Tammy
Tafton,#2Author of original report
Tue, April 05, 2005
I was guaranteed the hotel regardless of what time I arrived and it was paid for in full several months prior!
Jason
Simpsonville,#3Consumer Comment
Tue, April 05, 2005
Wow... So you had nothing go right? First, let's start with Hertz. Hertz does have a problem with overbooking. Even if you had booked it through their website or their 800 number, there was a possibility that you would have had no car. That is a definate flaw with the way Hertz does business, they will continue taking reservations when they KNOW they have no vehicles. Your issue of being charged an extra $10 a day for an upgrade doesn't sound right either, any time I have rented a vehicle from Hertz and they did not have what I reserved, they upgraded me at no cost, and one instance they downgraded me (only option) and changed the charges plus an additional 10% discount from the lower priced vehicle. The secondary driver is all on you, however. If it was booked in your name, you are the driver and additional drivers mean an additional charge. They do give breaks on that, however, as I know because I am a USAA member, I can have another USAA member as a secondary driver at no charge. None of this is the fault of Expedia. Oh, and a Taurus is a Full-Size car through Hertz, not a mid-size. In fact, the one-car-class upgrade from a Mid-size is a Sports Car (Mustang or similar)... Dumb, but I use my USAA free upgrade all the time to get the sports car from a midsize. Next, hotel. Ok, well, one thing here is what time did you arrive at the hotel, and what time were your reservations guaranteed until? Expedia gave you all that information, so if Expedia said "Guaranteed means until midnight", and you got there after midnight, then this is all on you. Hotels will hold the room if you contact them and tell them "Our flight was delayed, we're coming, we'll be there at xxx". If you had a guaranteed reservation until 6am the next morning and they gave the room away, then that's a complaint with the hotel, not Expedia. Flights. Security, well, if you are troubled by the security procedures, the only option you have is don't fly. When tickets are booked on different airlines, they are treated as one-way flights. This means you have the probability that you will be flagged for added screening. Anything that sets off the metal detector (walkthrough or handheld) will be hand searched. That's a fact of life today. As for flights being delayed, again, that's a fact of life. It happens, it's a pain in the a*s when it does happen, but there's a reason for it. This is also not the fault of Expedia. Baggage transfer, well, i've never dealt with this situation. Something of a pain in the butt I can only imagine, and Expedia should have told you about this. If they didn't, then you have a legitimate beef against them, but it's a small beef. Disney being shut down. Not the fault of Expedia. Sick traveler, not the fault of Expedia. Bottom line is that it does sound like you had a crappy vacation, however, your anger is misplaced. Had you booked all this WITHOUT using Expedia, you would have had many of the same problems. Of course, you wouldn't have been flying on different airlines, but you would have paid more to fly on the same airline, or you wouldn't have gotten the times that you wanted. It is also important to note that there are still MANY hotels that are not operating at 100% due to the three hurricanes last year in Florida. Add on top of that the fact that there are many residents who are living in hotels STILL because their residences are unoccupiable, AND the fact that there are a whole lot of tourists heading down there this time of year. I was in Vero Beach about a month ago for work, rented a car through Hertz, no problems. The problem I had was that the closest hotel I could find was at the Kennedy Space Center, over 50 miles away. That's not entirely true, as I could have paid $175 a night for a room in Vero Beach, but I elected to stay up at the Cape because the room was $100 less per night..