Expedia.com may seem like a harmless company, beneficial in helping consumers get the best rates, but this is not the case. Expedia is a travel service that buys discount rooms and tickets that the hotel and airlines won’t use on normal customers and sells them at normal rates. Here are several examples of what happens if you book through expedia.

Below you will find true stories, expert opinions, what expedia managers think, and legal advice. These are all true stories submitted by real people or found in blogs.

In November 2003, we booked a rental car in Los Cabos, Baja California, Mexico through Expedia.com. The agency was National and the price was $99 per week. When we got to Los Cabos and went to National they said that they had no cars, no reservation, and could not help us. We went to Budget and after a long negotation we got a rate of $600 a week! Upon our return in January we registered a complaint with Expedia and asked for a refund of the difference. It is now January 2004 and we have heard nothing. I will NEVER use expedia.com again.

Rebecca

My husband and I booked a room at the Amsterdam Court Hotel in New York City through Expedia.com. Expedia lists this hotel as a three star facility.
Upon arriving at the hotel, we found our room to be size of a moderately large closet, the carpet was filthy, the towel bar kept falling off the wall, the bed was so uncomfortable, we both ended up with backaches, and the lighting was so poor, we asked for a higher watt bulb and the management said that they could not accommodate us, We purchased a larger watt bulb and replaced the available one.
Upon arriving home I contacted Expedia and was told that they do not guarantee their accommodations and rely on what the facility tells them.
I would like to warn other users that expedia has no idea of the quality of their bookings and that it is buyer beware.

Jean

I booked a trip on expedia.com and purchased the cancellation waiver for $29. Due to changes in my schedule I needed to cancel the trip.
I called expedia and was told I would be refunded the non-airfare portion of the trip and that I could get flight credit from American Airlines; there had been no mention of flight credit or other fees when I purchased the original package. I agreed to this and I cancelled the trip.
I and then called American Airlines and was told that due to airline rescheduling fees less than half of my flight credit would be available for future use. I called expedia and was told that this information was provided to me, which it was not.
Expedia seems to care very little about their customers and I will no longer use them for booking travel.

Ed

I ordered tickets through Expedia.com and when I got the confirmation it said May 10 for my return instead of April 10 (what I ordered). I called immediately and they said they could fix it no problem and to mail the tickets back. I couldn't do this because I was leaving in 2 days. They said to tell the ticket counter and they would fix it. They didn't. So I get to Florida and tried for over a week to get it fixed. The final solution was that the error was undecided (whose fault) and thatIwould have to pay $118 more to get the ticket changed and home. I didn't have the money and they did NOT care. I spoke with Nicole (Agent#PG) who was bored and passive and truly did not care about my situation. She refused to let me speak to anyone else there and referred me to the corporate office where all you get is a recording.

Needless to say I am very upset and still have NO idea how I'm getting home.

PLEASE order your tickets through the regular airlines and NOT Expedia.com. They have NO heart!

Carol

I made travel reservations through Expedia, and all was well. Three days prior to me traveling, I had an uncontrolled medical emergency and was flown to another state the same night. My husband, who is in the Navy, had to quickly make arrangements for him and my four year old to meet me. I had him call to cancel my reservations, and explain my situation.
I ended up being bed written for four days overseas,(Japan). By the time they released me, I purchased a calling card to see where my refund was. They said there is proof that my husband contacted the hotel, but didn't speak with a manager, and we needed to contact the hotel to explain our situation. We did, and they were very rude.
They explained to us that Expedia charged my card, and that they are the ones to reimburse my card.
Then we were given a fax number to send documentation proving my case. We were told we would get a refund plus a fifty dollar coupon. When I checked my e-mail the next day, I was told that the refund department no longer handles medical cases. I needed to physically send my documents to the Atlanta address given.
By this time I was so frustrated. They had my fax, why couldn't they put it in the proper hands? I realized I was being BS'd around.
What Expedia is doing, is not only charging me their fee for booking my reservation, but they're taking my whole $192 for three nights stay, calling it a no-show fee.
It's not right!
Don't let them do this to anyone else. I'm still trying to get my money back. Wish me the best.

Carmen

Customer Case 6: Prague

Last weekend I booked a trip to Prague through Expedia.co.uk. I didn't have the option of e-ticketing so Expedia sent us our airline tickets via a courier service. Only problem was by friday, the tickets still hadn't shown up and we were supposed to leave the next day. I call the courier on Friday morning and they tell me the tickets were delivered and signed for. No one at the hotel that I'm living at has any record of recieving them. So the hotel concierge calls and the courier tells them the tickets were placed on a truck this morning to be delivered today. Five o'clock rolls around, still no tickets. So I call Expedia to see what we can do.

