Orbitz review: horrifying service, dishonesty, scams 90

Mistakenly my wife thought by booking with orbitz are medication would be hassled free and given the best treatment and pricing. The orbits representative, after being told specifically which beach front we wanted to be placed on, but booked a hotel at a different beach, a smaller room and plane tickets which separated our 9-year-old daughter and the family and different seats of a plane with a lay over. Plane tickets cost more than if I would have booked them myself for a nonstop flight. During the vacation we had to switch hotels and were given a half hour to pack everything up and checked out. Orbits been had the nerve to charge me $90.97 for a processing fee. The vacation was filled with distress secondary to orbitz screwups. When calling to complain, they offered to give me a certificate for the processing fee to be used with a later orbitz booking. Does anyone want a certificate because I will never book with this company again.

We called Orbitz to book a cruise to Bermuda and spoke to Sarah. She proceeded to take our information down for booking the trip. She stated that she was working with another agent to get two rooms on the same deck. She gave us a price took our names, then proceeded to keep us on hold for 45 min. only to hang up on us. When we called back we were informed that she gave us incorrect pricing, never saved the info we gave her and the reason we were booking (Orbitz refunds when price goes down) was completely incorrect. Management would not match what was quoted by the "new girl" and there was nothing they could do to fix the situation. We will not try to book with them again, there advertisement are so convincing there "new" employees even believe them.

I lost $2089.68 to Orbitz who denied a transaction was completed so, I booked another ticket with them to same location and dates. I was Billed for Both Tickets. Orbitz Response to BBB Complaint They Agree that a REFUND Is DUE yet unable to complete; They just blame the airline

After 5 hours on the phone listening to countless lies, I filed the following complaints:
Emirates NY Ref : NYC/X/SC/260613/686131 FAX +[protected]
Orbitz LocatorAP110101ODJYSA0D BBB Complaint Case # [protected]
Emirates Ticket# [protected] BBB Complaint 9546287
US Dept of Transportation Case # KC2013050065

Orbits first response to my complaint was 72 days later.

6-months later yep, refund due yet no indication it is ever forthcoming.

The unexpected theft of $2089. has devastated my family.

Chicago mobster business practices.

BEWARE ORBITZ Orbits RIPOFF and JERK YOU ARROUND FOREVER NEVER ORBITZ

orbitz is one screw up that cheat people
why does the govt aloud this company to stay in business .

THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM! I WILL NOT USE THEM AGAIN AND AM LETTING FRIENDS AND FAMILY KNOW ABOUT THEIR PRACTICES. I ENCOURAGE YOU TO DO THE SAME.

THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM! I WILL NOT USE THEM AGAIN AND AM LETTING FRIENDS AND FAMILY KNOW ABOUT THEIR PRACTICES. I ENCOURAGE YOU TO DO THE SAME.

THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM. I WILL NOT USE THEM AGAIN!

Hi Compose12,

My name is Lynne. I’m part of the Orbitz Customer Relations Team. We’d like to get your Orbitz confirmation number so we can look into this issue. Please email us at socialnetwork@orbitz.com and include my name in the subject line. I’ll look into this issue for you. Thank you for your patience and for reaching out.
Sincerely,
Lynne
Orbitz Customer Relations
Chicago, IL

Another Rip off Orbitz uses is coming up with the lowest price, then raised the quote, eight times! Other companies do not do this, except for Cheap tickets, obviously Cheap tickets is part of Orbitz, so keep away from them too. They came up with exact same bids and raised the price the same amount of times, so beware of these two companies which are actually one in the same.

Hello,

My name is Charlotte, and I am part of the Orbitz Customer Relations Team. We want to learn more about your experience so that we can address the issue. Please email us at socialnetwork@orbitz.com and enter my name in the subject line, so that I can investigate further.

