I recently booked my trip to India through
Orbitz, a popular internet travel service.
I have booked at least a dozen trips on Orbitz over the past decade, so the
process was comfortable and easy. Orbitz
found me connecting flights to and from New Delhi using a combination of
airlines and I was pleased with the short layover between my domestic and international
flight segments. I booked my November travel in July and paid with my American
Express card.
In August, I received emails from Orbitz
advising of flight changes. Unfortunately,
the airlines rearranged their flight schedules which created a problem with my
itinerary. My connecting flights, no
longer connected. I called Orbitz and spent
a lot of time on the phone attempting to resolve the issue, but because they
could not find an itinerary acceptable to me, Orbitz said I could cancel and
they would provide a full refund. "Expect
a credit in 8-10 days," advised Bella, a supervisor at Orbitz. "Why so long," I asked? "That's just how long it takes" was her
reply. Well, FORTY-ONE DAYS LATER
the $1,653 credit was posted to my American Express Account.
For 41 days it felt as if my money was
held hostage and I was forced to fight hard to gain its return. As an American
consumer, my expectation was a refund in one day, not forty-one days. I'm not so certain that I would have ever
received a refund had I not persevered. I
spent countless hours on the phone and by email only to be put off or lied
to. It was an extremely frustrating
experience, but I did learn a few things.
First, I was reminded of the principle -
he who holds the money, holds the power.
I could grovel all I wanted, but I was powerless.
Second, because the airlines were the
cause of the problem, I held a false belief that obtaining a credit from a large
corporate enterprise was a given. I
found out that it's not like taking the defective vacuum back to Sears where you
make an exchange or the clerk asks you a couple questions and in minutes you
leave the store with a credit receipt in hand.
No, it's more like the Sears
store has relocated to Timbuktu and the clerk tells you over the phone that Eureka
in Shanghai will process the refund in 8-10 days or maybe in a couple of weeks
or sometime, whenever they get around to it.
Third, when calling Orbitz, you speak
with customer service representatives based in the Philippines. But that's only after navigating though the
computer prompts and waiting endlessly on-hold listening to melodies of static. And although the young Philippino's are pleasant,
the combination of a poor phone connection and their accent makes for a real challenging
conversation. The cultural differences don't
help either. I just didn't get the feeling these folks really
related to my problem. They're at best scripted telemarketers and not always
honorable.
In fairness to Orbitz, my refund did
come from the Chicago office of Air India.
However, Orbitz wasn't any help to me and Air India refused to talk to
me directly. I was finally able to correspond
by email with Archana, an Air India representative. I rank her level of service to what I would
expect when visiting Mumbai or buying gas at my local 7-11.
So before you book your next trip on Orbitz, take pause and consider. If you encounter any problems with your travel plans you to will have the opportunity to experience third world customer service.
David W
Cincinnati, Ohio
Dwitt
Cincinnati,#2Author of original report
Fri, November 02, 2012
For the record,
Early-on in my forty-one day effort to gain a return of my money, I came across an almost identical Orbitz post at the web site; orbitz.pisssedconsumer.com. It was in reply to another person's complaint. Posted by Samantha at Orbitz, I thought wow!, there is someone at Orbitz to help me. I posted to socialnetwork as directed, but never received a response.
In my opinion, the Orbitz generic postings are just part of their general strategy to soften the criticism against them. If they really cared they would proactively contact persons that take the time to post a complaint.
There are many good companies in todays world. I say "Beware of Orbitz."
David W. Wittkamp
Custrelsgal
Chicago,#3UPDATE Employee
Thu, November 01, 2012
Hi David,
My name is Sarah, and I am part of the Orbitz Customer Relations Team. We want to learn more about your experience so that we can address the issue. Please email us at [email protected] and enter my name in the subject line, so that I can investigate further.
Thank you for your patience, and I look forward to hearing back from you.
Sincerely,
Sarah
Orbitz Customer Relations
Chicago, IL