
Priceline Reviews
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Priceline provides travel booking services. The site allows users to book flights, hotels, rental cars and vacation packages. Utilizing a Name Your Own Price tool, Priceline offers discounted travel options and express deals, facilitating budget-friendly travel planning since 1997.
Visit www.priceline.com- User-friendly booking process
- Affordable pricing options
- Quick refund process
- Poor communication from support
- Hidden fees and charges
- Inconsistent pricing guarantees
Priceline Reviews
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Reviewed May 19, 2010
I am an Australian based in Canberra. My complaint concerns the US-based travel internet website called Priceline.com, which auctions off spare capacity in hotel rooms etc. and claims to offer deep discounts. In return, one ticks a box on their website accepting their conditions, no refunds, no cancellations and immediate debiting of one's credit card if a bid on a hotel is accepted by Priceline.com. On 13 June 2010, I bid for a three-star hotel in the St Germain-Montparnasse area of Paris, France. The Priceline.com website stated the average rate of a three-star hotel in the area was US$341 a night (I have printed out a copy of the website claim so I can prove this). Priceline.com also described the area I selected (St Germain-Montparnasse) as a cafe-filled area with parks and tourist attractions). I bid US$150 for a room for six nights and my bid was immediately accepted. The company immediately debited my credit card for US$900.
What I had "won", with no right of cancellation or refund, was a room in the Novotel Paris Gare Montparnasse. A hotel in a seedy industrial part of Montparnasse right on the very border of the area as shown on the Priceline.com map (again, I have printed out a copy of Priceline.com's map and their misleading description of the St Germain-Montparnasse area so I have printed and dated proof of Priceline.com's duplicity). The hotel backs onto a huge network of railway lines ("gare" is French for railway station) and is surrounded by public utilities and hospitals, far from tourist attractions and cafe-filled streets. Not only that, even a cursory trawling of the internet for prices on a three-star room in St Germain-Montparnasse shows that the average price of a room is not US$341 as Priceline.com claimed, but about US$100. Not only that, far from getting a deep discount, the Novotel Paris Gare Montparnasse's online website was offering rooms for US$162 at the time I was bidding so I received a discount of just $12!
My complaints have met with repetitious pro forma responses stating no refunds, no cancellations and that the hotel I "won" met all the conditions I specified - i.e. a three-star hotel in St Germain-Montparnasse. The matter now rests with my credit card company who are disputing the charge on my behalf. I have also included in the documentation sent to my credit card company a letter from my solicitor supporting my claims.
Reviewed May 19, 2010
On April 3, 2010, I booked three nights from May 20, 2010 to May 23, 2010 at the Wynn Las Vegas, as well as a flight for my brother from Boston. That same day I received confirmation of my flight and hotel. Today, I was called by Priceline and informed that the Wynn Hotel was overbooked, and that I would have to move to the Trump Hotel. I told the representative not to move me yet, and that I would call back after calling the Wynn. The Wynn informed me that the hotel was not overbooked, but that a Priceline had overbooked their committed block of rooms, and that they had decided to bump me for reasons they were not privy to. I called back Priceline and they informed me that they had already moved me to the Trump (without my consent) and that cancelling the hotel portion of my trip would result in a $363.72 refund, less a $75 cancellation fee. Aside from the fact that Priceline was charging a cancellation fee (which seemed absurd under the circumstances), despite initially billing me $465.57 for the hotel stay, Priceline was only willing to refund a portion of that amount. But more to the point, Priceline waited to contact me until hours before my ability to cancel the reservation was out, giving me an impractically short time (I work) to research alternative arrangements, and certainly well after securing alternative arrangements would have been a cost-effective alternative.
Moreover, when I called the Wynn, they informed me that this was not the first Priceline related call they have received, and noted that Priceline secures a block of rooms at a discounted rate, and that Priceline in this event had overbooked their committed amount. In that event, Priceline would have to pay extra to give me the package I purchased. By moving me to the Trump, an off-strip hotel that charges significantly lower rates without giving me a discount, Priceline is able to pocket the difference in rate.
I also believe their presentation was misleading. While they claimed they had an ability to move me, I received an email confirmation of my hotel room, and was charged for the room. The company led me to believe I had purchased a confirmed stay. If they had accidentally overbooked when I purchased, I should have been moved at that point. By waiting to the last minute to move me, I believe I have been victimized by a 2-bit bait and switch tactic. I intend to sue the company, and would be more than happy to serve as a lead plaintiff on a suit, or join another suit. Thank you.