Thank you for your patience, and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Sincerely,

Charlotte
Orbitz Customer Relations
Chicago, IL

Following is a letter that I sent to an Orbitz Supervisor after trying to get a refund for them after a reservation for a hotel. The basics are that I booked a room, arrived to check-in, entered the room and found roaches, returned to tell the office that I would not stay and why, was told that it would be refunded and promptly found another hotel. I tried for six days after to get Orbitz to refund, but they said that the hotel had to approve the refund and I received the run-around on that daily as they said that they were contacting the hotel. In the end, they offered me some $50 voucher for a future stay. I had already told them that I would never use their service again.

Hello Sebastian,

I am happy that you provided your Email address, so that I can send this Email to you. As you already know, I am extremely disappointed with Orbitz at this time. The customer service that was provided in my case has been absolutely abhorrent. It's nice that you and your agents apologize continuously for all that I've been through when we are speaking by phone, but customers do not care to hear apologies. They just want you to resolve their problems.

If you check records, you will note that I have used Orbitz several times in the past. That will never happen again. Moreover, I will make it my personal mission to daily find some new forum to post the type of service that you provide when your customers have problems. You fail to see that by satisfying customers, you ensure that they will return for more business in the future. That is not a very intelligent way to run a business.

My personal campaign against Orbitz begins today!

Terrorist.

Hi,
My name is Kristi and I am contacting you from Orbitz Customer Relations. If you could e-mail me your Orbitz record locator to customerrelations@Orbitz.com, I will be glad to review your reservation. Please place the e-mail to my attention, (Kristi) and please include your blog and screen name.

Thanks,

Kristi
(Brand) Customer Relations
Chicago, IL

idiot! lol

Hello,

This is Charlotte with Orbitz Customer Relations, and I regret to hear of your disappointing experience. If you could please email me directly with your Orbitz record locator, I will be happy to review this situation and respond. My email address is customerrelations@Orbitz.com, and please place the email to my attention and include your blog and screen name.

As soon as the requested information has been received, I will be happy to review this situation further.

Sincerely,

Charlotte
Orbitz Customer Relations

Hello Jillse, I am contacting you from Orbitz Customer Relations. If you could e-mail me your Orbitz record locator to customerrelations@Orbitz.com, I will be glad to review your reservation and concerns. Please place the e-mail to my attention, and please include your blog and screen name.

Thanks,

Lynn
Orbitz Customer Relations
Chicago, IL

Just booked a direct flight to Newark for $450. They have the exact same flight listed as a way to get to Philly, saying it's a "nearby airport, " for $150. Wasn't offered this option, as my search of nearby airports only showed other NYC airports. Customer service says since this isn't considered a trip to the New York area, I'm not eligible for a price assurance refund and "his hands are tied, hands are tied." Tried to reach out to them on their active Twitter account, but it's very obvious that they only respond to happy customers. My sympathy to those of you who have lost thousands of dollars to these swindlers. I will NEVER give them another dime. But I guess I'd better hush before their lawyers find me.

I tried to book a vacation through Orbitz's web site, and after I put in my debit card info and submitted the form, it declined the reservation, saying "That deal is no longer available". I called customer service (which is in India), and the rep I talked to said he could still get me the deal I had requested. After giving him all my info, which took around 45 mins (!) because of the rep's iffy English, he told me that he could NOT get me the deal I had requested, after all. He informed me that he could get me on a different flight, for $50 more, and I agreed. After submitting my request this time, the rep told me that my debit card info did not match the card number. I gave him the information again, and he said again that my card info didn't match the numbers.

I decided I would be better off trying the website again. I submitted the form, and was again told there was something wrong with my debit card info, so I gave up. The next day, when I checked the bank account the debit card is linked to, Orbitz had frozen funds in my account for THREE TIMES the cost of the vacation. They also were holding a $2 service fee for each time they tried to run my card. All totaled, more than $3000.

