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Killing me Softly?

Apparently this happens to everybody, but just to reiterate:

Three days ago I find a flight on Orbitz. Enter my info, billing card, etc. After submitting, a window appears, basically saying that flight is not available. Okay, back to the search. Found a different itinerary to purchase. Entered my info again (didn’t want to open an Orbitz account.) Same error window. In frustration, I closed Orbitz, expecting to try again later when the website was less bitchy.

Alas, I checked my bank account later that night and found that two round-trip flights’ fares were pending transactions, [edit: completed transactionns] not available from my bank account. This left me with only $120 in my account, not enough to get a flight from any company. Okay now, time to start complaining to Orbitz. Come to find, they have no record of my email address or telephone number I used for the transactions. I send an email to the customer service, as everybody else on this website has. They inform me they have no record of my transaction and need more info. I send more info and a screenshot of my bank statement showing the deductions. Now they are not answering my emails and my pending transactions are no longer pending, they have been deducted. So here I am, one day before my planned vacation and still without use of $840 that until Thursday was in my bank account.  As a student, I cannot afford my trip with a measely $120 so I can forget about seeing my family this summer.

Now I am a reasonable person. I don’t blame Orbitz if the flight turned out to not exist even though it is their website. However, it is their responsibility to confirm the availability BEFORE making any kind of contact with my bank. I am not a law student, but there is something very questionable about a company that makes any kind of transaction with my bank without first providing me any goods or services. I suspect they put the soft charge on my account and then get some feedback from the airline before completing the transaction. If this is the case, Orbitz must either confirm the flight reservations BEFORE putting charges on my account, or immediately contact my bank to free up those funds. At the VERY least, Orbitz should have informed me that the flight was not available, but they had placed a $420 hold on my account, and would apply that to another flight if I could find one. Instead, they said nothing of the hold and put a 2nd additional hold, keeping me from affording any flight at all. This is just bad business and unless I get a positive response by tonight, I will need to call my lawyer.

Thanks for creating this website for me to vent and hopefully prevent others from getting trapped.

[edit: After calling Orbitches several more times, they were able to locate my “account” and agreed that they owe me a refund, but only for Orbitz’s charge (about $12). They said the $820 refund for the plane tickets was between me and the airline. After calling the airline, they too agreed I would be refunded, but of course it would take 4 business days. In the end, I got every dollar back but since it took over a week, I didn’t have enough funds to book my trip until after my vacation time from work was over. So no trip for me, thanks Orbitches.]

This entry was posted on July 20, 2008 at 9:33 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Killing me Softly?”

  1. Abused in LA says:
    August 14, 2008 at 6:18 pm

    letter i sent to Orbitz:

    This is an urgent matter which I need addressed immediately. I booked this
    reservation Tuesday, August 12th at 8pm. Before making the reservation, I
    called Orbitz because I needed to know the difference between a “1 king
    leisure bed non-smoking” and a “standard room” which was $3 more. The agent
    put me on hold for 10 minutes to call the hotel and came back to tell me the
    standard room had 2 queen beds. I then completed my reservation online with
    the $3 extra per night for the 2 queen bed room at the Holiday Inn Express
    Hotel & Suites MANCHESTER-AIRPORT. I compared this hotel with the other
    Holiday Inn down the road which was $20 cheaper per night, but since this
    one had 2 queen beds, as defined by orbitz over the phone, I went with the
    more expensive hotel.

    Today when I called the hotel, the hotel floor manger told me that they
    could not honor my reservation for 2 queen beds in their room and that I
    would need to call Orbitz. They had me listed as with a ‘1 king bed room’.

    I called Orbitz, I spoke with Ali in the vacation package department/ ID:
    MTR. She told me all she could do is cancel my hotel room and book me at the
    current listed price on the Orbitz website. I told her that isn’t what I
    asked for, I simply asked her to find me a room with 2 beds (like I had paid
    for) nothing more, nothing less. I do not want to cancel my reservation, I
    simply want the 2 queen beds. She said she can only cancel and re-book,
    crediting my card $417 for the cancellation of the hotel. I said when I
    booked this package it saved me money. If I would have booked the hotel
    separately, it would not. If I had not called to have Orbitz define a a “1
    king leisure bed non-smoking” and a “standard room” which was $3 more, then
    orbitz might have a case. But even the hotel manager said ‘if those are the
    2 options orbitz is giving you, then a “standard room” should be 2 beds.

