EXPEDIA in Thailand never again !

[jeroentak]

I bought a ticket to from Thailand to The Netherlands by Expedia .

The flight was cancelled by the airline. So I tried to book an alternative flight through EXPEDIA. EXPEDIA Thailand is using a call center in India. Poor English and every time your call is connected to another person and repeat all the details and your question. Than EXPEDIA is putting you on hold for one hour and after they say that your question is forwarded to a special team who will follow up. EXPEDIA will call you back but my experience is that most of the time nothing will happen. So you will have to call again and you will have exactly the same poor service as the last time you called EXPEDIA.

They refuse to communicate by email and if you send them an email than you get an automatic response that they will get back to you in 48 hours. That is a complete joke because you will never hear anything from EXPEDIA. Than after many calls and emails you will get an email from their escalation team in Asia Pacific. So you think that finally something will happen but nothing happens at all.

I communicate directly with the airline who normally reply very fast but the problem is that your booking is made by EXPEDIA so you need to make any changes or refund through them. So after two months on the phone for many hours today I was told that I will get my refund in 7 to 8 weeks from now. So in total my money was away 4 months if it is hopefully finally refunded.

Needless to say that I will NEVER book a ticket again with EXPEDIA.

[wolfmuc]

All might be much easier with Expedia.nl. - good luck.

[keeniau96]

Thx for the warning, will keep this in mind with my bookings.

[Lieberdavid]

I'll never use Expedia again either, and I have a much worse story than that of the original poster.

Several years ago I ordered a round trip ticket from Minneapolis to Cebu on Cathay Pacific Air through Expedia. The ticket cost me about USD 1500. The ticket was processed normally and I received it promptly. Somehow or other in the time between the ticket's arrival and my flight I lost it. I looked everywhere in my house which was on school grounds, in the school's disposal facility, and I even went to the town dump where the school's refuse goes. No luck. I am fairly sure that I accidentally threw it in the trash with some other papers.

I called Expedia and explained the situation. I was stone walled. Tough luck was their message loud and clear. $1500 and my trip out the window.

I decided to call Cathay Pacific. I got a pleasant man on the line who listened to my story and was totally understanding. In 5 minutes I had a new replacement ticket at no cost printed out at my computer.

That is real customer service, and it is why I'll fly Cathay Pacific any time and never again do business with Expedia.

[AlexRRR]

Where possible i only deal with the airline direct, similar story with hotels or fall back to tried and tested many times the one online booking agency.

[KED]

It does seem strange that the airline could not reroute/rebook you directly, but if you were looking for a refund - then expedia would have to do. I agree with previous comments that when possible book directly with the operating carrier - but sometimes the itinerary involves 2 or more carriers and you need a vendor like expedia.

[OMGImInPattaya]

Haven't used a travel agent (storefront or online) in years (and I mean years and years). Why would I...the prices are usually the same as booking direct with the airline or hotel and if there is a problem, like you had, you're dealing directly with service provider...not some 3rd party re-seller. I would suggest booking direct next time.

[lkv]

Here's my advice on Expedia Thailand.

I booked a ticket on Ukrainian Airlines via Expedia Th in March 2015. I got my refund in November 2015.

Here are the main points.

1. I called the Expedia Thai number 13 times over the course of 8 months as eventually confirmed by Expedia themselves. They do keep a record of the calls and times.

2. The call center is in New Dehli and they have some other one apparently in another Indian city.

3. Every single time I was told 8-12 weeks and nothing happened. The last guy was honest enough to confirm that his previous colleagues took the p**s (excuse my language)

That's why it took 8 months. Because I waited those 8-12 weeks about 3 times. Do the math.

4. The breakthrough came when I contacted the airline directly and explained that Expedia was telling me they have not received a refund from them for 8 months. The Ukrainian airlines representative was very helpful and sent me a screenshot of their system confirming that the refund was processed 2 days after (in March!!) and giving me what's called a SAC code.

5. Upon confronting Expedia Thailand call center with the SAC code, the last call center agent told me to send an email to travel at support dot expedia dot com dot au. Somehow the Indian guys also can see any email sent to this address. But the support is on Australian domain so it is seen by the team in Australia.

6. Only when sending this email did I receive a reply with a case number within 2 or 3 days, and then the refund took 5 days. After waiting 8-9 months.

I strongly suggest to write a complaint to both the airline and to the email address above in Australia. Then it should take 5 days or so. Otherwise, the Indian guys will keep putting your call as not solved....or tried to contact not available or whatever and you will get bored chasing them that you may give up.

To be fair, I did change my mobile number since that booking, but although I repeatedly told them the new number, I'm sure they never put it in the system. But that's no excuse for them deliberately being incompetent.

So obtain a case number. But not the case number they give to every call you make. That's useless. The case number you get as a reply to the Australian email. Don't waste your time waiting. I did.

This only happened with Expedia Thailand, I had a good refund experience with Expedia US (I believe about a week).

Edited January 29, 2016 by lkv

[TheCruncher]

I'll never use Expedia again either, and I have a much worse story than that of the original poster.

Several years ago I ordered a round trip ticket from Minneapolis to Cebu on Cathay Pacific Air through Expedia. The ticket cost me about USD 1500. The ticket was processed normally and I received it promptly. Somehow or other in the time between the ticket's arrival and my flight I lost it. I looked everywhere in my house which was on school grounds, in the school's disposal facility, and I even went to the town dump where the school's refuse goes. No luck. I am fairly sure that I accidentally threw it in the trash with some other papers.

I called Expedia and explained the situation. I was stone walled. Tough luck was their message loud and clear. $1500 and my trip out the window.

I decided to call Cathay Pacific. I got a pleasant man on the line who listened to my story and was totally understanding. In 5 minutes I had a new replacement ticket at no cost printed out at my computer.

That is real customer service, and it is why I'll fly Cathay Pacific any time and never again do business with Expedia.

How you can lose your expedia ticket?

The ticket I booked with Expedia in October 2014 still sits in my email inbox and can be printed as many times as I like.

[amyreyna]

Thanks all for the information...not only 1 person complaints, but many in this forum only. Usually I book directly to the airlines, but sometimes because of the internet connection when I am traveling, it is easier to book from online booking site.