Hotels.com - IAN Travel Services Fradulent reservation + profile to the tune of $4,000! Internet

If you find a charge on your credit card statement from "IAN Travel Serves", know that it originated from Hotels.com, a company with incompetent "Customer Care" and one that appears to practice fraudulent charges.

I returned home after a personal trip and discovered a charge from IAN Travel Services while balancing my checkbook and updating my credit accounts. The charge was for $4,160.12. I would have remembered making such a large purchase, so I investigated with the credit card company and located a 1-800 number associated with the charge. When I called the number, I found out the charge had been made with Hotels.com, a company I have never worked with on the internet. I have never created an on-line profile (although I do have one with their sister company, Expedia) nor have I ever made a reservation through their system. I called my credit card company and reported the charge as fradulent and immediately closed my account.

I called Hotels.com "Customer Care" back, informed them of the fraudulent charge and was told my file would be forwarded to their internal fraud department. I learned that the charge was for 9 nights in a suite at a hotel in NYC, with the check in date of "today", interesting considering I was on a totally opposite coast. By the end of the day, after talking with 3 different operators, I discovered:

1) There is no internal fraud department and my "file" was never sent anywhere.
2) There is no "tech support" who can help reset passwords or remove online profiles.
3) All supervisors and managers happened to step into a meeting every single time I called.
4) No one had the authority to do anything nor did they have any other contact numbers I could call.
5) No one was authorized to call the hotel to inform them that the reservation was fraudulent and not to expect payment. I later called the hotel myself and informed them on what was going on. They said they couldn't cancel the reservation until they received the appropriate paperwork from Hotels.com.

The next day, I called "Customer Care" again and found myself speaking to someone who sounded like they had the ability to reason and communicate off-script. I received the number to the Corporate office (214-361-7311) and went through the process again. I learned that no one in the Corporate office had been informed of any fraud nor was there any notation in my profile (that I could not access due to my not creating the profile) that any fradulent charges were made on a reservation. After being passed on once again, I received a final call telling me that the reservation had been cancelled, although it was not their standard procedure to notify hotels of fraudulent reservations since hotels don't receive any payment until check-in. I don't see the logic in this, especially considering the hotel was expecting a $4,000 reservation to check-in and would have appreciated the heads up that they would never see that money.

My issues have been resolved thus far. My main complaint lies with their so-called Customer Care. Be assured I will never use Hotels.com for any reservation, even if their advertised rates are half what I find elsewhere. I don't trust the company or their employees.

L
San Diego, California
U.S.A.