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Expedia review: What a terrible way to run a company! 14

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Author of the review
12:00 am EST
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This review was chosen algorithmically as the most valued customer feedback.

Had booked 4 nights at the Essex House through Hotels.com (Expedia). My stay there was very unsatisfactory. The hotel room was worn and dirty, the staff was rude and unpleasant, the mechanics of the building kept falling apart, I had to make several phone calls and wait 4 hours to get a mini bar opened. All of this for $700 a night! I finally had had enough and checked out on the second to last day of my stay. I called Expedia to tell them I would not be using the 4th night and didn't want to be charged for it.

It my horror I discovered that when you book through Expedia or Hotels.com there is NO POSSIBILITY OF EARLY CHECKOUT no matter how terrible it is. You are charged whether you stay there or not. They didn't care about how unsatisfactory the hotel had been, or my experience. I'm still charged $700 for a room I'm not using. The "customer care" representative at Expedia told me I should have called THEM to fix the problem. First of all, no one ever told me I should go through Expedia for all hotel related complaints, and second of all, I don't know what they could have done about the shoddy condition of the hotel and the rudeness of the staff.

What a terrible way to run a company. They care nothing about customer happiness or loyalty. It's just all about the numbers. The personal experience is inconsequential.

14 comments
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julia mcclain
ST Louis, US
Mar 22, 2009 10:27 pm EDT

This is my first and last time to use expedia.Booked 2 nights and was finished in the first day I had NO IDEA that i would charged anyway My money is hard to came up with .I told the guy at hes front desk and he cave me a phone number it cal What a waste of my time .First I was told I would get $100.oo in coupons then the longer i talked i wanted to supervisos she told that i could get $50.OO.iI IS BIG RIP OFF I am calling the BBB tomorrow .The motel was nasty no service had me put in the very back of the building.doors wouldn 't lock So if yoe are going to book a room DON"T USE EXPEAD WHAT EVER YOU DO!I will not ever again! Julia McClain

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farha shafiq
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Aug 08, 2008 5:40 am EDT

sorry about the ook at the top

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farha shafiq
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Aug 08, 2008 5:35 am EDT

wat do u think u are doin givin us the wrong address to the hotel(residhome hotel in france)so we get lost u little idiots at this rate U WOULDN'T EVEN BE ABLE TO RUN A CAR! WE CHOSE TO OOK THE HOTEL FROM U BECAUSE U GAVE US A CHEAP DEAL!

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Javier Ezquerro
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Jun 19, 2008 4:25 am EDT

Has anybody noticed that on the Hotels.com web page, they say that if you want to make a complaint, email Hotelreviews@hotels.com

The shocking thing is that that email doesn't work.

Hotels.com is definitely not to be trusted.

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Javier Ezquerro
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Jun 19, 2008 3:53 am EDT

As I have read above, my case is similar to that of many customers. I had booked a hotel in Egypt, hotels.com had taken the money straight away from my card, they canceled the booking, and now they are giving me problems to get a refund, and they refuse to re-book it.

I will never trust hotels.com ever again.

Anybody has any ideas where to get legal help for problem?

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TLWiz
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Feb 15, 2008 9:22 am EST

Expedia is a do it yourself travel site, and they do actually post all of their conditions and policies in plain sight. Many people simply aren't qualified to do their own travel arrangements - they simply can't be bothered to read the conditions and policies and then complain about gthe stuff Expedia really tries to make you read before you book. I use them all the time and have no problems - but I make sure I know what I'm getting before I book. For instance I know that I can get far better pricing on airport transportation at the airport than by adding it on to an Expedia itenerary, so I don't book limos and shuttles through Expedia.

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WAISTO
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Feb 09, 2008 8:53 pm EST

BE A HAPPY CAMPER!

IF YOUR BOOKING ONLINE. TRY TO "READ...READ...& READ" THE TERMS & CONDITIONS, CANCELLATION POLICY, HOTEL REVIEWS & ROOM DESCRIPTION BEFORE YOU MAKE THE RESERVATION. IF YOUR BOOKING IT ONLINE, YOU HAVE ALL THE INFORMATION AVAILABLE IN FRONT OF YOU (ON THE SCREEN) BY SPENDING SOME TIME TO READ. DON'T BE HASTY ON BOOKING A RESERVATION. IT WOULD BE BEST IF YOU WILL CALL THE HOTEL & INQUIRE ABOUT THE ROOM DESCRIPTION BEFORE YOU BOOK IT. AND IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A RESERVATON & YOU WANT TO MAKE A CHANGE OR CANCEL IT, IT IS BEST FOR YOU TO CALL CUSTOMER CARE WERE YOU HAVE BOOKED THAT ROOM (E.G. EXPEDIA/HOTELS.COM)

IF YOU BOOKED IT THRU AN AGENT E.G. EXPEDIA/HOTELS.COM OVER THE PHONE. SIMPLY "PAY ATTENTION". IT IS STANDARD FOR THEM TO SUMMARIZE THE RESERVATION BEFORE CONFIRMING THE BOOKING. YOU WILL BE ADVISED OF THE CANCELLATION POLICY & TERMS & CONDITIONS.

