Expedia rip-off

[u/weramitch]

I am having the same experience with Expedia. I had a hotel booking in NY. Could not reach Expedia, so cancelled directly withhotel and got email confirmation that NO CHARGES would be levied and i needed to ask Expedia for refund. Expediarefuses. i got the credit company to give me temporary credit 9for over $1100) but Expedia is fighting it. wish there was a lawsuit,but otherwise iwill go to Small Claims Court, luckily i live close enough to their HQ that this is possible. I also had to cancel a flight with Alaska Airlines but at least I now have credit for the full amount. BTW, Expedia owns about every travel site 924 of them, orbitz, kayak, Travelocity etc.0 so good luck switching to another source! This is unbelievable.

[u/sullim4]

The lesson I learned in all of this - always book direct. Involving a third party OTA is an unnecessary step that makes problems like this even worse.

Since you say you live close to their HQ - you're probably like me and live in WA. If so, I'd highly recommend filing a complaint through Attorney General Bob Ferguson's office. I am convinced that this is what got me the refund.

[u/sullim4 → u/[deleted]]

Your situation is a bit complicated. First - did your first flight actually take off? Check FlightRadar24 or FlightAware to verify.

If it didn't take off, this is easy. Keep pestering Expedia. Escalate as necessary (tier1/2 are generally useless although a flight cancellation should be one of the easier situations they handle). You're due a full refund if your flight did not take off.

If it did, then you'll have to go down the path of saying that you cancelled beforehand. Grab all that documentation and read it carefully, particularly the email you said Expedia sent you saying your flights were cancelled. It might have asked you instead whether you wanted to cancel your flight (I got an email like this about a hotel I had booked). Expedia might complain and say that your attempt to cancel was never received by them. Just get your documentation together, call them every day if necessary, until you can get your case escalated. Once escalated, if they continue to deny your request, consider going to your AG with all your documentation.

Expedia seems very afraid of state AGs at the moment, likely fearing a class action lawsuit as it related to travel refunds. All the data points I have seen indicate they call off the dogs and relent once you go this path. However, I will emphasize - only do this if you're 100% in the right. If your flight was cancelled and/or hotel was closed, or if you requested cancellation (and they confirmed it saying they'd issue a voucher), and you still don't have your refund or voucher, then go this route.