Beware Expedia (and other) loopholes!

This isn't technically a "holiday" post, but since many of us are taking our last minute summer vacations or planning our fall/winter trips, I just wanted to post and make you aware of some of the trickier aspects of booking your flights/hotels/etc.

My husband has a business trip to California planned and I thought it would be a good opportunity to go with him. Since I'm pregnant, we decided to go ahead and purchase the cancellation insurance in case I wasn't up to the trip. Makes goods sense, right? We paid just a fraction of the cost of the ticket to ensure that if I couldn't go, we wouldn't lose all our money. And by "all our money," I mean over $500. NOT pocket change for us.

Well, you can see it coming... now six months pregnant and a sassy toddler in tow, we decided that it probably was best that I not go this time. So, on to the website we go to cancel my ticket. (Fortunately, since our son is not quite 2, we didn't have to buy a ticket for him.) Well, for some reason there were problems on the site, so my husband had to place a call to Expedia directly. After just a few moments on the phone we realized there was going to be problems...

The bottom line is that they advertise that you can purchase cancellation protection and this will guarantee that you can cancel any ticket - except for a specific type of ticket. Well, that being said, we made SURE when we purchase the ticket that this was not one of those ticket. Guess what, it was, it just wasn't anywhere on the information that we found when ordering the ticket. The people at Expedia even agreed that we were right, that it was misleading, but they wouldn't do anything for us. Not exactly what I would l call good customer service. More like misrepresentation.

So, as much as I wanted to go, now the trip has become a burden, both financially and emotionally. So beware hidden tricks to keep you locked into paying out big bucks. I'm sure that other companies have similar policies, so be sure to read the fine print, or better yet, talk to an actual customer service representative. While the good news is that I'm not restricted from flying by doctor's orders, and can still go, the point is that we spent money so that we could cancel only to find out that that money was wasted. Or, if I had been restricted by doctor's orders not to fly, we would be out not only the cancellation money, but over $500 for the ticket as well.

On another note, this past April we went on a road trip to Philly for a family wedding. We booked our hotel room online with Quality Inn, directly through their website. When we got there to check in, I was informed by the man at the checkout counter, that if I had called the hotel directly, I could have saved $20 a night on the cost of our room. Since we had been under the impression that the online price was the best we could get, we were a little upset. I asked it we could get the better rate, to which I was informed that we couldn't since we had booked online. I asked if we could cancel our reservation and rebook - again I was told no.

Not only did we lose money, but the room and stay was so unsatisfactory that we ended up leaving a day early - which meant we also lost a whole day's room cost. When we got home, I tried to contact the company to complain, and my first attempt was ignored. My second was greeted with a "here's another number to call, please contact them instead." Again, if we had called and spoken to an actual person, we may have at least been spared the extra $20 a night, but we thought that it would save us time and money to book online and skip out on the person-to-person contact. Guess we should have known better...

So, be sure you know everything about the reservations you're making, as well as the reputation of the company you're using. Ask around and make sure you're not running into potential problems before you even get on the road! Travel and vacation are supposed to be fun, not stressful!

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Beware Expedia (and other) loopholes!

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