the airline's website and also on other travel sites before booking anything to make sure it all sounds credible.

ireland2canada

I have also used Expedia with no issues in the past, in fact I've never heard of such issues with them before now.

However I priced flights recently with them and also directly with the airline. Not so much as a dollar of a difference. This, for me, negates the need for a middle man. All things being equal I'd rather book direct.

dbd33

When that daughter was in Italy, the trip with the white sand dune pictures, she was offered the chance to go and meet her paramour's parents. That meant changing the flight around slightly so as to stay an extra day or two. They called Expedia, first in Europe and then in Canada, on a PAYGO phone and spent a small fortune being on hold. In the end there was an issue with not being able to buy more phone credit so she gave up and left on the originally intended date. Dealing with the airline would have been better because you can always drive to an airport and find a representative of the airline.

Pretty Flowers

I generally check flights here - http://matrix.itasoftware.com

and then book directly from the relevant airline. Seems cheaper than expedia/ travelocity etc. these days. The good old days of good prices from them seem to be gone, and at least I have the security of knowing I have the best price and ability to book directly from the airline, when discount sites tend to not cover all airlines/ combinations and can also gouge you...

YYZlover

I too use the matrix.

Anyway - to update you. Th charge on my card is for the first ticket that I booked oct 29. Calling expedia today, I find out they have cleared it with Lufthansa o charge me for the second ticket they later rang me and told me was cancelled. Expedia in Sweden has bumped this up to being dealt with at management level now. I think they called me about 3 times on my canadian cell. Creditcard company IS involved.

All in all, I'm about to pay the same amount as a business/first class ticket for a non refundable non changeable ticket.