I Took Orbitz to Small Claims Court and Won - Here's How
Apr 7, 2012, 12:20 am
#76
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Seattle
Programs: Costco Club
Posts: 1,155
UPDATE:
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I purchased my round-trip ticket to Russia from Orbitz on October 8, 2011. On January 4th 2012, while being in Russia, I called Orbitz to have my return ticket date changed from 01/10 to to 01/15. Orbitz representative told me over the phone that the total cost for ticket exchange would be $280: $250 for airline change fee and $30 Orbitz exchange fee. I got the same amount in the email invoice from Orbitz. I agreed to that amount and gave him my credit card info to charge. Next day United Airlines charged my credit card for $2,059.50 instead of $250, $1,809.50 more than I had agreed to pay. I exchanged dates for Lufthansa tickets (this flight was 100% Lufthansa-operated) multiple times before (not with Orbitz) and it always was $250 flat fee. Not at any point I was told by Orbitz it would cost that much more. I tried to resolve this directly with Orbitz and with Chase (issuing bank of my credit card) but they both failed to get my money back. Orbitz also failed to provide me with the copy of the recorded ticket exchange conversation between me and the agent.
I’m ready to provide the copy of email invoice from Orbitz on request. The bottom line is that Orbitz failed to disclose to me the total cost of the ticket exchange.
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I tried to resolve the issue with BBB but they miserably failed: Orbitz simply stated that in recorded conversation agent told me about the real cost of ticker exchange, while he actually didn't. And they refuse to provide me with the recorded copy of the conversation.
Thanks in advance for your help.
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I purchased my round-trip ticket to Russia from Orbitz on October 8, 2011. On January 4th 2012, while being in Russia, I called Orbitz to have my return ticket date changed from 01/10 to to 01/15. Orbitz representative told me over the phone that the total cost for ticket exchange would be $280: $250 for airline change fee and $30 Orbitz exchange fee. I got the same amount in the email invoice from Orbitz. I agreed to that amount and gave him my credit card info to charge. Next day United Airlines charged my credit card for $2,059.50 instead of $250, $1,809.50 more than I had agreed to pay. I exchanged dates for Lufthansa tickets (this flight was 100% Lufthansa-operated) multiple times before (not with Orbitz) and it always was $250 flat fee. Not at any point I was told by Orbitz it would cost that much more. I tried to resolve this directly with Orbitz and with Chase (issuing bank of my credit card) but they both failed to get my money back. Orbitz also failed to provide me with the copy of the recorded ticket exchange conversation between me and the agent.
I’m ready to provide the copy of email invoice from Orbitz on request. The bottom line is that Orbitz failed to disclose to me the total cost of the ticket exchange.
-----
I tried to resolve the issue with BBB but they miserably failed: Orbitz simply stated that in recorded conversation agent told me about the real cost of ticker exchange, while he actually didn't. And they refuse to provide me with the recorded copy of the conversation.
Thanks in advance for your help.
My guess is even if you do that, they'll say they don't have it as they erase it after a certain period of time.
Good luck though.
The above does not constitute legal advice, always seek the advice of an attorney before proceeding with legal action.
Also, the BBB is really useless, they aren't a government agency and in my opinion don't always have consumer's best interests in mind. Case in point: Oregon Geek Squad's from Best Buy were getting horrible complaints and an F with the BBB, so what did best buy do? Contacted the BBB and had the Oregon Geek Squad ratings "merged" with the ratings from around the country giving it higher ratings.
Apr 10, 2012, 5:32 am
#77
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: 127.0.0.1
Posts: 947
Also, the BBB is really useless, they aren't a government agency and in my opinion don't always have consumer's best interests in mind. Case in point: Oregon Geek Squad's from Best Buy were getting horrible complaints and an F with the BBB, so what did best buy do? Contacted the BBB and had the Oregon Geek Squad ratings "merged" with the ratings from around the country giving it higher ratings.
Jan 14, 2013, 4:20 pm
#79
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: UA Gold
Posts: 40
I’m looking into filing a complaint against Expedia.de for cancelling my RGN tickets 3 days before my travel date, when they had been confirmed for over 3 months. We were stranded in Myanmar, had to buy last-minute tickets home and incurred other direct costs.
Unfortunately, both Expedia and Expedia.de seem to have lines in their terms and conditions specifying the jurisdictions in which anything must be filed: Bellevue, WA for Expedia, and Munich, Germany for Exedia.de.
Has anyone been able to get around this? I will file in Munich if necessary and claim travel expenses in the suit , but I live in the US now so I’d much prefer to file in my state of residence (IL) , or even in WA.
Thoughts, suggestions or strategies are welcome.
Unfortunately, both Expedia and Expedia.de seem to have lines in their terms and conditions specifying the jurisdictions in which anything must be filed: Bellevue, WA for Expedia, and Munich, Germany for Exedia.de.