Reviewed May 17, 2010
I called in customer relations to change the date of my theme park ticket. Customer care told me they have to cancel it and issue me the refund and the refund should be in my account on May 12th 2010. I never got to refund. I called back on May 17 to see what was going on with the refund and they said it was never processed. And they don’t want to help me in any way. They kept on tell me they will cancel it and I’m leaving for the trip on May 21th. So basically they have messed up my entire vacations plan. I lost $200 dollars and mental stress.
Reviewed May 14, 2010
This was my third time using Priceline, bidding for a hotel; and I never had a problem. I was booking a hotel for San Francisco, and I specifically wanted a hotel at Fisherman's Wharf, so I clicked on that box only. I ended up with a hotel at the San Francisco airport which is miles away. I am doing a marathon in the morning, and there is no way I will rent a car now or drive an hour to get into town. My credit card company is helping me deal with this now.
Reviewed May 13, 2010
My wife and I booked tickets online on Sunday, May 9, 2010 for $410 each for a flight going from Greenville,SC to Detriot, MI. On Wed. morning, I checked Priceline for the same tickets and found that they offered the same tickets for $284 each. I contacted them since the three day cancel fee for South Carolina had not ended. Priceline emailed back and said that the credit for the difference had been denied. I am very displeased with Priceline and will never use their services again and make sure no other person will deal with them.
Reviewed May 13, 2010
When I received my Amex statement, I was charged an additional $66. I was told that priceline can charge the consumer a user fee for using an online booking service. This additional charge is not disclosed in the TV advertisements nor is it disclosed on hotel site or within the content of confirmation of the room rate. Upon researching the priceline web site, if one were to scroll completely down to very bottom of the web page, in pale lettering is a disclaimer.
When a business traveler is booking a room and when they receive a rate confirmation, they would not think to look for hidden fees. Any additional fees should be clearly posted alongside the room rate. But then perhaps the consumer would just book a room directly through the hotel.This is a very devious business practice that takes unfair advantage of the consumer and after the user fees are charged, no one is interested in helping the consumer.
These mysterious user fees which vary greatly on my Amex statements should be clearly posted in bold print on the websites for the various companies that advertise low hotel rates.
Reviewed May 12, 2010
Booked a hotel in NYC. Confirmed that the room needed to have two beds. Three adults where sharing the room. I called the hotel to confirm early on as well. Called the hotel again to confirm just a few days before the trip. They said they never got that request and that they only had rooms with one bed available. Priceline refused to do anything. I had to ask if they could help me with an upgrade or to call the hotel. I had to call the hotel back explain to them what Priceline did and they said they would do what they could, even if they bring in a cot. It was far more than what Priceline was willing to do. Don't use Priceline if you need more than one bed or have any specials needs. They won't be met. Be assured I will do whatever I can to avoid using Priceline and will tell others what poor service Priceline gives.
Reviewed May 12, 2010
I was trying to book a trip on Priceline.com for my daughters for Vegas. My debit card was refused and I was told to contact my bank to increase my daily spending limit. The trip cost was $1650 so I increased my limit to $2000 for the day to handle this deal. When I tried again to purchase the package, it again refused my card. When I called the bank, they informed me that Priceline had put a hold on my account three times for amounts totaling $1450. So my card was automatically over the daily limit before I even tried to book. When I called, I got the runaround and was not given any straight answer to my problem. They told me that was their policy and they could not do anything about it and they could not connect me with any supervisor above them. This is a very shady operation and I will not be dealing with them ever again.
Reviewed May 12, 2010
Booked some airline tickets. The airline changed the flights around two days after I made a booking and informed Priceline. Priceline never made any attempts to tell me my flight information had changed. I did not miss the plane but was at the airport 4 hours early, in addition to missing my train connection after arriving 7 hours later than I had booked the flight for. When I found out that my return would also have me missing my transportation from Jax to Gainsville, I requested a rental car and was told it was the airline’s fault (despite the fact the airline informed Priceline of the changes) and so I was left stranded twice. I travel frequently and have had problems before but they have always been easily resolved by the booking agency (Orbitz or Expedia usually), especially when the fault was not mine.
