Like many New Yorkers in low-lying areas, Consumerist reader Jacob’s home was evacuated. Without a place to stay, he used his phone to book a room at a Manhattan hotel. Little did he know that he wouldn’t be staying at that hotel, or the one after that, or the one after that.

In spite of the fact that Jacob’s credit card was charged the full amount for his room at the Intercontinental Times Square, when he tried to check in, the hotel staff regretted to inform him that Expedia had overbooked the hotel, leaving him and dozens of others without a place to stay.

“When I called Expedia they first attempted to blame Intercontinental,” he writes.

Eventually, he got Expedia to book him into another hotel. Actually, it was several hotels.

Here’s Jacob’s rundown:

1. A room at a hotel which had no electricity (a fact Expedia neglected to mention until I asked them to hold while I called the hotel to check)
2. A room at a hotel which would have been impossible to reach as it was in Queens and, at the time, all bridges and tunnels out of Manhattan were closed
3. A comparable room at a nearby hotel for more than quadruple the original price.

So between those three and the overbooked Intercontinental, Expedia was batting 0-4.

“Ultimately, after much arguing, Expedia found me a room at a significantly lower-quality hotel and promised that half of what I had paid for the non-existent room at the Intercontinental would be refunded,” he tells Consumerist.

He was also promised that he’d receive a call from “tier 3” customer service to discuss further remedies.

But as of this afternoon, no one from Expedia has called and the funds have not been returned to his credit card. In fact, there is an unauthorized $30 charge on his card from Expedia.

Furthermore, the phone number he’d been given by the Expedia CSR now only goes to voicemail.

Following the Expedia nightmare, Jacob was able to shift hotels to more affordable accommodations with the help of Priceline.

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.