Claim against I-net travel company

[baky]

Hi - any help will be greatly appreciated!

I bought a vacation package from Expedia.com, including airfare Houston-Miami and 12-day stay in a 4-star hotel, which turned out to be hardly a 2-star (a deluxe room without a bath - can you imagine?). Expedia didn't have any disclaimer, such as "use ratings at your own risk" on their website. I called Expedia and demanded to be transferred to another 4-star hotel (without extra pay) or just to be put the same day on the plane to go back to Houston and refund the whole purchase amount. They refused to do either. As a result, we checked-out and had to pay extra $540 to get into a decent 3-star hotel.

Expedia credited me back the unused nights for the hotel, but refused to pay back for the tickets ($526 for me and my wife), which I believe they owe me.

I tried BBB, but all I got from Expedia was a $100 coupon offer - but I am not going to use their service anymore.

Do I have a good case against them? (In my layman's opinion it's like buying a pint of milk in the supermarket - you pour yourself a glass, find it spoiled, you get the whole price back, not just for unused milk - after all, a bottle, like an airplane, is mere a means to deliver you quality time).

Q#2: Expedia is registered in WA, can I bring a claim in TX court, since the transaction actually happened in TX - where my computer is located.

Q#3: If I still have to file in WA, how can I do this (I don't have any friend over there to file for me) and do I have to be present there for the trial?

Q#4: (am I pushing it?) Can I file for moral compensation or punitive damages - it was our 1st anniversary and first two days of it were really spoiled by Expedia.


Thank you.

 

[NYClex]

Hm, first of all, it depends on the terms of the contract. Sometimes there are provisions requiring either arbitration or other out of court attempts to settle the dispute. Often there are terms agreeing to the jurisdiction.

If nothing is specified in the terms you have a good chance of being able to sue in your home state where the transaction took place, since expedia does a lot of business there. BUt the TX Rules of Civil Procedure would have to be consulted and local case law would have to be checked.

But, I am not sure about the merits of the claim. As far as I see other travel agents like expedia, they sell air travel and hotel accomodations as two packages. And since you used the air travel, had no complaints about the air travel, I don't see any possible claim you have on getting back the money for the air travel. May be if you would have been so disgusted that you turned back right away. But you solved the hotel problem and enjoyed the rest of the vacation.

To stay in your picture: I think you bought a sandwhich and a carton of milk, ate the sandwhich which was OK and then found the milk to be sour. You got reimbursed the money for the milk, but now want the money for the sandwhich back, too.

If expedia refunded all the hotel costs I personally would say that's it.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

To begin, as NYClex pointed out, you need to check the terms of your agreement as everything is contained in it. Looking at their terms of use on their site, Expedia claims that the ratings are only a guide and do not claim any accuracy (or it might be provided by another source, e.g. AAA ratings) and don't take responsibility for inaccuracies.

All told, you might be better of telling them you are going to the press. Bad publicity sometimes works just as effectively if not moreso. So, looking at your questions:

A1: NYClex is on the right track. You cannot be compensated for the airfare but you might be able to be compensated for the extra money you had to spend and the time and expenses lost as a result of doing so. This is assuming that you have a right under contract to these items. It is possible that the court might rule in your favor rationalizing that you had little bargaining power to obtain certain protections in contract clauses (it's called an "unconscionable" clause) and, whether or not it is a strictly correct ruling under the law, the court might rule in your favor. On occasion I have found Small Claims to be a "moral" court in several experiences and if the judge can stretch the law to do what he or she feels like the right thing then that might happen more often.

A2: This is another tough one. According to the Expedia terms of use (as I expected) you consent to the jurisdication of WA. Whether this is enforced, as it should be, I cannot tell you.

"This agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Washington, USA. You hereby consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of courts in King County, Washington, USA, in all disputes arising out of or relating to the use of this Web site. "

A3: You won't need to file in person (you can send someone the paperwork to file) but you sure should be in person to make your case! This goes without saying.

A4: Unless you can prove that Expedia knew that this was not a four star (perhaps an information subpoena that costs you $2) then you would have a difficult time showing the knowledge or ill will intended for punitive damages. Punitive damages are awarded for the bad behavior of the defendant, not because the trip you took was, without their knowledge, your anniversary celebration.

Originally posted by baky
Hi - any help will be greatly appreciated!

I bought a vacation package from Expedia.com, including airfare Houston-Miami and 12-day stay in a 4-star hotel, which turned out to be hardly a 2-star (a deluxe room without a bath - can you imagine?). Expedia didn't have any disclaimer, such as "use ratings at your own risk" on their website. I called Expedia and demanded to be transferred to another 4-star hotel (without extra pay) or just to be put the same day on the plane to go back to Houston and refund the whole purchase amount. They refused to do either. As a result, we checked-out and had to pay extra $540 to get into a decent 3-star hotel.

Expedia credited me back the unused nights for the hotel, but refused to pay back for the tickets ($526 for me and my wife), which I believe they owe me.

I tried BBB, but all I got from Expedia was a $100 coupon offer - but I am not going to use their service anymore.

Do I have a good case against them? (In my layman's opinion it's like buying a pint of milk in the supermarket - you pour yourself a glass, find it spoiled, you get the whole price back, not just for unused milk - after all, a bottle, like an airplane, is mere a means to deliver you quality time).

Q#2: Expedia is registered in WA, can I bring a claim in TX court, since the transaction actually happened in TX - where my computer is located.

Q#3: If I still have to file in WA, how can I do this (I don't have any friend over there to file for me) and do I have to be present there for the trial?

Q#4: (am I pushing it?) Can I file for moral compensation or punitive damages - it was our 1st anniversary and first two days of it were really spoiled by Expedia.


Thank you.