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Expedia.ca says they'll help you "24/7," but what they should have really told you is that's how long you'll be waiting on the phone!

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As I type this, I am waiting for someone at Expedia.ca to answer the phone to change my itinerary for some United Airlines tickets that I booked with them. In case you don't know, Expedia is one of the "big time" online travel services, and Expedia.ca is the Canadian-based operation. United Airline won't help because they say they didn't book it. On their website, Expedia.ca says they'll help me, but all they seem to want to do is take your money and not answer the phone!

This is MY EXPEDIA EXPERIENCE. Be warned before you book!

..Doug Schneider

(Have you had similar problems with Expedia.ca? If so, e-mail me at das@soundstagenetwork.com so I can collect the facts.)

 

"On Hold" Counter:

11 hours and climbing! And all that I want to do is reschedule one set of tickets. But, at Expedia.ca, they won't answer the phone!

 

 

Important Notice for Travelers

United Airlines explicitly told me that they won't change anything on my ticket because it was booked by Expedia.ca -- only Expedia.ca can make the changes. When I told them that Expedia.ca won't answer their phone, their reply was, "Sorry, sir, there's nothing we can do."

Before you deal with Expedia.ca, ask yourself this: Is it really worth it? What benefits does this company actually provide?

Read on to find out more...

 

My Story...
BACKGROUND INFO: Up until I created this website, I have been a satisfied Expedia.ca member, booking a large number of airline tickets with them for over 5 years. My name is Doug Schneider and I live in Canada. Mind you, I've never had to rely on their customer service before today...
ENTRY: Friday, October 5, 2007 -- I booked tickets for my wife, myself and my son to go to Las Vegas from October 20-26 on a United Airlines flight. Total price: $1342.85. Likely not the best fares in the world, but you've got to do what you've got to do. I never anticipated the kind of trouble I would soon have.
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 9:45 am -- a family situation occured that meant that I would have change our tickets for other days.
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 10:00 am -- I phoned the customer service line at Expedia.ca (613-780-1386) at about 10:00 am. According to Expedia.ca's website, "Expedia customers are never on their own. Our customer support agents are here for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." After going through a series of prompts, I was put on hold.
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 1:30 am -- 3.5 hours and I'm still on hold. No one answered the phone -- not one. In the meantime, I sent off two emails to them. One to their "Customer Relations request" section, and the other to "Schedule change enquiry" section. Unfortunately, I did not save copies of these e-mails. Too bad, there was some pretty good stuff in there.
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 1:35 pm -- Gave up waiting on hold and went downtown. I mean, how long can you be expected to wait?
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 5:35 pm -- Arrived home and phoned the customer support line again and waited on hold for about 10 minutes. Hung up.
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 5:45 pm -- Phone United Airlines directly in the United States and talked to a representative and then a supervisor. The supervisor talked with someone for about 10 minutes and told me that they could do nothing -- she explain that United Airlines doesn't get paid until I start travelling. Hung up the phone with United Airlines at about 6:05 pm with instructions from them that I must phone Expedia.ca to make any changes.
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 6:15 pm -- Phoned Expedia.ca service again with two different phones and was put on hold with both.
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 6:50 pm -- Registered the domain www.MyExpediaExperience.com with Godaddy.com for $10.19.
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 6:55 pm -- Still on hold. So, while waiting, sent the following message in to Expedia.ca's "Customer Relations request" section:

The service at your company is insanely bad. There's no question about it and I have to report it to you, as well as potential customers who must be made aware of the hazards of dealing with Expedia.ca.

I have a REAL travel booking with you and I'm a REAL customer who has booked with you for more than 5 years. Never again. Today I've spent 4.5 hours waiting for someone to answer the phone. This is also my third email. I'm still on hold. Are you even in business?

As I said, other customers must know what kind of business you run. I have created a website called www.MyExpediaExperience.com and you can read the situation for yourself. You can call me at ???-???-???? when you can get to the phone. I'll certainly be waiting for your call because I must make any changes through you -- for the last time ever.

