Clark's beef with Orbitz on clarkhoward.com

Clark has a personal experience of customer-no-service to relate that dovetails very nicely with all the talk of the ACSI results and the Business Week cover story. The penny-pinching guru was recently in Orlando with his associate producer Joel, marking his 10th anniversary of syndication at WDBO. The affiliate wanted Clark to book his own hotel because Clark usually thinks they overpay for his accommodations. Clark enlisted Christa's help, and she found rooms for $57/night on Orbitz. Being 24 years old and a lover of CouchSurfing.com, Joel does not have high standards when it comes to hotels. But even he thought the place was a dump! So Joel and Clark immediately checked out. Clark went on Hotwire and found a last-minute place that was great. Then he called Orbitz to get a refund of what he paid for the first hotel. He initially spoke to a lovely customer service rep in Mauritius, but was then bumped around 7 times to different people with no resolution. Each time he had to explain his situation anew. It was like Groundhog Day. Clark also tried e-mailing Orbitz but didn't get any response. He doesn't like to use his platform to air personal vendettas, but this just goes to show that even consumer advocates can get the short end of the customer-no-service stick.

What others are saying

orbitz dropped!
I have used Orbitz for approx. 7 years since it was a Government contractor approved site and search vehicle. I recently had a hotel change to a week and understood that the hotel had non-refundable fares, but I thought that orbitz was better than that and would still honor a future credit for the cost of the hotel (~ $400). After speaking with several managers, it was determined they will not reimburse for cancellation. It's a shame because they lost a customer forever and in the small defense business world, it will soon be the non-popular choice. I will always either book with the hotel directly where you can cancel 24 hours prior no charge or go with expedia and travelocity. Look forward to building those relationships that Orbitz failed. I look forward to online reviews where I can share with the public, since that's always what I looked at when booking with Orbitz. The public tell the truth. Good riddance!
By danielle h @ 10/19/09 08:29:53 PMreport abuse
Orbitz
I too, had to take Orbitz to task once. Before booking with them, I printed and read their Disclaimer thoroughly several times. Good prices, no red flags in the disclaimer so, we made our reservations.

While driving back to Alabama from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport, I get a distress call from my daughter: she's going to miss her connection. Seems that in all of their disclaiming, Orbitz had failed to mention that they did not have contracts with a lot of the other carriers. This meant that my daughter would have to deplane, retrieve her luggage, check in again, and reboard her connecting flight because (you guessed it) Orbitz did not have a contract with the connecting carrier!

My daughter's dad never keeps his cell phone on and had already headed to the airport to meet her. He waited for hours, went back home to see if she had taken a cab to his house, went back to the aiport (which is scarey since he has issues with his sight and doesn't do night driving well. Atall!) A flight that should have taken a few hours turned into a nightmare that did not end until well after midnight.

My attempts to contact Orbitz were met with call transfers and voice mails. After a week of that, I warned that I would proceed with seeking redress at a higher level if I didn't hear from someone within the next 5 business days. They took it as an idle threat.

At the beginning of the 3rd week I e-mailed my local tv news Investigative team. They got involved but Orbitz gave them the old "we'll get back to you" and lots of voice mails, too. 2 days later the news began airing my story. Orbitz called immediately asking me to stop the story in exchange for compensation of some sort, but the news crew said "guess what....too late!"

Orbitz ended up giving me one or two hundred dollars (I can't remember which)toward my next trip. (The wonderful investigative news team however, informed Orbitz that they would continue airing the story until the unhappy consumer (me) had the cash in her hand!! Orbitz responded with AMAZING quickness. When I got the money the news issued a 'happy consumer resolution' story.

Unless you're an actress or an actor, bad press is usually not good for business - especially now when recession wary consumers are already holding more tightly to their dollars.

