Big Expedia Fun

Be very careful fans!!!!!!!!!!!!

EXPEDIA is running a scam alogside with their legitimate business. They tried to scam me once and faied miserably. Read my case (and hundreds maybe thousands more) at

http://www.expedianews.com

Enjoy it !!!!!!

 I will use EXPEDIA as an example since they tried to scam me (man, they went the extra mile to try to steal 1,254.95 U$D from my credit card for a service they failed to provide. 

Read my case at: http://www.victimsofexpedia.com/mycase.htm ) 

1) Never trust what an EXPEDIA agent, supervisor or customer advisor tell to you by phone. When you call EXPEDIA you will listen a voice telling that “for quality purposes, your call might be recorded”. This is a trick because you think that you are covered and that you might have a chance to use these recording in the future if you have to dispute something. The fact is that EXPEDIA will probably use those recording only if it is for EXPEDIA’s benefit. Otherwise they will tell you “We random record conversations” and you will not have any chance to prove what someone from EXPEDIA told to you by phone. 

2) If you have a recording machine try to record the conversation by yourself. I know this is not useful because few people have this kind of devices. In addition, EXPEDIA will put you on hold for hours before they actually talk to you. 

3) Ask confirmation by e-mail of anything EXPEDIA tells to you by phone. This is the only way you can have some document  to fight at the legal level. Remember that most of the times the agents will tell you that they will send an e-mail to you but they are actually lying. 

4) Never use the web-based e-mail system EXPEDIA provides in their “customer support” web page. You will not have any copy of the messages you sent to them by this system. Most of the times (if you are complaining about something) EXPEDIA will simply ignore your messages. More important, since you don’t have a copy of the message, EXPEDIA will probably deny receiving your messages. 

5) Contact EXPEDIA from an e-mail address that allows you to keep a copy of the message you sent to them (like yahoo, gmail) 

6) Always try to talk to a “customer specialist advisor”. This is the highest level you can reach at EXPEDIA. When you call for the first time an “agent or representative” will talk to you. According to my own experience, these agents or representative most of the times are not going to solve your problem and they will put you on hold for hours until you can talk to a “supervisor”. This second level is also non useful since “supervisors” have almost no authority and they will put you again  on hold for hours until you talk to a “customer advisor specialist”. These specialists will try to do anything to keep your money. They will lie to you. They will deny information. They will tell you it is your fault. Even if you show to them evidence that EXPEDIA’s employees at the lower level made the mistake they will try to keep your money and they will tell you that “that is all EXPEDIA can do for you”. In the best cases, they will  reimburse part of the money they charged in your credit card (meaning EXPEDIA will try to steal the rest). They will give you a “coupon” (meaning that you have to spend more money using EXPEDIA if you want to use this coupon). Finally, if you still complain they will ignore you. 

6) EXPEDIA most of the times will ignore you when you complain. Here is when you realize EXPEDIA is ‘”cheating” you. 

If EXPEDIA is cheating you or is trying to cheat you: 

1) If the service was paid by a credit card, ask your credit card company to fight for you. It works!!! I recovered the full amount of a ticket (1,254.96 U$D) EXPEDIA tried to steal from me. This is probably the only way you can recover money from EXPEDIA without hiring a lawyer. Most credit card companies are powerful enough to recover money from bad companies because they prefer to keep customers and not be part of a fraud scheme. They know they can be sued by the cardholder if they are found to be part of a fraud scheme. 

2) You can Send your complaint to many different websites to let people know what EXPEDIA did to you. This is a short list of sites where you can send/put a review/complaint: 

my3cents - planetfeedback - ripoffreport - complaints.com -  travelwatch - tripadvisor (it is owned by the same company that owns EXPEDIA) 

You can also put a review/comment in different “travel forums”: travellerspoint -  flyertalk - thisistravel - travelblog -  fodors - 

The more you spread the word the better for consumers. 

Why to alert people about EXPEDIA (based in my own experience and hundreds, maybe thousands, of cases: http://www.expedianews.com )

Send this link (or download the pdf file) to your friends and relatives: http://victimsofexpedia.com/expedia.pdf
If you feel you are special, if you feel it will never happen to you, you are wrong. Even if you had no problem before using EXPEDIA, it is not a guarantee it won’t happen to you in your next trip.

