Examples of scams / spams

Thanks to EXPEDIA a lot of people won’t be deceived by other online travel sites

 

 

After EXPEDIA tried to scam me (and failed miserably because my credit card company forced EXPEDIA to reimburse me1254,96 U$D EXPEDIA tried to keep in a fraudulent way) I won’t be using ORBITZ, Travelocity, Cheaptickets, Priceline . The reason is because I found a lot of complaints about them.

I made a compilation few months ago (http://www.victimsofexpedia.com/otas.htm ).

 

The good thing is that a lot of people are visiting my web site (especially www.expedianews.com and learning how EXPEDIA cheats, lies and scam people. They can use this information to learn about other travel sites and avoid being scammed by them

 

Another reason is that I found that the best way to book a flight or a hotel is to go directly to the airlines. One can use for www.Kayak.com (by the way I have to do with Kayak) to search for a flight and then go directly to the airline (ignoring EXPEDIA and other travels sites). This way is cheaper and safer since you avoid a third party (sometimes a scammer like EXPEDIA).

 

Happy New Year.

 

Share  the black ribbon  campaign

 

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………….EXPEDIA is a SCAM and cannot be trusted.

It would be better to go back to classical travel agent or book directly with the airline. It will be wise also to tell your friends, relatives, aliens that booking through EXPEDA EXPEIDA or EXPEDIA can cost you more than a booking fee . They have the ability to find any excuse to fail to provide the service and keep (fraud) the money they charged in your credit card. If you want to sue them you are doomed since they are protected by the “governing law” . That means you might need to arrange acourt in Washington. Smart scammers!!.

Is EXPEDIA going to scam forever? Only if we let them do that. Just send this message to all your friends . We can change the online business that EXPEDIA is trying to make us believe is the best one. Customers have power if we alert each other. otherwise, the  EXPEDIA model of business (online scam) based in fine prints, lies, fraud will succed. So far www.victimsofexpedia.com has alerted thousands of travelers about this scam. With your help , we can alert everybody and stop this unethical business practice.

Wouldn’t you like to just book a flight and travel without problem? Without fear of being scammed? With the “confidence” that expedia promote. If we stop the EXPEDIA scam, other online travel sites would eventually stop scamming too.

 

Just a thought

Dirty tricks from travel sites used to scam people
Some “legitimate online travel agencies (OTAs)”, besides running their legitimate business, are running a scam.
I’ll explain the scam using as example: TRAVEL.SCAM (a ficticious OTA). For a real case read this: 
http://www.victimsofexpedia.com/mycase.htm
How does it work? The mechanism of the scam is complex, involving poor customer support, lies, ignoring customers complaints, use of “web based” e-mail system, use of “automated message”, “fine prints” and “term and conditions” and “separate terms and conditions”.
 
At a first glance there is nothing illegal but the way they use all that is to scam customers.
 
1)TRAVEL.SCAM will charge your credit card for whatever you book (hotel, flights, vacation package, trip insurance), then you are on your own. Is something happens, (canceled flights, loss of your ticket -even if they are responsible for the loss-) they don’t take responsibility. So, far this is legal. Where is the scam? In some cases, TRAVEL.SCAM will fail to provide the service you paid for but they will do anything to keep the money they charged in your credit card. They use a lot of tricks to do that:
 
2) Poor customer support: This is very typical. There are plenty of examples of customers that try to contact the customer support team but are put on hold for hours before talking to a real person. Once you are able to talk to someone, you have to give him/her a number (itinerary or booking number) and explain you case. They will tell you that they are going to solve your problem and they are going to contact you. Most of the time they never call you (lies) you will have to call again. Again you will have to spend time giving your number (itinerary or booking number) and explain you case.
 
3) Some OTA uses a “web based” e-mail system. This sounds great, once you are logged in your account you just need to “click” a button and a new window appears showing a box where you can write to TRAVEL.SCAM. It looks very friendly, you don’t need to type the e-mail address of the company, just write and submit your message. Where is the trick? You will not have a copy of the message you sent to them. Most of the time they will not answer you message (ignore customer) or will send you an “automated message” like this: ” Dear TRAVEL.SCAM customer We have forwarded your request to the appropriate department and you will receive a response from that department within 72 hours. If you have further questions, feel free to reply to this e-mail or contact TRAVEL.scam customer services at 1-800- WHO CARE -and reference case ID . You can also visit the TRAVEL.SCAM “Customer Support” page for more customer service information. Thank you for choosing TRAVEL.SCAM Sydney TRAVEL.SCAM Cuustomer Support Team Of course, most of the time nobody will take care of your case and you will have to call again and send new e-mails. Where is the trick? If you use a “web based” e-mail system to send a message to TRAVEL.SCAM they will later deny that. You will not have any proof that you were trying to contact them. Never use “web based” e-mail system.
 