Has anyone been able to get around this? I will file in Munich if necessary and claim travel expenses in the suit , but I live in the US now so I’d much prefer to file in my state of residence (IL) , or even in WA.
Thoughts, suggestions or strategies are welcome.
May 28, 2016, 3:25 am
#80
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 1
Thank You
Thank you for sharing your experience. It is encouraging to know that you won your case and were awarded not only your costs, but also costs for your time. We will pursue a similar case.
We are Americans who live in Dubai and purchased RT tickets from Dubai to Colombo, Sri Lanka over spring break. When we arrived at Dubai to check in, we were informed by Sri Lankan air that our return flights had been cancelled. I have the email from Orbitz confirming those flights, sent to me 2 days prior. Sri Lankan air worked hard to try to figure out what went wrong, but could only tell us that the return was cancelled and unfortunately there were no longer any seats left on the return flight. I immediately called Orbitz, the agent apologized and said they would book new flights and call me in the morning with the details. We got the call and offer to book new flights on Emirates. They said they would call with confirmations. 24 hours passed and we did not receive a call. My husband and I then began what turned into days and hours on the phone with Orbitz agents who put us on hold, transferred us and told us that the offer had been rescinded because we had disputed the transaction with our credit card company. We had not disputed the charge and in fact spent 2 hours on 2 separate 3 way calls with Orbitz, Chase and ourselves. Chase recorded those calls. Chase verified, over and over, that no such dispute had been made and instructed them to book return tickets for us. They did not. 2 days before we were scheduled to leave my husband took the decision to book our flights on Emirates. AFTER we returned to Dubai, Orbitz finally sent a message admitting their error in cancelling the flights. They offered to reimburse us for the flights on Emirates and to provide us with $250. That is a step in the right direction, but not enough. The phone calls to them actually cost us $1250! We sent them our invoices with call details, which they should have found mortifying to have a customer spend so much time on the phone with them. They refuse to reimburse us for the $1000. I tried the BBB route in Chicago, which did nothing other than have them repeat again that they think they have done enough to reimburse us. We return to MN each summer and I am now investigating my options for small claims there.
We are Americans who live in Dubai and purchased RT tickets from Dubai to Colombo, Sri Lanka over spring break. When we arrived at Dubai to check in, we were informed by Sri Lankan air that our return flights had been cancelled. I have the email from Orbitz confirming those flights, sent to me 2 days prior. Sri Lankan air worked hard to try to figure out what went wrong, but could only tell us that the return was cancelled and unfortunately there were no longer any seats left on the return flight. I immediately called Orbitz, the agent apologized and said they would book new flights and call me in the morning with the details. We got the call and offer to book new flights on Emirates. They said they would call with confirmations. 24 hours passed and we did not receive a call. My husband and I then began what turned into days and hours on the phone with Orbitz agents who put us on hold, transferred us and told us that the offer had been rescinded because we had disputed the transaction with our credit card company. We had not disputed the charge and in fact spent 2 hours on 2 separate 3 way calls with Orbitz, Chase and ourselves. Chase recorded those calls. Chase verified, over and over, that no such dispute had been made and instructed them to book return tickets for us. They did not. 2 days before we were scheduled to leave my husband took the decision to book our flights on Emirates. AFTER we returned to Dubai, Orbitz finally sent a message admitting their error in cancelling the flights. They offered to reimburse us for the flights on Emirates and to provide us with $250. That is a step in the right direction, but not enough. The phone calls to them actually cost us $1250! We sent them our invoices with call details, which they should have found mortifying to have a customer spend so much time on the phone with them. They refuse to reimburse us for the $1000. I tried the BBB route in Chicago, which did nothing other than have them repeat again that they think they have done enough to reimburse us. We return to MN each summer and I am now investigating my options for small claims there.
May 28, 2016, 6:29 am
#81
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
Suing Orbitz for the consequential damages associated with calling them is likely going to be a losing proposition.
Not just because you live in Dubai, but for anybody who does business in one country and travels to others, having a service such as Skype (there are others) is absolutely essential. When things go wrong, as they did here, the ability to make calls which are somewhere between free and cheap is essential because the hold times become costly.
All of this is yet another reason to avoid doing business with third-party vendors unless they provide exceptional savings. Were the Orbitz tickets very much cheaper than what they could have been purchased for on UL? Not that UL doesn't make mistakes, but you would have been standing there and someone could have fixed the problem.
Not just because you live in Dubai, but for anybody who does business in one country and travels to others, having a service such as Skype (there are others) is absolutely essential. When things go wrong, as they did here, the ability to make calls which are somewhere between free and cheap is essential because the hold times become costly.
All of this is yet another reason to avoid doing business with third-party vendors unless they provide exceptional savings. Were the Orbitz tickets very much cheaper than what they could have been purchased for on UL? Not that UL doesn't make mistakes, but you would have been standing there and someone could have fixed the problem.