I called Orbitz customer service, and was told "that's just a glitch in the computer system." They assured me that all the frozen funds would be released within 24 hours. The next day, not only were the frozen funds not released, the $3000+ was actually taken from the account. Once again, not frozen, but GONE. I called Orbitz again, and was told that it would take 3-5 business days to return the $ to my account. I said that was unacceptable, and they said if I gave them my bank phone #, Orbitz could call them and have the funds put back immediately. This was a Sunday, so on Monday, I called Orbitz back and gave them my bank's phone number. The rep put me on hold for around 10 minutes, then came back and told me they could NOT call my bank, and it would still take 3-5 business days to return the money to my account. In the meantime, I have been charged for a non-existent vacation THREE TIMES, and my bank account is drained. I have bills scheduled to come out of this account, and Orbitz has my money. There is nobody in their customer service department to escalate your complaint to; when you ask for a supervisor, it seems like they just give the phone to whoever is free. They don't deviate from their scripted responses, no matter how you threaten them. The only response I got (repeatedly) was, "Again, I apologize for the inconvenience. Is there anything else I can assist you with today?"

DO NOT BOOK YOUR VACATION WITH ORBITZ! I CAN'T STRESS THIS ENOUGH!

so you dont meet the requirements and your complaining... are you serious?

dude that is why they have rules... get over yourself. your not special and your case doesnt qualify for a complaint it qualifies for whining over 60 bucks causs they arent willing to break their rules for you.

I bought a ticket online from Orbitz.com departing from Jakarta (Indonesia) with final destination Toronto (Canada). Since there were no direct flight between Indonesia - Canada then I chose a flight plan that had me to transit twice in China. Below is the itinerary:

Sat, Dec 4 2010
Air China 978
Depart 1:10 AM Jakarta (Indonesia)
Arrive 7:25 AM Xiamen (China)

Air China 1810
Depart 11:55 AM Xiamen (China)
Arrive 02:35 PM Beijing (China)

Air Canada 32
Depart 06:45 PM Beijing (China)
Arrive 06:35 PM Toronto (Canada)

Just before midnight I went to the airport to check in but they asked for my chinese visa. I didn't aware that I needed a visa to transit in China. Turned out Xiamen is a domestic airport so it wasn't a connecting flight but was a stopover. Unfortunately visa on arrival was not possible either at that time, Air China has confirmed that.

The only option was to re-route my flight directly to Beijing but since my ticket was under Air Canada so Air China couldn't do anything about it. I went back home, confused about what should I do next and whether my ticket is still valid or not. It was 2 o'clock in the morning when I arrived home, tired but still managed to write a complaint letter to Air Canada.

Woke up in the morning I realized that it was Orbitz to blame since they didn't put any information about the stopover. I sent an email to them and thought that I should cancel my ticket. I canceled my ticket online at around 11 AM on Dec 4, it's probably too late but at least I tried. Orbitz replied back to me and apologize of what happened then asked me to call their customer service and reschedule my flight.

I waited for a couple of days and decided to reschedule the flight to Jan 2011 if possible. I then called them and turned out it wasn't possible to reschedule it since I already canceled the ticket. The only option was to refund my ticket and let me book a new flight myself. They charged me $200 to refund my ticket, I complaint that it wasn't my fault and they should have refunded all of my money.

The girl I was talking to on the phone said there wasn't any other options since she was only following the procedure. So I was forced to get the refund with $200 charge plus a long distance call for 20 min for the mistake they did. If only they just put the transit status as a "stopover" I wouldn't book the ticket at the first place and even if I did I would have applied for a chinese visa. I filed a complaint on their website (Dec 7) and they haven't replied until now. What a crappy service they have !

I have booked with Orbitz.com for ALL of my travel over the last 5 years and have NEVER once had an issue. They have always provided the best prices and my ticket has always been waiting for me at the airport when I flew. I've never booked over the phone with them, so not sure how that process works, but booking flights, hotels and cars online on their website is very convenient and I'll never use anyone else for booking my travel.

I am filing a small claims suit against orbitz for overcharging and fraud. Would you be willing to send me a signed and dated summary of your experience, so I can use it to prove that it is routine practice for Orbitz to screw people

Let me know if you would be willing to help.

