Letter to expedia.com—this explains it all:
On July 20, my girlfriend and I traveled from Los Angeles to Chicago with the intention of helping my father celebrate his 75th birthday with the rest of our family. This was something that we were very much looking forward to.
Several days earlier, I booked at hotel room at the Doubletree Hotel & Conference Center Chicago North Shore through Expedia.com. I chose this hotel because it is less than 5 minutes away from where my parents live and would provide me with the ability to enjoy the maximum amount of time with my family to celebrate this joyous occasion. On July 17, I was sent a CONFIRMATION from Expedia.com that the room had been booked and the following day, you debited my in the amount of $415.06.
However, when my girlfriend and I arrived in Chicago and attempted to check in at the hotel, we were told by the desk clerk/night manager that there was no reservation on file and that the hotel was sold out. According to the hotel, they never confirmed the room with Expedia.
I immediately called Expedia using the phone number on your confirmation e-mail and eventually got a customer service agent on the line. I gave her the confirmation number that had been sent to me and she pulled up my booking and insisted that I had a reserved room. I had her speak directly to the clerk at the hotel, who informed her that they had no such booking for me.
The clerk (a nice woman named AnnaLiza) informed the Expedia agent that they had never confirmed the room and that the hotel was sold out for the weekend. She passed the phone back to me and the Expedia agent again insisted that I had a confirmed room.
I asked her to e-mail me the confirmation that Expedia had received from the hotel that might show a valid Doubletree confirmation number for the booking. The agent e-mailed me exactly the same confirmation that had been sent to me on July 17 that contained an Expedia confirmation number but no hotel confirmation number. When I pointed this out to her, she then placed me on hold for 20 minutes while Pachelbels Cannon played repeated on the hold music. After 20 minutes, the call was disconnected by Expedia.
I then called back and got another Expedia agent on the phone and went through the exact same process. Once again, the hotel clerk spoke to the Expedia agent directly and confirmed that no such booking for me existed in their system and that they never confirmed the room with Expedia. I got back on the phone with the Expedia agent who acknowledged that there was no valid booking with the hotel, despite Expedia having sent me a confirmation and having charged my credit card.
I asked the agent to please book my girlfriend and I in another hotel in the area and even gave her some suggestions of where to check. She said that she would try to help me and placed me on hold, where I listened again to Pachelbels Canon for another 25 minutes or so and then, once again, the call was terminated without any warning from your agent.
At this point, my girlfriend and I exited the hotel. I put her in the car to sleep while I attempted for a 3rd time to get an Expedia agent on the phone who could help remedy the problem that you had caused. After once again negotiating my way through your voice mail maze, I go an agent on the phone. She let me know that it was noted in the Expedia reservation record that there was a mix up and that the booking at the Doubletree hotel was not valid.
I then told her that I had been twice disconnected by previous agents, that it was now past 2:00 am, that I had been attempting to reconcile this situation with Expedia for over an hour to no avail and that I really needed her to get us a replacement hotel room.
Again, I gave her several suggestions and she put me on hold. She came back after a few minutes and informed me that there were no rooms available in the area and offered me a booking in downtown Chicago, which I told her was unacceptable due to being nearly an hour away from where my parents live. I then asked her to connect me with a supervisor and she place me on hold, this time for 45 minutes, once again with Pachelbels Cannon playing repeatedly on the hold music, a form of torture, I might add, worthy of the CIA.
After waiting on hold for 20 minutes, I decided to start driving to look for a hotel. The clerk at the hotel had suggested the Renaissance Hotel in Northbrook as being the nearest comparable hotel to the Doubletree and called the hotel to confirm that they did have availability.
We arrived at the hotel some 20-30 minutes later, while I was STILL on hold with Expedia! My girlfriend went in to confirm availability and, as it was now nearly 3:00 am and I was still on hold waiting for a supervisor to pickup the hotel. While my girlfriend was registering us, a supervisor finally came on the phone.
