Warning about Orbitz.com

sturll

I booked some flights last week which totalled approx £850.

The money left my Visa on 11th July. I looked at my bill online last night and realised that whilst the money had left my account there was a pending transaction of £850. I phoned Barclaycard who were their usual incompetent and unhelpful selves and practically told me all i could do was wait until the money left my account then try and get it back.

I phoned Orbitz who told me i must have put the transaction through twice (which i know i didnt) and there was nothing i could do. So when i asked why i had only 3 seats on the flight rather than 6 if it had gone through twice and why had i only one confirmation? Suddenly the person decided that actually i hadnt put it through twice but it was an authorisation on the flights which Orbitz put through and that it would simply drop off after 7 days. Barclaycard had already told me this was the norm if a payment wasnt claimed within 7 days.

However whilst this has all been going on i have had £850 tied up on my Visa and today a payment went out and has taken me over my limit thus rendering me liable for a charge. Orbitz wont do anything, Barclaycard are again showing their usual incompency and insist the charge will stay.

The money is still tied up on my Visa and tomorrow is apparently the last day so apparently it should drop off. Ill update as to whether it does or not, but i cant help thinking if i hadnt of noticed it and phoned Orbitz accusing them of fraud whether or not it may have suspicisiously been claimed by them

Anyway, to cut a hefty and perhaps boring story short it will most certainly be back to Expedia for me in the future.

IvanOpinion

I could be totally wrong here but there is something in the back of my mind in how credit cards work. Some companies send a transaction through to 'reserve' funds. When the actual transaction goes through it should then release these funds. This is where it gets confusing, I thought it worked on the merchant-id but there is something in the back of my mind about a temrinal-id being different that may cause the amount not to be released. It is however only held for a few days before being automatically released.

This may be a flaw in the system rather than any deliberate fault of Orbitz. I didn't think that you would incur charges though due to untaken reserved funds pushing you over a limit. Expedia may do exactly the same thing .. you just have not noticed.

Ivan

Voyager2002

sturll wrote: »

However whilst this has all been going on i have had £850 tied up on my Visa and today a payment went out and has taken me over my limit thus rendering me liable for a charge. Orbitz wont do anything, Barclaycard are again showing their usual incompency and insist the charge will stay.

When you receive your Barclaycard statement, it is unlikely to show an over-limit charge. It will be crystal clear from your statement that you never spent enough money to go over your credit limit, so at that point you should certainly get any charge refunded.

I had a similar experience with my Egg card. A hotel took an authorisation for much more than the cost of the stay, bringing me very close to the limit. An attempted purchase was refused because it would have taken me over my limit. When I telephoned they told me that I would be charged for trying to go over my limit; immediately agreed to waive the charge; and credited my account with the amount of the charge. When my statement arrived, it showed the credit but not the charge, so I felt compensated for the inconvenience.