Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Expedia Booked All The Hotels I Browsed [SECURITY]

I was recently passing through Lawrence, Kansas, on a road trip and needed overnight accomodation. After browsing Expedia for various hotels, I booked 1 and only received confirmation for one hotel. I proceeded with the booking only to find out that Expedia had booked all the hotels I had browsed, without every informing me. Full Story here.

Customer Service Sucks

Here is an email audit trail from Expedia, they just don't bother responding anymore:


IS ANYONE GOING TO GET BACK TO ME?????????


- Hide quoted text -

On 9/2/07, Gene> wrote:
IS ANYONE GOING TO GET BACK TO ME?????????

http://digg.com/tech_news/Expedia_error_in_booking_system_sends_your_credit_card_details_to_all



http://thinkjones.blogspot.com/2007/09/expedia-sends-credit-card-details-to.html

Gene




On 8/30/07, Gene  > wrote:
IS ANYONE GOING TO GET BACK TO ME?????????

  • The hotel have got back in contact with me and are refusing to refund the credit card transaction.
  • Please rectify this situation! I use Expedia a lot and do not want to have to swith my business to another travel provider.
  • Can someone get in contact with me using a less generic email address so I have one point of contact in rectifying this situation.
  • If this is not resoved by the end of this week I will be contacting the BBC's Watchdog program, and posting my story to www.digg.com.




On 8/29/07, Gene  > wrote:
Hi,


Can someone get back to me on this?


I asked for an update 7 days ago.


Regards
Gene



On 8/23/07, Gene > wrote:
Hi,


Can someone get back to me by the end of Friday on this please.


Regards
Dr Gene 



On 8/22/07, Gene > wrote:
Alannah,


  • The hotel have got back in contact with me and are refusing to refund the credit card transaction.
  • Please rectify this situation! I use Expedia a lot and do not want to have to swith my business to another travel provider.
  • Can someone get in contact with me using a less generic email address so I have one point of contact in rectifying this situation.
  • If this is not resoved by the end of this week I will be contacting the BBC's Watchdog program, and posting my story to www.digg.com.


Thanks
Dr Gene




On 8/20/07, Gene > wrote:
Alannah,


Please can you give me an update on this transaction, the item has still not been refunded!


Thanks
Gene



On 8/16/07, Gene > wrote:
Alannah,


Thanks for the reply.


I presume this is an admittance of a mistake on Expedia's part, given that my credit card details were supplied to the hotel in the first place, without ever a booking being made. It is quite worrying that I can view various hotels online, and when I come to choose the hotel I want, my credit card, if this mistake happens again, would be charged for the all the hotels I had been viewing. It was only through my vigilance that this mistake was spotted.


As an active member of one of the largest user submitted news websites in the USA (www.digg.com), what can Expedia do to show that this mistake will not happen again; and to compensate me for the time I have wasted chasing this matter up.


Thanks
Gene




On 8/16/07, travel@support.expedia.co.uk < travel@support.expedia.co.uk> wrote:
Dear Ms 


Thank you for contacting Expedia.co.uk with a copy of your statement.


We have contacted the hotel in regards to your query.


We have requested a refund for the amount deducted on your statement.


We will be in contact with any further information.


We apologise for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience in this matter


Thank you for using Expedia.co.uk


Yours sincerely


Alannah
Expedia.co.uk



Sunday, September 02, 2007

Expedia sends credit card details to all hotels browsed

Incorrect Booking

I was recently passing through Lawrence, Kansas, on a road trip and needed overnight accomodation. After browsing Expedia for two different hotels, The Eldrige Hotel, and The Hallmark Inn, I decided on the Hallmark Inn as it was within budget. I proceeded with the booking only to find out that Expedia had booked all the hotels I had browsed.

Booking Info

Expedia sends me a confirmation of my booking for the Hallmark Inn only.
See a print of my itinerary from the My trips page in Expedia.

The correct booking (Hallmark) was the second entry in "Completed Trips" called Lawrence KS (3) 1149724XXXXX.

The Eldridge Hotel, which is listed twice as Lawrence KS, and Lawrence (KS) 2, probably because I viewed it on two separate occasions; is listed in the section called "Non-active trips: Do not contain reserved or purchased items". I must reiterate here the Eldridge hotel is in the section stated as not containing reserved or purchase items, because I didn't book it only browsed it.

Expedia booked all the hotels and rooms I had browsed

A month later when I am reviewing my credit card bill I see an item for The Eldridge Hotel for $448. How can this be?
I contact the hotel and they tell me that they received two bookings, together with my credit card details. I ask for a refund, and they refuse because as far as they are concerned it was a genuine booking.

Hello Dr. Conroy-Jones,

We did indeed charge your credit card for $448.08 on 8/2/07. There was a reservation made, on 8/1/07, for two rooms on Expedia. com for the night of 8/1/07. Our policy is to charge for all no-show rooms unless we receive at least 48 hours notice of cancellation. Please let me know if you have any further questions about this charge. You may want to contact Expedia if you feel there was an error here.
Thank you,

Michelle Crowell
Finance Director

The Eldridge

So I contact Expedia and their response is:

Dear Ms Conroy-Jones

Thank you for contacting Expedia.co.uk with a copy of your statement.
We have contacted the hotel in regards to your query.
We have requested a refund for the amount deducted on your statement.
We will be in contact with any further information.
We apologise for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience in this matter

Thank you for using Expedia.co.uk

Yours sincerely
Alannah

Firsts I am a Mr (Well Dr actually). Secondly as far as Expedia is concerned this is the end of the issue. I have contacted them every 5 days since this last email was receieved over a month ago and have yet to receive a response.

Current Situation

The current situation is that I have a hotel that won't refund the booking because as far as they are concerned it is legitamte, and Expedia who have washed their hands of it because they have asked the hotel to refund the money. This leaves me in the situation where no-one is taking ownership of the erroneous transaction that has illegally removed funds from my bank account.

Be warned, if you are browsing hotels in Expedia there is a chance they will send your credit card details to all the hotels you browsed, not just the ones you booked, and by the way, you don't get an email confirmation from the incorrect bookings, so you will only notice if you audit your bank statements.

All I want is my refund, and a contribution for the hours of investigation I have has to pursue to track and follow up this problem.

Thanks Expedia for this mistake you have admitted to but not rectified.


Digg!