Expedia say's that because the tickets were delivered somewhere and signed for I had two options: 1. Pay a $200 "re-issuing fee" for new tickets I was never issued, 2. Cancel the non-refundable trip and hope the insurance I purchased will cover it. I went back and forth with Expedia who refused to cancel the re-issuing fee or fully refund the trip. I would have been happy had they gotten rid of the re-issuing fee. I mean, this was a company that made gross profits to the tune of $1.47 billion in 2002 and yet they still wanted to charge me for their mis-delivery of the tickets. I thought this was completly bogus and didn't want to give them anymore money. So I cancelled the trip. I'll be contacting the insurance agency on monday to file a claim. After cancelling the trip I asked to speak to the supervisor of the customer service rep. I wanted to complain about the issue and how the rep. was handeling it (she was treating me like a five year old although I was exercising way more patience then I should have). I was told it was company policy the supervisors don't answer phones. If I had a complaint I needed to e-mail it. Again, completly bogus.

That is my story so far. As of now I am out the $900 I spent for the trip. I will be writing complaint letters to the board of directors for Expedia in Washington as well as the board of directors for Expedias parent company IAC Interactive. According to my research IAC also owns Hotels.com, Ticketmaster.com, AskJeeves.com, hotwire.com, lendingtree.com and HSN (Home Shopping Network).com among others. I will be boycotting these companies as well as encouriging my friends, family and co-workers to use other travel sites for their plans. I will also be issuing a complaint to the Washington State Better Business Beurau. Yes I will be putting in all this time and energy because I am that upset. I commend you for what you are doing and, if you would like, will keep you updated as to what happens.

Sincerly,
Bryon

First of, hotels wholesalers like expedia are expected to inspect hotels to ensure what they post on their website is accurate. I have worked for hotels for over 20 years and I have NEVER had a wholesaler inspect a hotel. I have worked in Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Nashville, Minneapolis, NYC. All they do is send a form for us to fill in.

AAA and MOBIL inspect us but never a wholesaler.

EVERY hotel I have EVER worked at will guarantee a room TYPE. Two Beds or One King. ALL Front Office Systems are built like this. They don't guarantee smoking or floors or that they will be next to each other but they WILL guarantee a room type. IF you book thru THEM.

A wholesaler agreement says Hotel will provide a room. Do you know what rooms WHOLESALERS get? The worst ones. As a revenue manager why would I EVER put an EXPEIDA customer who pays $63.00 (that's what EXPEDIA charges Starwood in Chicago). When it is the cheapest.

If you pay more you are entitled to and should get more. The limited view rooms SHOULD go to EXPEDIA and the like. That is called MAXIMIZING revenue. Something many rev managers and DOS know little about. You should never have Upsells because you train your people to sell those first. And with correct training they do. I worked as Six Sigma and we showed a tremendous increase by taking Rev Mgrs and DoS (dir of Sales) and showing them how to properly max their rooms. All they care about is getting 100% so they get a bonus.

Wholesalers often don't pay hotels. Most people are lucky cause if Expedia don't pay I don't give the guest checking in the room. It happens a LOT. Especially with Expedia and Priceline. We are on the phone as the guest is trying to check in and Expedia doesn't care that they are late sending payment. Remember you pay Expedia, Expedia pays hotel. Expedia is the second worst (after priceline) offender.

Take you chances...

Nick

Customer’s problems are due to the fact that they purchased their tickets thru a CONSOLIDATOR. These agencies BUY blocks of UNUSED seats for pennies on the dollar and then RESELL them to consumers.

What they tell you in the fine print is that EVERYTHING IS FINAL AND ALL CHANGES ARE SUBJECT TO FARE DIFFERENCES & SERVICE FEES. I have worked for a MAJOR AIRLINE for several years and the way these tickets are sold is not to you, but to the consolidator with lots of RESTRICTIONS.

Unfortunately for you when the Airline sells these seats, their contract is with the CONSOLIDATOR and most times they are unable to help you as YOU HAVENT PURCHASED ANYTHING FROM THEM. The Consolidator BOUGHT the ticket with all the restrictions and the RESOLD it to you. Your problem is with EXPEDIA or whoever sold you the ticket.

Everyone needs to realize that just because it has the AIRLINES name on it doesn’t mean they can help you. They SOLD THE TICKET to the agency you purchased it from with the FULL UNDERSTANDING of the restrictions on it.

Just because EXPEDIA or PRICELINE or whoever didn’t convey that information to you the consumer isn’t the Airlines Fault. I have had to tell MANY PASSENGERS "Sorry, but you aren’t going due to the fact you are on a HIGHLY RESTRICTED ticket".

Just remember the old ADAGE, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. If you don’t want any problems, buy your TICKETS DIRECT from the Airlines Web Site. This way your contract is DIRECTLY with the AIRLINE and no one else.

