If only recouping money from a canceled trip booked online were as easy as making the reservation.
Since May, Paride "Steve" Crudi of East Hartford has been trying to get a refund for a four-night stay at the Piccolo Hotel Nogara in Nogara, Italy, he booked through Venere.com, a European site owned by Expedia . Crudi, a wine steward at Apricots Restaurant in Farmington, made the reservation in February for a planned trip in April to Vinitaly, the world's largest wine exhibition, in Venora. Crudi, who stayed with friends, booked the room for more friends who also planned to attend the event.
"Based on the information online," he says, "I believed I had three weeks to confirm or cancel the reservation."
Within two weeks, he says, he received his monthly American Express statement that already showed a $1,440 charge for the hotel reservation. And his friends, it turns out, didn't need the room. Crudi promptly asked American Express to remove the charge, then called Venere to cancel the reservation.
"I was told clearly and categorically that it would be taken care of," he says.
When his next American Express statement arrived, his account had been credited.
"Unfortunately," says Crudi, "the story does not end there."
Crudi says American Express soon told him that because Venere challenged the charge reversal, his account once again would be charged $1,440. Venere said bookings for the April trip's dates were nonrefundable.
"I was understandably surprised and confused," says Crudi, "because this was not the information I had accessed online. If they told me at the time I made the reservation that it was nonrefundable, I would have kept the reservation and at least gotten something in return for my money."
Next, Crudi called the hotel manager directly and was told his reservation, and charges, were canceled at American Express' request only to be reinstated by Venere/Expedia.
"He said he was still willing to approve the refund if [Venere/Expedia] would agree," says Crudi.
So Crudi called Venere, which told him it was the hotel blocking the refund.
"I continued to be caught in the middle," says Crudi.
Crudi says he called Expedia multiple times, with no resolution. Despite repeated requests, he says, no supervisor ever called him back.
Desperate, he contacted TBL. If this saga sounds at all familiar, TBL recounted another Expedia refund tug-of-war with Cy Yavuzturk of Burlington last month (read it at cour.at/kra62G ). Yavuzturk, a mechanical engineer, had booked a room at a Washington, D.C. , hotel for a meeting about Department of Energy research projects that was later canceled. Yavuzturk, denied a refund by both the hotel and Expedia, is out $868.
Expedia told Yavuzturk it was bound by the hotel's policy. When contacted by TBL about Crudi's experience, it again said it followed the hotel's policy - even though Crudi says the hotel said it was acting under Expedia's constraints.
"It's very important to note that in these situations Expedia does everything they can do to advocate on the customer's behalf to try and secure a refund from the hotel," says Expedia spokesman David McNamee. "In Mr. Crudi's situation, all agents involved attempted to contact the hotel on his behalf to get a refund approved."
This time, it worked. Expedia, the hotel and Venere go-between, arranged a $1,440 electronic transfer scheduled to arrive in Crudi's bank account Friday morning. It also offered him a $200 travel credit for the inconvenience.
"I couldn't believe it," says Crudi.
Reader's Voice
"I am visiting Connecticut to help my father, who just got out of a short-term stay in a nursing home.
"I am a HICAP/SHIP (Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program/ State Health Insurance Assistance Program) Medicare counselor in San Francisco and just wanted to thank you for advocating for these Medicare beneficiaries. (Read "Elderly Haddam Couple Spent More Than $5,000 In Autopays On Health Coverage They Didn't Know They Had" at cour.at/o11LoL.)
"I also wanted to let you know that CHOICES (Connecticut's program for Health insurance assistance, Outreach, Information and referral, Counseling, Eligibility Screening), the SHIP in Connecticut, also would, and could, have helped these Medicare beneficiaries with this problem.
"Call CHOICES at 1-800-994-9422."
Christine Tschummi, San Francisco
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