DO NOT BOOK A TRIP THROUGH ORBITZ

May 28, 2008 by ReynoldW.

I sent the following email to Orbitz upon return from a recent vacation.  

“I booked a trip package (flight hotel, rental car) through Orbitz on 3/8/08 (7 weeks prior to my trip on 4/29/08).    When I arrived at the Hertz rental car at Owens International Airport in Grand Cayman, the local Hertz did have my reservation on file.  But, they stated that I needed to provide credit card to actually take the car (this seemed standard to me, I knew that they would want the card in the event of damage to the vehicle).
I told the billing clerk where I staying, which was the Reef Resort at the East End of the Island.  This resort was 25 miles away, so I absolutely needed to have a car.  The billing clerk then stated that I needed to pay for the car.   I explained that I had already paid for the car as a part of a trip package and provided them with my confirmation number.   I also showed them the email printout of my confirmation clearly showing that it had been paid for.   They then told me that I needed a “voucher number”.   I called Orbitz customer service and was transferred several times, in addition to reaching a non-working number.  I was then connected to a woman who actually was pretty helpful, she stated that this Hertz franchise did not need a voucher number.  She said that they just needed my confirmation and they should then bill Hertz.  

I put the woman from customer service on the phone with the billing person at the Hertz franchise and then the manager.   The woman from customer service explained to them what she had explained to me, but the manager insisted that her needed a “voucher number”.    The manager refused to accept the confirmation number.   He gave the phone back to me, and the woman explained that she was going to contact Hertz corporate and have them contact this franchise, which she did.   She then had a conference call with the manager of this Hertz franchise and the Hertz corporate folks.  After talking for a few minutes, he said that he now needed a “voucher form”.  He provided his fax number and then an email, it seemed like it would be taken care of .

This entire phone call lasted over 30 minutes and was made while I was roaming, so I will now have almost $100 in charges for this phone call.
When I returned the car, the manager said that he had not received anything from Orbitz or Hertz and therefore had to bill me $250.   I was in no position to dispute this at the time since I needed to leave for my flight home.  I truly feel that I was taken advantage of, due to the fact that I was a first time traveler in a foreign country and had to have a car.   I never received a phone call back from anyone at Hertz corporate or from Orbitz. 
Therefore, I am going to dispute the $250 charges with my credit card company.  I feel that my dispute will be responded to in my favor, since it is clear that I was double-charged for this car. 
At this point,  I feel the issue is between Orbitz (who has been paid for this rental car), Hertz Corporate and or the local Grand Cayman Hertz.    The main reason that I used Orbitz was to avoid problems like this.
I am emailing you to make you aware and to see if you can assist.   If not, I will certainly make everyone I know aware of the major problem that I had with Orbitz / Cheap tickets and Hertz.  I will never use either again and will advise others that they should not either.   I will be sending this same email to my credit card company, Hertz corporate, and the Better Busines Bureau separately.”

I received a response to this email stating that someone would contact me via phone within 48 hours.   I did not receive a call, so a few days later I responded to the email saying that I had not heard from anyone.  I again received an email stating that someone would contact me. 

Almost 1 month later, I have not received a phone call, email, or ANYTHING from this company.  

USE TRAVELOCITY OR BOOK YOUR TRIP DIRECT, DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY (OR HERTZ) — you will regret it. 

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