I had used EXPEDIA a couple of time until they revealed what they really are, until they tried to scam me (read my case, including gruesome details of their lies and tricks they used to try to scam me: http://www.victimsofexpedia.com/mycase.htm ) 

-         If you travel you can be the next victim of a scam they are running alongside with their legitimate business (they tried to scam me 1254.96 U$D, and failed miserable).

-         Your relatives and friends might also be the next victims

-         Therefore, you, your relatives and friends may lose thousands of dollars

-         Your vacation might become a nightmare

-         You might not have a vacation at all

-         You can be stuck at any airport because EXPEDIA failed to arrange your trip

-         You can spend a lot of money by calling EXPEDIA from a foreign country trying to fix a trip EXPEDIA failed to arrange

-         You can waste a lot of time when EXPEDIA agents put you in hold for hours (and waste a lot of money in phone calls

-         Thus, you might find yourself  in another country trying to book another flight because EXPEDIA didn’t arrange your trip and abandoned you there with no ticket

-         EXPEDIA does not plan to stop their unethical business practice (read daily complaints in this site)

-         EXPEDIA keeps falsely promoting their services (http://www.victimsofexpedia.com/falseadvertisement.htm )

-         People believe EXPEDIA is a honest company (until they are scammed and is very late)

-         EXPEDIA has “friends” that help them to delete negative comments about them in the internet (read about the Wikipedia Affair: http://www.victimsofexpedia.com/wiki.htm )

-         EXPEDIA will never take responsibilities of their own mistakes

-         EXPEDIA will never compensate you for the “extra” money you had to spend due to their mistakes.

-         EXPEDIA will try to keep (steal is the right word) money by charging your credit card a tricky way (http://www.victimsofexpedia.com/cheat.htm ) .

-         You might need to wait months to be reimbursed for the money EXPEDIA charged in your credit card for services they failed to provide (but only when EXPEDIA is forced by your credit card company to reimburse you).

-         EXPEDIA agents will lie to you

-         EXPEDIA supervisors will lie to you

-         EXPEDIA “customer specialist” will lie to you

-      Even if you e-mail to top EXPEDIA’s executives , they will no answer (http://www.victimsofexpedia.com/CEO.htm ). This means that they are supporting their deceptive business practice.

-         EXPEDIA will ignore your e-mails if you try to contact them for a trouble with your trip or they will send “automatic responses” to make you believe they are taking care of you (read a collection of these kind of messages: http://www.victimsofexpedia.com/templates.htm )

-         EXPEDIA might use many of these “dirty tricks” that online travel sites are using to scam people (http://www.victimsofexpedia.com/dirtytricks.htm ) to scam you.

o         

Why EXPEDIA keep doing this? Because the travel business is very profitable. EXPEDIA can afford to lose thousands of customers because there are still million of people that are unaware of how bad EXPEDIA is. EXPEDIA can still make billions cheating new customers.  So, don’t feel you are “special”, don’t believe “the EXPEDIA promise” , you are not “number one”.

It is up to you to help yourself or your friends or relatives to have a safe trip or vacation. Just alert them.

Read my case at http://www.victimsofexpedia.com/mycase.htm )                                                             
The old  EXPEDIA’s slogan: - Don’t just scam, scam right.     
The new EXPEDIA’s slogan: Scam with confidence
 
EXPEDIA’s customer support team jokes (funny phrases to make fun of customers)
- Thanks for contacting EXPEDIA
- Your comments are important to us
- Someone in the appropriate department is working on your case
- Your case has been forwarded to me for further research
- I understand that there were some issues with regards ………….
- I am researching all the documentation and the fax that was sent to my department
 - I will contact you directly after completing my investigation
 - If you have any further questions or comments, please feel free to reply to this e-mail
- We regret that your experience using Expedia.com was not to your satisfaction.
 - Please be assured that the entire team at Expedia.com is dedicated to not only providing the most efficient, user friendly, and accurate travel application, but also to the highest standards of support for our members.
- As previously advised to you, this case is being handled by the appropriate department and will respond to you as soon as possible
- We appreciate your patience regarding this matter
 
