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12 Responses to “Soft charges ‘Fall off’ ???”

1. oxforduniversity says:
   November 27, 2007 at 5:14 am

   I have used Orbitz, hotwire, Expedia and Travelocity, all have their pro’s and con’s.

   I spotted a site called Anyfares.com, find air tickets so cheap that my savings were about 35% cheaper than Orbitz, hotwire, Expedia and Travelocity. Flights internationally such as Europe in particular that are great and South American, China and middle East countries, they have expcellent rates. Demastic though there are some what competitive where I used either Hotwire or the airlines direct from their web sites.

   What I really like about Anyfares.com is they sell tickets on US dollars in foreign countries and all their tickets are e-tickets so if you are in France and need a fight to St.Petersburg Russia or London or Franskfurt, they sell everything in US dollars and you have your tickets emailed in 10 minutes so you can just travel just like that. Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity, they sell their tickets if you are out of the US, they will charged you the currency in that country if you want to fly from there to somewhere else. So if I was in France for example and I want to fly to London, Frankfurt or anywhere, they will charged me in Euros or Pound Notes (it is like charging you double when the US dollar is so weak) when if you are an American and want to save, you can’t save because Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity will charged the currency if you are outside the United States but with Anyfares.com, they don’t. Euro’s, Swiss Marks, British Pounds, Russian Rubles and etc, they currencies are high to the US dollar and if you are an American, you are stuck if you have to meet those currencies if you have only US dollars.

   So consider if you have a money budget and you can’t afford the high currencies, try http://www.anyfares.com

   Jim

2. Ty Dub says:
   April 8, 2008 at 9:57 am

   That’s how debit card transactions work, my friend. I’m not defending Orbitz at all, and I have no affiliation to them. I’m not saying they never rip people off, but in your case, it is your fault for not understanding how a debit card works. It’s not just Orbitz that do these “soft charges”, but pretty much ANYWHERE that takes a debit card, although most of the time(90% or so) you don’t notice that this happened, either because it’s resolved fairly quick, or because the amount put “on hold” is close to the cost used on the debit card.

   You can google how a debit card actually works, and this will clear up your confusion on the subject.

   Everyone assumes check card/debit cards are like credit cards, and that they process immediately. This is not the case, as a debit/check card work more like a check.

   Companies just check to see if you have funds available in your account, and authorize your card based on whether you do or not, then they put X amount of dollars on hold, to insure that they get their money after the process clears (7 - 10 days) This is why it seems like an immediate transaction. If they didn’t do this, it would take you a lot longer to purchase some things, as the card would just be treated like a check.

3. Orbitz LIES says:
   April 8, 2008 at 2:19 pm

   Ty Dub …WTF?

   They billed me $1322.95 for a $646.69 flight! They did drop the OVERCHARGE after a few days…but I could not use my account until then. Orbitz had maxed out my account

   Debit cards are just like credit cards! They are processed immediately, within seconds! I have ten years worth of recepts to show me they are.

   Orbitz is the ONE that was totaly screwed up.

4. argo says:
   July 2, 2008 at 1:37 am

   Orbitz really screwed me up. My fiance booked our honeymoon and I tried to change a flight–YEAH RIGHT!

   Their OrbitzTLC team, which could only stand for Orbitz Total Load of CRAP, received and responded to my emails without reading them, just as they did to you. I even put numbers by my questions and they said I didn’t ask them any.

   The larger issue was that they would refund the ticket, less change fees, but I had to book and fly 2 weeks before I had booked the original tickets for–something that no one in their right mind would do.

   They messed up my honeymoon. If Orbitz had a face, I’d mess it up.

   Bottom line, I’m going to the BBB with this one.

   a.

5. Kristian Erik Hermansen says:
   March 24, 2009 at 9:12 pm

   I had the same issue! They charged me 7 times! I was able to request a couple vouchers for the inconvenience, however, now that I go to use them on another flight and guess what?!?!? Well, I have the same issue again with probelsm booking the flight. Orbitz.com really sucks when using debit cards for booking flights…horrendous. They need to hire some competent application developers and staff support because they appear clueless. http://kristian-hermansen.blogspot.com

6. steven says:
   March 4, 2010 at 6:54 pm

   Orbitz has a big green banner over “Flights” that clearly states “NO FEES”. Apparently that only means in certain cases. I was billed $6.99 for a flight and told that they get complaints about that all the time, by Laura at Orbitz. She said the No Fee policy does not count for international, multi-airline, delta, or American airlines. What deception! These people suck; use a different site, there are plenty to choose from because these people don’t deserve our business.

7. steven says:
   March 4, 2010 at 8:42 pm

   President and CEO of Orbitz is Barney Harford
   barney.harford@orbitz.com. I’m sure he’d love to hear from everyone.

8. Mikhail says:
   November 30, 2010 at 12:27 am

   I’ve been charged twice for air ticktet bought via Orbitz and now they owe my 2500 bucks.

   I’ll never use this damn company again.

   Good idea to drop a few line to CEO.

9. jackal says:
   December 10, 2010 at 10:44 pm

   >Debit cards are just like credit cards! They are processed immediately, within seconds! I have ten years worth of recepts to show me they are.

   And I have ten years of experience working as a merchant dealing daily with credit card holds and authorizations. You’re wrong.

   Actually, you’re right. Debit cards are just like credit cards. But your second part is wrong: neither debit cards NOR credit cards are processed immediately.

   See these posts for more info on how the system works:
   http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/13492863-post36.html
   http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/13508370-post44.html
   http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/12145333-post10.html

10. Orbitz LIES says:
    December 11, 2010 at 12:06 am

    I started this post to warn people about Orbitz Billing policy…

    I still believe they were wrong to over bill me…I so no justification for this. No company has ever done this to me before or since. I will never use Orbitz again!

    I now work in retail and see people checking there bank balance before and after sales. Using there phones to do online banking while shopping. A pending charge reduces your available balance. Why would any company have a pending charge that’s twice the actual charge…?

    I’ve never seen any other company do this. I think is very wrong. I would never do this to my customers.

    I think Orbitz LIES

11. Me says:
    March 23, 2011 at 8:57 pm

    OP is a loozer and fails at math. 1322.95 is not 6 X 646.69. its no wonder your account was in overdraft, you cant add. Also, who only keeps 1300 in their account? ever heard of a financial buffer?

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