Expedia Rant

[leeelmer]

So a while ago, I booked a room at the Banff Springs Hotel threw Expedia
Called this morning to cancel. Well the hotel cannot do a thing as it was booked with Expedia. I have to call them.
I booked this room, for our 10year anniversary. As our honeymoon was in Banff and at that time, my wife and I said to each other that it would be nice to stay at the Banff Springs for our 10year.
So I call Expedia this morning, and was told no dice, no refunds, no cancellations.
I said, the park is closed, restaurants are closed. What the hell are we going to do there? Also my wife is not really interested in staying in a hotel during the current situation.
Also, from my understanding the national park is closed as well.
Anyone ran into this?
Can I dispute the charge on my credit card?
Well anyway this is my rant.

[Dean2]

I would definitely get hold of your credit card company and get the dispute process working. Also, check and see if your Credit Card provides trip cancellation insurance. If Expedia sticks to this policy universally, no one will EVER book with them again. Really pee poor process since I am betting they aren't going to be paying the hotel. Expedia has become a really bad place to book through, their cancellation policies suck, and 5 years ago I used to use them a lot.

[pinelakeperch]

Dealing with this as well. Booked a hotel for a conference that ended up being cancelled. Let me know if something works for you.

[omega50]

Originally Posted by leeelmer

So a while ago, I booked a room at the Banff Springs Hotel threw Expedia
Called this morning to cancel. Well the hotel cannot do a thing as it was booked with Expedia. I have to call them.
I booked this room, for our 10year anniversary. As our honeymoon was in Banff and at that time, my wife and I said to each other that it would be nice to stay at the Banff Springs for our 10year.
So I call Expedia this morning, and was told no dice, no refunds, no cancellations.
I said, the park is closed, restaurants are closed. What the hell are we going to do there? Also my wife is not really interested in staying in a hotel during the current situation.
Also, from my understanding the national park is closed as well.
Anyone ran into this?
Can I dispute the charge on my credit card?
Well anyway this is my rant.

I would immediately go to Expedia on Facebook. Post a well written factual scathing rant on Expedia -Facebook about what a POS company they are.
Mention that unless resolved you will never use them again and will pass your negative experience on to as many as you can.

Likely tip of the iceburg and sit back and wait for public opinion to correct their evil ways

[jpohlic]

We got stuck in Victoria for an extra night due to a flight cancellation. While standing in line at the airport waiting to hear what was going on I booked a hotel room through Expedia. Got to the hotel about 30 minutes later and they had no knowledge of our booking and they were no help as we had booked online. Expedia was no help either... it took at least a few hours to get sorted out. I'll never use them again...

[Dean2]

Anyone who travels a lot has figured out you are far better off dealing directly with the hotel, airline, rental company, car etc. for all bookings. Almost all of them will match the best online price, many will even give you an extra ten percent off, and their service, cancellation and customer policies are FAR friendlier than any of the online booking options. If you really want to have some fun, book through Expedia, Travelocity etc for an overseas fight and then have to work out some problems. Airline will NOT touch helping you and you can guess how much use the online booking service is.

We just cancelled two sets of flights and rooms that were all booked direct with the airline, 1 Westjet, 1 Air Canada, and 2 different hotel brands and we had zero problems cancelling and getting full refunds. I do not want this to sound like gloating, just trying to pass on very recent personal experience. Best of luck to all you guys going through this. Bad enough to miss the trip, guy really doesn't need the aggravation of dealing with these yahoos on top of it.

[Hadji Ramjet]

At the risk of seeming unsympathetic...

Such an important event, and you book it through the online equivalent of a bucket shop? As Dean2 said above, for such something of such importance, it's a good idea to book directly with the supplier, be it hotel, airline, etc.

One of my jobs is with an airline, I suppose there's a bit of an analogy: lots of economy pax book with outside providers to get the lowest fare and as such there's not always much the airline can or will do if you want to make changes; 1st class & business pax almost always book directly through the airline and as they're paying the high prices, the airline will bend over backwards to accommodate them.

Finally, I suggest you review the cancellation policies for both Expedia & whatever method you used to pay for it, there may be some relief, or there may not be.

[flydad&son]

I ran into this a couple years ago. Expedia will not cancel unless you pay for the insurance. I did however call the hotel directly and spoke with the manager. They cancelled it for me.
Last week I have friend who were going for a two week golf trip to Arizona. For a list of reasons the ended up not going. All hotels and other reservations cancelled no problem except the one night they had book through Expedia. They called the hotel directly and were able to get it cancelled.
I swore back when it happened to me that I would never use Expedia again.
Good luck.

[Davey Boy]

Had the same with agoda. Booked through them, had to cancel through them.
It did work out .

[Grizzly Adams]

Anyone who travels a lot has figured out you are far better off dealing directly with the hotel, airline, rental company, car etc. for all bookings.


There it is.


Grizz

[beansgunsghandi]

Call back, and work it calmly but firmly until you get satisfaction. I travel a lot, and have had a few epics with Expedia (try not to use them, but sometimes it's what works...). In each case I had to go through a few layers of, "No," even when what I was asking for was totally in-line with their policies. Eventually I got a refund, or credit, or something that was fair enough, but it took me anywhere from one to four hours to get there (the four hours was for open business class tickets back from Africa that I had bought specifically so I could cancel them if needed). Work it, you will likely be rewarded if you persevere long enough! And sorry to hear your anniversary had to be cancelled, but it was the right thing to do. This virus is serious, I've got a healthy young friend having a really terrible week so far as a result of it.

