Fighting Expedia, The Conclusion

Well it finally arrived.

After four months, after being told

• You have to follow a link (which didn't exist) on a web page
• Your trip actually didn't qualify for the offer
• Please hold, your call is very importa... click
• Our offices are closed (in the middle of a weekday afternoon)
• It's not our fault; it's the card handler's fault

the card finally arrived.

I think I'm going to go buy a bottle of Advil.

I Appreciate What GSI Did For Me

This is something that happened a little while ago, and I've been meaning to tell you about it. Here goes.

You know I really enjoy coffee. All kinds. I've had French Press coffee before, but didn't have a press to do it myself.

We were at Mast General Store and in their camping section I found Lexan presses by GSI Outdoors. I liked the idea of a shatter-resistant carafe, instead of glass (I've gone through numerous glass espresso carafes). So I bought the press. Works great, good coffee.

Not long after I bought it, I broke the lid. Sigh. I wrote the company, asking whether I could buy a new lid. They wrote back, and said all I had to do was call them, and they'd send me a new lid. So I did, and they did too.

Thanks GSI! I appreciate it.

Fighting Expedia, Chapter 2

Well I wish I had something better to report. Right after I posted the last installment, I got a Twitter message from @Expedia, saying "sorry to hear you're having problems, please give us a call." I spoke again with Corey, and he again apologized, asked me to be patient, blamed various system failures, etc. I told him I'd wait to see what shakes out from BBB.

On October 8, two weeks after I filed the complaint from BBB, I got a response from Expedia through BBB, the essence of which was, sorry for the trouble, please be patient, it's not our fault, etc. I was particularly irritated by Expedia's statement: "If the card has not been received within the next two weeks then we may visit other options for this customer but we must have proof that the customer has not received the promotional item at that time."

BBB asked whether I was satisfied with their response and wanted to close the case (Seriously?) I said "No," because Expedia hadn't actually done anything. I think the case should be closed when they do what they had promised.

On October 18, I got an email from Expedia saying that the card was on its way!

Perhaps it's a good idea that I didn't hold my breath, because as of yesterday, November 8, the card hasn't arrived.

On November 1 I checked the status of the case and saw I had gotten a response (tagged "FINAL RESPONSE FROM BUSINESS") to my rejecting their earlier response (from October 8). It said they were sorry that I declined their earlier response, and they said the gift card was "resubmitted" on October 17. And because they're sorry for the inconvenience, they were giving me a $50 coupon to be used for future travel booked through Expedia. All I'd have to do is create an account with them (I used a guest account for the July trip), then call one of their reps with my case number to apply the coupon to my account.

Right.

BBB asked whether I was satisfied, and I replied "No," saying that all I want is the gift card, the coupon is worthless, and considering all the grief this has been ("your trip doesn't qualify," "you didn't click the [non-existent] link," "we're closed," on hold until disconnected, etc) I just would rather not do business with them at all. There are plenty of other ways to book travel.

The moment the card arrives, I'd be happy to consider the case resolved.

Imagine my surprise when I later log in to BBB to view the case, and find its status is "Closed."

11/01/2011 JAF BBB BBB judged complaint addressed
11/01/2011 Otto BBB Inform Consumer - Case Closed AJR
11/01/2011 Otto BBB Inform Business - Case Closed AJR
11/01/2011 Otto BBB Case Closed AJR

So I sent BBB a note asking "what gives?" I would have expected that the case would stay open until the case was actually resolved ie, that Expedia had done what they said they would do). BBB replied saying that they don't just hold cases open, but they said I could open another case if the card doesn't come. Thanks, BBB.

So after a month or so of trying to go the BBB route, BBB has not been a whole lot of help resolving the issue, and the card hasn't arrived.