Mark

I used to work for expedia. They are constantly getting in trouble for standing their customers. They sell too many tickets to customers then refuse to help them. I have even heard supposed lead operators cussing at and even yelling customers.

When you call the 800 number, you just a likely to get a customer service rep in Manila the Philipines than a us rep. These reps tell customers they are in St Louis, but they are in manila and have access to your Credit card and address information. My advice, don't use them.

Anonymous

I swear, each and everyday at work, I hear the most lamest excuses from customers. This one stupid bitch wanted to check out early from the hotel because she had a personal matter to take care of, and since the hotel stated that she should receive a refund for checking out early, that Expedia was going to give that to her...yah right! That bitch never knew what was coming when she got me. :) So she was transferred as an irate and she stated in about how she is going to sue Expedia and that she never agreed to our terms and conditions...blah blah blah, the same song and dance bull shit...I asked her why she had to leave early, she stated that it was personal...I asked her what the personal matter is, she stated to me that it was none of my business...so I basically stated to her that unless she tells me what the personal matter is and provides documented proof, then we aren't going to refund her, regardless of what the hotel stated to her...she didn't like that too well at all! So of course, she hung up on me too! :)

I booked a site at a 4 star hotel through expedia on October 9, 2004. The room was not a suite, the hotel did not have any of the amenities listed, and the sheets in the room had blood and hair in them and the hotel refused to clean it or give me another room. They eventually kicked me out for complaining about the problem and Expedia could not refund me, but gave me a $100 good will coupon despite the reservation costing $125.

For a long time I was unwilling to use expedia, however I had to go to my uncles funeral last minute on February 20, 2006. I used the good will coupon to book a hotel (booked on February 19) which was a room at Ramada Plaza Hotel La Guardia Airport. I used the goodwill coupon and paid the balance of $23.50. I had to find a place to stay for the evening because my flight did not leave until 11:00am the following morning and my uncle’s house has 6 cats in it which I am allergic to.

When I arrived at the hotel at 8pm, they told me that because I booked a prepaid room through expedia at the last minute they did not actually have a room for me. They said I should never book rooms unless it’s through the hotel itself because they can see if there are rooms, but can not actually guarantee rooms. I asked for a refund and they said I would have to go through expedia. I called expedia and said they can not give me a refund because the hotel would not authorize a refund. The hotel and expedia were both unwilling to offer a refund or other accommodations.

I tried calling other Hotels and all of them were full. I also used the expedia travel service to find another room and they could not locate any vacancies. I told the expedia representative that I was now stranded because I had no place to sleep and my flight was not for another 14 hours. All they were willing to do was offer me another good will coupon for $50.

The hotel said I would be removed if I tried to sleep in the lobby, but said I could sleep in the airport, so they called a cab so I could go to the airport and sleep there as they did not have an airport shuttle running at the time (expedia said they had a 24 hour shuttle). I was then told at the airport I can not sleep in the check in area, only after the security check point, but I could not enter the security check point until 4 hours before my flight. So I had no where to go or sleep. Because of this I bought a 1 way ticket on a flight that evening to return to Indianapolis for $257.50.

The following day I told Expedia would like to be reimbursed by expedia in the amount of $123.50 for my hotel room, $15.00 for the cab, and $257.70 for the additional airfare I had to purchase because expedia was not able to provide with any accommodations and I would have been arrested had I slept anywhere and was unable to sleep on the street because of the cold weather. Expedia refused to do anything and said I can’t even get my hotel refunded because I was a no-show.

I have argued and for many hours and expedia refuses to do anything. They did finally offer to give me a good will coupon for $100, but I am not willing to use their service again. Now when I call they tell me that they are not allowed to talk to me and hang up. They also will not respond to my e-mails.

Michael

I met with an attorney and Expedia was very careful when creating their terms and conditions.

The attorney explained to me that one clause legally means that expedia is simply a reservation agent and act on our behalf to get us a hotel room or airfare at the best price they can negotiate. We do not pay for the hotel room or airfare, we pay Expedia a fee. Then I anything falls through, expedia has no liability because they were paid for their booking service which they performed. So they are not at fault if we don’t get a room or airfare.

Expedia’s terms and conditions also waive our right to sue. I tried to file a law suit and it was dismissed because the terms and conditions state:

“You hereby consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of courts in King County, Washington, USA, in all disputes arising out of or relating to the use of this Web site.”

What this means is a lawsuit against expedia can only be filed and held in King County, Washington, where expedias headquarters are. This protects the large corporation from being sued by consumers who can’t afford to travel to expedia to sue them in their own area.

If you have any stories or advise that you wanted added to this website please e-mail me and I will do my best to add it timely. Send your e-mails to expedia@ms-computing.com.

HELP BRING EXPEDIA DOWN!!!!!!!!!!