Posts Tagged ‘ Expedia Settlement ’

Winner of Lowest Expedia.com Settlement Check Contest!

August 10th, 2010. By AbiK

Congratulations to Gabe from Virginia!

Gabe is the lucky winner of our “Who Has the Lowest Expedia Settlement Check?” Contest!

Our contest ended July 31, 2010—and with a settlement check of One Hundred Thirteen cents (it just sounds better than $1.13, no?), Gabe takes the prize.*

(*yes, we did have a lower check amount, but the person who had it, while gleeful about winning, declined to receive the prize.)

No, his settlement amount won’t buy him that dream vacation—booked, of course, at Expedia.com—but now Gabe can head over to the local dollar store, find one item to purchase, and pay for it—Virginia state sales tax included—and still have 8¢ left over! If I may be so bold, I’d like to suggest the large Popcorn Tub from Dollar Tree (assuming they’re in VA) at right—it’ll help create the perfect ambiance for Gabe as he’s enjoying his prize for being our lucky winner…

The Prize…

A 4-DVD set of the Greatest Whistleblower Movies of All-Time (according to us) including Serpico, Silkwood, The Insider, and Erin Brockovich.

So Congratulations to Gabe—we hope you enjoy a few good ‘movie nights’ on us!

And for the rest of you…stay tuned—you never know when you might just be a lucky winner in one of our contests…

Tags: Expedia Settlement, Expedia.com, Whistleblower
Posted in Contest, Settlement | No Comments »

Contest: Who has the Lowest Expedia Settlement Check?

June 29th, 2010. By AbiK

Come on—if it’s you, there’s a 4-DVD set of the Best Whistleblower Movies of All-time awaiting you (hey, we are a legal news site, so no spend-a-day-at-a-spa giveaways…)—it’s Serpico, Silkwood, The Insider, and Erin Brockovich.

We posted recently on the Expedia settlement and my (slight) dismay over my 56¢ settlement check. So far, one reader had commented that his check was for $1.13. But then Steve wrote in—his is 39¢. So I’m thinking, someone out there must be holding a check for a few mere pennies.

Here’s how to play:

Go to our Facebook page—LawyersAndSettlements.com—and post the amount of your check along with a full frontal (no nudity please) image of the check you received. It has to be made out to you, of course, and we have to be able to read it, and, it has to be from “In re Expedia Hotel Taxes and Fees Litigation Settlement”.

Contest will run till July 31, 2010. Prize will be sent out during the first week of August, 2010. Should there be a tie for lowest settlement check amount, the entry (i.e., post) that is received earliest will be the winner.

Game on! Spread the word—someone out there has that winning check…

Tags: Expedia Settlement
Posted in Settlement | No Comments »

WTF?!? Just Got my Expedia Settlement Check

June 22nd, 2010. By AbiK

Given where I work, you realize I tend to lean on the side of reasonable litigation where consumer wrongs are concerned. Key word: reasonable. But I, like you, am susceptible to feelings of profound absurdity when I receive a settlement check in the mail for fifty-six cents. As I just did, from the Expedia settlement. I also received a plea to “Act now!” from Go Daddy Girl Danica Patrick that also borders on the absurd (did Danica major in Computer Science in college? did I miss that?)—but that’s perhaps for another post sometime.

So.

56¢.

2 quarters, a nickel and a penny.

And I love the added insult on the check (above) where the amount is spelled out: “Zero Dollars…” Oh sure—I realize it’s protocol. But it taunts me. It’s as if it’s Expedia’s snidely sly way of delivering a “Take that, you claimant!”

Take it I will.

Mere pittance though it is, I do realize the settlement was only applicable to hotel reservations. Not flights. And I’ve booked way more flights via Expedia than hotel stays. Those of you who know me know that I kind of have an “in” on the hotel front, so why go through some middle man?

Still, 56¢ is not worth the gas to go to the ATM to deposit the check.

It is also not worth my time to do so.

And, it was not worth the postage and processing it probably took to send it to me.

So why am I going to go to the bank and schlep up to the ATM to deposit it?

Because, much like the classic MasterCard ads—the ones that end with a statement about something being “priceless”, this is in its own way, priceless. It’s not about the money. It’s about calling someone on the carpet for a wrongdoing—in this case, bilking travellers by bundling fees.

So off I go. Just do me a favor—if I ever get to the point where I’m defending a lawsuit brought about by attorney Alfred Rava—who’s apparently big on the concept of suing on “principle” (and who surprisingly hasn’t been in the news as of late)—please feel free to call me on the carpet.

Tags: Expedia, Expedia Settlement
Posted in Emerging Issues, Settlement | 8 Comments »