Thursday, December 09, 2010

That's not very Christmas like... well... the snow sure is!

We went from a cold day, without any snow to a cold day with lots of snow.  Overnight, two days ago, everything went white.  I could feel the snow coming, the air had that je ne sais quoi smell to it, so I wasn't surprised when Hubby told me in the morning he wouldn't cycle to work. I tend not to look out much when I work from home.  I just don't.  I guess I'm not one of those neighbours.   We actually had a snow storm going and I didn't know about it, what can I say?  I was working away.  It is called constipation, I mean concentration, people!  Anyway, we went from walking in shoes to having to put on our snow boots.  Parking is a real nightmare as snowbanks are occupying a quarter of the streets, oh the joy of snow.  It is beautiful though.  I will say that.  I kind of regret not doing a tree, but not enough for me to do one now.

Last month I went to NYC with a girlfriend.  I had made all reservations for the hotel with expedia.ca.  I used my Canadian credit card to do so.   That transaction was on my credit card statement last month.  It actually went on October 25th.  That statement was paid.  During our little escapade, I used my American card, for which I had not receive a statement for until today.  I'm one of those weirdos who do take the time to check their statement and against all the slips. It does pay off sometimes.  (If you want to know why you should, read this. BTW, that restaurant is now closed.)  As I was checking how much I've spent on my three days escapade I see a charge that I have no receipt for.  I then proceeded to look at what was the description, to realise the hotel had charged me for the room, again.  I called the hotel (not a whole in the ground, by the way, but a decent chain), and after a few ping pong moments (read transfers from billing to customer service back to billing) was told it was a mistake and my card would be credited by the end of week.

I wanted to informed my travel companion of this "extra" charge and while talking with her she suggested to call expedia and mention to them the mistake, so that they know that maybe some hotels are trying to double charge.  I did call expedia, twice.  The first time I landed on a lady who had such an accent I could hardly make out the words she was saying.  I know I also have an accent, plus a French name, so I simply asked if she could transfer me to another customer rep.  She told me she couldn't hear me properly.  I told her to forget about it and I was going to call again.  The second call I chose "French" and landed on a man.  I explained to him the situation.

Stinkypaw: I made a reservation using your site back in Oct., went on the trip, my credit card was               charged, bill was paid and all. Today I received a statement from another card and I saw a charge from the hotel where we stayed.

Clueless Rep: Can I have your itinerary number, please and your email address?

Stinkypaw: Sure, it was WEOIKNOI

Clueless Rep:  You did go to that hotel?

Stinkypaw:  Yes, I did.  As I said before, I reserved, went and everything was fine.  I just want to let you know the hotel is charging me again...

Clueless Rep: Oh, so what's the problem?

Stinkypaw (I was trying to remain calm, but didn't quite succeeded): Are you kidding me?  Are you listening at all to what I've been saying to you?

Clueless Rep: You do know hotel can charge taxes, service fees and extra guests charges?

Stinkypaw: Yes, I DO know that!  But to be charged $480 by you and then an extra $380 extra in taxes is a little much no?

Clueless Rep:  I don't know their tax rate...

Stinkypaw: You've got to be joking! Come on!  $300 worth of taxes for a three night stay in New Jersey!!

Clueless Rep:  It does specify on our web site that extra charges may apply...

Stinkypaw (angrily): Listen, if you don't know what these charges are just say so. Please.  I rather you say I don't know, than give me crap like you're doing right now!  $300 worth of extras for a hotel room, in a road side hotel in New Jersey, let's get real here.

Clueless Rep:  Oh... ok... I will check and call you back.

What a moron.  I now wonder could it be extra charges, really?  When we checked out we both remember the clerk saying it was all taken care of through our expedia reservation.  Maybe it was just a mistake or maybe they tried to help themselves hoping this customer wouldn't noticed.

More and more I feel like I'm being screwed and I'm not enjoying it at all.  We have to watch everything and everyone.  People claim to make mistake more often than ever before, is it because we don't care about what we do, the services we provide, or simply because we're disconnected.  No matter what, I find it tiresome to always watch them, because like Hubby often says "They're out to get us" and I'm thinking he might be right...

And now back to our regular roll with flurrious

2 comments:

Unknown said...

That's appalling. Does Expedia have a complaint line you can call or email to tell them about the horrible customer service you received?

flurrious said...

I do think we have to be extra vigilant about everything these days. Most of the time it's just incompetence on someone else's part rather than actual thievery, but I don't know if that makes me feel better or worse about it.