The Travelocity Story

Ok, I know you've all been patient in waiting for this story, and it is kinda long... Now, while you're reading, keep this one thing in mind. Travelocity has a guarantee that's plastered all over their website. It says "Everything about your trip will be right, or we'll make it right...Guaranteed." I'll do my best to keep it clean...here goes...

Back in April 2007, my mom and I bought plane tickets to go to Ireland. We were very, VERY excited about going. A couple weeks after purchasing the tickets, we mad a Thrifty rental car reservation through Travelocity also. The price quoted was 194 Euro for an automatic with a/c which wasn't bad at all! At that time it translated into roughly $300 for the week. Well, time went on, and before we knew it, it was October, and we were on a plane to Ireland. We were just going to hop city to city each day, sleep in a different city each night with no prearrangement except for our last night in Dublin so we were close to the airport.

Enter October 15th, 2007 (we actually left on the 14th...gotta love the International Date Line). We landed in Dublin and started looking for the Thrifty rental counter. Once we got there, we had a MAJOR case of sticker shock. The guy at the counter looked up the reservation and said something along the lines of 'Oh, that's not the right price at all. It's actually going to cost 327 Euro.' Ok...dollar for dollar comparison...$308 quoted, $520 actual. We were not prepared for that, so we went counter to counter and got quotes from all of the other rental places. None of them even came close unless we got a manual and not an automatic. Even then it was about 50-75 Euros more than we were quoted. We didn't know what to do. We couldn't afford the rental car, and now we're stuck in the Dublin airport with no where to go. Finally, we talked to someone that suggested using the bus system that they have. Fine...we had to use public transportation the whole week. Either that or be stuck at Dublin Airport the whole time. Granted, the bus system is pretty good, but we weren't able to do what we wanted to. Essentially, it ruined the trip for us. Just being there was really cool, but we had to rely on their time schedules. It sucked.

When we got back, I sent a message to Travelocity telling them what happened and requesting simply $200 credited back to my mom's credit card. I didn't think that would be too much to ask since the plane tickets cost almost $1200. Well, apparently, I was wrong...BIG TIME. I got no response from them from the first, I don't know, 10 emails that I sent them. Finally, I got 2 emails and a phone call from someone telling me that they had credited $100 or something because of the problem I had with Avis...HUH???? AVIS???? I didn't use Avis... They were calling me with someone else's resolution! By this time, I was thoroughly peeved as it had been about 4 months, and they couldn't even keep their records straight!

Ok...once they finally got that straightened out, I got a phone call that was actually about MY problem. Here it is, 5-5 1/2 months after my initial email, and someone was FINALLY contacting me about my problem and not someone else's. I was pretty excited because I had already faxed everything to them once (29 pages of emails among other things...) and thought that maybe they were going to resolve the issue. The girl that called me was Veronica, supervisor of consumer relations. She asked me some questions and I told her that I had already faxed everything about a month before. She said she hadn't seen them so I faxed them again the very next day. She told me to include the 'receipt' from the car rental place, and I told her that the price I had gotten from the guy at the Thrifty counter was hand written on the back of my reservation confirmation (at this point I don't even know how many times I had told her we couldn't rent the car and had to use public transportation). She called me back 2 days later saying she hadn't seen my fax yet...so I told her that it would be worth her while, and the company's while for her to get off her butt and go find it. We were going on 6 1/2 months by this time. I had been more than patient, and had waited more than long enough, I was getting pissed.

I sent another email or 2 over the next couple of weeks. One was to inform them that I had filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. On July 1, 2008 at 4:34 pm, I got another phone call from Veronica. I started the phone call the way I always do. Pleasant, and somewhat flexible aside from the fact that it's been so friggin long...needless to say, it didn't stay pleasant for very long. She said that based on the documents I provided (she apparently got them 2 weeks after I faxed them), they couldn't give us the $200 back onto my moms credit card, but they could give us a $200 voucher for later use on Travelocity.com. (Pardon my language) NO FUCKING WAY. Not with the way they've handled this situation...I told her that was unacceptable and that the $200 refund would be acceptable. She said "I can't do that based on the documentation you sent. You said you would fax me a receipt, and there's no receipt here." Ummm...No, I SPECIFICALLY told you it was HAND WRITTEN on the back of my reservation confirmation. She argued back and forth with me about what I told her and finally I said "I want to talk to your boss". She said "I can't forward your call" "Bullshit. I want to talk to your boss." "I can give you the email address, but they don't have a phone number." "WHAT???????? Whatever...so now, you're going to give me another email address, so I can wait another 8 months??? I don't think so. I want to talk to your boss." (Meanwhile, my sister is in the background cheering me on) Basically, we went back and forth like this for a few minutes, and just as I started to say 'fine, give me the email address', she hung up on me. SHE HUNG UP ON ME!!! Veronica, THE CONSUMER RELATIONS SUPERVISOR hung up on me!!! OOOOOOOHHHHH I'm getting ticked off again just thinking about it!!!

That was 11 days ago now...I will be updating the Better Business Bureau and contacting the Michigan Attorney General. I'm seriously contemplating taking them to small claims court to get the full cost of the tickets back (plus court fees) instead of just $200...We are officially in Month #9 of this fiasco, and the best they can do, is try to get me to use them again in the future.

**To anyone from Travelocity that might be reading this** I'll make you a deal...give me a full refund, and I'll use you again. Refund $200 to my mothers credit card and I'll consider it. It's called customer service - learn how it works - you guys suck at it.

To everyone else reading this...until further notice...DO NOT USE TRAVELOCITY.COM They have NO RIGHT being in business. Had I read reviews before booking our trip, I wouldn't have used them in the first place. Use Orbitz...they take care of their customers...or even Expedia - I haven't had any personal experience there, but at this point, I think anyone is better than Travelocity. $200 should be pocket change to a company this size, but apparently they don't really care about their customer base, nor do they uphold the guarantee that they plaster all over their website. I am not going to give up on this until I get AT LEAST $200 back from them...not in stupid vouchers either.

ARGH!.

~Peanut


"When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."
-Franklin D. Roosevelt