Expedia is a borderline scam outfit. Here's my story. Before making my flight reservations for my wife in Kenya, I called Expedia and spoke with a travel agent who informed me that if I needed to, I could change my flight itinerary provided I pay for any penalties. So I went on-line and made a Kenya Airways/Continental round trip flight reservation for my Kenyan wife from Kenya to Costa Rica costing $2062.
Sure enough I had to make a change. My wife and I would just meet in London for our wedding anniversary. The paid ticket to Costa Rica was via London so she was just going to use half her ticket. I called Expedia and informed them of the change. The agent gave me Kenya Airways number and for me to call them. When calling KA I was informed I had to call Expedia to make changes. So, I called back Expedia and was put on hold for 2 hours. I hung up and called back, Expedia customer support says call Continental, "they will help you". I call CO and talked to one of their international agents. She was very helpful, cancelling the original reservation, and making a new round trip reservation from Kenya to London. She also informs me I would be getting an approx. $1200 CO voucher my wife or I could use. All the agent had to do was get this approved at the waiver desk. It was denied. I was then put in contact with CO customer support. The woman was rude and dismissive, saying, "why would we change a KA flight"? You purchased a block CO ticket. Its not our problem, you need to talk to Expedia".
After several more calls to Expedia asking why they gave my airfare to CO because they do not have any routes to Kenya or Africa. The ticket is worthless to my wife I told them. I was able to talk to a supervisor named Bernice. She said she would call CO and see if she could help. She tells me she would e-mail my wife the results of her conversation with CO. No e-mail was sent. I then e-mail the Expedia Customer Support Team and was given a canned response about how sorry they were I was having difficulty with my reservation. They told me to call Expedia CS. Again no help so I e-mailed Expedia again. Now they are not responding. After 5 weeks of getting the runaround with Expedia with one lie after another, I had to scrap my wedding anniversary trip.
Lie #1 Expedia said they had nothing to do with handing off the $2062 airfare to Continental Airlines. I was later told by an Expedia agent that they gave the airfare to CO because they are U.S. Based and so is Expedia.
Lie #2 When I requested a flight change I was told by Expedia that I had to use both Kenya Airways and Continental in my change. This differed from what I was first told before I made the reservation that could change my flight using Kenya Airways. She then let it slip that I could exclusively use Continental and did not need to use KA. I reminded her my wife is in Kenya and how could I use CO exclusively when they do not have service in that part of the world. The Expedia agent became agitated and said to call CO, there was nothing she could do for me.
Expedia Customer Service Team is a joke. Cannned responses and phony statements such as. Their goal is "to provide 100% customer satisfaction". They refuse to take responsibility for their incompetence, deceit, and fraudulent billing practice. When I told them I was not going to accept anymore canned responses after 5 weeks of getting the runaround, they ceased all communication with me. This after telling me, "we look forward to resolving this issue for you soon". Just one more lie from Expedia.
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