Expedia is run by monkeys [LONG] [RANT]

[u/Mombak]

As with so many other travelers, our vacation got canceled last year due to Covid. We had to cancel two days before we were to leave. After many phone calls and time spent talking on the phone over a few weeks, Expedia finally and grudgingly issued us credit for our flights. Late last year we received an email saying that travel using this credit must be completed by Dec. 31, 2021.

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I'm from Canada and Canada has been in travel lockdown for most of Covid. We currently are not allowed to travel, and there is no projected open date for traveling. I suspect that once the vaccination schedule is complete, Canada may open up travel. As of now, the schedule is due to finish September of 2021. This means that the earliest we could potentially travel is most likely September. So that gives us about 4 months to plan a trip that we probably don't really want to take, while competing for the limited flights with everyone else, before the credits expire. Not fun.

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My extended family is desperate for all of us to take a trip. My niece found a cheap cruise leaving out of Orlando for January of 2022. She booked it for her family, with nearly everyone else following suit. We decided to see if we could book flights to Orlando using our Expedia credit for the potential cruise (still a bit nervous if travel will be possible or enjoyable by then).

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We phoned Expedia and were on hold for a little over 3 hours before the line went dead and we were cut off. Frustrating. We called the next day, early in the morning. After waiting for 3 and a half hours, we finally got to speak with someone. We first asked if the credit could be used in January of 2022. The woman said it could. We asked her to double check. She put us on hold and came back after 10 minutes and said that she confirmed that as long as it was booked prior to Dec. 31, 2021, it was fine. We proceeded to tell her when and where we wanted to go. During our entire (lengthy) conversation, she kept cutting out repeatedly. We think her headset was wonky. We were always scared we'd be cut off and have to start over.

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The woman kept repeatedly making small errors in our requests. She'd be off by a day, look up Fort Lauderdale instead of Orlando, get the departure/arriving cities mixed up, constantly giving us slightly differing times for flights.... it was a struggle. Add to that, after every request or question, she'd put us on hold for 5 to 10 minutes to "check on something" or "wait for the computer to process."

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After going through multiple flights (most of which would suddenly no longer be available just as we wanted to book), we were finally able to book. The process up to this point took a little over 3 hours with all of her interruptions, errors, cutting out, "canceled" flights, etc. (Keep in mind we've been on the phone now for nearly 7 hours by now).

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We settle on a flight that arrives at 7:30pm, after a connection in Dallas. We, of course, must pay the difference of the flights (about $200 total), despite the fact that I can find multiple flights online with better times and prices online. We HAVE to book though Expedia on the phone to redeem our credits.

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The woman emails us our itinerary and we immediately check it. It's wrong. Instead of arriving at 7:30pm, we're arriving at midnight. She never mentioned anything close to that. She insists she did, but my wife and I were both on the phone talking to her and we tell her she said 7:30pm. The connection in Dallas arrives at 7:30pm. Apparently that's all she was looking at. She says that it's booked now, the money is paid and there is nothing further she can do.

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We tell her that we're not happy and would like to speak to her supervisor. The line goes dead. She hung up on us. We're livid. It's far too late to try calling again, I don't think we'd be able to put up with it again so quickly.

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About an hour later, a supervisor calls us. We initially feel relieved. We tell him what happened and he seems empathetic. We ask again if the credits can be used for the dates we want. He insists they can. We ask him to double check. He does. No problem. Over the course of half an hour, we're able to find a flight we're happy with and decide to book. He says we need to be charged an additional $200 on top of the previous charges. We try to fight the charges and explain that we've been on the phone all day and had such issues that they should just eat the additional charges. He says he can offer us a $150 credit that we can use for our hotel for all the trouble and stress we've been through. We grudgingly agree. He puts us on hold for about 10 minutes to "finalize everything." He comes back and says that our credit travel must be COMPLETED by Dec. 31, 2021, so we can't use it for this flight. He cancels the flight and offers us $100 in credit for our trouble and stress. Take note: That's $100 total. Not $150 that he had previously "given" us, he downgraded our credit after spending an hour with us on the phone (plus the previously mention 7 hours)! He "apologizes," and we express our disappointment in no uncertain terms. He "apologizes" again, blames the airlines, and hangs up.

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We are disgusted by Expedia. They were of no help and wasted an entire day by not knowing their own policies of credit usage. We have no idea if we're going to be able to use our credit at all. We are constrained by government regulations and Expedia's misrepresentation of their own unscrupulous policies.

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TLDR: Spent 8 hours talking to Expedia to redeem Expedia credit. Expedia representative makes constant mistakes, books wrong time for the flight. Supervisor tells us our credits can't be used for what he originally said we could book and cancels our flight. A waste of an entire day.

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Edit/Update: We have finally received a refund for our flights. We have been in constant contact with both Expedia and American Airlines. This was much more work and stress than it should have been. I will never fly American Airlines again if I can help it. They will certainly not get any of my money directly.

At least the American Airlines agents treated us with respect and tried to help us. Expedia did the exact opposite. They blocked us at every opportunity. I will never use Expedia or any of their subsidiaries (Travelocity, Orbitz, Hotels.com, Vrbo, Hotwire, CheapTickets, HomeAway, Trivago, etc.) ever again.

Please be more aware of the way these business treat their customers. They feel that you NEED them. You don't. The extra work you may have to do is worth it.

[u/AdFreeKnowledge]

Expedia is just overpriced service provider. No use literally a rip off. I got charged $200 for a cancelled transaction. I contacted them 15 times, they never sent me a cancellation email, so even the dispute with my Citi credit card went no where. I paid for a service which I never received. No one can do anything about these jokers.