    So I then asked to speak with her manager who told me the same, his name was
    Brandon from the Fargo, North Dakota office and told him my problem: that I
    booked a queen room (as was defined by an orbitz employee) and the hotel
    says they do not have a 2 bed room available. He said that I booked a
    vacation package for 1 person, so I got 1 bed. I then asked him the
    difference between a “1 king leisure bed non-smoking” and a “standard room”
    which was $3 more. He said ‘now that he is looking into it, he could not
    find a difference, so he could refund me my $3/per day extra that I paid and
    round it up to $25 toward booking a new reservation.’ I said this is not
    good. This is not what I paid for. I simply want what I paid for: a hotel
    room with 2 queen beds - as defined by orbitz AND the hotel. Clearly there
    is a mistake on the website AND a problem Orbitz and the hotel’s definition
    of the room.

    After discussing the problem with the definitions online and admitting the
    website has 2 rooms that are - to his reasoning- the same room, he suggested
    giving me $100 toward a new booking. Again, I said I do not want a NEW
    booking, I simply want what I paid for. He said that is all he can do.
    Then I asked to speak with his supervisor. He put me on hold for 20 minutes
    and said his supervisor said they could ’split the difference’ toward a new
    hotel.

    At this point I have been on the phone for 2 hours dealing with this matter.

    Brandon’s supervisor was Ethan, from the Fargo, North Dakota branch. I
    asked him to call the hotel and have the manager define the difference
    between a “1 king leisure bed non-smoking” and a “standard room” which was
    $3 more. He said no, that is is offering to split the difference and that
    is all. I then asked him to find me another room anywhere in Manchester, NH
    with 2 queen beds and the same amenities. He said no, he would not. His
    offer is what it is and I have to cancel my old reservation and book a new
    one. I asked him if he could ‘exchange’. He said no - that is his offer,
    take it or leave it. I asked him why I was not being offered at least the
    vacation package deal price for a NEW hotel room since clearly the error was
    between Orbitz and the hotel. He said because I wanted to cancel my old
    reservation and book a new one, so they have to charge me for the current
    list rate of the room. I asked ‘what happened to the money I saved for the
    package then? Who gets that?’ He said I am getting what I paid for. I asked
    him to please call the hotel. Again Ethan refused, so I called the hotel
    again.

    AGAIN I spoke with Dennis, the floor manager at The Holiday Inn Express
    Hotel & Suites MANCHESTER-AIRPORT. Who again said that if orbitz has two
    options when booking the room a “1 king leisure bed non-smoking” and a
    “standard room” which was $3 more; then the “standard room” should be for
    the 2 queen beds. Ethan refused AGAIN to call Dennis to get the matter
    straightened out. Ethan said he would split the difference, though he
    admitted Orbitz has a mistake in their system… But that ‘he couldn’t do
    anything.’

    The NEW rate for a NEW hotel reservation is $688 for the Manchester Holiday
    Inn (not the Express as I previously booked). And Orbitz would only refund
    me $440? He is asking me to pay close to $250 more than my reservation
    because he is refusing to give me 1) the package rate on a new hotel 2) it
    is more expensive due to booking at the last minute.

    At this point, I have been on the phone for nearly 3 hours discussing this
    matter and trying by myself to find a new hotel for cheaper - since Ethan
    refused to look for a different comparable hotel. I asked to speak with his
    supervisor, he said he didn’t have one and that I would have to EMAIL this
    address. I asked how long it would take to resolve. He said a few days.

    At the end of the day I had to take Ethan’s offer of splitting the
    difference because I have to get back to my daily duties at work and could
    not spend more time on this matter. In effect, Orbitz made me pay twice the
    amount of tax on my hotel, they did not uphold their end of the bargain for
    the 2 bed hotel room as I booked it, AND they charged me $123.55 MORE than
    my package guaranteed my package for.

    I have been a loyal customer at Orbitz for over a decade under the account
    zalla@earthlink.net - I am in charge of booking flights for my family as
    well as my friends. I would hope that Orbitz costumer relations can handle
    this matter with what is just and fair and refund me my additional 123.55
    PLUS that $80 more that I paid to have the nicer of the 2 hotels - as I
    ended up with the lesser rated Holiday Inn (see my paragraph 1).

    Please call to discuss with me immediately.
    Thank you.

    Sincerely,

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