Reviewed May 10, 2010
Priceline is only good for single bed rooms. All hotels I contacted confirmed that they are only securing you a room with one bed but Priceline says, "Contact your hotel to make request for double beds /smoking/ non smoking rooms." They will not refund or change reservations--and this is 30 days in advance.
Reviewed May 9, 2010
I heard from a client that Priceline was the best price. Can get great rates, so while looking online, I decided to checkout priceline.com. I completed the required information before getting a price and bid. Understanding the terms and conditions of nonrefundable once purchased. I placed several low bids that were declined and continued with my bid to see how high the rate would be...thinking at the end of the bid I would have a choice to accept or decline the bid offer of the hotel they selected for me. Well, this is not the case. I immediately sent an email to customer service advising them my understanding of their process and to please cancel the booking due to my error. I called customer service as well and they of course have a script they use and will not make any concession. Basically, I get what I committed too.
Well, I checked the hotel they selected for me online to find they offer an advance purchase price for $30 per night less than what priceline.com offered and they allow you 24 hours to cancel before committing to a nonrefundable purchase which is what I advised priceline.com customer service. Just so you know, my dates are 4 months away in September 9-12 2010 for the hotel. Today, May 09, 2010, I went to see the hotel they choose for me. It is aged and in need of renovations. I checked out the room category including a king and 2 dblb rooms. The whole property is in need of renovations and should not be considered a 3 star property at this point. It is the Marriott Marina del Ray, CA...not worth $200 per night that priceline.com confirmed for me. Not even the $169 per night rate the hotel offers on their website for advance purchase.
By the way, I called priceline.com to advise the twice that I found a lower rate online and they did not offer to lower my price and they have a Best-Price-Guarantee. I emailed them within 24 hours of my confirmed reservation asking them to change my price to the lower rate, so they had to honor it. Now unfortunately it looks like I am stuck with this reservation at a hotel that is run-down. Buyer beware! This priceline.com is a scam and they only want your money and do not stand behind anything. I recommend all consumers to complain and demand an option to be added to allow consumers to accept or decline the final bid submitted. I am a very unhappy consumer having been taken by priceline.com the very first time I used it. Yes, I admit I made a terrible mistake and I hope others are very cautious or better yet. Do not use priceline.com for anything!
Immediately charged full amount of bid without opportunity to accept or decline the bid offer. This should be allowed when you do not know what you are buying. I went to see this property today (5/09/10) and viewed the worn shabby rooms (#433 - double room and #437 - king room) as well as public spaces. The hotel is not a 3 star, but a 2 star in it's present condition. I did not get what I paid for and I want a full refund.
Reviewed May 9, 2010
I bid on a 2 star hotel in Spokane, WA and was awarded one. I then read reviews on the hotel and 7 of 8 were negative, including one person who complained of blood on the bathroom wall. I immediately emailed and then called Priceline and asked to be allowed to have another hotel awarded and they said no, we have it rated 2 star and you got a 2 star hotel. I explained about the reviews and that maybe they don't want to have it rated 2 star and maybe want to not allow them to award rooms, but they refused to listen. Customer Service that cares about their customer? Nope, just a bunch of customer service in Bombay, India who couldn't care less. Stay away from Priceline!
Reviewed May 4, 2010
I booked a flight to Hawaii on March 29th, 2010 which totaled to $1005.20. In a matter of three days of booking a flight, my account was overdrawn and I could not contact a resourceful person to give me the answers that I needed to hear about my refund. I was not aware that my account would go negative due to the double deductions ($2010.40) that was made to my checking account during this time period. When I called for a refund, the process went smoothly, but when I called back the representative to get clarifications on the missing money from my account, I was on the phone for over 30+ minutes, transferred from rep to rep with no solution. I am dissatisfied at the lack of information regarding the credit charges, and the inconvenience of my money being overdrawn for 3+ days, due to the company's lack of giving information to its customers about the procedures in charges.
Reviewed May 4, 2010
I booked a hotel room for one day with Priceline.com on February 16, 2010 for April 17, 2010. I purchased additional insurance for this reservation. The total amount for this is $145.33. A few days before, I needed to cancel and Priceline denied any refund. I lost $145.33.