[Hooter]

I like a good deal as much as the next guy (maybe even more) but my experience has shown that the reason some things are more expensive is because you’re paying for things you can’t see like someone at the other end of a telephone that can help you when you’re in a pinch. I moved from a well known bank to PC Financial back in the day, and all was good till I needed to a bank draft to purchase my first home. Let’s just say I almost lost my home because I wasn’t able to get the bank draft.....never again. I’m willing to pay a few bucks a month for the ability to be able to talk to someone when I need something or if something goes sideways.

[Okotok]

I've used Expedia for a number of overseas trips and never had a problem as I never had to make changes. Based on some of the posts, I'll definitely rethink how I book going forward.

[JBE]

Originally Posted by Dean2

Anyone who travels a lot has figured out you are far better off dealing directly with the hotel, airline, rental company, car etc. for all bookings. Almost all of them will match the best online price, many will even give you an extra ten percent off, and their service, cancellation and customer policies are FAR friendlier than any of the online booking options. If you really want to have some fun, book through Expedia, Travelocity etc for an overseas fight and then have to work out some problems. Airline will NOT touch helping you and you can guess how much use the online booking service is.

We just cancelled two sets of flights and rooms that were all booked direct with the airline, 1 Westjet, 1 Air Canada, and 2 different hotel brands and we had zero problems cancelling and getting full refunds. I do not want this to sound like gloating, just trying to pass on very recent personal experience. Best of luck to all you guys going through this. Bad enough to miss the trip, guy really doesn't need the aggravation of dealing with these yahoos on top of it.

Did you get cash refunds on your flights or credit?

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by JBE

Did you get cash refunds on your flights or credit?

Full price refunds to the credit card they were charged too. The one set of airline tickets from WJ were not originally changeable or refundable.

[Ice Fishing Maniac]

Expedia screw d me over with a rental vehicle while on a trip to Maui in December 2018. Never will I book thru them again for anything

[GeoTrekr]

Booked through a booking agency to stay in Victoria, BC about 8 years ago or so. Average priced hotel, certainly not the cheapest, nor the most expensive. Get there. The room stinks, coming from the bathroom (was like the wallpaper glue was rotting or something). Filthy carpets in the hallways and the room itself, desperately requiring replacing. Hallway stinks of urine from the homeless that sneak in the hallway doors at night and camp out. They were militant about their breakfast times, starting to put food away the instant the long hand on the clock hit the hour (even when there were plenty of people in the room and plenty of food left). Total gong show. Went to the front desk to try and change our room at least - nope, no dice, couldn't do anything about a 3rd party booking, so we got to finish our stay, which thankfully was only for a few days. On the last day, a silverfish was sitting on one of our packed bags ready to be loaded into the car.

Not only was the hotel miserable, but the 3rd party booking made it all the worse.

Since that day, never again. Use them to find a hotel and a price, call the hotel directly, MAKE SURE YOU'RE ACTUALLY TALKING TO THE HOTEL FRONT DESK, and make the booking that way. Usually nothing to lose, but lots to gain.

[Au revoir, Gopher]

Originally Posted by GeoTrekr

Since that day, never again. Use them to find a hotel and a price, call the hotel directly, MAKE SURE YOU'RE ACTUALLY TALKING TO THE HOTEL FRONT DESK, and make the booking that way. Usually nothing to lose, but lots to gain.

That there! We don't travel a lot, but when trying to line up hotels, I was amazed at the number of hotel websites where the "book online" link took you to a third party site and the 1800 # also took you to a third party.

ARG

[Prophet River]

hotels.com was just a click to cancel our rooms we booked for the Easter show.

[bat119]

Originally Posted by Au revoir, Gopher

That there! We don't travel a lot, but when trying to line up hotels, I was amazed at the number of hotel websites where the "book online" link took you to a third party site and the 1800 # also took you to a third party.

ARG

Exactly I booked a room in Regina through what I thought was the hotel desk I was charged in $US they use an American booking service.

[kodiakken]

Expedia's phone lines have been down the last three days. I'm trying to contact them over a couple bookings too.

[jafo]

It is not just Expedia that has poor service, so does WestJet. My folks and brother are in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo and have not been able to get any information as to when or how they are getting home. They were scheduled to come home on March 26 but with borders closing Sunday have been told nothing. They have tried email, phoning, Facebook, messenger and nothing. The rep in the hotel had to be shown the news article about the closure occurring. They have finally received 1 phone call back but not given a time or day for return. They are very frustrated.

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by Dean2

Full price refunds to the credit card they were charged too. The one set of airline tickets from WJ were not originally changeable or refundable.

Turns out the WestJet refund was actually processed as a credit that can be used later. It was originally supposed to be a cash refund but there is a catch. I think they put this in place to manage their cash flow once they realized just how many flights were going to get cancelled. Unless they actually cancel the flight it goes back as a credit if you cancel proactively. My advice therefore is wait till 36 hours before the flight to cancel yourself as if Westjet cancels the flight you are entitled to cash rather than a credit, though that may be a fight too.

[pinelakeperch]

Did you get the email yesterday? I received an email stating that they were doing mass refunds and to expect a full refund within 30 days. I’m glad they’re doing the right thing, but I still won’t book with them again.

Happy to have learned a free lesson

[Dean2]

Latest out, ALL of the Canadian Airlines are issuing credits good for 24 months instead of refunds no matter whether you cancel or they do. All the airlines have massive cash flow problems and say they can't afford to issue cash refunds. The Transportation board charged with protecting consumers is letting them get away with this saying it reflects the current economic realities.

Personally I think this is pure B.S. Once they are up and flying again we are going to push REAL hard for a cash refund but first I am also going to contact the credit card company and dispute the charges. No value was received and a credit does not equal the same value as the cash that was paid. Anyone that takes the time to go to small claims court will win this for sure but I bet very few people bother to do so.