Expedia

Easy, fast and no issues

I've been booking with Expedia.com for the last 10 years and I've never had any issues. I book 3-5 trips per year for work and vacation including flights, hotels and rental cars.

The website itself is easy to use and pretty easy to figure out even though they have changed a number of things both when shopping for flights and hotels in recent years. I also like the option of booking packages. I generally do my homework on which flights I want, then which hotel I want. I find using TripAdvisor or searching for reviews on hotels with Expedia is helpful. If there aren't alot of reviews, I can also go to the hotel website and look for more details but I always end up back at Expedia because it's easier to book all my stuff together than having 2-3-4 seperate travel confirmations.

I've had a few experiences with customer support and while yes, they do have call centers in the Philippines, the agents have always been friendly and have done their best to assist me when I needed to change plans or had a question. I'd imagine people posting about how horrible customer service is, haven't used Verizon, or delt with a company who has NO phone support. It can be much much worse.

Overall - no issues with Expedia, I'll continue to use them exclusively and I look forward to seeing how they continue to improve on their website.

Suzanne Matanich found this review useful

Pure Voice

Ok Ventrilo, TS and Mumble Services.. billing is horrible!

I've used Pure-Voice VOIP services for over 2 years as a host for my Ventrilo service for an online gaming community.

My group actually has the resources to host a TeamSpeak Server but we went with Pure-Voice initially because the hosting service and its servers were more reliable.

It seems that over the last year, their billing department has deteriorated significantly. I've had 2 different instances where no invoice was issued to my account, no email reminder about payment was sent to the email address on file and even their online tools didn't show a past due payment. Within 2 days of the payment being past due, my service was shut off without warning. Their customer support via the phone is non-existant, even with a phone number provided, it goes to voice mail every time. I have to submit a ticket and wait for a response via their ticket system.

To their credit, they did resolve the issue within 24 hours but that is 24 hours, without warning and without service that 50 people rely on to communicate (during peek hours from 2pm-10pm PT).

In addition to the above issues with invoicing I also experienced an issue where my payment schedule was automatically changed from Monthly to Yearly without my knowledge. They tried to charge my account $240 for a year when my monthly payment was $20 and the account I was using for this service DIDNT HAVE $240 in it. This caused not only our service to be shut down, but an overdraft charge to the account. Again, this took another 24 hours to resolve and I didn't end up getting money back for the overdraft charges but did get my service restored.. in addition to a one month credit.

Anyway... we are planning on switching over to a TeamSpeak and have recently been using Skype as a means of communication instead. I've got to say that even if the voice codex is a bit more funky, the service and the fact that I'm paying nothing for TS is MUCH easier to deal with.

Ebay

Great prices, awesome deals but be careful who you buy from

I've found some great deals on Ebay and I've found some serious duds but it all depends on who you are buying from and what you are buying.

I'd stay away from everyday household items - the time it takes to get the item and the effort of sending payments and communicating with sellers may not be worth the few cents you will save.

In addition, pay attention to who you are buying from. Someone with only a few purchases or sales might not be as trustworthy as a highly rated seller.

One thing I don't really like about Ebay is that it is becoming more mainstream for larger companies to post auctions and the pricing seems to be sketchy. I understand that Ebay wants to attract businesses because that is where they make good money.. but it gets old trying to sift through 200 posted auctions from mainstream companies to find the one awesome deal.

Anyway, I give Ebay a 4/5 stars. Great place to shop but buyer beware and do your homework on the seller.

Mette found this review useful

Netflix

Same old Content... over and over

I've been a netflix subscriber until recently and I've found that the selection has become stale in the past year or so.

Some of the newer streaming sites have managed to get current network TV content, mainstream movies and also manage to get new releases much more quickly. Unfortunately that is not the case with Netflix. If I want a new movie, I have to put it on my list to have it sent to me... I can't stream it. '

In addition, streaming on Netflix has been choppy recently. Many times, I've been disconnected from the service mid movie and had to restart. You might think be tempted to say "Check your Internet Connection".. but I've not had issues with other streaming services such as Hulu, Voodoo or internet streaming on my computer and Smart TV.

Overall, I give it a 3 - because there are some shows I do enjoy such as a good 10 hour marathon session of law and order... but outside of older shows, there isn't much available.

I hope this review helps Netflix get a better sense of what customers are looking for. The concept is good.. but without current and requested content... it's just a good concept gone wrong.

Bjarke Nielsenand Judy found this review useful