Reviewed May 3, 2010
I just wanted you to know how disappointed I am with Priceline. As a long term customer (former-customer) I expected, better more competent service from Priceline. I was unaware that the hotel policy was to have a page that denies your bid, but then still processes your "request" without a personal confirmation or agreement. After receiving a price bid denied, I booked a different hotel through Priceline. I did not receive an email about the first hotel that had been booked by Priceline without my knowledge.
So only on the morning of my vacation did I figure out that I had two hotels booked with Priceline. Upon this knowledge, I contacted Priceline customer service. The representatives were very unhelpful and came up with poor reasoning for not helping me. One reason I was told they would not refund me because the hotels were not in the same area even though the hotels were only 2 miles apart from each other. I was given the run around about the multitude of reasons of why they were not doing anything to help me out by these incompetent, not attentive representatives. So I grimly accepted that they were not going to do anything for the two hotels that were booked through them for the exact same city, exact same time, only one of which I booked. I asked what they were going to do to keep me as a customer, and I was literally told they were going to do nothing, and made it clear that they didn't care. I would have been happy with a small voucher or anything. I am so disturbed by this, I will never use Priceline again, and I will do everything in my power to make sure everybody else knows about my story and chooses not to use Priceline either.
I feel very violated that I was charged for a hotel room which I never personally confirmed and did not, until last minute know that I had already been charged for 300$ for two nights stay which I obviously did not use, since I had another hotel I paid for too.
Reviewed April 23, 2010
I booked a trip to Palm Springs on Priceline. This included a rental car. When I started looking at the e-mails from Priceline confirming, I saw the rental car was at another airport 120 miles away. When I tried to get Priceline to make it right, I was told they could not cancel. The person was extremely rude and told me this happens all the time in their system but there was nothing she could do. I hate Priceline's service. You notice I never called it customer service. Just crappy service. I called Avis, and they really wanted to help, but the money had already been paid to Priceline.
Reviewed April 21, 2010
I rent trough Priceline and at the moment of transaction, they charged me for an insurance. When I picked the car up, they charged me a lot more because Thrifty told me that the previous insurance was not valid so I was charged twice. Pretty cool, huh?
Reviewed April 20, 2010
Priceline.com failed in so many ways to qualify as a quality legitimate business. They equal nothing more than a scam. I created a reservation using priceline.com. The system put me in a hotel 20 miles away from the city. I wanted to be in Orland Park. I was stuck in this place without being able to review the location, priceline.com Hotel Confirmation for Matteson, IL - Apr 15, 2010 (Itinerary #**). I noticed that I had it for 3 days only need it for 2 nights, also, this just after creating the reservation. I tried to opened the reservation up and change it to 2 nights, the Priceline.com system created another reservation. Now, I have (2) reservations created that I don't want.
I called immediately the hotel and asked to have these cancelled. The response was they cannot change anything that Priceline.com creates; only they can change reservations they create. I called Priceline.com and reviewed the situation. They said, tough luck they can't cancel anything. No they won’t cancel anything. I said, “It’s a mistake I can’t have 2 rooms at the same time, same place for 1 person. Cancel one, please.”
Priceline.com for 20 minutes told me they would not cancel or refund me one of the reservations stated above. Transferred me to supposed supervisor and began the same offensive noncustomer-friendly brass denial of customer satisfaction, stating no cancellation or refund. I again stated I only needed the room for two nights and would accept the priceline.com Hotel Confirmation for Matteson, IL - Apr 15, 2010 (Itinerary #**) for 2 nights.
This is where it gets better. I drive 5 hours from Detroit to the above hotel reservation with my 2 sons, Arrive at the hotel, I am asked at the front desk, "Can I help you"? I say yes have reservations for Saunders, Travis they reply both reservations are cancelled. I said, “No, the 2 nights one should be good.” Long story short, I have the Front desk at La Quinta Inn print the screens for proof that they were cancelled. I asked if they might have made a mistake and cancelled them, La Qunita stated they can't modify and reservations that Priceline.com made. Only Priceline.com can cancel reservations.
So now I have paid Priceline.com for a reservation drove 5 hours to find out they cancelled my room, taking my money and leaving me without a room. I called Priceline and was on the phone with them for over an hour. On one call, I made 4 calls trying to get this resolved with a refund. I was transferred 4 times to different Customer reps and Hotel liaisons.
