Orbitz Can't Deliver On Tickets It Sold, But Can't Deliver The Refund Either
Austin bought two tickets to Aruba last December. By the end of February, Orbitz had changed his itinerary so many times that now they were only flying him as far as Atlanta, and 11 days later were flying him back from Aruba—it was apparently up to him to get from Atlanta to Aruba in the first place. At this point, the only option was to request a refund, which Orbitz said would take 60 days. Two months later, Orbitz told Austin that they'll give him his money back in 60 days. We're pretty sure that's 120 days total, and there's still no guarantee Austin will see his money.
Here's his story in his own words:
Dec 7, 2008: I get online to buy some plane tickets for my honeymoon. I end up at Orbitz.com and purchase 2 round trip tickets to Aruba for Late June. I paid extra to get a direct flight from Chicago, IL to Aruba. Over the month, "Itinerary Change" emails keep trickling in. All in all, my flight ended up being Chicago to Atlanta to Charlotte to Aruba. I asked for some sort of monetary compensation for the extra layovers since I had initially paid extra for that direct flight. This request was promptly rejected. I wasn't happy, but what could I do...so I just took it.
February 22 2009: I get ANOTHER "Itinerary Change" email. This one was rather cryptic. I put off investigating it until the weekend. Upon closer inspection, I was now being flow from Chicago to Atlanta. My next flight was out of Aruba to Miami 11 days later!!! No where was it clearly stated that I was not being flown TO Aruba, and that half my flights had been cancelled. Well, I obviously had to call in at this point since my "Itinerary Change" left me stranded in Atlanta to find my own way to Aruba! After working with them on the phone for literally over 4 hours...they came to the conclusion that there was no way they could get me to Aruba. At this point the said "If you would like, we can refund your money". I said that I really wanted to just get to Aruba, but if that couldn't happen, that yes, I wanted my money back. At this point, they informed me that it would be 60 DAYS until they'd refund my money!!! I had 2 tickets at OVER $700 each sitting out there, and was not gonna get my money back for 30 days!!! I wasn't happy, but they informed me it was "policy" to do that. So at this point I inquired about the refund of the over $80 I had spent to get insurance on these tickets. The response that I got was "Sir, we don't offer refunds on insurance policies. We told you when you bought it that you couldn't cancel this policy." Well, to me, that seems a bit flawed when I really didn't want to cancel the policy or the plane tickets....THEY DID IT! As I complained about this, they informed me that "I could write a letter to a manager at the Insurance company and they may waive the no refund rule and give my money back." I couldn't believe my ears. But once again, what could I do. So I set out to wait my 2 months to get my money back.
April 23rd, 2009: I've now bought another set of plane tickets. I've closed on a house. Money is tight. So my 60 days has passed, on the nose. No sign of the money. I call Orbitz once again to find out why I STILL haven't received my money. They give the off the cuff answer of "sir, it will take 60 days to receive your money". I explain that I have waited the 2 months and that I still don't have anything back. I get put on hold for some crazy length of time...and upon his return, the representative says to me..."Oh, sir, you requested your refund on February 22nd, correct?" I said, "No, you guys cancelled my plane tickets on Feb. 22 and YOU issued my refund by force." He says back, "Well sir, you will have your refund within 60 business days."
Seriously? I have to wait almost 3 months to get my money back for a plane ticket that THEY cancelled? This is outrageous! They didn't offer me an interest free loan to pay the tickets 3 months after I bought them!! Heck no! They took my money the very day I ordered them. They were VERY prompt about billing my Credit Card! I think that it is an outrage that they are even allowed to sit on my nearly $1800 for 3 months when I have NOTHING from them. NOTHING!! No tangible items, no promise of flights for my honeymoon, nothing. Yet they can take their sweet time returning my money.
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Comments:
Exactly my thought.You did not receive what you PAID for. They need to prove they are providing that service in a charge back. MOST credit cards put a temporary credit on your account until it is resolved. Orbitz then has 30 days to confirm the order is proper. Not 30 business days. You are in the drivers seat on this because there is no way anybody can claim weather issues. This is a material change in the contract.
Maybe they're on the hovercraft just waiting to be delivered.
try bringing this to www.elliott.org ,,, im sure he can help
Issue a chargeback on the insurance, if it isn't too late. They can't cancel your itinerary for you and then refuse to refund your insurance. If you had canceled, sure, but you didn't, they did. If the insurance company won't give the money back to Orbitz, that is Orbitz's problem.