Consumer-unfriendly merchants usually don't like to be "put on front street". Try your local news crew's Investigative Team.
By Mary @ 06/04/09 08:25:13 AMreport abuse
Orbitz sells tickets for flights that don't exist
Please read this terrible experience with Orbitz: http://antiorbitz.blogspot.com/
By LUMA @ 12/28/08 03:52:10 PMreport abuse
ORBITZ
My mother booked a flight for my daughter last year, it has not been a year yet since service was executed. We changed plans and she did not take a return flight back from Cleveland, rode with my father thinking that they would make some arrangements for the flight later. The customer service says that there can be no arrangements made the money is just gone
By LINDA @ 07/15/08 04:11:49 PMreport abuse

orbitz dropped!

I have used Orbitz for approx. 7 years since it was a Government contractor approved site and search vehicle. I recently had a hotel change to a week and understood that the hotel had non-refundable fares, but I thought that orbitz was better than that and would still honor a future credit for the cost of the hotel (~ $400). After speaking with several managers, it was determined they will not reimburse for cancellation. It's a shame because they lost a customer forever and in the small defense business world, it will soon be the non-popular choice. I will always either book with the hotel directly where you can cancel 24 hours prior no charge or go with expedia and travelocity. Look forward to building those relationships that Orbitz failed. I look forward to online reviews where I can share with the public, since that's always what I looked at when booking with Orbitz. The public tell the truth. Good riddance!

By danielle h @ 10/19/09 08:29:53 PMreport abuse

Orbitz

I too, had to take Orbitz to task once. Before booking with them, I printed and read their Disclaimer thoroughly several times. Good prices, no red flags in the disclaimer so, we made our reservations.

While driving back to Alabama from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport, I get a distress call from my daughter: she's going to miss her connection. Seems that in all of their disclaiming, Orbitz had failed to mention that they did not have contracts with a lot of the other carriers. This meant that my daughter would have to deplane, retrieve her luggage, check in again, and reboard her connecting flight because (you guessed it) Orbitz did not have a contract with the connecting carrier!

My daughter's dad never keeps his cell phone on and had already headed to the airport to meet her. He waited for hours, went back home to see if she had taken a cab to his house, went back to the aiport (which is scarey since he has issues with his sight and doesn't do night driving well. Atall!) A flight that should have taken a few hours turned into a nightmare that did not end until well after midnight.

My attempts to contact Orbitz were met with call transfers and voice mails. After a week of that, I warned that I would proceed with seeking redress at a higher level if I didn't hear from someone within the next 5 business days. They took it as an idle threat.

At the beginning of the 3rd week I e-mailed my local tv news Investigative team. They got involved but Orbitz gave them the old "we'll get back to you" and lots of voice mails, too. 2 days later the news began airing my story. Orbitz called immediately asking me to stop the story in exchange for compensation of some sort, but the news crew said "guess what....too late!"

Orbitz ended up giving me one or two hundred dollars (I can't remember which)toward my next trip. (The wonderful investigative news team however, informed Orbitz that they would continue airing the story until the unhappy consumer (me) had the cash in her hand!! Orbitz responded with AMAZING quickness. When I got the money the news issued a 'happy consumer resolution' story.

Unless you're an actress or an actor, bad press is usually not good for business - especially now when recession wary consumers are already holding more tightly to their dollars.

Consumer-unfriendly merchants usually don't like to be "put on front street". Try your local news crew's Investigative Team.

By Mary @ 06/04/09 08:25:13 AMreport abuse

Orbitz sells tickets for flights that don't exist

Please read this terrible experience with Orbitz: http://antiorbitz.blogspot.com/

By LUMA @ 12/28/08 03:52:10 PMreport abuse

ORBITZ

My mother booked a flight for my daughter last year, it has not been a year yet since service was executed. We changed plans and she did not take a return flight back from Cleveland, rode with my father thinking that they would make some arrangements for the flight later. The customer service says that there can be no arrangements made the money is just gone

By LINDA @ 07/15/08 04:11:49 PMreport abuse

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Feb 26, 2008 -- Clark's beef with Orbitz

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