Yours truly,

Doug Schneider
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 7:00 pm -- Began typing the content for this website.
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 7:14 pm -- Uploaded all the content you see here. Still on hold.
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 7:25 pm -- One of my phones ran out of batteries. I had to hang it up, but I am still waiting on hold on the other phone. I've now been on hold for more than an hour.
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 7:30 pm -- Just to make sure I'm not completely out to lunch on Expedia.ca's hours of operation, I took a look at their website again. Yup, here's what it says: "24 hours a day, 7 days a week." Therefore, someone should be there to answer the phone. However, I'm still on hold.
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 7:35 pm -- I was supposed to take my son for a walk tonight; however, we've given up on that idea. He's accompanying us on this trip and has a vested interest in me getting through to talk to SOMEONE at Expedia.ca. But, I'm still on hold. Right now I'm wondering, "Is Expedia.ca the worst travel agency in the world?"
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 7:50 pm -- I noticed that the domain forwarding is now working through Godaddy.com. That means that MyExpediaExperience.com is now visible to the world! It's amazing what you can accomplish these days in less than an hour. Still, you can't get through to Expedia.ca in that amount of time -- I'm still on hold.
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 8:07 pm -- How long can you sit on your ass for? Obviously, I'm still on hold. Thankfully, I have a cordless phone and can walk around. However, cordless phones run out of batteries and 3.5 hours was the limit last time!
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 8:29 pm -- I just looked at the Expedia.com website (the U.S. arm), and they claim they'll respond to any question within 4 hours. I sent this in:

You claim that you'll respond in four hours. I've resorted to you because I cannot get the Canadian office to answer the phone within four hours. I need to desperately change my ticket, but CAN'T.

Please read: www.MyExpediaExperience.com

...and contact me asap.

Doug Schneider

Will Expedia.com give me help since Expedia.ca won't?

I'm still on hold.
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 8:51 pm -- I decided to phone Expedia.com to see what they can do to help. They are trying to look up my account to see what they can do. I had to use my cel phone, though, and lost the signal! Damn! I have to phone back with my regular phone -- which means that I have to give up being on hold. Almost 3 hours and no one will answer! Is Expedia.ca out of business? They have to be!
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 9:02 pm -- I have now hung up on Expedia.ca again and am phoning Expedia.com back hoping someone can help. However, after 5 minutes I learned that they can't do a thing! "Phone Expedia.ca," they keep saying. But Expedia.ca doesn't answer the phone! For tonight, I have to give up. Be warned, however, never to book anything with Expedia.ca.
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 9:50 pm -- I took a random chance and phoned the Expedia.ca number again and hit "0" a bunch of times. I got the idea from a suggestion posted on a website from somebody having similar difficulties as me. FINALLY, someone picked up the phone, but it's not the person who can change tickets. His name is ???. He can do hotels, rental cars, and that sort of stuff. HOWEVER, he's willing to try and help. Yes, I've talked to someone and they're willing to help! Wow, and here I was thinking that the being put on hold for 6 hours was the result of

But, ???? let me know that, unfortunately, there's nothing he can and the result of my wait is the Expedia.ca queue. Unbelievable as it sounds, Expedia.ca is quite capable of selling you an airline ticket in seconds, but they can't help you change a darn thing over the phone for hours! Who manages this company? Who is in charge of this mess? That's what I want to find out next. Frankly, it's totally astonishing that a company with this kind of profile can run their business in this shoddy of a fashion.

At this point, ask yourself this, Why would anyone in the world ever buy a ticket through Expedia.ca if this is the kind of service you can expect from them? Certainly not me. What a disgrace.
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 10:09 pm -- I've had enough of Expedia.ca for the day and won't waste a night's sleep holding on the phone any longer. Instead, I'll wake up and call back in the morning and am willing to bet that, yes, once again I'll be put on hold. But for how many hours this time?
ENTRY: Friday, October 12, 2007, approx. 11:39 pm -- I checked my email one more time today and someone sent me something. I learned that many people are experiencing similar problems with Expedia.ca. Check out this thread at Trip Advisor. Like I said before, Who manages this company?
ENTRY: Saturday, October 13, 2007, approx. 9:39 am -- I slept in longer than I wanted to. ???? told me that the lowest queue is at 6 am. However, do I really have to set an alarm and get up hours earlier than I'm used to in order to get the bare minimum of customer service? Calling at this time seems perfectly acceptable to me but, as you would expect, I'm typing this as I wait ... on hold.
ENTRY: Saturday, October 13, 2007, approx. 9:44 am -- I am still on hold with Expedia.ca, but in the meantime I checked my emails and found that although I sent Expedia.ca three emails, I received none back from them (wow, that's a really a Web-savvy company), but I did receive one reply from the one email I sent to Expedia.com. They answered my call within about 2 minutes and actually replied to my one email I sent, but Expedia.ca? It's obvious that you can't count on much from them. Here's a portion of what Expedia.com had to say:

Dear Doug,

Thank you for contacting us about making a change to your airline ticket.

We apologize for the inconvenience however, you have contacted Expedia.com, which is an entirely different department from Expedia.ca. Unfortunately, we are unable to access your reservation since we use a different database.

Should you need assistance in making a change to your reservation, you would need to contact Expedia.ca. For other customer service information regarding your Expedia.ca account, see the Expedia.ca "Customer Support" page: http://www.expedia.ca/daily/enc4105/service/...
ENTRY: Saturday, October 13, 2007, approx. 10:17 am -- As I wait on hold still, I have realized that more than likely it's not employee incompetence that leads to these problems. ???? proved to me that they have people there willing to help. Instead, it's more than likely the management who runs this place that is responsible. Therefore, along with getting my tickets changed, I've resolved that my other goal is to now find out exactly who it is that's in charge of Expedia.ca and make that publically available. Consumers must know who is in charge of an organization that treats its customers this irresponsibly.
ENTRY: Saturday, October 13, 2007, approx. 10:43 am -- Well, it's been another hour of being on hold with Expedia.ca, the company that claims that it will give you support "24/7." Just be prepared to wait on the phone that long! Unfortunately, though, right now I can't wait longer since I have to be downtown shortly. I have to call back later, but remember, if you're reading this, think twice before booking anything through Expedia.ca!
ENTRY: Saturday, October 13, 2007, approx. 4:35 pm -- My wife made a great discovery this afternoon -- the contact information for Expedia.ca's headquarters. I have now posted this on a separate page. I encourage everyone to contact Christina Pereira to voice their complaints. I've left her two voice messages and I followed up with this email

Hello Christine Pereira,

This is an email follow-up to my voice mail. As described in my voice mail, your contact information is now public through my site detailing my experiences with your company: www.myexpediaexperience.com.

It is really terrible that a consumer has to resort to creating a website to get noticed by a company, but your lack of customer care almost demands it. I hope you take this customer complaint very seriously because I am just the tip of the iceberg from the information I’ve received from other Canadians impacted by Expedia.ca’s terrible customer service.

Yours truly

Doug Schneider
ENTRY: Saturday, October 13, 2007, approx. 4:40 pm -- I have just phoned Expedia.ca's customer service again and I am once again -- you guessed it! -- on hold.
ENTRY: Saturday, October 13, 2007, approx. 5:00 pm -- I just don't have hours to kill on hold right now. I had to hang up after just 20 minutes.
ENTRY: Saturday, October 13, 2007, approx. 6:30 pm -- I just read on one of the Tripadvisor.com threads about consumer advocate Ellen Roseman who writes for The Toronto Star. Her email address is: erosema@thestar.ca. It seems like a good idea to try and get her ear on this one, so I wrote this email to her and copied Christine Pereira of Expedia.ca

Hello Ellen,

It came to my attention that you research and write articles in The Toronto Star where consumers have a problem. Well, one of the best-known Canadian online travel companies appears to have one of the worst track records around and a reprehensible approach for dealing with customers: they just don’t answer the phone, ever!

I have actually had to resort to creating a website about this and, through Industry Canada data, managed to locate the head office address and a single contact person there. I have actually copied her on this note: Christine Pereira at cpereira@expedia.com.

I think if you do some research on my site that I felt forced to create to get someone to look into my problem, you might be shocked at how this large travel company treats its customers.

Please see: www.myexpediaexperience.com for all my details, as well as links to where other consumers have voiced their complaints.

If you need to contact me, I can be reached at ???-???-????.

