Hello Trisha,
We’re happy to look into this for Alice to see what can be done. So our team can better assist, can you please provide the itinerary number and the email address associated with the booking?
We look forward to hearing from you.
Feeling a very friendly vibe, I provided them the following reply (edited slightly to remove any private information):
I apologize, but I had my dates written down incorrectly. The original travel date was not July 1, 2015. The travel date was June 26, 2015. It was then supposed to be a return trip at a later date (approximately a week or so later), but somewhere during the booking process it was changed to a return date of also June 26, 2015, for a flight departing only 2 hours later.
This is where my frustration stems. On your website, if I try to book a round-trip flight leaving Phoenix and arriving in Spokane, and I choose June 26, 2015, as my departure date, your site automatically fills in the next calendar day for return (i.e. June 27, 2015). Now, I can still manually change the departure to the same day as the arrival, but it does require that extra step. Your site is clearly set up to try to prevent that from happening, I can only assume to prevent errors such as this one.
Again, to be fully up front and honest, we accept that this was a customer error, not an Expedia error, and my mom has had to compensate for that by losing that flight. That is very, very frustrating, as I feel if a representative had just looked at the booking and listened to her, they would've clearly seen it was an error. To be perfectly honest, they didn't even have to hear her explanation. Who in the world would book a flight to return the same day, especially only two hours later? I can only think of a drug runner, a business interview, or an affair. Clearly, it seems a very rare scenario; again, hence your site's autofilling of the next calendar day. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a very, very costly lesson to my mother.
However, to be told now that to use her credit, she has to pay ANOTHER "change" fee? This is truly unacceptable. It's fruit from the poisoned tree. Not making an exception to your "no change after 24 hours without a fee" policy is very disappointing alone, but to now be told that when she does use that credit, she's going to be charged a second fee? Of $300 per ticket? That's $600! I'm not on disability or a pension as is my mother, but $600 is still something I couldn't afford to lose; for her, it's literally not being able to pay for necessary monthly bills just to LIVE! I imagine working for a travel booking company, you're aware of how poor of a deal that is. I'm not even a frequent traveler, and I wouldn't even pay $300 for one ticket right this minute; I'd wait until the fares go down. To be told I have to pay what is, in essence, nothing more than a user fee of $300 per ticket is truly a most reprehensible practice. I have no polite and respectful way to word it otherwise. If this is truly Expedia's policy, through whatever medieval loophole allows it to be legal, all I can say, as a customer, is shame on Expedia.
Thank you again for taking the time to read my email and to reply so quickly. I look forward to hearing from you again and hopefully we can finally put this matter to rest.
I appreciate anyone willing to share this story with as many people as possible to let them know this isn't just an unhappy customer; this is a LOT of unhappy customers, and treating honest consumers like trash is a trend that airlines HAVE to stop allowing if they want us to continue forking out hard-earned cash for their ever increasingly inflated ticket prices. In this era when companies are relying more and more on online services, they still need to provide - and prove - the highest level of customer service and respect when their automated systems aren't enough. When something goes wrong (and we're still humans, so it will), we need to be treated AS humans and not just a customer ID# on a screen.
I have my fingers crossed that the conversation continues in a positive manner and toward a mutually-satisfactory conclusion. I'm still hoping for an acceptable offer from Expedia and/or American Airlines to end this dilemma. I'll keep everyone posted!
I have my fingers crossed that the conversation continues in a positive manner and toward a mutually-satisfactory conclusion. I'm still hoping for an acceptable offer from Expedia and/or American Airlines to end this dilemma. I'll keep everyone posted!