For the 4th time, I explained the situation and asked her to simply transfer our booking to the Renaissance hotel. She told me that there were no rooms available and I explained that, in fact, there were rooms available as my girlfriend was concurrently registering us for the night. I told her that I wanted a refund for the non-existent Doubletree reservation and, as an accommodation for our trouble caused by Expedias error, I wanted Expedia to pay for our 2 nights at the Renaissance. She told me that she did not have the authority to authrorize this and that I needed to call back at 8:00 am the following day.
I asked her to e-mail me the case number assigned to my complaint along with the phone number to call. She assured me she would and confirmed my e-mail address as the one being on file in the booking record. I never received the e-mail that had been promised.
The following afternoon (the morning being spent finally sleeping), I once again called your customer service number. I got another agent on the phone who looked at the notes placed in the booking record from the night before and told me there was a special phone number that I should call for valued VIP customers to solve their problems. I took down the number and asked her not to refer to me as valued since I obviously had not been treated as such thus far. I dialed the number she gave me (800-847-1799) which took me to EXACTLY the same voice menu as the normal Expedia customer service number!
I got another customer service agent on the phone (Lamar) and again explained the situation. He told me that the previous agent had given me an outdated VIP number and gave me another number to call (800-454-0354). I dialed it and it got a recording saying that the number was out of service. I called it again just to make sure that I hadnt mis-dialed.
For the sixth time, I called the customer service number and got a customer service agent on the line. I asked her to reference the notes in the record and asked for a supervisor. She told me that there was a supervisor present but that Id have to be put on hold as the supervisor was attending to other matters. Since it was now well into the afternoon and I hadnt yet even seen my family, I asked the agent to have the supervisor call me on my mobile phone (the same number as in the booking record). I confirmed that she had the correct number and awaited the call.By now, it shouldnt surprise you that I am still waiting for the call several days later.
Finally today, I called again. I got a nice person on the phone named Gold who referenced the file, confirmed that Expedia had fouled up and tried to get a supervisor agent. After 30 minutes of listening once more to Pachelbels Canon, I had to hang up and attend a meeting. To my surprise, while I was in the meeting Gold actually called back to say he was not able to get a customer service agent but relayed a case ID number that had been assigned. His message said to call 800-397-3342 and ask for a supervisor. I dialed the number, negotiated my way through the maze of voice mail and got a customer service agent on the phone. I relayed the case ID and asked for a supervisor. He put me on hold. After 10 minutes, I was once again disconnected by you.
Would you like to know what happened the 8th time I called? So would I. But I am currently on hold listening to Pachelbels Canon again. So far, its played for over 30 minutes.
At this point, I would like to ask you a question: are you proud of the customer service you offer? Are you even aware of the massive failings you have in this area? I am not inventing any of this account&it is 100% the truth. I have not made up one word of what happened and I can only assume that this happens to EVERYONE who tries to resolve a problem at Expedia. Additionally, I would like to note the following:
Not once did any of your agents or supervisors ever apologize to me on behalf of Expedia for the erroneous booking at the Doubletree, which was CLEARLY your fault.
Not once did any of your agents offer to help me find a replacement room (I had to ask and, as you know if you read above, they failed in this endeavor and seemed rather less than sincere in trying to remedy the problem that Expedia caused).
Not once did any of your agents offer me a refund for the money you already had charged me for a room that didnt exist, despite having been confirmed by Expedia.
Your idea of customer service seems to consist of putting your customers on endless hold hoping that theyll give up or, when they dont, simply hanging up on them. Can I offer you some advice? Fire every manager you have that is responsible for your customer service area. Given my experience, youll find them in the tavern around the corner because they certainly arent doing the job. And while youre at it, fire every one of your agents, except Gold. Promote him to senior vice president. Your standards are so low that I suspect hell make CEO in about 3 weeks. Of course, youll need to fly to Manila, because thats where your customer service center is located.
Oh, heres another idea&stop outsourcing your customer service so that you can actually HAVE customer service. I have nothing against Philippinos&Ive been all through Asia and like it quite a lot. What I object to are American companies like yours who market to Americans but then dont reward their customers loyalties by providing a standard of service that rises to that which we as Americans are entitled. The quality of your customer service operation doesnt even reach Third World standards! Your customers would be better served by a tribe in Borneo gathered in a grass hut with a megaphone.
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