Expedia screw up!!

[dawsey]

Now I have returned, I can explain the problems I was having with my Qatar Airways flights booked through Expedia.

Just to recap, I had been informed 6days before leaving, that my return flights had been cancelled and rescheduled by Qatar, and in turn it meant my Air Asia connection from HKT to BKK was useless and I had to change it.
I had asked Expedia to find something else for me, but the prices had rocketted between booking in Sept, and leaving and nothing was available for under £1000 single trip back home.

So I get to London Heathrow, ready to tear into Qatar Airways to demand to know why they had put 6 of us on a return flight from BKK at 08 35 when there was an evening flight at 20 10. If I could get that flight, there was no need to change my Air Asia tickets then.
I was taken to ticketting, and after bringing up my booking on their PC I got the news.
They had informed my agent, Expedia, at 12 32pm on 6th Dec 2006 that my flight would be changed and would I accept that change. They accepted the change but the stupid fools forgot to inform me until 6days away from leaving!!
Naturally as you can guess, there were no seats availble on the later flight I wanted.

So, Qatar were not to blame, but its down to Expedia, and I have got some big issues to deal with.

Firstly, we lost a day and a half of our holiday by having to leave on 15/4 instead of 16/4. It cost me 14k baht to change my Air Asia tickets (another sad story to come) we had to sleep in the airport from 1am until checkin at 05 30am. I had to change my airport pick up by a day, plus I spent a long time in ticket agencies and on the phone to do all this.

Expedia are going to pay big time for this, and although they may argue that I only booked to BKK return with them, that one return flight changed all my plans and they didn't tell me!! I will update when I hear their reply to my claim I intend to hit them with.

[LivinLOS]

First thing I would do.. Contact your credit card company and inform them immediately of a dispute..

CC your visa dispute resolution people into all comms.. Make it clear they A) cost you money B ) cost you valuable holiday time C) were 100% at fault for the lack of comms D) you paid for a flight at a set date and time, they did not provide that service.

Your CC company can pull the whole payment and given that info probably will.. With the amount of people that flew you could actually do well out of the hassle (as you should IMO.. Bad service providers deserve all the costs and problems they get)..

[dawsey]

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

First thing I would do.. Contact your credit card company and inform them immediately of a dispute..

CC your visa dispute resolution people into all comms.. Make it clear they A) cost you money B ) cost you valuable holiday time C) were 100% at fault for the lack of comms D) you paid for a flight at a set date and time, they did not provide that service.

Your CC company can pull the whole payment and given that info probably will.. With the amount of people that flew you could actually do well out of the hassle (as you should IMO.. Bad service providers deserve all the costs and problems they get)..

Thanks for that info LiL
Are you saying that the CC card company I paid Expedia with will get involved even though I paid last Sept?? I do know I have rights as a consumer, and I didn't get what I paid for.
One thing for sure, even if I take legal advise, I am going hard for Expedia on this one. At the moment, Im too tired to work out my first mailing to Expedia complaints dept.

[LivinLOS]

You have usually 90 days from when you recieve your statement to claim.. However in your case the service was provided that much later..

Believe me VISA is your tool.. I have found they basically take your side of the story and deduct it from the merchant.. On the most flimsy of grunds (my buddy had a merchant account and used to just get ****ed for so much money) visa merchants need visa more than visa needs merchants (visa needs customers) so the balance if power is with you !! You have a real claim, no need to be nasty but they better make you happy..

As the payment processor you just make it clear you ARE NOT GOING TO PAY in full for a service not performed in full.. The UK VISA people (based in southampton but you speak to India) will start a claim and I think they usually claim the full amount billed..With the ability to pull the payment in full Expedia will suddenly become a lot more interested in a deal for 50/50.

They screwed up.. they should pay you a fair price to compensate.

[dawsey]

OK Sefton, understood. I'll be contacting my CC company tomorrow and let them know the score.

[MrDK]

Just want to support LiL's statements. I don't have much experience with Visa, but do have with American Express. It should be same-same. When it comes to air transport the issue becomes more black and white since a ticket is a contract and your case there was a failure to meet the contractual obligations.

Another good reason to get the credit card company involved is that Expedia and the Airline may start blaming each other, leaving you in a difficult situation to fight directly.

As for the grace period to file a claim, I would think that it starts when the contract was breached. Examples are when airlines go bankrupt or on strike, those who have paid with a major credit card get their money back, however, in some cases they are also stuck with purchasing a more expensive one on another airline.

[tally]

sorry to hear about that Roger. Hope you get decent compensation for Expedia's eff-up.
Have to admit that I thought they were among the best within the travel industry....

[whuakito]

welcome back Roger. thanks for making it clear, now we know who is to blame
give'em a very hard time, and let us know the result.

ps. I put expedia on my favorite list on my pc. since the day you started the stiky thread about ticketing agencies.well. I am going to delete it.

[dawsey]

Originally Posted by whuakito

welcome back Roger. thanks for making it clear, now we know who is to blame
give'em a very hard time, and let us know the result.

ps. I put expedia on my favorite list on my pc. since the day you started the stiky thread about ticketing agencies.well. I am going to delete it.

I'm sure Expedia are a very good agency, just that one individual in the company screwed up, and will cost them later on.

[Sirgezza]

Originally Posted by dawsey

I'm sure Expedia are a very good agency, just that one individual in the company screwed up, and will cost them later on.

I booked my Qatar flight with Expedia on last year's trip. Got to checkin and that's where Qatar told me that my flights were changed. I hit the roof and they told me that they had informed the ticket agent. I won't fly Qatar as they seem to change too many flight plans and I won't use Expedia 'cos they don't pass on messages.

