Sensational customer service
Written: Apr 27 '02 (Updated Apr 27 '02)
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Pardon the pun, but I had some "reservations" about heaping praise on any service linked to Microsoft; Expedia, however, has won me over.
First off, I was able to buy the tickets I selected at the price given on the screen. Big deal, you say? Well, it is. At least one of the other online travel services that I tried (and I've tried them all) lured me in with one price, only to pump it up by $15 when I selected that specific itinerary -- with a notice saying the price I selected was no longer available. What nonsense! Maybe 20 seconds had passed between the time I saw the price and the time I selected it. It's not that $15 is much of an issue; it's the principle.
I then went to Expedia, which featured the same lower price I had first seen -- and sold me the ticket at that price. I was also able to purchase a second ticket, this one for my mother, at a senior discount, something another travel Web site had informed me could be done only directly through the airline.
The clincher for me, though, is Expedia's customer service. It's among the best I've encountered. When I was first looking to book the reservation, I had a couple of queries (concerning such matters as entering my frequent-flier number). I sent Expedia an e-mail and, remarkably, received a reply about a half-hour later. And it wasn't one of those fill-in-the-blank (form) letters you so often get in response to an e-mail query, but a thoughtful reply that addressed my specific concerns.
As it turned out, I needn't have had those concerns. Once I started the booking process, everything I might have wondered about was addressed, right down to special meals. The procedure was hassle-free.
Then, recently, I received an e-mail from Expedia, letting me know the airline (Delta) had made a change in my itinerary. When I checked it out on the link provided in the e-mail, I could find no difference between my old flights and my supposed new ones. This time, I called Expedia's toll-free number. It was an an eye-opening experience. It was about 8:45 on a Friday night and, except for the standard button-pushing to direct my call properly, I was connected immediately. Honest. No waiting; no Muzak; no "your call is important to us." Just a real, live person, and a competent and courteous one, at that. (I once spent 20 minutes on hold with Travelocity, only to get an operator who was so flustered at a bizarre itinerary change -- I somehow was assigned a flight that arrived in Chicago 30 minutes AFTER my connecting flight was to take off from there -- that the best he could do was suggest I call the airline. To be fair, this was about five weeks after 9/11, when airline schedules were still in chaos.)
Anyway, the Expedia operator apologized for the confusion (he, too, could not see what had changed in my itinerary), then checked with Delta and found that one of my connecting flights, while taking off at the original time, was arriving three minutes later.
So, that makes Expedia 2 for 2 in customer-service queries. These days, that's more than half of any score in my book.
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Location: New York City
Reviews written: 2
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