Thank you Very Much,

Tyler
zepplin200053@yahoo.com

I am filing a small claims suit against orbitz for overcharging and fraud. Would you be willing to sent me a signed and dated summary of your experience, so I can use it to prove that it is routine practice for Orbitz to screw people

Let me know if you would be willing to help.

Thank you Very Much,

Tyler
zepplin200053@yahoo.com

Hi,

My name is Shalon with the Orbitz Customer Relations Team in Chicago. I saw your post, and would like to see if I can assist. Can you please email to me your Orbitz record locator, and I will review and respond back to you. Our email address is customerrelations@orbitz.com. Please put attention to Shalon on the subject line of your email.

I look forward to hearing back from you.

Sincerely,

Shalon
Orbitz Customer Relations
Chicago, IL

Hello Droten, I am contacting you from Orbitz Customer Relations. If you could e-mail me your Orbitz record locator to customerrelations@orbitz.com, I will be glad to review your reservation. Please place the e-mail to my attention, and please include your blog and screen name.

Thanks,

Nadeem
Orbitz Customer Relations

Hello, I am contacting you from Orbitz Customer Relations. If you could e-mail me your Orbitz record locator to customerrelations@orbitz.com, I will be glad to review your reservation. Please place the e-mail to my attention, and please include your blog and screen name.

Thanks,

Nadeem
Orbitz Customer Relations

Orbitz has been a nightmare ever sense we made the first call... A trip with 8 other couples that should be a happy experience is becoming a total heartache... These people do not know or care what they are doing... We have been hung up on a number of times... they have changed our tickets and times a number of times..moved people to other flights where they have to fly alone.. My sister's first flight .. and she is scared... has to fly from Pittsburgh to Philly alone now... they put 4 of us out of the group on a very early flight off our cruise .. so now that 4 will miss there flight and have to pay an extra $50.00 and wait for a seat on a later flight... it was Orbitz's mess up ... but they won't make it right... unless we pay $150.00 per person now to fix it... I will never deal with them or any of these so called money savers again.. I will deal direct with the airlines... the tickets would have been about $25.00 more per person but well worth it.. Do not trust or deal with this Orbitz... and also .. if you use a travel agent.. some of them go threw Obitz and others like it... you must do your homework or your dream trip can become a nightmare like ours... If that travel agent tells you they use Orbitz or one like them.. make sure that agent will make everything right when Orbitz starts changing and messing things up...

NEVER PAY ORBITZ FOR GROUND TRANSPORTATION. They overcharge somtimes more than 20%. I went to Vegas and pre- purchased a ground transportation voucher and Paid $15 per person. The sign on the ticket booth was $12 per person. I still had to stand in line to redeem the voucher so there was no reason to purchase in advance except to pay Orbitz a premium. The ticket person said that they get complaints form Orbitz customers all the time. Customer support was not helpful and would not give a credit for the difference. WHAT A SCAM!

We just had a similar experience. Booked a hotel with them at San Francisco and that went fine. The hotel was great. We then traveled 8 hours to LA and checked into our other hotel that we booked through them. The hotel was filthy. There were ants in the room, dried boogies on the door frame, dirt on the floor, and hair and stains on the sheets. Orbitz also advertised the room as a 2 bedroom suite; however, it was not 2 bedrooms. It was a 2 room unit without a living room. Just 2 rooms with beds with an adjoining door that posed a safety issue in that it had a dead bolt and no door knob. Long story short, I called orbitz and THEY WERE ABSOLUTELY NO HELP AT ALL. She called the front desk but since they had no manager on duty, she told me that they couldn't do anything about it without speaking to a manager. They could not refund our money and place us in another hotel. In fact, when we asked for some help in getting another place (and getting the refund later), she told us that reservations were closed. This was only 9:30 PST and all hotels have someone working at their front desk. We just wanted some help after driving for 8 hours. After GETTING NOWHERE, we wanted to speak with an orbitz manager and she told me there wasn't one on duty at that time. We gave her our number and asked that she get the manager to call us (supposedly, there was one "on call"), but no one ever did. Fortunately, the front desk walked us over to the hotel next door and they took care of the tab for that night. The next morning, the manager at the hotel called orbitz and they refunded the rest of our money.