All stating that there was no way they could have made the mistake and continued to place me on hold every 5 minutes to verify supposed data. I told them, “You do not get to hold me hostage on the phone while you figure out whom or why your system failed, apply a credit to me and figure it out on your own time.” They were asking questions like the names of the ladies working at La Qunita when I checked in and everything to wear me down and get me to hang up.
I was spoken to rudely and without and respect or concern to make me the customer feel valued or even acknowledge that they took my money and left me without lodging. I would like all of the money put back on my debit card, $229.64. The priceline.com system is fraudulent and the Customer service is the worst ever, designed to wear you down and get you to walk away.
Reviewed April 20, 2010
On 3-11-10, I went to Priceline and ordered a Flight to San Antonio TX, a hotel and car for my son’s graduation from the Air Force on 4-24-10. The price was $1,011 for my wife, daughter and me (request# 686-520-881-01). I assumed everything was set. Something told me to call the day before we were supposed to go, just to make sure. When I called, I was told my reservations were rejected.
(1) flight was cancelled,
(2) the price on the hotel was wrong and should have been removed from the website but wasn’t and
(3) they were having problems with their system. I was never, ever notified by e-mail, phone, nor letter that our reservations were cancelled.
I had to negotiate over the phone a new package. We ended up getting just the flight, hotel and no car for $1,599.78, just about $600.00 more with no car. I was basically told take it or leave it. Seeing we were leaving the next day, I never had the chance to go to another website e.g. Expedia, etc. to look for a better deal. When we got home, I immediately called to at least get the difference back, and was told sorry, nothing we can do. That’s all I want, the difference between the two packages.
I have been out of work with an injury, with no pay yet. My mother agreed to let us use her credit card, to purchase the trip. I had 1,000 dollars set aside for this but no more. I have to come up with the $600.00 soon to pay my mother back. I have a daughter in the Marines who is in a war-zone, plus the shortage on money due to getting hurt at work, and then finding out our trip was basically cancelled the day before we were supposed to leave without being notified, caused a huge stress on my wife and myself. What should have been a once in a lifetime trip/experience, my wife and I never have gone on a vacation, and we have been married since 1986, turned out to be a very stressed filled trip. We had to put on the happy face for my son and daughter, but they knew something was up. I really hope you can help.
Reviewed April 19, 2010
Someone fraudulently made a Priceline reservation using my account. When I realized this, I immediately called and Priceline customer service was no service at all. They refused to listen. When I asked to speak with a manager, I was denied! I was only able to get an address to write a complaint, but was adamantly denied to speak with anyone higher than the rep! This tells me management is fearful of consumers and passes the buck to the lowest level who is most likely not paid enough!
Reviewed April 14, 2010
I reserved a room through priceline and paid an extra 10 dollars for a king size bed. When I arrived at the hotel, they gave me my room key. When I got to the room there were two double beds. I went to the front and asked why and they informed me that it was the same price as my king size, but they did not have anything else available, maybe tomorrow. When I called priceline, after forty minutes and two accidental hang ups on their end, they let me cancel my other two days without a cancellation fee, but still charged me full price for the room that was initially supposed to be 10 dollars cheaper. As a result, I ended up finding another place to stay, had to change places and still had to pay full price for a reservation that was not what I reserved. This is horrible customer service!
Reviewed April 14, 2010
I placed a bid for a hotel for 3 nights in New York City. I bid on a 2 star hotel, which is promised to be "brand name", "known for comfort and quality", a "quality" hotel, etc. I "won" the Marrakech Hotel, which I later discovered had hundreds of complaints listed at tripadvisor.com including bedbugs, rats, roaches, etc., which the Management of the hotel responded to on that website, in writing, that those problems were true.
I complained by phone, they refused to do anything to me. They have given me a substandard hostel, rather than a 2 star hotel. They charged me $412.74 for 3 nights, which is still unresolved.
Reviewed April 13, 2010
I booked flights for my husband and myself to Missouri using Priceline. I realized that my husband would not have finished his business before the departing flight time that Priceline assigned to us. I appealed to them to please alter the time and they said that it was against their policy. This was on 03-19-10. Today is 04-13-10 and I decided to call Priceline.com to appeal to them after my husband confirmed that he will not be able to use that travel schedule. I requested that Priceline should replace my husband's name with my daughter's name. Their customer service kept me on the line forever.