[t0rn]

Rog,
IIRC you booked a hotel+flight deal with expedia. I think this may give you additional rights so might be worth checking it out.

[visa2003]

Go Get "em Tiger!!!! (or Dawsey!!!)
It would be good to see the little guy have a win now and then!!!!

[dawsey]

Originally Posted by t0rn

Rog,
IIRC you booked a hotel+flight deal with expedia. I think this may give you additional rights so might be worth checking it out.

I did indeed book flight + hotel Steve. I didn't use the hotel though

[Swishtz]

Many expedia messages are sometimes only visible when u log in and view your itinerary. Thats where i had a message to call them about changes to my bkk-hkt flight.

[sanuk21]

Good call LivinLOS!

Last December I was in LOS and had to fly home for an emergency eye operation. I arranged the flight with a travel agent to arrive home the next morning as time was critical for an operation to recover sight in my left eye.

On arrival at Suvarnabhumi I asked to check my luggage direct to Oz and discovered that I would have to languish in KL for over 24 hours and possibly miss my operation in Oz.

The bloody travel agent had booked my home flight for the wrong date with an airline which had no flights available that day and altered the date on the ticket for my benefit!

I left the useless ticket at the airport for the agent who promised to return my money less a 9,000 baht cancellation fee.

I subsequently booked my own flight to Oz through Singapore and arrived home in time the next day for a successful operation.

That week I contacted my Visa Card Dispute Resolution Centre who cancelled the complete 30,000 baht transaction on the basis that the goods received were not those contracted for (the tickets were not for the dates requested) even though fraud might have been closer to the mark.

The Visa office said that the dispute had to be registered within 30 days of the date of the statement which showed the transaction.

[dawsey]

Originally Posted by Swishtz

Many expedia messages are sometimes only visible when u log in and view your itinerary. Thats where i had a message to call them about changes to my bkk-hkt flight.

I did that on a couple of occasions, and in the past I always had an email telling me of anychange in the flight timings, even 5mins either way.

It is up to the booking agency to call the customer if there are changes IMO.
How would anyone get a message to call them if they didn't log into their itinerary? Totally unprofessional way to contact a customer though an itinerary.

[dawsey]

Originally Posted by sanuk21

Good call LivinLOS!

Last December I was in LOS and had to fly home for an emergency eye operation. I arranged the flight with a travel agent to arrive home the next morning as time was critical for an operation to recover sight in my left eye.

On arrival at Suvarnabhumi I asked to check my luggage direct to Oz and discovered that I would have to languish in KL for over 24 hours and possibly miss my operation in Oz.

The bloody travel agent had booked my home flight for the wrong date with an airline which had no flights available that day and altered the date on the ticket for my benefit!

I left the useless ticket at the airport for the agent who promised to return my money less a 9,000 baht cancellation fee.

I subsequently booked my own flight to Oz through Singapore and arrived home in time the next day for a successful operation.

That week I contacted my Visa Card Dispute Resolution Centre who cancelled the complete 30,000 baht transaction on the basis that the goods received were not those contracted for (the tickets were not for the dates requested) even though fraud might have been closer to the mark.

The Visa office said that the dispute had to be registered within 30 days of the date of the statement which showed the transaction.

The flight was still the same date, but moved forward by over 8hrs

As the transaction took place last September, and the dispute only came to light when I was called on 21st March, I would hope the 30 day rule would be waived.

[dawsey]

I wrote a long letter yesterday evening outlining my dispute with Expedia, also one to Visa explaining the same.

I anticipate Expedia will dispute some of my claims, but I have warned them I have written evidence, along with Air Asia receipts, and if any settlement offered is not to my satisfaction I will take legal advise.

[HOOF HEARTED]

Any update on this Dawsey??. Just a thought as well and I dont know if theres any mileage in it, but have you checked the terms of you insurance as to what happens if a flight is cancelled, maybe some recompense there possibly??

THE HOOF

[K2]

Its a pity you had to go through such a rough experience Rodger - certainly hope you get some redress from Expedia - I also am using Qatar to come to UK in July. My agent (Tourismo Thai) called and emailed me about the changes and amended my TG BKK-HKT flights accordingly.

[dawsey]

Originally Posted by HOOF HEARTED

Any update on this Dawsey??. Just a thought as well and I dont know if theres any mileage in it, but have you checked the terms of you insurance as to what happens if a flight is cancelled, maybe some recompense there possibly??

THE HOOF

Still waiting for a reply Hoof. I have given Expedia plenty to think about, and they are probably thinking of ways to worm out of paying me the compensation Im looking for.

As my flight was cancelled/and rescheduled for 8hrs earlier the same day, there is no redress with the travel insurance I took out for the trip.

Originally Posted by K2

Its a pity you had to go through such a rough experience Rodger - certainly hope you get some redress from Expedia - I also am using Qatar to come to UK in July. My agent (Tourismo Thai) called and emailed me about the changes and amended my TG BKK-HKT flights accordingly.

Qatar themselves are still a decent airline Kev. (though I prefer Etihad).
That was my problem, I wasn't informed until 5 days before take off, although they knew about the change nearly 4 months prior

[crazy_gman]

Dawsey, I agree with LininLOS, your best bet is to call your Visa card and dispute the charge with them. If they tell you, that you only have 30 or 60 days to make a claim, they are incrroect. I actually working for a Merchant Processing company and the Visa regulations state the customer has 48 months to make a claim on any charge (some issuing banks have internal policies but you can push them). What will happen is Visa will do a charge back to the processor, then the processor will pull the funds from the merchant, this case Expedia, then Expedia has to prove to Visa that they delivered the product or service being sold.
I would not waste your time going to Expedia, go directly to Visa.

Gman

[dawsey]

Originally Posted by crazy_gman