Anybody had a really bad experience with Expedia ?

My experience with these people would make Ryanair look like angels but Expedia certainly are not cheap.
I made a telephone booking for my party of 8 staying 3 days at a French hotel. The Expedia agent quoted me a price of 200 Euro per night each inclusive of breakfast. I gave my card details & was told that the booking confirmation would be e mailed immediately. In the 3 weeks prior to departure I complained on 3 occasions that they had not come & asked that they be snail mailed instead. We left home still without them & was advised by the reception manager that the rate advised to them by fax by Expedia was a rate that varied daily & came to an additional 379 Euro. He undertook to contact Expedia & resolve matters. He confirmed that the rate for direct booking with the hotel was 200 Euro & indeed I had booked in 2 more of my friends at this rate. When it came to check out the manager was hugely sympathetic & apologetic but said that he had met with a "brick wall" when he took the matter up with Expedia in the U.K.
He pointed out that our contract had been with Expedia but as a "bona fide* gesture he would credit the 379 Euro & provide an upgrade if we visited at some future time. He was hugely critical of Expedia & mentioned previous problems but I refused his offer as it was most unlikely that we would be there again.
After 3 months of non responsive correspondence I eventuall got copies of the reservation charges showing the extra 379 Euro & they were considering the matter closed. No refund , apology or legal liability admitted.
I then went to the EEC Consumer Centre in Dublin who took up the case without success & could not pursue it any further as Expedia did not have an office or business within the state. Their suggestion was that I should take a case in the UK Small Claims Court but this would requre my attendance over there.
Has anybody got an idea of how I could get my money back from these cowboys ?

sorry battyee , but you appear to have suffered a lot on what should have been a simple transaction. I have used expedia but always give a northern ireland address and download the booking confirmation and receipt no problem. if expedia are members of abta maybe you could try them for some recompense.

just after checking my emails and theres one from expedia , welcoming me back from istanbul and asking me for a rating on how I found them for booking etc and also how I found istanbul and comments on anything that might be of interest to other travellers to that city. I think I would get on to them again because they appear to be genuine. just out of curiosity what hotel did you book and I will see how the current on line price compares and also try a few different dates to see if the prices vary over a number of bookings/dates as the hotel said they did.

I find expedia expensive - do they still charge you 100% up front? Went to the States in May and used Hotels.com which were great as they only charged 10% (I think) upfont where you settle up with the hotel on departure....cheaper rates too.
Firefly

firefly: didnt use them for hotels, just flights. try booking a flight from dublin to istanbul on line and see how far you get. turkish airlines fly direct to instanbul 3 times weekly but unless you go to a travel agent you cannot book one of these flights, unless you use expedia. flight cost €149 plus taxes. happy enough. and just in case meccano is looking at this, we got 2 'free' drinks and a meal on both journeys. what I can definitely say is that airbus a321 is a lot more comfy than a b737-800. one out, one back. no comparison in comfort.

The hotel I used was one of the Sofitel chain. 5 star & expensive but worth it. My problems were all with Expedia. I regularly travel on long & short haul business trips & have never previously encountered a situation like this.
1. They claim that the rate agreed with their telephone agent was same as that charged to me. Not true ! It was a simple & uncomplicated 200 Euro per night - nothing like the complicated rates which were different for each of the 3 days & for some reason one of my party was charged seperately for breakfast as well.
2. Had they sent me the confirmation bookings I repeatedly sought from them before departure the problem of overcharging could never have happened.
3. I booked in 2 of my my party directly with Sofitel & paid the normal hotel rate of 200 Euro. If I had not used Expedia the hotel manager told me that I would have got a discount because I had booked 30 room nights in all. That only added salt to my wounds.
5. Expedia are not members of ABTA & booking was not made on line.
4. The Dublin Consumer Office endorse my claim but because Expedia have no prescence within this state they tell me that they cannot take an action here. Sadly it seems like my only option will be to take the case through the U.K. Small Claims Court & all the time & travel that will take.
BE WARNED DO BUSINESS WITH EXPEDIA AT YOUR PERIL.
Ryanair whom we flew with may be not too customer friendly but at least they are cheap, they have an Irish office & operate within the law. I know where I stand with them & never had a problem bar occasional delays.They are angels compared to these Expedia cowboys.

The EC Consumer Centre would be more concerned that you were not ripped off due to a cross-border aspect of your transaction (i.e. that you were treated less favourably than a UK customer). There’s no evidence of this from your posts that this happened. Presumably Expedia are based somewhere in the UK. Could you not contact the local Trading Standards Office in the UK with your complaint? (If they will not handle it you then have a case to go back to the ECCC).

Thanks PMU that sounds worth a try. Expedia have a UK office & I am only surprised that the ECCC office in Dublin suggested UK Small Claims Court rather than the Trading Standards Office.I will take up your suggestion.
The matter has now become one of principle for me rather than the relatively small amount of 379 Euro & I will be pursuing it.