AUUUUGHHHHH!
Aug. 2nd, 2007 01:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
winterbadgerI think that must be close to the most frustrating hour and a half I have ever spent. I feel like I'm in the Third World.
I'm trying to book a ticket for my trip in September. When I canceled my trip in March, I was told I would get a credit that I could use to rebook a flight later. So tonight I tried to do that.
First I called Expedia; while I was on hold, I realised the portable phone was dying. Its battery has been running down incredibly fast lately. I talked to the guy really fast, but he had to keep putting me on hold, so eventually I hung up, dug out an old corded phone, and plugged that in.
I connected again, got to a person, explained the whole thing, and they asked me a lot of questions. They asked me about other flights I was thinking of booking, and I had to put the phone down and go in the study where the computer was. I got the info, came back, and found the phone beeping the way it does when you've been disconnected.
So I tried again and booted up my laptop, hoping to connect to the wireless signal. It wasn't working, and when I got through to a new person, explained everything, and waited while they put me on hold, I tried moving the laptop to another room. Mistake. See, the connector on the corded phone isn't so good, and it disconnected.
So then I called again. Got *another* person. Explained ALL OVER. He hemmed and hawed. Put me on hold repeatedly, for about 15-20 minutes, as he read all the ticket conditions for my old ticket. Then he came back on and told me I could get no credit for the old ticket. I pointed out that this was not what I had been told when I canceled the flight or what I had been told by the first three people I talked to tonight. He said, well, I could take it up with BA, as it was a BA condition. My credit was held jointly by Expedia and BA, he said, and the only other people at Expedia that could help were in an office that was currently closed. So he gave me my ticket #, a record locator number, and the BA phone # and transferred me to them.
The BA rep (a man from somewhere in Texas, from his accent) told me that the ticket number that Expedia had given me was wrong, the locator number they had given me was invalid, and the ticket I had cancelled could only be credited by Expedia--if I had booked through them, I had to rebook through them. "That's not what they told me," I said, "They said you held the credit in common with them." "They always tell people that," he said and sighed. "Just a minute..." Then, of course, (a) he put me on hold and (b) the phone disconnected again.
I called Expedia back again (there didn't seem to be much point in calling BA, and maybe I could get one of the people who weren't as thorough as the last Expedia guy, one of the earlier people maybe, who seemed happy to use my credit for a new flight. I got a new person (we'll call her Expedia Person #4. I explained everything again. She said, "Oh, I need to look up your records." Pause. On Hold. She comes back. "Oh, I need to call the carrier." I am put on hold. My phone disconnects.
Tomorrow. I am doing this from work during my lunch break, where, if the computers never seem to work for three days together, at least the phones don't break. And then after work, on my way home to see my sweetie, I am buying a new phone. Maybe two.
I'm trying to book a ticket for my trip in September. When I canceled my trip in March, I was told I would get a credit that I could use to rebook a flight later. So tonight I tried to do that.
First I called Expedia; while I was on hold, I realised the portable phone was dying. Its battery has been running down incredibly fast lately. I talked to the guy really fast, but he had to keep putting me on hold, so eventually I hung up, dug out an old corded phone, and plugged that in.
I connected again, got to a person, explained the whole thing, and they asked me a lot of questions. They asked me about other flights I was thinking of booking, and I had to put the phone down and go in the study where the computer was. I got the info, came back, and found the phone beeping the way it does when you've been disconnected.
So I tried again and booted up my laptop, hoping to connect to the wireless signal. It wasn't working, and when I got through to a new person, explained everything, and waited while they put me on hold, I tried moving the laptop to another room. Mistake. See, the connector on the corded phone isn't so good, and it disconnected.
So then I called again. Got *another* person. Explained ALL OVER. He hemmed and hawed. Put me on hold repeatedly, for about 15-20 minutes, as he read all the ticket conditions for my old ticket. Then he came back on and told me I could get no credit for the old ticket. I pointed out that this was not what I had been told when I canceled the flight or what I had been told by the first three people I talked to tonight. He said, well, I could take it up with BA, as it was a BA condition. My credit was held jointly by Expedia and BA, he said, and the only other people at Expedia that could help were in an office that was currently closed. So he gave me my ticket #, a record locator number, and the BA phone # and transferred me to them.
The BA rep (a man from somewhere in Texas, from his accent) told me that the ticket number that Expedia had given me was wrong, the locator number they had given me was invalid, and the ticket I had cancelled could only be credited by Expedia--if I had booked through them, I had to rebook through them. "That's not what they told me," I said, "They said you held the credit in common with them." "They always tell people that," he said and sighed. "Just a minute..." Then, of course, (a) he put me on hold and (b) the phone disconnected again.
I called Expedia back again (there didn't seem to be much point in calling BA, and maybe I could get one of the people who weren't as thorough as the last Expedia guy, one of the earlier people maybe, who seemed happy to use my credit for a new flight. I got a new person (we'll call her Expedia Person #4. I explained everything again. She said, "Oh, I need to look up your records." Pause. On Hold. She comes back. "Oh, I need to call the carrier." I am put on hold. My phone disconnects.
Tomorrow. I am doing this from work during my lunch break, where, if the computers never seem to work for three days together, at least the phones don't break. And then after work, on my way home to see my sweetie, I am buying a new phone. Maybe two.
