Complaint Review: Expedia

On November 18, I used the Expedia website to book a hotel room for November 20, 2012. To do so, there's a start date calendar one clicks to select the date. I selected November 20, 2012 and the end date field automatically set to November 21. (Expedia representatives insist I didnt do this; Im curious how I would know the process and auto-population of the end date if I hadnt?)

Anyway, I confirmed November 20-21 on a following page and my card was charged.

I got an email confirmation indicating that I'd booked a smoking room, which I had not. I contacted the hotel and they said there are no smoking rooms, so I disregarded the email, assuming that there was just an error with their email generation. 

Please note that Expedia booked me into a room which doesnt exist.  How credible should I consider their email at that point?

My friend and I arrived November 20 and was told there was no reservation. Expedia had booked the reservation for the date of purchase rather than the date I had carefully selected and confirmed on their website. I contacted Expedia and was told they had no manager available, but they would
submit the refund request.

I called Friday, November 23 and was told that my refund had been approved and was in a queue for Monday, November 26.  I repeat: I was told that the refund had been approved and would go into processing the next business day.  Then the customer service nightmare really began.

I checked with my bank December 2 and was told the refund had not been processed.

I called Expedia again and explained the situation. The first agent transferred my call to http://Hotels.com (?) who obviously had no record of the transaction. I called Expedia again and the next representative first said she had no notes about any of my calls. She then contradicted herself and said there was a note saying my refund had been denied.

I called to dispute the call with my bank, and she connected us for a conference call. The next Expedia representative also said there were no notes and asked why I didn't contact Expedia about the smoking room. I said I contacted the hotel directly to switch rooms and they had advised me that there were no non-smoking rooms, so I immediately realized the Expedia email was not credible, so I disregarded it. 

The representative put me an hold and came back and said he could find no problem with the web site and could only offer me a coupon for $50. I would never do business with Expedia again, so that's pretty insulting.

I want my full refund of $77.90. Expedia's coding problems are not my fault.

The supervisor I next spoke with told me that because the email listed the check in date as November 18, 2012, it was a contract which she must uphold. I then pointed out that since they booked me for a smoking room (I didn't want) and it was a room which *didn't even exist*, that they failed to uphold their end of that contract as well. It was a ridiculous and patronizing argument. Their email already had no credibility.

The short version: Stay away from doing business with these people.  Their website is flawed, their customer service people switch stories, and they don't even keep notes about customer contacts or disputes.