EXPEDIA Ripoff...I want my money now!!!!

As you may know from my earlier blogs, my Holiday to Fiji was cancelled due to the Cyclone & flooding the country experienced in early April 2012.

I called my Travel Insurance provider and spoke with a very pleasant young girl, who provided me all the information & documentation I needed to complete in order to have my travel expenditure reimbursed.

I completed all the forms, along with submitting my American Express statements and all the other receipts to confirm what I have spent on flights, accommodation, & day tours.

A couple of days later, I received a call from the Case Manager of the Travel Insurance provider to inform me they are going to refund most of the amount (minus the claim excess & government charges - taxes). Very proficient!

She then went onto inform me that the government charges (taxes) on the flight, need to be refunded by Expedia (the travel company I went with). She said that it was compulsory by law to have them refunded, but EXPEDIA are notorious for not informing you that they are indeed to be refunded, and that it takes them up to 10 weeks for them to do so (if you catch on), and you pretty much have to hound them on a weekly basis to do so.

So for the next 2.5 months, I have resolved myself to the fact that I have to call these idiots on a regular basis, demand they give me what is owing & to tell them to stop ripping off the the traveling public!


Lesson for young players: Online Travel Agents may appear to be cheaper upfront, but if you dig a little deeper, do the research & check online forums, you may find it could cost you a lot more, especially if an issue ever arises and you need to deal with them one on one.