11.08.07

eLong Gets Its Act Together (almost)

Posted in Travel and Tourism at 13:19 by Mul

I received an email from eLong with the long overdue news that it will now accept foreign (i.e. non-Chinese) credit cards for payment without the need for a ridiculous payment authorization letter. For those not familiar with the aggravation, if one wanted to pay for a flight with a foreign credit card eLong required you to call them (or they would actually call you) with credit card details and follow that call with a fax or email attachment authorizing the payment that included your signature. Here’s an excerpt from their yet-to-be updated website FAQs:

“For credit card payments, an eLong agent will contact you to retrieve your credit card information by phone. Please note that we require you to fax or email a signed authorization form before we process payments from foreign-issued credit cards.”

Well, no longer. The complaints must have piled up – I certainly lodged mine when paying for tickets. The email announced that payment would be “Hassel Free from Now!”

Next job for eLong, a publicly-listed company: make sure to use spell check on English language e-mails.

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