Ranting and Raving

Well, it's been an interesting past few days, to say the least, and in the lightest way possible. Now, at this point, I'm not sure when we'll be flying home.

I'll explain.

After the last post, Jaz and I went through Expedia to book our tickets because, oddly enough, they were the cheapest out of every other site. When we called Expedia, we had just found two tickets at a reasonable price and were ready to book them. However, the customer service lady told us that her "system was glitching" and that our orders might have gone through twice, accidentally.

It's all really a complicated, confusing mess, but suffice it to say: our order had processed twice, which means that double the amount that we should've paid was put through. However, because of this "glitch" the orders through the Air France airline did not fully process, so no tickets were issued. So our attempt at booking flights the first week of August failed, but despite that, the funds for double the amount of the tickets were put on hold in Jasmine's bank account.

Because of the glitch and the double-processed fee, Jasmine's bank account was drawn negative, leaving her without a single cent here in North Africa. On top of that, her bank was charging her overdraft fees.

What unfolded over the next couple days was sheer nightmare on behalf of the incompetencies of both Expedia as a shady middle-man company and Air France with a complete lack of desire to help customers. Jasmine and I both called Expedia and Air France over the course of the past few days, each day speaking to them for about 6 hours on end.

They flat out refused to help.

Despite that Expedia had processed our claim, and that Air France had put double the amount of the necessary funds on hold through Jasmine's bank, they both flat out refused responsibility. They both flat out claimed that they had absolutely no records of anything. Expedia told us that it was Air France's problem and that we had to contact them, and that there was absolutely nothing they could do. Air France told us that it was Expedia's problem, and that there was absolutely nothing that they could do.

So we continued calling day after day, speaking with these people for hours on end, literally spending all day at the internet cafes using Skype to make the phone calls. We tried explaining to Expedia that because of a glitch in their system, they had processed our order twice, causing double the amount to be charged through Jasmine's account, drawing her negative and leaving her without ANY money. We told them that we were in North Africa and that it's not the most pleasant place to be stranded without a cent. They flat out told us they couldn't help us, and that it wasn't their problem.

It was the same song and dance with Air France. No help. And on top of that, the people with Air France openly told Jasmine that she was being a nuisance to their company and that they "had a business to run, and can't take the time to look at one person's problems." We were both dismayed, obviously.

We eventually called and talked to supervisors, who just reiterated the apparent fact that there was nothing they could do. It was Air France's fault. No, it was Expedia's fault. And on it went.

Meanwhile, Jasmine had no money in her bank account, and no tickets to show for it. Essentially, they had taken our money and given us no tickets. We were told that the funds were only put "on hold" -- which was true, but that also meant that we had absolutely no access to these funds while they were on hold. It was, by all means, the same as if the money had been taken and was no longer there. We were told that it could take up to 30 days for the funds to be taken off hold and released, since a debit card was used.

So after three days of calling, arguing, begging, yelling, and having nobody help us, we were exhausted and at our wits' end. And just when it seemed that we were destined to choke on this plume of smoke and walk through the darkness forever, out came a knight in shining armor.

Jasmine's mom.

I'm not even sure what all she did, but in my mind I could see her putting people in headlocks and wrestling them into submission. I don't know, but she literally saved the day for her daughter and for me. Somehow, she was able to get half of the funds released that were on hold, which gave Jasmine some of her money back.

Then, as if that were not enough, she called Expedia on our behalf and apparently went to town and back with those guys. Apparently, because of Jasmine's mom's heroics, the full amount of the funds placed on hold will be released by the 24th, and Expedia will be issuing a refund of Jasmine's overdraft fees.

If I drank, I'd offer a toast to Jasmine's mom -- but instead, a hearty "Thank You" will have to suffice.

Seriously, Deb -- thank you. You're awesome.

As for Expedia and Air France, you guys are flat-out incompetent. Technically, the burden of releasing our funds lay on the backs of Air France, since they were the name of the merchant placing the funds on hold through Jasmine's bank. They should've taken time to handle the situation and release our funds, since no tickets were issued. However, since the order itself was processed through Expedia, Air France apparently had no record of the order and could do nothing.

Technically, the problem itself was a result of Expedia and their system that glitched and double-processed our order without actually following through with the issuing of tickets. It was Expedia's error that began all this mess, and in my mind, if they were a respectable company, with any degree of integrity, they would've recognized and admitted this mistake on their behalf, and would've at least done what they could for us. They could've simply called Air France and spoke to them for us, working together to solve this problem to the best of their abilities. They refused to make any phone calls for us, or to do anything else that might at least show that they were concerned about fixing the problem that they were responsible for.

I hold both companies responsible.

Done ranting. Done raving. Another quick 'thank you' to Jasmine's mom.

So we still don't have the tickets we're wanting, yet. Hopefully we can book them by the end of this week with fewer problems.

I'll keep everybody updated.