BE A HAPPY CAMPER!...FOLLOW THESE SIMPLE STEPS. PROVEN EFFECTIVE. Ü

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mark owen
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Jan 15, 2008 10:18 am EST

That is not ture I worked for expedia I am aware expedia has strict policies although there are way to check out early and if a stay is complete ridiculous refunds are given although a refund can take 3 months to process first month you call and an expedia agent submits a refund claim the refund will take a full 30 day to be look at due to the volume of customers then a refund agent must contact the hotel and the hotel will take another 30 day to have a refund claim done on their end once both the hotel and expedia agree the customers complaint is valid a refund or partial refund will be granted although it will take 30 days a total of 90 days for the money to appear on your credit card with is not good but when you make a purchase on expedia it is non refundable (read the fine print!) when you call you must be firm but nice make the agent think you deserve a refund many of expedia’s customers lie and this is why the refund process must be scruples. If expedia refunded every time someone called about a minor detail like the carper in the hotel was the wrong color expedia would be out of business (business are in the business of making money) one of biggest problems customer call with an emotional issue because the service from the hotel has been awful and feel the need to take his or her anger out on an expedia agent where at many the agent makes less money then you and doesn’t care if you get a refund or not because your yelling at them most expedia agents are being paid to be yelled at and when someone is polite they are so happy to be treated as a human they gladly do everything in their power to assist you many of expedia customer support centers are 3 party meaning they are contracts with expeda but the agent does not work for expedia the reasoning behind this is it keeps the cost down to run expedia, is that bs maybe but it’s the way it works? when changing a booking on a hotel once it is bought and paid for the change needs to be doe well in advance because the hotel room’s that expedia resells sell-out and are not available to book on the day of your arrival so the agent can not check you out and check you into another hotel with out at least one days grace but you could have the hotel agree with the expedia agent to wave the penalty charge and then book 1 night with hotel directly at the hotels rate then for the rest of the stay your booking would be through expedia because the agent adjusted your day providing the 1 day grace whether that be at a new hotel or not (it’s a numbers game) to focus on the 3 party issue if a 3 party give too many refund then the company can loose its contract so the agents are motivated not to give refunds or he or she can be fired because the bookings are non refundable which motivates the agent not to give refunds this is why call centers have high turn over rate because of the high stress due to aggressive customers over reacting and taking the issue at hand out on someone why has their hands tied managers also have their hands tied many of times worse then agents all the calls are recorded but if a manager need to find a call they need to know that date and time you called the calls can not be looked up by your name or account numbers etc. calls are only ever looked into if an emergency has risen hope this helps some people but all in all non refundable means non refundable do not impulse buy read up on the hotel you are booking you are the travel agent the web site is the tool this how expedia can afford to discount rooms they don’t have to pay someone to book trips forwarding the saving on to you

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K. Barnes
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Jan 11, 2008 1:05 pm EST

I booked a room from the US on a US credit card at the Hotels.com website. The charge was made to the card immediately for a room booked in Canada at 20 percent discount rate. When I got the credit card statement I had been charged $700 when the website had said it would be less than $400. I was first told that only the smaller amount would be refunded, because I would have to prove to them that $700 had been charged, but after I spoke to two other people I was told that the I had reserved the room in British Pounds. I did not change the currency, and saw on another consumer reporting website that the same thing has hapened to others. Hotels.com finally offered a $200 discount off of an even higher current rate. Instead, I booked the room through the hotel, which matched the price of the lowest web booking agency price and I was not charged in advance by going through the hotel. I also have discovered that the Hotels.com uber-company, which includes several other popular sites, has some other consumer issues that can be read about in the San Francisco Chronicles Lazarus at Large article "New Way to Make You Pay."

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Max Freddy
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Oct 03, 2007 5:46 pm EDT

I agree with the last comment that you should have brought this up to the hotel management. Furthermore, the rules the Expedia was quoting you is that of the hotel, not Expedia, and it is not unusual for hotel reservations to be non-refundable after check-in. and did you not even realize that it was the hotel where your money went to?

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kat
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Aug 29, 2007 10:06 am EDT

Duh... noone needs to tell you to "go through Expedia for all hotel related complaints". Common sense dictates that you bring the matter up to the hotel management and your travel agent. Expedia couldn't have done anything about the "shoddy condition of the hotel and the rudeness of the staff", since hotel reservations and hotel operations are different realms... However, despite that fact, Expedia is a travel agency that has a lot of travel partners; they could have had arranged for you to stay at a different hotel & they would just apply your payment for your original reservation towards the new one.

Next time, before you become a poison spreader, address your concerns to the appropriate party and do so before it is too late.

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Larresia Bell
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Jun 07, 2007 6:34 pm EDT

I don't know who everprivate.com is but they took 49.99 out of my checking account with out my permission.

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Einat Lahav
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May 02, 2007 12:43 pm EDT

I had the same experience with Expedia. Will not dare to use them again.

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John Doe
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Feb 26, 2007 9:37 pm EST

Welcome to the club. They tried to scam me (1254.95 U$D).