August 2, 2008

  • Sometimes I Hate Being Reasonable

    A few days ago, I tried to make reservations through Travelocity for my trip to Pittsburgh. After multiple attempts to get the reservation to go through on the website, I called the provided technical support number. The person there said they could check why the reservation didn't go through, but that I would have to provide the same information I had entered into the site. After providing every single detail, he said that he understood why it hadn't gone through, the reservation was made, and my credit card would be charged for the $171. Small problem, the cost of the flight was listed as $146. Yes, he'd added the "phone reservation fee" in the process. When I told him that I had explicitly said at the beginning of the call that I did not wish to make the reservation via phone, and that I had never in the course of the call asked him to make the reservation, I wanted it canceled. He said that he could do it, but I would be charged a $32 cancelation fee! I reiterated that he had made a reservation without my asking him to, and that I would have the reservation canceled without any fee. He offered to transfer me to a customer service representative. I tried to get his employee number, but all he would do is give me a name and say that he was associated with the purchase in their records. The customer service representative said that given the circumstances, they could cancel the reservation without charge and told me that it was done. Except... today, I check my credit card bill and find that they charged me the fee! So, I try calling customer service again. They confirm that yes, the fee was charged. No, I can't have it canceled. No, there's no supervisor to talk to. So, I told them that if there was no one to appeal to, I would just get my credit card company to reverse the fee as a fraudulent purchase. Suddenly, they had a supervisor for me to talk to, small wonder that... It took me a good half hour of being on hold, but I finally talked to someone higher up. They again had me go through the events and confirmed the charges were made and again said that I could not have them reversed. I brought up the earlier threat of bringing the credit card company into it and amazingly, yes, they could remove that fee! *sigh* It will be 7-14 business days and I half suspect they'll try to pull something on me again, but it ought to be done. One thing's for certain, they're not getting any business from me for a long time. I made my reservations directly through the airline this time. Problem is, me withdrawing my business is not much of a threat since I fly maybe once a year on average. I hate being reasonable. I should have just reported them to the credit card company and be done with it. Now, I feel horrible, my stomach is knotted, and I'm betting they'll try to stiff me again.