Also, I would go ahead and issue a chargeback on the total refund. While Orbitz may indeed issue you your refund without it, 60 days is unreasonable given the speed in which they took your money, in addition to the fact that the cancellation wasn't your fault. Prodding from Visa may spur them to action.
First, I hope you kept some evidence that (A) you ordered tickets from Chicago to Aruba, and (B) that you ended up with an itinerary from Chicago to Atlanta and then Aruba to Miami.
Given that, I would be willing to bet that you can try to charge back the insurance on the basis that they never delivered the itinerary that the policy insured. As far as the charge back window closing, that's probably true, BUT you've got a good reason... they strung you along for three months before they finally admitted that they couldn't get you to your requested destination. I bet with some evidence of the time frames involved, you can get past the charge back window, but you're going to have to be really persistent, calm, non-emotional, and persistent. Did I mention persistence? :)
As far as the tickets themselves, it wouldn't hurt to file a charge back but be aware that if they are attempting to refund (even if its taking too long) you might have trouble with that. But still, worth trying.
Oh and for good measure, file complaints at the usual places... State Attorney General, FTC, BBB, whatever trade group covers travel agents, etc.
@humphrmi: Oh and for future reference, if you order and pay for tickets (even e-tickets) and don't receive the tickets within a week or so, that is when you should consider initiating a refund request and failing that, a charge back. Even if you're flying months later. They have no excuse not to issue you the tickets, and those tickets (even e-tickets) are great evidence of what you paid for and should have received ... and a lack of them within a timely fashion is great evidence that you're going to get screwed and should start requesting refunds (or charge backs) soon.
Ironically, I believe the insurance plan might cover the cancellation of your flights. That in itself may be a fight, seem it seems Orbitz has decided that you requested the refund.
Don't want to blame the OP because obviously it's Orbitz doing the screwing here, but don't ever take "that's our policy" as an answer. That may be their policy, but it doesn't have to be your policy.
"Well sir, you will have your refund within 60 business days."
They are lying. Nobody designs a policy that takes 60 business days or even expresses an amount of time that way.
I guarantee you that if you hadn't written to Consumerist, the 60 business days would have come and gone without a refund. Then they would have trotted out some other excuse.
When you talk to Orbitz, ask them. I bet the policy is 60 days, period and there was some other reason your refund didn't go through. That CSR was just putting you off.
@fantomesq: I think charge back may still be an option since you have had to wait for 60 days in giving orbits a chance for a resolution. since they have failed that. then charge back. If not. I would recommend small claims court (unless theres arbitration)
"I asked for some sort of monetary compensation for the extra layovers since I had initially paid extra for that direct flight. This request was promptly rejected. I wasn't happy, but what could I do"
You can demand a refund right then and there. You entered into a contractual agreement for a direct flight. They broke that contract. If you wanted, you could even try and sue them for damages (generally the difference in cost if you can find another direct flight). Of course in most situations it's not worth the time and money spent (it's a pain that consumers have to take companies to court when they break contracts, while the companies generally can just bill a consumer if they ever break a contract).
And this is why I don't book through intermediate agents anymore. I got a similar run around with travelocity once. I use fare aggregator sites to find my fare and the airline site to book. That way there is only one party responsible for this stuff.
Another great reason not to buy through Orbitz. Thanks for this update, it's a good reminder.
@Corbin123: "You entered into a contractual agreement for a direct flight."
There is no such animal in the United States.
Obviously, since they couldn't get him to his destination he is owed a refund. But the contract of carriage gives them the right to make changes, i.e. change a direct flight to a non-direct flight.
Hey, It's Austin, the guy who bought the tickets. Just to update on some of the comments...the first thing I did was to call my credit card company and ask for a refund. They told me that if Orbitz had told me that I was getting a refund, that I had to wait 30 days beyond the date of that conversation in order to get them to go after the money. So that's when I figured, eh, 30 days, 60 days...I'll just wait it out at this point. THEN, once they balked and said it'd be 60 business days I called my credit card company again...Now, it's been over 120 days since the original purchase of the tickets, and that means there is some more elaborate paperwork to fill out in order to have them refund the money.
