Expedia - Surcharge on credit card payments 11 September 2012 at 10:11PM in Overseas holidays & travel planning 10 replies 12.5K views

Mikesbox

I have recently booked a holiday online through Expedia and was only given the option to pay by credit card and pay an £11 surcharge. At the time the website indicated that they weren't making the surcharge it was imposed by Easyjet. However on checking with Easyjet they offer the option to pay by debit card (which I was quite happy to do) and a surcharge would not have been made.

The Expedia website clearly states:
"No Credit Card fees - When you book with Expedia.co.uk, you will be charged no credit cards fees on all transactions"
I can't see how they can say that and then charge on "some" transactions!!!

Does anyone know if it is a requirement for a trader to offer customers a method of payment that doesn't incur a surcharge.

Or do you have an email address for their Chief Executive Officer? Unfortunatley it is not on the !!!!!!!!!!!!! website! By the way that is the most useful website I have found! I have now had occasion to email CEO's on three occassions and not only got instant results but cash refunded!!!!

SaveTheEuro

Mikesbox wrote: »

on checking with Easyjet they offer the option to pay by debit card (which I was quite happy to do) and a surcharge would not have been made.

easyJet impose a surcharge of £9 or €11 on all transactions, including payments by debit cards. They call it an admin charge.

InsideInsurance

I've never known them to not accept payment by debit card. Ok, it just says "visa" rather than Visa Debit or Visa Delta etc but selecting this and using my Visa Debit card has always worked

balletshoes

SaveTheEuro wrote: »

easyJet impose a surcharge of £9 or €11 on all transactions, including payments by debit cards. They call it an admin charge.

this is correct - Easyjet do charge - its £9 for using a debit card, more for using a credit card.

Mikesbox

Thanks SaveTheEuro yes I realise Easyjet make an admin charge, that is stated upfront. My gripe is the website did not offer the option to pay by Debit card, Expedia are clearly trying to pass the buck, and their website clearly says they "No credit card fees" which is clearly not the case! Mikesbox

Westin

Or do you have an email address for their Chief Executive Officer?

Fair challenge to be made but can you not just contact their customer services team? Do you really think their CEO sits at a desk dealing with minor grumbles like this?

photome

If you had booked with easyjet would the cost have been the same.

maybe the expedia charge was just the easyjet admin charge passed on to you

Mikesbox

Westin wrote: »

Fair challenge to be made but can you not just contact their customer services team? Do you really think their CEO sits at a desk dealing with minor grumbles like this?

Maybe not personally, but my experience is that it does get action and quick. I had a dispute with E-on regarding an fuel bill and was getting nowhere, but an email direct to the CEO resulted by a reply in 24 hours (OK not the CEO himself) and a £250 refund. Similar story with Becko and a faulty cooker!

Westin

Maybe not personally, but my experience is that it does get action and quick. I had a dispute with E-on regarding an fuel bill and was getting nowhere, but an email direct to the CEO resulted by a reply in 24 hours (OK not the CEO himself) and a £250 refund. Similar story with Becko and a faulty cooker!

Certainly esculate a complaint if you are not getting a responce (as you did with E-on) but as a starter, why not contact their Customer Support people using the clink in the top right corner of the website. You might have had a solution or an answer by now. Quicker perhaps than asking on here for the CEO's personal email address so you could fire off a question about the £11 credit card charge.

A test booking I did on Expedia after reading your post seemed to suggest as others point out, the cc fees are from the airline.

Just out of interest can you point me to the "No credit card fees" message on expedia.co.uk as I couldn't see it anywhere. Thanks.

Mikesbox

Westin wrote: »

Certainly esculate a complaint if you are not getting a responce (as you did with E-on) but as a starter, why not contact their Customer Support people using the clink in the top right corner of the website. You might have had a solution or an answer by now. Quicker perhaps than asking on here for the CEO's personal email address so you could fire off a question about the £11 credit card charge.

A test booking I did on Expedia after reading your post seemed to suggest as others point out, the cc fees are from the airline.

Just out of interest can you point me to the "No credit card fees" message on expedia.co.uk as I couldn't see it anywhere. Thanks.

Just to be clear I did email Customer Support first and received a phone call very quickly. However the person who phoned suggested that the charge had been made by my credit card company, which it obviously hadn't as it was imposed before going through to the credit card! She realised that I was far from happy and said she would speak to her supervisor and get them to contact me. That was last weekend and I have heard nothing since. I have sent a further email but as yet no further response!
I would accept it if it was from the airline, if they offered other payment options like Easyjet do (all be it with an administration charge but at least they are up front with it!). Why don't Expedia offer a debit card option on some transactions?
If you put "Expendia credit card surcharges" into google you will find a page Expedia makes it easy, and that's where I found the statement regarding no surcharges, but now that you have pointed that out I wonder if that is an old page which they have since deleted as like you I can't see it via the site now.
However under payment options they say "For most bookings, you can pay with Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Diners Club, and any debit card that has a Visa or MasterCard logo on it" Obviously my booking didn't come under "most payments" there is always a get out clause!

Thanks for your input

Mikesbox

Well, many thanks to those who have posted their comments and advice. Persistence does pay I eventually received a second call back from Expedia Customer Support on Friday and again I didn’t accept her explanation and said I wanted to speak to her supervisor and a written reply to my grievances. The supervisor (who she obviously spoke to) didn’t want to talk to me, so I was told my case would be escalated to the Escalation Team. Having sent a further email confirming my complaint and requesting a full written response (which they seem very reluctant to provide) I have now had a call from a Manager who has agreed to refund the surcharge for the credit card payment and I have agreed to close the case, well that was all I wanted anyway!