EXPEDIA’s representative terms
Big deals………………….already booked
No extra fees ………….. No service
Nominal fee …………….. Outrageous charge
Cheap flight…………….overbooked flight, canceled flight, delayed flight,
Big saving……………………………Bait and switch scam
Dream vacation…………………… nightmare
Adventure……………………………..nightmare
Trip insurance………………………… limited coverage
Explore and discover……………….be at your own, extra expenses, hidden fees
Best price guarantee…………………… find the same flight, a the same day, the same airline,
EXPEDIA promise……………………………Scam
Hassle free hurricane promise……………..Scam
Package protection plan ……………………Scam
0.01 U$D room/night……………………….Bait and switch scam
All included…………………………. Hidden fee, no service,
Standard ……………………….substandard, low level
Online service …………………. Ignore customer
Our customer support team………………our con artists
Customer specialist ………………………con artist boss                                              
Click to order…………………………double click scam
Call us …………………………….wait hours on the phone
Beautiful hotel ………………………….false advertisement
External links ………………………………blame others, scam, false advertisement
Go with confidence ………………………. don’t be careful, will scam you better
Expedia’s terms and conditions ………………………Expedia’s tools to scam, abusive
Our partners…………………………………Our accomplices
Other restrictions apply……………Additional charges, more hidden fees, worse service
Our Competitors…………………………Other criminal organizations
EXPEDIA.COM……………………….EXPEDIA.CON, EXPEDIA.SCAM
EXPEDIA.ORG………………………..EXPEDIA.MOB
Our CEO…………………………………. The godfather
 

A guide to Understand corporate letters
 

As example I’ll use phrases from e-mails EXPEDIA sent to me.
 

EXPEDIA’s e-mails
 

EXPEDIA’s messages are well written letter from superior people with a deep knowledge and understanding of grammar, semantic and dialectic. We customers are ignorant, retarded, with difficulties in understanding basic concepts of communication
. This is a short guide to understand what we customers believe EXPEDIA is telling us and what EXPEDIA really telling us.
It took me while to appreciate the real meaning
 

I’ll keep updating this page at: www.victimsofexpedia.com/jokes01.htm
 

In my personal experience, Expedia tried to scam me (1254.95 U$D)….. and failed miserably. Read my case at: http://www.victimsofexpedia.com/mycase.htm 

WIKKIPEDIA defines Organized crime as crime carried out systematically by formal criminal organizations. The Organized Crime Control Act (U.S., 1970) defines organized crime as “The unlawful activities of … a highly organized, disciplined association…”. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are politically motivated. Mafias are criminal organizations whose primary motivation is profit. Gangs sometimes become “disciplined” enough to be considered “organized”. The act of engaging in criminal activity as a structured group is referred to in the U.S. as racketeering. In the United States, organized crime is often prosecuted federally under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), Statute (18 U.S.C. Part I Chapter 96 §§ 1961-1968). 

In this context, EXPEDIA works like a criminal organization whose primary motivation is profit. It is a highly organized company in which most employees lie, cheat, do anything to keep money from customers. If only one or few EXPEDIA agents lies one can understand that because there are inefficient employees like in any other company. But in EXPEDIA agents at all level (simple agents, supervisors and customer advisors) lie in order to steal money from customers. That is association. More important, even after you show them documentation that proves that EXPEDIA made the mistake in your case, they just keep your money. EXPEDIA keeps your money even is the service is not provided. This is fraud and is unlawful. This seems to be done systematically to many customers (just read the several complaints about expedia in this site: http://www.expedianews.com ).  

Thus EXPEDIA works like criminal organization rather than an honest company. 

In my opinion. EXPEDIA is the dream of don Vito Corleone. They are a “legitimate” company but with a very dark side. I would not be surprised if one of EXPEDIA’s CEO run for Governor or President. That  was the dream of Vito Corleone for Michael Corleone. 

