Basically the way the operate is with very poor trained, very low-pay workers in call centers in emerging markets.

They are clueless and cannot really assist you. Getting cross, shouting, asking to speak to a supervisor – its all useless. They only give first names, so there is no come back. So in short realize before you call that you are speaking to someone paid way less than a dollar an hour, who speaks okayish English, has probably never stayed in hotel or flown in plane in their lives, doesn’t know anything about the travel business AND has their finger on the hang-up button.

The way the call center workers operate is the moment anything gets confusing or complicated, or the caller is irate they simply drop the call. Its no skin off their back, Orbitz (or its sub-contractors) designed the system to not be accountable. There is no follow up to the caller that you last spoke to i.e. you cannot actually get them again. So basically what I did, after about 10 hours of exasperated calls, was as follows. I worked out exactly what the solution to my problem was. Basically the person needed to call KLM and change the reservation. I got her the KLM reservation number in Holland, told her what buttons to press, phoned KLM in Holland (who said only the travel agent can do the change), asked them to make a note of what needed to change. And the talked the Orbitz call center staff through the process step by step. It worked.

Anyway here are some tips for how to manage your losses with Orbitz:

1) See if you can sort it out yourself first. You will have to do this anyway to “train” the Orbitz call center staff.

2) If its a small amount of money at stake ask yourself “is it worth 10 hours on the phone to staff who know nothings and can do little?”

3) If it is not a small amount of money or you are stuck here is what to do:

a) Find out exactly what the call center staff will need to do, who they need to phone, phone the people they need to phone and prepare them, give Orbitz staff as detailed a description as you can of what they need to do.

b) Do not get angry or they will punish you by keeping you on hold for 45 minutes and then cut you off.

Important – allocate time to this. Its not a quick call. Set yourself down, get coffee notepads, get in a comfortable chair and prepare to spend much of the day on the task.

Good luck

Consumer’s Original Complaint :
Consumer alleges in July 2006, someone used my credit card to purchase tickets on their website. I contacted my credit card company and they agreed it was a fraudulent purchase. In Feb 2007 Orbitz says they understand I disputed the charges and while Chase determined I was not liable, Orbitz still thinks I should pay them. The amount in dispute is greater than $240.00 .

Consumer’s Desired Resolution:
To resolve this complaint I would like the company to stop sending this to collections and clear my account. Also, acknowledge the previous correspondence sent by certifiedmail on March 2007. The record locater number is XXXXXX.

BBB Processing

04/06/2007 fpp BBB Complaint Received by BBB
04/06/2007 fpp BBB Member or MIP Complaint Validated by BBB Operator
04/06/2007 otto MAIL Send Acknowledgement to Consumer
04/06/2007 otto BBB Inform MIP Member of Complaint
04/06/2007 WEB BBB RECEIVE BUSINESS RESPONSE : Contact Name and Title: Jeff Moss Customer Rltns
Contact Phone: 312-894-5000
Contact Email: customerrelations@orbitz.com
Dear Mr. XXXX:
Thank you for contacting Orbitz. I appreciate this opportunity to review and respond to you inquiry.
Inquiries sent to the Better Business Bureau are sent to the Customer Relations Team at Orbitz for review as we are able to assist with nearly every type of inquiry. Matters concerning fraud are handled only by that area and can not be addressed in this forum.
If your bank accepted your dispute as fraud, they may have offered a credit; however, Orbitz may choose to pursue the matter. This dispute will have to be settled with disputes@orbitz.com and sufficient proof of fraud provided.
I regret I am unable to assist you further with this matter.
Sincerely,
Jeff Moss
Customer Relations
04/06/2007 kmm MAIL Forward Business response to Consumer
04/10/2007 WEB BBB RECEIVED CONSUMER REBUTTAL : (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
4/9/2007
In response to the invoice associated with record locator: AP200101MBECULGU.
I mailed my initial response to Orbitz via certified mail return reciept request, on 2/13/2007.
Kindly note until BBB intervention I had not even received a written response from Orbitz addressing my initial response, only more bills demanding payment, a payment which as I explained in my initial letter that under law I am not liable or responsible for.
If you wish to recover this payment, you need to speak with Chase, my credit card company. Under the Fair Credit Billing act (which is federal law) I understand that Chase is liable & responsible for any fraudulent charges on my account, not the cardholder.
Your collections department needs to stop sending me invoices, that being said I have contacted that Chicago Better Business Bureau office and filed a complaint subject to your questionable collection practices.
I suggest you send a copy of this correspondence to the attention of your General Counsel’s office for their review so they may advise your staff on the ramifications of your current business practices, also it is imperative that your collections staff understand the finer points of the Fair Credit Billing act and how it may pertain to some of the questionable actions they have taken with my case.
Now, be advised regarding record locator: XXXXXXXXXXXX; effective immediately Orbitz must vacate any claim they might have of me owing anything on this account.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
XXXX XXXX
addtl info: On 4/9 I spoke with Karen Klein Orbitz General Counsel and advised her of the complaint.I also e-mailed Karen Klein a copy of all corrospondence to kklein@orbitz.com and cc’d disputes@orbitz.com as suggested by Jeff Moss of Orbitz customer relations in his inital rebuttal to my complaint with the Chicago BBB. I am now waitng to hear back from Orbitz General Counsel and/or the Orbitz dispute department. Thank you to the BBB staff who have helped me facilitate this process.
04/10/2007 kmm EMAIL Forward Consumer Rebuttal to Business
04/11/2007 WEB BBB RECEIVED BUSINESS’ RESPONSE TO REBUTTAL : Dear Mr. XXXX:
I asked our Revenue Protection Manager to update me on your file. He has advised that the matter has been closed and no further action is being taken. The Disputes Department should also be emailing you this information.
Sincerely,
Jeff Moss
Customer Relations
04/11/2007 kmm EMAIL Send Consumer Bus. Response – Close AJR
04/11/2007 otto BBB Inform Business – Case Closed AJR
04/11/2007 kmm BBB Case Closed AJR

