Expedia EXPLOITED AN INEXPERIENCED INTERNET USER ripoff Bellevue Washington

To Ripoffreport,
Expedia, Qantas airlines, Consumer Rights, MSN, Fair Go NZ,

Even though I am a novice computer user & inexperienced internet user & not having travelled for many years, my friends encouraged me to book my flight tickets online explaining how simple it is and that anyone can do it.
Living some distance from the nearest town & travel agent I thought this sounded a good idea.

A Technician having just fixed my computer after I had managed to crash it somehow? Set up my home page as MSN so that's what comes up when I connect to the Internet. On this page is "TRAVEL" Too easy. Clicking on this I am taken straight to "Expedia". Cool. I think very easy.

I follow the steps entering my flight from Christchurch to Wellington & return the dates etc the price comes up as $534.48. Being a little cheaper than the price the travel agent had given me previously on the phone & being a Qantas flight (supposed to be the safest airline) & being NZ & Australian owned & not having to pay the $30 agent booking fee.

I chose to go ahead & book the tickets "Neat" it really is easy! BUT a long process. So by the end of the booking 11.30pm was very wary. All cool tickets booked! Awesome! Being farmers it's very difficult to get a holiday so this is our first in 3 years!!

THEN comes the Mastercard statement & Expedia has taken $754.33 dollars? Of course I contacted the office straight away to let my bank know they had made a mistake. No! Not them it was Expedia. Emailed them & found I have been charged in US$

You can imagine my "Shock" & this is of course where the story begins!

Don't you think someone would say " HELLO" we have some idiot in NZ here trying to book tickets with an American company! Better let her know who we are and tell her she should be booking with a NZ company or she will be paying in US$

Silly girl NUP! They decided to let me blindly carry on. I truely feel I have been "Duped' I am embarrased & feel very silly for falling for this "scam"

I want my money back not from the airline of course from Expedia! I'm not asking for a full refund! I need the ticket & understand it is not refundable just the $219.85 NZ difference I fully believed I was being charged in NZ dollars. This little amount is pittance to them in $US

It has taken "18" emails (getting the hang of emailing now !!) to get what I requested which was exactly where in the booking process it states US $ Yes they have been full of apoligies & I should think so! My lawyer suggested I write my story & send to Expedia & Qantas & Consumer rights & MSN as I don't have the funds to employ him at this stage I am relying on help from all above.

A friend emailed Expedia to enquire about the same flight booking that I have. She made sure she stated very clearly she was a New Zealander through her supplied address to them and they even went on to encourage her to book sightseeing & accomodation, rental cars etc It took at least "10" emails!!

And only after her pushing them by asking if she could pay cash at the airport did they inform her the charge would be in US$. After a result like that I am even more shocked. Another friend has done the same & has had exactly the same results I dont feel so dumb now just sickened by the whole thing.

It has been suggested I should send out my story to as many as possible & encourage them to do the same & let them decide if they would book or fly with these companys themselves. I understand that the emailing
system is very powerful after reading an article about BP that was sent out via email last year informing people that this company was setting the price
for inflated fuel costs

The local BP garage in my town almost came to a stand still as people decided not to buy their fuel from them, this happened nation wide & within three weeks the fuel prices at BP garages had dropped. I look forward to your reply with some help as to how I can get my money back

Julie
Oamaru
New Zealand