Yours truly,


Doug Schneider
ENTRY: Saturday, October 13, 2007, approx. 7:30 pm -- I'm feeling lucky and have decided to phone Expedia.ca support again. Right now...I'm on hold, but their message assures me that "...the next available customer support specialist will be with me shortly." I wonder what "shortly" means to the people at Expedia.ca?
ENTRY: Saturday, October 13, 2007, approx. 8:15 pm -- So I'm not as lucky as I though -- still on hold. The chances of me getting my ticket changed are so bad it's almost laughable -- except it's no real laughing matter. So, if you're reading this and contemplating buying your next ticket using Expedia.ca, just remember what I'm going through right now!
ENTRY: Saturday, October 13, 2007, approx. 8:45 pm -- Still on hold. I can't stand this anymore today. Just ridiculous when any airline you book your ticket through will answer in seconds, or a few minutes at the worst. I can't imagine what would happen if I was out of the country!
ENTRY: Sunday, October 14, 2007, approx. 4:10 pm -- One can't expect to be phoning and on hold "24/7," the way Expedia.ca claims to support you. For the morning and part of the afternoon, I had family obligations. Now, though, I'm home and phoning again. Of course, I'm on hold. But every time I sit here and wait I do get a kick out of the Expedia.ca automated message that says to have my travel itinerary number available for faster service. Heck, I've had it ready since Friday morning when I first tried!
ENTRY: Sunday, October 14, 2007, approx. 4:20 pm -- Wait on infinite hold on Expedia.ca allows me to surf and find even more forums where others have launched complaints against Expedia.ca. "Read what others are saying about Expedia.ca" page is now updated with the latest.
ENTRY: Sunday, October 14, 2007, approx. 5:00 pm -- I had to make another call, so I had to hang up the call to Expedia.ca. Of course, no one answered yet. But am I shocked to be on hold for another three quarters of an hour with no one ever answering the phone? Heck, this just seems to be Expedia.ca's way of doing things. But, just for kicks, before I hung up, I filled in Expedia.ca's "Support and Feedback Form" located here. It says that they promise to respond within 24 hours! Given that they have yet to respond to my three emails that I already sent and haven't answered the phone in three days, what do you think the chances of that are? Here's what I put in for comments:

This is the FOURTH email I've sent to you in three days. None has been responded to. You can read all about my issues on www.myexpediaexperience.com.

Feel free to contact me at ANY time.

Yours truly,

Doug Schneider
ENTRY: Sunday, October 14, 2007, approx. 5:30 pm -- I almost fell off my chair -- Expedia.ca responded to my fourth email within 1 hour. Good lord, did someone finally get on the ball there? Seems so. The problem is, they want me to call back! Don't they know that I have been calling, and sitting on hold for hours and hours? The batteries in my cordless phones only last for about three hours. Can't they call me after it's gone on for days? Guess not. Instead, I'll phone back again and give you an update on whether or not anyone answers. For now, read what Expedia.ca has to say:

Dear Douglas,

Thank you for contacting Expedia.ca.

We apologize for the long wait times which are currently due to a high volume of customer's calling in regarding flight changes and changes that they would like to make.

Our telephone calls are answered in sequence and it would not be fair for all of the other people that are waiting in que to jump ahead or call you because they have been patiently waiting.

We would ask that you please give us a call back at your earliest convenience and stay on the line as to not lose your place. Once you get through, we would be more than happy to assist you in the flight changes that you desire.

We have logged onto your website that you have got up and running and taken that and your comments made into consideration.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions. Our Customer Support Representatives are available to assist you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Thank you for choosing Expedia.ca!

