Q: I recently tried to buy two plane tickets on United Airlines through Expedia. We were traveling to Germany to celebrate my brother’s return from Iraq.
But something went wrong when Expedia tried to charge the flights, and now we’re stuck with two tickets we don’t want.
As far as I can tell, it all happened during the last step of our transaction — the one where you enter your credit card number. My wife and I typed in our number six times, and it was rejected every time. We gave up, thinking the transaction did not go through.
We later bought tickets for the same trip on Priceline.
But instead of dropping the matter, Expedia apparently, without our knowledge, did further checks on our credit card number and bought two nonrefundable tickets after we went offline.
I think I know what went wrong. The ZIP code on our credit card didn’t match our current address because our ZIP code is being changed. That confused the system, making it think that our credit card might not be legit.
We have sent Expedia screen shots of our transaction to prove that this was a simple misunderstanding. We have been assigned three case numbers during the last six months, but the bottom line is that after weeks of back-and-forth and appeals, they have rejected our refund claim.
How can Expedia charge us for tickets after rejecting our credit card? Can you help us get our money back?
– Russ Cumings, Tucson, Ariz.
A: When a credit card is rejected, you would think the transaction hasn’t gone through. When it’s rejected six times, there can be no doubt that you didn’t buy a ticket.
Looks like a pretty open-and-shut case to me.
What happened? The changing ZIP code is one clue. The credit card processing system couldn’t verify your billing address, so it didn’t purchase your ticket. Now, normally when a credit card fails to work, that’s the end of the story. But during your dispute, you learned that Expedia uses another verification service to handle cards that are turned down. That service found the address glitch — and allowed Expedia to buy your airline ticket.
Most travelers would have been grateful to get the ticket after all. But since you had already made other arrangements, that verification service just added to your troubles. You ended up with two sets of tickets, one of which you couldn’t use.
Why would Expedia insist that you keep your unusable tickets? Well, as you noted, these were nonrefundable tickets. Any refund would have to come from Expedia, not from United. The other explanation is that Expedia doesn’t really know what went wrong, either.
“We’ve looked into it, and from what we can tell, there was an isolated technical error,” said Expedia spokesman David Dennis.
You were wise to make printouts of your computer screen, just in case there was a dispute. But I would have taken this a step further. Next time something goes wrong with an online credit card purchase, do two things: Call the site and send it an e-mail. On the phone, mention what happened and ask the agent to verify that no purchase was made. And in your e-mail, describe what happened and request a written confirmation that you didn’t purchase anything.
And I would wait until you’re absolutely sure you’re in the clear before buying another airline ticket.
Expedia offered you a complete refund for your unused tickets.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
A similiar thing happened to me last year on Orbitz.
Apparently Orbitz had a computer problem after I put in my credit card and my tickets were not confirmed. I tried to get into “My Trips” and found nothing.
I called Orbitz and was told they were experiencing a problem and to try again shortly. I asked if she could confirm or deny my ticket purchase but I got the usual “Our computers are down”. I was *assured* that if I had not received a confirmation and there was nothing in “My Trips” my order had not been processed.
Knowing how hard it would be to receive a refund if the order had, indeed, been processed and I bought another set of tickets, I called my credit card company. No charge showed up on the “recent transaction” screen, so I waiting for a customer service rep. She was able to check my account and did indeed find the ticket charge! I then called the airline, got a confirmation number and printed out my itinerary from there.
The one nice benefit was that I was charged only the ticket fee, not the additional $10 handling charge from Orbitz.
I have had similar experiences on both Expedia and Priceline. One was for 3 tickets to Chicago. I had looked at a couple of dates in considering which to get ticketed for. Somehow when it came time to submit my request, the date was changed ot the date I didn’t want for the ticket date. They issued those tickets for the wrong date and for a flight departing 1 hour from the time of the flight. In the case of the 3 tickets to Chicago, I had printed several of the windows with the information, but apparently not the right one that they wanted to see. The second problem was for one ticket to Toronto, in which they processed a ticket that I decided to not get when I was at the “submit” stage of making the reservation. I decided not to go through with the ticketing. In both cases I contacted the companies as soon as I found the problem, one immediately, and the other was a late evening reservation and I caught the roblem in the morning. Often the contact possible with the companies is possible by e-mail only and can be several hours later, before you receive a response. In both cases, the respective companies refused to acknowledge that there was a malfunction in the ticketing process and refused to even consider a refund or reisue for the correct date. In both cases I was shut down from further appeal and told -in essence- “tough luck”. By the way, as soon as my call was recognized as a complaint, the demeanor of the agent became defensive and negative about finding a solution to the problem. Consequently I will not use either of those sites unless I absolutely have to, because I know that the “cheap ticket” can end up being as expensive as a full fare 1st class ticket and you have little recourse. Interestingly enough, the only cases of a reasonable resolution to problems with ticketing through these companies that I have seen seem to result only after a known consumer advocate, with the power to publicize the incident and possibly illuminate how these companies operate, intervenes. I recognize that they deal with leftover seats on flights and consider all sales as “final sales” however, until there is an absolutely fail proof method of processing and ticketing a reservation, they should honor immediate changes in the case of an error or seek out solutions to make the customer happy. They aren’t the only ones to offer inexpensive tickets and with some research, I have found several other ways to get my “cheap” tickets and be treated as a valued customer in the process.
I wonder if was a problem with there system and you never got to approved the transaction could you call the company of your credit card of your bank and let them know what took place for them to investigate and refund your money, just a guess…
HOW DO YOU GET A REFUND ON AIRLINE TICKET OR TAKE A EARLIER FLIGHT?