This is why you should never piss off a customer over a small amount of money.
I should print this out and give it out as gospel for our customer service team. Never ever piss off anyone who’s got a website – they’ll spread the word and you’ll reel from the pain.
When you type “Orbitz” into Google now, you get Maddox’s rant about the impossible itinerary within a few results from the top. Between that and word of mouth, Orbitz has certainly lost a good chunk of money. All over a $94 haggle!
I wish SO MUCH that I still lived in the States and had a reason to fly with Orbitz — just so I could decide to not use them.
Anyway, I guess I can still write them a letter and just tell them that my decision to not use them is part of all this bad publicity. At least they’ll know that the story hit another person.
All big companies do today is implement big automated systems to take care of everything. That’s fine and all for the sake of streamlining processes and making things more efficient, but… at some point, as a customer service rep, you have to come in when something’s messed up and say, “we gotta take care of that.” I’ve grown so tired of fighting with these types of companies, so it’s nice to see that someone beat them. I look forward to more stories like Maddox’s.
This has motivated me to campaign against the companies that have screwed me, even if I don’t have a Web site (I’ve got a photocopier).
Bill, porkborg
I have used Orbitz, hotwire, Expedia and Travelocity, all have their pro’s and con’s.
I spotted a site called Anyfares.com, found air tickets so cheap that my savings were about 35% cheaper than Orbitz, hotwire, Expedia and Travelocity. Flights internationally such as Europe in particular that are great and South American, China and middle East countries, they have excellent rates. Domestic though there are some what competitive where I used either Hotwire or the airlines direct from their web sites.
What I really like about Anyfares.com is they sell tickets on US dollars in foreign countries and all their tickets are e-tickets so if you are in France and need a fight to St.Petersburg Russia or London or Frankfurt, they sell everything in US dollars and you have your tickets emailed in 10 minutes so you can just travel just like that. Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity, they sell their tickets if you are out of the US, they will charged you the currency in that country if you want to fly from there to somewhere else. So if I was in France for example and I want to fly to London, Frankfurt or anywhere, they will charge me in Euros or Pound Notes (it is like charging you double when the US dollar is so weak) when if you are an American and want to save, you can’t save because Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity will charged the currency if you are outside the United States but with Anyfares.com, they don’t. Euros, Swiss Marks, British Pounds, Russian Rubles and etc, they currencies are high to the US dollar and if you are an American, you are stuck if you have to meet those currencies if you have only US dollars.
So consider if you have a money budget and you can’t afford the high currencies, try http://www.anyfares.com
Jim
that canadian girl 
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