I'm patiently (sort of) waiting for May 15, 60 business days after Feb. 22, the date of my "refund request". We'll see if I actually get my money back...
Happened to me once. Expedia claimed that it would take 60 days to process my refund on fully returnable tickets that I decided to return. Well, called American Express and disputed the charge, claiming I returned the goods so I demand a refund. A week later all was cleared.
Call your Credit Card!
Hey folks, the CEO of Orbitz, Barney Harford, twitters at [twitter.com] He's a great guy and takes these kinds of problems very seriously. Let him know about the issue and it will get fixed.
@twophrasebark: But if you pay extra for a direct flight, they should at least refund you that difference. I would've made a HUGE stink about that.
@Corbin123: Actually, the contract just says they will get you from Point A to Point B. There's no contract that says how many layovers, what seat they'll give you, etc. But, now it sounds like they can't even get him to Point B, which is the big issue.
@fantomesq: Still worth a try. Odds are they will do it due to the nature of the screw up and if he did it this way he would also get the insurance money back.
you might also try contacting Chris Elliott, who is usually able to light a fire under the ass that issues the refund and publishes it in the newspaper as well.
Isn't the insurance he purchased supposed to guard against something like that? If not, what was the point of plopping down 80 bucks for insurance?
I have done an awful lot of traveling both for business and just for int'l vacations. I have learned something, it was true four or five years ago and it remains true today:
Do Not Use Orbitz.
Travelocity, or booking with airlines and hotels directly, is usually okay. Orbitz is usually bad. Read that again. Orbitz. Is uuuuusuuuallly bad. More than half the time, they are bad. Do not use Orbitz. They don't know wtf they're doing. Ignore their prices. Ignore their advertisements. Ignore Orbitz, and do not use them.
That's a really screwed up situation. I booked a trip through Orbitz from Houston to Chicago in January, and they sent me the Continental OnePass code in my confirmation email for the purchase. There's been minor itinerary changes, but I can still see that they're the same flights on the Continental page.
Orbitz has got to be the worst travel reservation site on the net. Horrible customer service, unreliable itineraries and not even the best price.
Blech
@hedgeland: Hm. Looking at your comment history, I take it you have a vested interest in extolling the virtues of your employer.
Come on, folks. Let's be sympathetic to poor Orbitz. In this economic climate, nobody's spending money on travel anymore... how on earth are they going to get by unless they profit from the interest accrued from holding customer refunds for inordinately long periods of time? Have a heart, here.
@Corporate_guy: Probably correct.
Check on that, and I remember an article not long ago with the 10 reasons CC's with deny your chargeback.
Check that and try, you still might be on time and get something out of it.
@rioja951: WAIT, now that I read all you have a case of non-delivery, your charge back can still be processed.
"60 Business Days"... interesting...
60 / 5 = 12 weeks of 5-day weeks
12 weeks = 3 4-week months
= 90 Calendar days!
@Kenneth Mackay: Thanks, didn't remember about Maddoxx, to bad the web filter at the job get it as "tasteless".
@sirwired: On the other hand, while the refund from Orbitz is in order, he paid insurance on the whole trip through another company. He still had 2 legs of the trip that he did in fact have to cancel.
It's crappy but I think that might be the way that Orbitz is looking at it.
That said, he could probably get the money back
@Alessar: except that he doesn't want to pay for the insurance either. If he forgets the $80 and files a claim, he'll get paid.
This is why I book only on airline websites. It doesn't cost anymore and the airline is the one you have recourse with, not some electronic 3rd party. Had a problem few years back with American Air when I was going to Hawaii. They changed flight time on me and it was no good for my schedule. They couldn't rebook, got my card credited within two days.
If you have everything detailed out, I'd sue them in small claims court.
Isn't this a pretty textbook case for a chargeback? You paid for a service, you didn't get the service or a refund.
Orbitz works fine most of the time, airlines work fine most of the time. Adding a middleman is too risky for me.
Sites like these simply add an additional level of screwyouability to flight plans.
Please don't get 'nonstop' and 'direct' mixed up. A lot of people do this, and whenever they do it just confuses other people.
@aaronw1: My bad everyone, I didn't mean "direct flight" as "non-stop," I meant it as "actually getting him to Aruba." Apologies for the confusion.
If it was put on a CC, why not just charge it back, I'm sure a refund will happen a hell of a lot quicker when a dispute comes from their credit card processor.