My primary complaint was the customer service Orbitz was offering, or lack thereof, not so much the money (which was fully returned to me and no fees incurred). The problem was brought to my attention when I looked online at my bank statement and I took immediate steps to resolve the problem. However, I was not able to resolve this without the help of Orbitz and unfortunately the gentleman I spoke with was UNWILLING to assist me. I even tried to take over his job for him and do a conference call with Orbitz, the bank, and myself. The gentleman (I’m being kind here) hung up on me. We all know how frustrating it is to have to jump through hoops to get a live operator (by the way you have to press # 7 times when calling Orbitz to get a live agent), so by the time you get a live agent and tell your story, you are already drained and 20-30 minutes has gone by. Now when they hang up on you, that just adds insult to injury. The experience was very time consuming, and most certainly not how I want to spend my time.

I will accept full responsibility for the “poor” management of my bank account as some of you have implied or stated, but I choose not to use credit cards. Does this imply I have no common sense? To some, it may, but I beg to differ.

I travel frequently (try to about once a month) and always am looking for the best fare. At times the airlines are cheaper, but more often than not, it is Orbitz that I found to be the least expensive option. I had never experienced issues with them previously and was disheartened by the service I received when I had a history of booking as many trips as I have with them. This was my reason not going to the airline directly.

Sometimes in life we face obstacles, we learn. However, I do not think it was necessary for me to be on a phone for over 2 hours to beg somebody to do their job. Orbitz did follow up with me again and they have given me a $200 voucher for the inconvenience. Would they have done this without Christopher’s assistance? Highly doubtful. I am thankful he contacted them on my behalf and in the future, I will take the following into consideration:

1. Go directly to the airline for future purchases
2. Use other forms of payment other than a debit card

I always thought it was common sense that you shouldn’t spend what you don’t have (i.e. credit). However, there is the alternative, purchase with a credit card and immediately transfer the funds. You can be assured this is how I will proceed in the future.

Thank you again to Christopher for his assistance.

You add that you don’t think there is anything wrong with using cash if you have it on hand. That is your choice, but it is common knowledge that using cash for travel purchases is a very bad idea, as it leaves you with no protection whatsoever if something goes wrong or if a company does not deliver.

Patricia, et. al stating that using debit cards is a bad plan – what is she to do? Debit cards are like Check Cards, and can be run like Credit cards. How would this be any different if she had a low balance credit card she used and had the same issue occur? Credit card companies are in the process of reducing lines of credit available to even the high earning, high credit customers.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using a form of actual cash you have on hand now days, especially considering the way some card companies have been cutting available funds left and right. This is a problem with how the system handles tickets that aren’t actually purchased, not with her form of payment.

She is not at fault for the actions of Orbitz or her bank. I made that completely clear. But she certainly needs to take responsibility for her OWN choice, which was to use a debit card to buy a plane ticket. Yes she has every right to pay in whatever way she likes, but in the case of just about anything to do with travel, certain methods of payment such as cash and debit cards are extremely poor choices.

She is responsible for her poor choice, regardless of whether she had sufficient funds. Her story, and the millions of other stories that have been published about holds and overdrafts on bank accounts due to debit cards, is certainly proof of that.

Using a debit card in these situations may be problematic, but it’s not because of the debit card’s inherent difference from a credit card (the source of the funds being your bank account instead of a credit line). The problem stems from the bank and vendors having designed a system that allows things like this to happen. No vendor should be able to place a hold on the funds in your account unless and until it has verified it is capable of delivering what it’s selling.

Imagine going into a store to buy, say, a pile of clothes and being prepared to pay cash. The clerk quotes you a total of $248.77 and asks you “prove” you can pay the cash before she finishes ringing up the sale. So you take the $250 out of your wallet and hand it to the clerk. Suddenly, she says “Oh, the register won’t take the transaction. Or I can’t read the tag on this item with my scanner. Or this item has been discontinued even though I have one in stock.” Pick one. But you can’t get your cash back for two, three or more days.

How long would anyone tolerate that? It’s the same exact concept.