In my personal experience, Expedia tried to scam me (1254.95 U$D)….. and failed miserably. Read my case at: http://www.victimsofexpedia.com/mycase.htm 

WIKKIPEDIA defines Organized crime as crime carried out systematically by formal criminal organizations. The Organized Crime Control Act (U.S., 1970) defines organized crime as “The unlawful activities of … a highly organized, disciplined association…”. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are politically motivated. Mafias are criminal organizations whose primary motivation is profit. Gangs sometimes become “disciplined” enough to be considered “organized”. The act of engaging in criminal activity as a structured group is referred to in the U.S. as racketeering. In the United States, organized crime is often prosecuted federally under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), Statute (18 U.S.C. Part I Chapter 96 §§ 1961-1968). 

In this context, EXPEDIA works like a criminal organization whose primary motivation is profit. It is a highly organized company in which most employees lie, cheat, do anything to keep money from customers. If only one or few EXPEDIA agents lies one can understand that because there are inefficient employees like in any other company. But in EXPEDIA agents at all level (simple agents, supervisors and customer advisors) lie in order to steal money from customers. That is association. More important, even after you show them documentation that proves that EXPEDIA made the mistake in your case, they just keep your money. EXPEDIA keeps your money even is the service is not provided. This is fraud and is unlawful. This seems to be done systematically to many customers (just read the several complaints about expedia in this site: http://www.expedianews.com ).  

Thus EXPEDIA works like criminal organization rather than an honest company. 

In my opinion. EXPEDIA is the dream of don Vito Corleone. They are a “legitimate” company but with a very dark side. I would not be surprised if one of EXPEDIA’s CEO run for Governor or President. That  was the dream of Vito Corleone for Michael Corleone. 

Are Americans getting smarter? And traveling safer
It seem so, it seem Americans are avoiding EXPEDIA. 
If you check the statistics for EXPEDIA in ALEXA you will notice that EXPEDIA’s rank is falling. Less than 70 % of visitors come from USA, compared to more than 80 % few months ago. That is good news
Read what people are saying about EXPEDIA. I’m not alone. Most of these people feel they were cheated by EXPEDIA in one way or another:
http://www.expedianews.com
 They stocks are also going down ….. Sockholders should be vary cautious with EXPEDIA. EXPEDIA cannot be trusted.

Wikipedia’s accuracy was compared to the Encyclopaedia Britannica and for many topics (e.g. science) it seems to be very reliable. However, I discovered that some contributors were modifying Wikipedia on behalf a big, multibillion company. That incident damaged Wikipedia’s accuracy.
If you reach the entry in Wikipedia for  “EXPEDIA” you will find (sometimes) a section about “customer Feedback” that says :
“As is common with large internet travel agencies, some customers have been unsatisfied with various aspects of Expedia.com products and services. Customer complaints include lost reservations, erroneous hotel accommodations, poor customer service, and failure to post negative reviews online at Expedia.com ……’  (read an old version )
What is very interesting is that if you check another day the same entry, the section about “customer feedback” will eventually (misteriously) dissapear. That means that someone is helping EXPEDIA to delete their negative aspects from wikipedia.
I had been following that entry for few days and I noticed that someone (I swear it wasn’t me) write that section in Wikipedia and someone else erase from there. That happened few times in the last month.

What is more interesting is that the entry for Orbitz (although contains a negative section called “controversies” ) was not erased during the same period of time.

What is even more and more interesting is that someone in the  FLYERTALK forum (I put the thread there) apparently found out that “The netblock that the user who is removing the entry is posting from is owned by Expedia (. I’ve brought this up on the article’s talk page.” . He or she put a note in Wikipedia discussion :

“Anyone notice that 199.3.115.254 who keeps removing the customer service section is posting from Expedia.com SPRINTLINK (NET-199-3-115-0-1) 199.3.115.0 - 199.3.115.255
I’m not saying that the section necessarily belongs, but that removal of uncomplimentary items by someone from the company looks fishy. — Alanhwiki 21:10, 11 January 2007 (UTC)
Retrieved from ““http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Expedia”

Someone, the media or the authorities should investigates this. I’m not saying EXPEDIA is doing this. But someone on behalf of EXPEDIA does. My opinion is that people don’t help big companies for free.
What’s yours ?

