Tigger'sgal.........I'm so sorry to hear of your problems w/Expedia but I have to say your story is not the first one I've heard. I'm a
travel agent.......have been for 9 1/2 yrs. Cannot beging to count the number of stories I have heard like this in the last 5 or 6 yrs. I work from home not as an independent contractor but when I was in a store front agency before 9/11/01, we had people coming in our office at least once a week complaining about this very same thing!! Also had alot of complaints on the deals that you get in the mail where you can get 3 days at Disney, a 2 day cruise to nowhere and a wknd in Vegas just for going to see this property.....it's timeshare!! Now, in some cases I'm sure it's a good deal......if you don't mind giving up 2 or 3 hrs of your precious vacation time to listen to someone hard sell you on their great property! What these companies do is block space at a certain price and then when it's gone at that price it's gone.......they don't bother to check it before hand. When you work w/a travel agent, we can't accept your money until we have a confirmation the hotel space or cabin space (cruise) is there. If we do then it's our fault and we are responsible for finding the accommodations we promised at the price we promised.
I think you have taken the right direction.....work your way to the top, document the time, date and name of EVERY person you talk to. The more documentation you have, the more likely you are to be believed and get positive results in your favor. THEN next time you want to book a vacation somewhere, call your local travel agent. While it's difficult for us to beat internet rates for airline tickets, we can match or bet ANYTHING the internet providers offer on vacation packages. If you can get a faxed copy sent to you of what you put on hold and take it to a travel agent we will try or best to get the same thing. If you're matching apples to apples, we can meet it. And you are working w/a person in your home town or that you know. In my case, b/c I work from home, all of my business is referrals or repeat business. If I didn't do the very best that I can and didn't take care of my clients 100% of the time w/100% efficiency, I wouldn't have their business again and my reputation would be in jeaporady.
Good luck to you....please let us know how this turns out.
Karen.........aka TN Traveler