I WILL NEVER EVER BOOK WITH ORBITZ AGAIN! BEWARE that they do not care about customer service. When there are issues, they do not want to handle them because they already got their commission. BOOK WITH TRAVELOCITY...they took care of issues when we had them in the past.

HORRIBLE customer service! They charged my card several thousand dollars for a trip when the website said my card couldn't be processed. I spent two hours on the phone only to be told it wasn't their fault because it was a computer glitch. They couldn't book me for it over the phone, nor could they immediately refund me so I could book the trip through someone else. Not only that, but every offer advertised that I wanted didn't even exist. On top of that, they wouldn't even do anything to make up for their error and my time and money!

I booked a room through Orbitz for Day Inn Charleston, SC. 3 days after I booked I had to cancel. The online reservation said that Orbitz "never charges for cancellations, but that the hotel might". Well, I spoke with Days Inn, Charleston and the reason they charged me any way was for 2 reasons:
1.) Even though I cancelled the reservation 20 days ahead, Orbitz never bothered to inform the Days Inn, so my reservation was treated as a "no show" therefore charging the entire amount to my AMX card.
2.) I spoke with the Days Inn's Dorreen Carlson and was told that basically the room reservation was no refundable because of the "discounted reservation code". So, I asked what the normal rate would be and she stated $517.00 for the 3 night stay. The price I paid to Obitz was $495. For a $22 dollar discount, they say this is a special rate that is not refundable even though the reservation was cancelled with Orbitz over two weeks ahead. The result was Orbitz never bothered to inform Days Inn of the cancellation and so both Days Inn and Orbitz now have $495.00 of my money for nothing. Never use Orbitz to book hotel rooms and I would say don't stay with Days Inn because they are in this scam together.

I could have received credit on the tickets, if they would have accepted my cancellation.

At least I'm not alone. Orbitz confirmed a r/t flight Barcelona - Turin for 18 - 21 July and just informed me the flight's been changed to the 19th. Well, we want the 18th and already have reservations. Bombay Bob told me there's a penalty to cancel the flight - it turns out to be 50% of the value of the tickets! This on top of losing out on hotel rooms that have already been paid. I checked with Alitalia and they have bunches of flights for the 18th. It's very hard to get through to Orbitz customer service, but I'm going to try Skype (I'm calling from Mexico). I swear I will never use Orbitz again.

Hello,

I am with Orbitz Customer Relations. I saw your post and would like the opportunity to asssit. Please forward me your Orbitz Record Locator and I will review and promptly reply.

Thanks

I booked my flight to Costa Rica two days ago. My bank account is negative because Orbitz charged me twice for my ticket. After spending way to much time on the phone with a so called customer service representative I found out the charges would just 'fall off'. Ok well if my account wouldn't have gone negative no big deal but I am flying home tomorrow on absolutely no money. I received my confirmation e-mail saying X amount of dollars would be charged to my account and as of now I have been charged double. I don't understand this...three of my friends booked the same flight and they don't have this extra 'fall off' charge? Customer service is horrible. I try telling them the issue and they just pause for a long time and say 'hello'? I'm guessing because they have no answer for this stupid situation. I just got off the phone with them and am supposed to call them back in a hour. wish me luck.
Never ever will I use Orbitz again.

I booked a flight to Texas along with car reservation. I got the car resvervation confirmed and did not get the flight reservation. After 2 days price had gone up from $350 to $800. When i called to ask why i did not get a email notification or a not confirmed message when i booked, they had no explanation and said sorry you can buy the cheapest ticket available now. I went and booked on a different website. I had been using them for 6 yrs and they just suck now.
ORBITZ lost a good customer who booked 10-15 flights a year permanently.