After this incident, the customer sections remains there, but EXPEDIA “friends” managed to erase very negative aspects.
Compare the section “customer feddback in the current version with one version that was “edited”.
The big questions now are: “how many other companies have been doing the same”? How much can we trust Wikipedia when we look for information about big companies”?
 

EXPEDIA (not its friends)  tried to scam me too but this is a different story but it makes you wonder what kind of people are we dealing with.
I’m not alone. Most of these people feel they were cheated by EXPEDIA in one way or another:
http://www.expedianews.com
 

                                               
I sent this letter on 08-13-2007 to one of EXPEDIA’s CEO and later to their President and Senior vice president, customer operations. NO RESPONSE so far. A failure to respond only means that EXPEDIA’s executives are fully supporting their deceptive business practice including their attempt to scam me.
 

I just edited (to remove) personal  data :
(Name of one of EXPEDIA’s CEO)
Chief executive officer
******@expedia.com

I found your e-mail address in the internet.  I writing since it is going to be almost one year after I received an e-mail from one of your representatives in response to my e-mail regarding my case. My case  is too gruesome in detail that I’m running a website to alert people about how bad EXPEDIA is and how they tried to scam me (http://www.victimsofexpedia.com/mycase.htm) . I have no other possible explanation for all EXPEDIA has done after they failed to arrange one of my trip.
 
I’m pretty sure you know about my case (Case ID: [REQ:21826350]). Just in case, I’m sending this e-mail to you in order to document I tried to reach the highest level at EXPEDIA.com in order to solve my case.
I doubt you will ever answer this e-mail because I think you are familiar with my case (did you ever look for “expedia complaints” in Google or Yahoo?
 
Below are copies of the latest messages I send to and I received from EXPEDIA.
 
Sincerely Yours truly,
XXXX, XXXXX
 
 
 

 EMOB: the most successful and dangerous travel scam
EMOB = EXPEDIA Model Of Business (Electronic MOB)
 If you buy a ticket for 1,249.95 U$D EXPEDIA will charge you a 5 U$D fee and it will appear a total 1,254.95 U$D transaction in your credit card.
What if EXPEDIA fail to provide the service? What if EXPEDIA never arrange your trip?
Who keeps that money? Do you think that the airline see that money? Do you think EXPEDIA cheats people to make the airlines richer? 
If the airline never sees that money then EXPEDIA can make a fortune by simply selling something (tickets, rooms). Then, they just need to find an excuse (or even lie or cheat you) to not provide the service and keep your money. Read about the dirty tricks EXPEDIA can use to do that. IN FACT,  EXPEDIA used many of them when they tried to scam me. (Read my case ).
In my case the conclusion is pretty simple:
EXPEDIA failed to arrange my trip, then EXPEDIA lied to me = EXPEDIA tried to scam me. Thus, EXPEDIA is a scammer and EMOB (EXPEDIA model of business) had become the most successful scam for these reasons:
-          People believe EXPEDIA is a honest company (until they are scammed)
-          By running alongside a legitimate business, EXPEDIA can scam other customers and make millions by cheating and scamming people.
-          The media is reluctant to publish complaints about EXPEDIA probably because they are afraid to lose the money they make by advertising them (EXPEDIA spend ~ 170 M U$D in advertising).
-          EXPEDIA has “friends” that help them to delete negative aspects about them in the internet (read about the “Wikipedia affair”: http://www.victimsofexpedia.com/wiki.htm )
No matter what EXPEDIA says, it was an attempt to scam me. The funny thing is that EXPEDIA failed miserably. They went the extra mile to try to scam me 1,254.95 U$D but thanks to my credit card I could recover all that money. Technically speaking, I was scammed for 6-7 months because EXPEDIA kept my money (with no other intention but to scam me) for that time until my credit card forced them to reimburse it. Other customers might not be lucky as I was.
Just do a simple math: 1,254.96 U$D per customer scammed is a very profitable business. They can make million scamming thousand of people like they tried with me. Even if the money EXPEDIA makes by scamming people is a small percentage compared to their legitimate business is very significant.
I’m not alone. Most of these people feel they were cheated by EXPEDIA in one way or another:
http://www.expedianews.com
 Be careful, you (or your friends and/or relatives) might be the next victim and/or lose thousand of dollars due to their unethical business practice.