Company makes mistake they cannot fix, cannot quote their own rates
Written: Feb 11 '10 (Updated Feb 11 '10)
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Yesterday, I tried using Travelocity to book a simple trip from one west coast city to another. While the site was relatively easy to use, something went wrong at the very end of booking the trip and I had to call Travelocity. It was about 7:45 pm. After speaking with someone for what was probably 10 to 15 minutes, I was told that the reason my reservation had not gone through was there was a disparity of two cents. Funny, huh? So the customer service person put through the reservation again and suggested I watch my email. If a confirmation did not show up in 5 to 6 hours, I needed to call back. I admit it, I didn't wait up for 5 to 6 hours but there was no email from Travelocity confirming the trip before I headed to bed.
And this morning? No confirmation. I went back on the website. No such trip even existed. After calling again and waiting on hold for probably 10 minutes, I got a new customer service person. She could not duplicate the trip. The best she could do was provide a new reservation that cost exactly $100 more. She came up with a different cheaper trip plan, but that one required a change of plane and a three-hour layover. For a trip that takes, non-stop, about 2 ½ hours. Granted, she did tell me that usually when you book by phone with this service, you get charged $25, but she was going to waive that feel. Nice but no thank you. I informed the customer service person that there was no way I was going to pay $100 extra for their mistake. They had failed to reach the airline, failed to confirm the flight, failed to contact me. There should at least have been some record in my "file".
Usually. use these services to find a cheap flight and then I've gone to the airline website directly to book. I need to talk with a Real Live Person as I have a disability and travel always gets complicated when you use a wheelchair. But I was willing to do that after the reservation was confirmed. That's my business. That's my job.
After searching all over, and closing down all the pages I had open on the computer, a funny thing showed up. My initial reservation from last night. At the original price. Well, hmmm. I grabbed it and ran and booked it. It was the best flight with the best hours and it was a non-stop. And it worked.
I know that there are hundreds of reviews here, but services like Travelocity always change. It's possible that a bad experience several years ago might turn into a good one. I think, though, that folks should know about this experience. What baffles me most of all is that the person working for the company, the Travelocity representative was unable to duplicate the trip. But I could.
What really happened? I do know that I did everything I was supposed to do and the system messed up. After that,Travelocity messed up and simply lost or ignored or lost track of my reservation and was not about to fix it. How could there be a two cent discrepancy? How could that manage to torpedo my reservation? The clerks are clearly trained to "apologize for the inconvenience" but not to take responsibility for it. And asking "why did this happen?" led nowhere.
I did grab the reservation this time. But I don't have the patience for screw-ups and companies that cannot take responsibility for their mistakes, especially when those mistakes cost me money.
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Round-trip airline tickets
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About the Author
Reviews written: 63
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