4) Fine prints. This is typical, completely legal but abusive.
 
5) Terms and conditions. Again completely legal but abusive. Where is the trick? One of the most tricky point is something like this (called “governing law”) : “This agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Alaska , USA (for TRAVEL.SCAM). You hereby consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of courts in Spring County, Alaska , USA, in all disputes arising out of or relating to the use of this Web site”. This means that if you want to dispute your case against TRAVEL.SCAM in a court room you have to do it in Alaska. If you live in NY it will be pretty expensive to do that. In most of the cases, you will decline and travel.SCAM will your money (in a tricky or fraudulent way).
All these tricks give online travel agencies the freedom to lie and scam people. They have the freedom to deny a service you paid for, they have the freedom to give you a room completely different from what you booked. They have the freedom to lose your ticket or not to arrange your trip. They will simply blame the hotel, the airline or someone else. They have to freedom to charge your credit card with fees. Believe me, they are using them. Even if you have proof that TRAVEL.SCAM failed to provide the service they will deny and try to keep your money unless you sue them in Alaska If you bought a “trip insurance” and you want to cancel your trip they will tell you that your insurance does not cover that. Even if they told you before by phone that it will. But you didn’t read the “fine prints” (more lies and “fine prints”. Even if you are right they will tell you the opposite. In this example, the TRAVEL.SCAM makes money by selling “trip insurances” that are useless because they will refuse to honor (even if you are right). Again, if you want to dispute in a court room be prepared to travel to Alaska (abusive “terms and conditions”). By using all these tricks they can charge “fees” for whatever they want, then is going to be difficult for you to recover the money they charged in your credit card. You will have to provide proof to your credit card company that it was TRAVEL.SCAM ’s fault and not yours to be reimbursed. In summary, TRAVEL.SCAM makes money in a legitimate way (as expected if you are lucky) and in a fraudulent way (by not providing the service you paid for) and by using all the tricks mentioned above to keep your money.
 

 

 

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.
 

 

 

 

 

 I won’t be surprised: Read the article:

http://consumerist.com/348687/is-expedia-censoring-negative-reviews

 

and anothe rexample: http://ed.gatzke.googlepages.com/expediasucks

 Besides 

Instead of stand behind their product they choose to scam me        
If you read this article you are lucky. Someone on behalf of EXPEDIA (maybe EXPEDIA itself?) is fighting in the internet to prevent people to read negative aspects about EXPEDIA (including this blog). One well documented example of what I’m saying is the wikipedia affair (someone was deleting negative aspects of EXPEDIA in wikipedia. Can you believe that? Read the full story: http://www.victimsofexpedia.com/wiki.htm ).
My point is that if you find this information useful send it to your friends and relative because they might not find it since someone is doing something in the internet to prevent people to read it. I don’t know exactly what they are doing but in some way they are preventing people to reach this site. After all censoring internet information is a widely practice in some countries and big companies might do it to avoid bad publicity. If they do something to prevent people to read this blog that is an attack to free speech. An attack to the right to alert people about something dangerous and should not be tolerated.
It would be nice if everyone that can reach this site start a “chain letter by e-mail”, (copy and paste this page and send to your friends and family). Advice them to do the same (to avoid large number of e-mail addresses).
                        
Everybody should be alerted. Your relatives or friends may be the next victims of EXPEDIA (and be scammed or lose thousands of dollars). EXPEDIA tried to scam me(1254.95 U$D). I was clever enough and acted fast,  but they can try to scam other people. There is no other possible explanation for all they did after they failed to arrange one of my trips. In addition EXPEDIA never denied my case (they cannot since I have proof of their lies). They don’t need to deny because their business is still very profitable (they can cheat millions of unaware people unless you help to spread the word).
 
 

Read my case (all detail in my website: http://www.victimsofexpedia.com -non profit website)