You're post would make no sense unless 1) you work at a hotel, 2) you work at orbitz or 3) you're you.

How were you harrassed by "mouthy little condescending desk clerks"?

And thank you for insulting my proffesion. Just because of the title of Front Desk Representative and comments like that, people assume that you can't help them.

When if I had been in that situation, it would have taken one call and your money would have been credited back. Oh wait, if you were at the HIE that I work at, that wouldn't have happened. Because this "desk clerk" as you've given such a great negative conotation has developed a way to make double charging .com reservations impossible.

As a mathematician, I travel a lot for conferences. Like manyof you, I had had good experience with Orbitz until my Denver meeting last week. I booked a package deal for my flight and 5 nights of hotel because I thought a package deal should be cheaper than if I booked the flight and the hotel separately. I paid $1144.68 for the package, knowing that the Orbiz price for the flight is approx. $580 and the official rate for the same flight on the UA website is $686.20 when I booked the package deal (I still have a copy of the quote from UA).

I stayed in Crowne Plaza, Denver (this is a hotel you might want to avoid if you are claustrophobic like me). The morning when I was about to check-out, I accidentally found out the five nights in Crowne Plaza Denver cost $398.32 because they did not realize I had prepaid through Orbitz already hence gave me the invoice. Of course they did not charge me after I explained to them. Now, let's do the math.

If booked separately through Orbitz: 398.32 + $580 = $978.32
If booked separately from UA website and from Crowne Plaza website: $398.32+$680.20= $1078.52.

Can anybody tell me why I ended up paying at least $66 more by the package deal?

I called them. I guess it's also the India center. After being transferred to the third person, they offered me a $50 voucher and implied I either take it or leave it because there is nothing else they can do... She also told me they actually paid $469 to Crowne Plaza. I confronted her by asking why I had to pay $469 for the hotel when it actually cost only $398. Guess what, she started citing some terms from the contract when I paid for the fare as an answer to my question. All I can say is : I feel like an idiot and I will never trust Orbitz package deal again.

Lesson learned: Package deal from Orbitz is not always cheaper than the non-package ones.

I asked for a simple cancellation of only the return part of the ticket for only one of the two passengers. After holding me on the phone for 1:15 minutes(not kidding) They said the cancellation would cost me $1040 because they have to reissue a new ticket.

Never ever again...

I WILL NEVER EVER EVER USE ORBITZ AGAIN EITHER! F**KING ###...
MY BOYFRIEND AND I BOUGHT TICKETS AT THE EXACT SAME TIME AND WE KNOW
THAT WE BOUGHT IT ON THE SAME DAY AND SAME TIME.
THE NEXT DAY I GOT A CONFIRMATION EMAIL THAT SAID THAT MY FLIGHT WAS A DAY LATER THEN MY BOYFRIENDS. I CALLED THEM AND THEY TOLD ME THAT IT MIGHT OF BEEN A GLITCH IN THE SYSTEM.
IT WOULD TAKE 10 DAYS TO CHECK IT. THEY SAID SOMEONE WOULD CALL MA AND NOONE EVER DID.

SO THEN THEY SAID THAT IT WOULD CHARGE ME $250.00 TO CHANGE MY TICKET. I WAS FURIOUS AND CALLED DELTA AIRLINES AND THE INSURANCE COMPANY. THEY SAID THAT IT WOULD BE $500.00 TO CHANGE IT.

SO I CALLED BACK ORBITZ THINKING THAT I WOULD SPEND $250.00 TO CHANGE IT.
AFTER THEY ADDED IT ALL UP, THEY TOLD ME THAT IT WOULD COST $800.00 TO CHANGE THE FLIGHT EVEN IF THEY WAIVED THE $30.00 FEE.

I PAID $595. FOR MY FLIGHT TO SPAIN FROM COLORADO.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!
NEVER USE ORBITZ!