Friday, December 9, 2011

How Expedia Falsely Advertises...

...okay so wow-things have been insane around this house! First off, I was gone all week at my sister's watching H and on Wednesday, Matt calls to tell me that he can't go to FL with me the week after Christmas because his boss is leaving town and he has to run the nursery. I'm going to just leave it alone and not add my two cents but that's the jest of the story. The plan was that Matt and I were going to drive my mom's car down to FL December 27 and then fly back on January 4. So now I would have to drive my mom's car by myself 14 hours and 20 weeks pregnant...not so much fun, right?

So my mom and I start trying to think of different ideas to get me to FL. First off, Matt's ticket is non-transferable to another person. We could receive a credit to use in a year but then they charge you a $150 re-issue fee so right away, our ticket has doubled in price so long story short, we're just out that $121 (hoping that his boss will pay for it but doubtful). My mom and I found a flight on 12/30 for me to fly to FL for only $159 (including taxes and fees). Sweet! That's definitely the best deal because 1. I'm not driving 20 weeks prego across country by myself and 2. It's cheap (well for the most part). Now on to how Expedia sucks!

I get on Expedia, price still advertised at $159 and click, "Book this flight." I fill in all the information and get to the payment page and suddenly the price is $189. Hmm...so I pull up another tab and search the flights again thinking maybe I took too long to book and the price had increased. Nope, still advertised at $159. So I call Expedia to find out what's going on. The agent tells me that the airline is updating the price so $189 is the price. I ask, "So you're telling me that the prices you advertise are false? You don't honor the prices you show?" His reply, "Let me put you on hold." He doesn't tell me why, just puts me on hold for over 15 minutes. When he comes back he tells me, he can't do anything so I ask to speak to a supervisor. He transfers me to another lady and I explain the whole situation to her to which SHE replies, "Let me transfer you to a supervisor." What!?! I thought I was talking to a supervisor!!! She goes to transfer me and surprise! my call gets dropped. I'd given her a call back number in case that "might" happen but no one ever called me back.

I get home from work yesterday afternoon and call again to speak to a supervisor who basically sticks to the company policy of apologize, explain and get them off the phone. I plan on writing a letter to the company, not that it will probably do anything but it will make me feel better. I'll never book with Expedia again and I hope you don't either! I highly would recommend trying out other sites like Travelocity, Kayak, Orbitz, Priceline, Hotwire...should I go on? I am now on a personal mission to spread my story because

1. Expedia falsely advertises and does not honor the price they show. It would be one thing if I clicked and then the entire site increased but for the whole 30 minutes I was on hold or speaking to the non-helpful agent, I kept refreshing and checking and the price stayed at $159 so this wasn't just a moment of I happened to click at the wrong time. They falsely advertised this price for a LONG time.

and

2. There customer service is not service at all. They have memorized the policies and lines to repeat but don't actually listen to your problem and try to help. Excuses, excuses, excuses!

So there you have it, my friends, how Expedia falsely advertises and has horrible customer service! Now let's just hope that my reservations are correct!

3 comments :

Jessica said...

Try booking the same flight directly with the carrier. They might honor what Expedia wouldn't!

Hilary said...

I agree with Jessica. We booked our honeymoon through Expedia when I got married and the entire time we were traveling, people (flight agents, hotel front desk people) told us that because we booked with Expedia, they couldn't upgrade us, but had we booked directly, we could have 1. gotten upgraded to 1st class, 2. gotten upgraded to a direct flight, and 3. gotten a room upgrade. Hindsight!

Krystie said...

Ugh. I've been in this situation. But with priceline. You see, priceline says they will give you a 4 star hotel with name your own price. You dont see what you get until you hit submit and pay. we've landed in some dumps that ended up being half the price then what we paid on priceline! sometimes you just have to take it with a grain of salt.