Travelocity / airfare purchase

I wrote the following letter to travelocity nearly one month ago and have not received a reply since their acknowledgement of its receipt. I was very disapointed and now make every effort to use either Expedia, Priceline, or Orbitz instead. I find travelocity's practice very deceptive. I expect that they take thousands of dollars a month from unsuspecting people with this practice.

Dear Travelocity,

I recently completed an online purchase ( Trip ID# 45355XXXXXX ) through Travelocity. After I completed the transaction I noticed that the total of $265.37 was significantly more than I had been expecting to pay for my reservations. I then noticed that the difference in price was due to travel protection ( $26.95 ), which I did not remember requesting. Apparently, it is now the default at Travelocity for travel protection to be purchased, and I must un-check that option in order to receive the advertised price for my trip (and avoid purchasing the additional travel protection).

I recognize that it is my responsibility to re-check all of the charges before I finalize a purchase, however, I feel that having the default for the Travel Protection being "Yes!" is inappropriate. The default should either blank with the browser querying the customer who does not make a selection, or it should be "No," especially when the advertised price does not include travel protection.

Ideally, I would like my credit card to be refunded the $26.95, and for Travelocity to change the default setting for travel protection.

I look forward to hearing from you,

WC

Comment On This

Travelocity charged me $39.95 for Travel Protection Plan insurance that

I did not need, did not want and did not choose to buy. I did not even

realize that they had charged me for it until my credit card statement

arrived. When I complained and asked for a refund, they refused to

re-pay what they had charged me. They claimed that they were entitled

to place the travel insurance product in my online shopping cart and

charge me for it simply because I neglected to click on the "I decline"

button on their web page. What a scam! What a rip-off!

If you want to receive a refund for unwanted travel insurance, then

phone Travelocity's 1-888-872-8356 number (and/or send email to their

consumer.relations AT travelocity.com address) to report the problem and

ask for reimbursement (but don't expect them to quickly and willingly

grant your request). At least, your first step should be to contact

Travelocity directly and give them a chance to fix the problem.

If Travelocity refuses to reimburse you, then contact your credit

card issuer, explain the problem to them, and ask them to dispute the

charge with Travelocity. Your credit card issuer ought to defend you

in any situation of a vendor charging you for something that you did

not agree to purchase, so they should ask Travelocity to correct the

problem.

You should also file a complaint against Travelocity with the Better

Business Bureau's Fort Worth office (via their web site), to explain

the situation and ask for a refund. This is fairly quick and easy to

do. Go to http://tinyurl.com/36tcey5 and http://tinyurl.com/2wkspwr

to file your complaint.

You can contact (via web or email) various federal law enforcement

agencies and elected officials, to request them to either prosecute

Travelocity for violation of existing laws, or to urge them to enact

new laws which prohibit such "opt out" deceptive sales tactics:

US Federal Trade Commission (FTC): https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

US Dept of Justice (Criminal Division):

http://www.justice.gov/criminal/ , Criminal.Division AT usdoj.gov

US Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3): http://www.ic3.gov

Your Representative in the House: http://tinyurl.com/2r6mvo

The two US Senators from your state: http://tinyurl.com/b1lm

You could also contact various law enforcement agencies and elected

officials at the state level. For example, in California:

Dept of Justice, Office of Attorney General: http://tinyurl.com/2gkbw7

Department of Insurance: http://tinyurl.com/38sk7gk

Your representative in the Assembly: http://tinyurl.com/2qsvx

Your state Senator: http://tinyurl.com/2ejb6w

This situation would seem to offer some potential for a class-action

lawsuit. If there are some opportunitistic trial lawyers out there

who are eager to file a class-action lawsuit against Travelocity

(and any other online vendors who charged unwitting consumers for

unwanted travel insurance), then there could be many thousands of

ripped-off consumers who are eager to sign on as plaintiffs.

With enough grass-roots condemnation of deceptive "opt out" sales

tactics by online vendors, our law enforcement agencies and elected

officials ought to feel motivated to crack down on such unethical

practices, and the online marketplace will be better for all of us.

Comment On This

Same thing happened to me--I called and they said since more than 24 hours had gone by (it was actually two days) they coudln't cancel anything. I don't believe something as expensive as a $35 product should ever be included as a "default" add-on charge which can easily be missed if the customer's in a hurry. I didn't want the protection and i'm now stuck paying it on THREE tickets.