Abandoned/ignored: victims of EXPEDIA's incompetence

"HLE" wrote in message
...
Oceania's cruise from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso was excellent, of course,
but Expedia made the end of our wonderful vacation into something quite
miserable.

Yesterday, we returned from Chile, where the earthquake created chaos in
Concepcion and points north. Though Santiago seemed to be nearly
untouched, the (relatively new) airport was grievously damaged and most
processes moved to outside tents.

Our original flight from Chile to Buenos Aires was canceled (with no
notice from Expedia), and our concierge said the only other flight would
give us 30 minutes if everything worked perfectly. We wrote to Expedia,
confident that we'd get help.

More than a dozen emails went back and forth, of which most from Expedia
were automated attempts to terminate the dialog. We have one that says
something like "we will help but only via email" and another that says
"call us on our 404 number". Finally, after we spent almost $20 calling
Expedia (there was, of course, a long and frustrating wait), they shrugged
us off with "Please call United and they will help you." We discovered
that United has no office in Chile, so we called the U.S. number. Another
$20. No help, as they don't fly out of Santiago and have only one flight
per day into and out of BA. I again asked Expedia for help, but it was
clear that none was forthcoming. We were on our own.

We gave up a day, and visited the LAN office in downtown Santiago, where a
manager took pity on us and shifted us to a flight that gave us eight
hours of waiting, but at least we got out and eventually got home.

I wrote to Expedia to file a complaint, but it appears that they have no
mechanism for such correspondence. The automated response included this
self-inflicted wound: "...there are some instances that (sic) we are
unable to meet our guaranteed excellent customer service..."

Guaranteed? GUARANTEED? Expedia's incompetence cost us a day of vacation,
and added more than ten hours to our transit time to make an uncomfortable
trip into a grim and painful one.

Never again.

Another perfect example of why to use a REAL travel agent.

June wrote:

"HLE" wrote in message
...
Oceania's cruise from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso was excellent, of
course, but Expedia made the end of our wonderful vacation into
something quite miserable.

Yesterday, we returned from Chile, where the earthquake created chaos
in Concepcion and points north. Though Santiago seemed to be nearly
untouched, the (relatively new) airport was grievously damaged and
most processes moved to outside tents.

Our original flight from Chile to Buenos Aires was canceled (with no
notice from Expedia), and our concierge said the only other flight
would give us 30 minutes if everything worked perfectly. We wrote to
Expedia, confident that we'd get help.

More than a dozen emails went back and forth, of which most from
Expedia were automated attempts to terminate the dialog. We have one
that says something like "we will help but only via email" and another
that says "call us on our 404 number". Finally, after we spent almost
$20 calling Expedia (there was, of course, a long and frustrating
wait), they shrugged us off with "Please call United and they will
help you." We discovered that United has no office in Chile, so we
called the U.S. number. Another $20. No help, as they don't fly out of
Santiago and have only one flight per day into and out of BA. I again
asked Expedia for help, but it was clear that none was forthcoming. We
were on our own.

We gave up a day, and visited the LAN office in downtown Santiago,
where a manager took pity on us and shifted us to a flight that gave
us eight hours of waiting, but at least we got out and eventually got
home.

I wrote to Expedia to file a complaint, but it appears that they have
no mechanism for such correspondence. The automated response included
this self-inflicted wound: "...there are some instances that (sic) we
are unable to meet our guaranteed excellent customer service..."

Guaranteed? GUARANTEED? Expedia's incompetence cost us a day of
vacation, and added more than ten hours to our transit time to make an
uncomfortable trip into a grim and painful one.

Never again.

Another perfect example of why to use a REAL travel agent.


Or even better, buy tickets directly from the airline. Using TAs real or
otherwise mean you miss out on all sorts of features that airlines offer
with online booking - like been able to rebook your flight from anywhere
in the world, reserve a seat online, reserve a meal or assistance...

In article , peter
wrote:

BTW: please provide evidence that anyone has ever successfully sued
Expedia because they wouldn't assist a customer whose flight was
canceled but told him to go to the airline counter in front of him.

No one said anything about suing them dumb ass. HLE wanted to get
support and service from Expedia. HLE is simply making it known that
Expedia failed in HLE's opinion to live up to it's promise of support.

Despite your idiotic claim that Expedia has no responsibility there is
'The Expedia Promise" right on their web site:

"The Expedia Promise"

"We¹re committed to helping you create and enjoy the best trip
possible, from the moment you come to Expedia until you return home at
the end of your trip. We¹ll support you every step of the way‹so you
can shop, book, and go with confidence. It¹s our promise to you."

--
Charles