They finally gave up on getting me to pay, I am now glad to air their dirty collections practices before the forum. They are atempting to take advantage of anyone they can, avoid Orbitz!!!

I had a similar experience with Orbitz and the cancellation of a flight. But my story is cruelly twisted by an email that I wish I had never gotten. After cancelling my flight to Houston, I received an email from Orbitz that read: Kristen – need a flight to Houston? Fares starting at $104 r/t.

I eagerly clicked on the link and searched in vain for the cheap fare. The best I could get was around $230. So, I finally found the “Customer Care” phone number and dialed. I am sure that I am talking to someone in India. “May I have your reservation number?” “I dont have a reservation, I want to make a reservation.” “Great, I will transfer you to the sales department.” Remember this as it is important later.

Let me interrupt my story by telling you that I have just been hung up on for the third time…Can you believe this sh../???x@#%?

So, the sales department tries to sell me a $215 ticket. When I ask about the $104 fare, they tell me they are sold out. Okay. I will live. Next day. Receive the same email about $104 airfare. “Let me transfer you to the sales department.” “What about the $104 fare?” “I am sorry, let me transfer you to the promotions department.” HANG UP

Today, I get an email:
Kristen – need a flight to Houston? Fares starting at $77 r/t. So, just to be a smart ass, I call and ask for the promotions department. “We dont have a promotions department.” “So let me speak to your supervisor.” HANG UP

So, I call back. I know, get a life, Kristen. Finally get someone to understand the issue I am having with the old “bait and switch” technique and he puts me on hold and then we lose the connection.

I WILL NEVER USE ORBITZ AGAIN.

Oh, and by the way, I booked my flight to Houston with a very friendly person from American Airlines.

The truth is that if they were suddenly becoming rich in no time,

The Rembrandtplein Hotel in Amsterdam is a dump.

Elly at Orbitz could not handle this problem without my giving her my credit card number I used about 5 weeks ago. An example of a stupid policy and an employee with no brains.

I will never use Orbitz again. They have dumb employees and rip off the customer.

In additon you have hotels that are dumps on their system. The good news is the Internet and blogs allows millions of others to learn how poorly managed Orbitz is.

Orbitz should take off their phone number for customer service when they have employees that have no ability to solve problems. In addtion Elly would not tranfer me to a supervisor because after giving her the confirmation number I had no idea what card I used for the reservation.

But as luck had it, the seats were filling up even as we spoke with the airline, so we needed to use Orbitz. Woe is us. Woe.

So we got their flight booked and off they went. No troubles there, everything was just perfectly fine. And so four or so weeks passed uneventfully.

But then the terror began.

Our team finished the work on time, and we flew them out, all but the CEO who stayed to fine-tune the system. Originally, he was scheduled to fly out with the rest of the team, so we needed to change the flight.

Our CFO will not relive that terrible experience, but it all turned out to mean over 700$ in charges and 5 terrible hours in time for our CFO.

But for some basics they repeatedly:
1. Acted like her question made no sense what so ever.
2. Gave her the flight information over and over.
3. Put her on hold with music that was: Classical music with scratchy high notes and absent low notes… impossible to imagine, and infinitely bad.
4. Put her on hold, waited a few minutes and HUNG UP. Hung up!
5. Referred her to people they had absolutely NO business being referring her to.
6. Not to mention trying to change a flight that had already happened. Can’t change the past Orbitz.

So, on the whole, none of us in our company, or any of our friends or relatives will EVER use the company from… Hell, heck and beyond.

At our Company, we call Orbitz’s TLC policy: Torture Lowly Customer. As out CFO eloquently says: “I hope they go to Business Hell.”

Boycott Ahoy!

-Ryath