Travelocity Misleading advertising, worthless costumer service Internet

1. I shopped online for an air ticket very carefully for my trip from Toronto Pearson Airport to Budapest, Hungary. On January 17, 2011 around 8:00 am I have purchased a ticket using Travelocity for $729.14 (departure May 20, 2011). To purchase the ticket I had to set up an account with them and they were asking for may e-mail address and credit card information.

In half an hour Ive checked my emails and got a welcome letter we're so glad you've joined us here at Travelocity.

An hour later I went online and have seen that the amount of the ticket price was deducted from my Credit Card available funds. (on hold) Now I was waiting the written confirmation of the order. It never came, but I was able to get into the newly set account with Travelocity and I have seen my order under My trips seemingly confirmed. (The price was $734.15 so I checked my Credit Card account again but it still showed the $729.14.) Unfortunately I have not recorded the confirmation number on the flight, (it was there!) only the Travelocity.ca Trip ID: XXXXXXXX XX64.

2. Two hours later Ive got a phone call from a local number stating that she was an agent of Travelocity and my trip can not be processed, because there is no agreement between the two outbound airlines. (American Airlines and MALEV Hungarian Airlines). She told me that I have to pay and additional $150 and then she could confirm my flight. As she was saying this is the charge of the AA because they have no agreement. When I was asking then why they were advertised the price on the Internet and why they accepting bookings with this price if they are aware the "agreement" problem she always bypassed the answer. I had to ask three times that whether I am the first costumer with this problem until I got the No answer. Then why do they continue to offer the trip at this price? She said that this is the problem of the website/Internet. She put me on hold several times and when finally returned she told me that I do not have a confirmed ticket. After this I told her I did not want to pay $150 more so I wanted to cancel the booking. She told me they were very sorry, but she offered to help me try to find another fare.

I was talked into another flight for a $37.00 higher price than the original price showed on the internet. (Ive got the exact same schedule for the flight as my previous order.) She promised to call me back with the confirmation of the second booking. We got disconnected and I never heard from her again. After this discussion Ive checked their website and that particular offer for $729.14 had disappeared.

3. After waiting four hours for her to call me back, around 2:00 pm Ive checked my email and got a warning from Travelocity Flight not available call us immediately.

I called the customer service number and got a menu, where I could reconfirm my secondly booked flight. I got an e-mail confirmation showing: Your trip to Budapest, Hungary (BUD) is confirmed. And This is an e-ticket. The price was now $766.10. For this flight I had another flight confirmation number but the same Travelocity Trip ID number.

4. Then Ive checked my credit card account and as it turned out, the original flight was cancelled, but was not credited towards my new ticket (as the agent had promised it would be). Worst, they credited my account again for $766.10. So my total outstandings were quickly escalated to $1,495.24 on this day.

Right away I contacted Travelocity again and waited on hold a 10-15 min before speaking to a(nother) representative. (Val) I explained what I wanted: 1. to be sure that I have a confirmed flight 2. Travelocity releases the funds for the first booking. (or at least charge only for the difference). First he said that the flight is confirmed. Then he said that it isnt, I should call the airline to confirm my flight. I also demanded my unauthorized money deduction be refunded immediately. He told me that they could not do that. He was telling me that Travelocity couldn't release the funds - only the airline does, since Travelocity processed it as a charge from the airline.He told me to call the airline and the Credit Card company to release the funds. So practically I should do the agents work.

After a total of more than half an hour on the phone...I decided that I do not want to call the airlines and the credit card company, and do not want to do the travel agencys work. If they wont do it for me and seemingly dont want to offer solution to my problem (which was caused by them!); I dont want to do business with them any more. I asked the representative to cancel my second booked (but not confirmed) flight and give back all my money. I just wanted to forget them. He promised that everything will be cancelled and released. I never get any e-mail message from Travelocity after that.

5. I went to my Travelocity account on the next day January 18, 2011 8:00 am and my cancelled flight still was there under My trips. And I had two separate charges on my Credit Card account for BOTH flights! They charged me twice for nothing at all!!

6. I called my Credit Card company and they informed me that they can not refuse to pay the funds only the airline could release the charges. 7. I called Travelocity again (Vincent) to confirm that I dont have any booking with them and he said that the flight is not booked and they release my funds in 48 hrs up to 5 business days.He said that I had to wait 48 hours before contacting them.

To my demand he promised to send an e-mail with this information in writing. Of course I never got that e-mail. And this is the end of the circle.

This way of doing business is unacceptable.