Customer Support Team
1-888-EXPEDIA (1-888-397-3342)
Expedia.ca

ENTRY: Sunday, October 14, 2007, approx. 7:15 pm -- I wasn't able to call Expedia.ca right back because of a family dinner, but I've now called back and ... the message thanks me "for continuing to hold." Let's see, I'll catch up on some emails while the Expedia.ca music plays...and plays...and...
ENTRY: Sunday, October 14, 2007, approx. 7:30 pm -- I know that 15 minutes on hold for Expedia.ca is nothing at all -- they expect you to wait for hours and hours -- I have to do some things with my son this Sunday evening. Geez, it's a good thing these people don't man the 911 line. I give up for now. Yes, I'll phone back later -- and wait longer.
ENTRY: Sunday, October 14, 2007, approx. 9:28 pm -- Finally, I once again have some free time to wait on hold again. In the meantime, I've had some time to think about Expedia.ca's email response to me. In particular, the "...all of the other people that are waiting..." thing. Didn't it ever dawn on anyone at Expedia.ca that if they have all these people waiting, they don't have enough people working?
ENTRY: Sunday, October 14, 2007, approx. 10:00 pm -- I've sat on hold for at least another half and hour again and the fun of this has long since worn off. I've come to the conclusion that Expedia.ca's practice of having their customers wait on hold for hours at end is simply ridiculous and something no one should ever have to do. Is this what they consider "normal" business practice for their company? I want a refund NOW!
ENTRY: Monday, October 15, 2007, approx. 9:10 am -- Based on the last 3 days where I haven't been able to get through to Expedia.ca phone support, and with no guarantee that I'll get through in the next 3 days, I can't afford to waste much time sitting on the phone. I'm emailing the only two contacts I know there -- Christine Pereira and the general support address -- and asking for a full refund of my ticket price and I will book another through an airline. In my opinion, Expedia.ca didn't come through with anything even remotely close to the service they promised and, therefore, didn't sell me the product they advertised. I will keep you posted! This is the email I've sent:

This is now the fifth email I've sent to your organization. One has been responded to asking me to phone in. I've waited on hold for your company for approximately 11 hours.

Now, I see no choice but to demand a full refund for the ticket I purchased on the itinerary above. Expedia.ca has not followed through on the product delivery promised -- see www.myexpediaexperience.com for all the details.

Please advise me by email or by phone (details which you already have) when the refund is processed. I don't think it's too much to ask that it's at the end of the business day today.

Yours truly,

Douglas Schneider
ENTRY: Monday, October 15, 2007, approx. 9:23 am -- Oh, this is handy. I asked for a "read" and "delivery" notification on the email I sent to Christine. I received this back:

"As part of the delivery process, your message was relayed to a machine which does not handle delivery status notifications. As a result, it is not possible to determine whether the message will get to its final destination."

No way to determine whether someone there has actually read the message! Another nice touch in Expedia.ca's customer service.
ENTRY: Monday, October 15, 2007, approx. 9:36 am -- Hey, the notification system there DOES work. I received this back:

Your message
To: Christine Pereira
Cc:
Subject: I would like a refuned
Sent: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 06:20:35 -0700
was read on Mon, 15 Oct 2007 06:22:18 -0700

I noticed that I spelled refund wrong in the Subject heading -- embarrasing. However, I think they get the point. Furthermore, I am looking at the times indicated, and there's a three-hour difference. This means that these emails are most likely going to a server on the west coast. Interesting.

But, now that I know Christine's read this, will Expedia.ca respond? And how long will it take? Remember, all that I'm asking for is my money back for a service they didn't deliver.
ENTRY: Monday, October 15, 2007, approx. 10:55 am -- Haven't heard a word from Expedia.ca yet.
ENTRY: Monday, October 15, 2007, approx. 11:43 am -- Erica from customer service phone me directly and the situation is now resolved -- Expedia.ca says they will cancel my tickets and refund my money 100%. I will verify tomorrow that the transaction went through and update.

I will also say that Erica was very courteous and professional and responded well to my request to have all my money refunded -- it was done while I was on the phone. As well, it shows me that the problem at Expedia.ca isn't with their staff. I managed to talk to a number of people associated with the company, and they seem like capable, helping people (I couldn't talk to a flight agent, mind you). The problem, however, seems to lie with the management of the firm. People underneath can only make do with the direction given from above. As I told Christine in one of my messages to her, I'd rather not have her contact information, but the president's, instead. Whoever that person is needs to be accountable for what's happening to the customers. But will he or she actually stand up and let everyone know his or her name? Or will he or she simply let the employees take the blame? Time will tell.
ENTRY: Monday, October 15, 2007, approx. 1:32 pm -- The aftermath begins. I've deleted most of my personal information from my Expedia.ca but cannot figure out how to delete my profile completely. I'll keep searching. Obviously, I'll never use Expedia.ca again.