At the end, Elizabeth told me that they cannot transfer the ticket. I asked to be transferred to Customer Relations and again appealed to them that if I am not able to travel with my husband because of the time that Priceline.com imposed on us for departure, they should allow my daughter to use the ticket, so it will not be wasted. Again after a very long time, Max quoted their laws which he said were that the name cannot be changed, the ticket cannot be transferred, and the money cannot be refunded. As a result, my daughter cannot use the ticket, neither can my husband. Unfortunately, I will also not be able to use the ticket not that they are compelling me to travel alone. I travel with people because I cannot travel alone. I explained this to them but they refused to have mercy but only quoted more laws.
This situation has caused me serious emotional trauma. Not only for the money which I don't have but also the aticipation of being forced to travel by myself. The money we have paid-$403.48 is wasted and I will have to incur additional cost to purchase another sets of ticket for my daughter and myself. This is going to cost me not less than $1000.00.
Reviewed April 13, 2010
I called to get a refund on a cruise booked on my behalf that I never approved of. My 10 year old stepdaughter took my credit card and booked my wife and I on a cruise out of New York as a "gift" for my wife's birthday. I was extremely mad and tried my best to get that week off from work knowing no matter what, I would have a hard time reversing this. I couldn't get off at all and my cruise was booked 24 days from now. I called Priceline and explained the situation. They said they would give me half of my money back. I also called my bank to issue a fraudulent charge on my card.
When I called Priceline back, they cancelled my cruise but stated I will only get 25 percent of my money back now. How is that possible? I just called them 30 minutes prior and was told I would get $800 back and it was now dropped to $400ish. I was angry and the woman just said, "Sorry, well, your bank will give you the money back." That's not the point. The point is that Priceline told me 50% in case I don't get a reversal from my bank and then dropped it to 25%. Is this legal?
Reviewed April 13, 2010
Booked a quick stay through Illinois with Priceline on return trip home. Picked negotiator and got Holiday Inn of Urbana. Unloaded car and elderly mother in law into room and came back to find exhaust fan in room had filled room with smoke. They immediately moved us to room 2 doors down the hall. Lucky we brought a fan because air conditioning would not work and room wad 86 degrees. Went to desk to see if they could fix it and they said we should not have touched the control, and we had not touched it.
They would not move us. The ad advertised continental breakfast and when we checked in, she said we would have to use the pay restaurant. In the morning when I went to talk to someone new about bad experience the maintenance man was standing at the counter and knew nothing about the fan problem or the air conditioning and again said we should have not touched it. "People shouldn't touch things they don't know about," was his comment. They made no effort to even say they were sorry, we did not have a pleasant stay. We will never stay there again and I will be sure to tell people to not stay there. It was disappointing that such a chain would treat a customer like that no matter if they used Priceline or not. Moving my mother in law after settling in with all the luggage at a 4 star hotel was upsetting to her and having to worry about breakfast when we thought it would be there was difficult for a diabetic.
Reviewed April 10, 2010
I booked a hotel and rental car through the Name your Own Price Feature on Priceline.com. Beware! I had to change the dates, and the company would not allow it - not even for a fee. I had to pay the entire hotel bill for 3 days and the entire rental car bill for 4 days. I was both disappointed and shocked at the level of customer service and policy. I was going to rebook the same hotel and rental car for the following week and there was not even any consideration for that. Oh, yes, they did offer me a $50 voucher for any future travel - big whoop. I was paying out over $600 for a trip I was not even making. I am out $600 for a trip I cannot even take.
Reviewed April 8, 2010
I booked a hotel room through Priceline's "mname your price," and they gave me the Hilton Anatole in Dallas from 4/1/10 to 4/3/10. Because of major delays at LAX airport, I missed my flight to Dallas and was put on standby (which I didn't make either). I called the hotel from the airport to let them know that I probably would not make it to the hotel on 4/1. I told them I did not want a refund, but I wanted to change the reservation to 4/2/10 to 4/4/10.
They refused and told me any changes would need to be made by Priceline. Priceline told me that the hotel should have held the room over to the next day. Neither party would accommodate me, so I lost out on my money for a one night's stay. I even asked if the hotel would honor the Priceline rate, if I stayed another night. But they refused.
Isn't it good customer service to make sure your customers are accommodated in a situation that they could not avoid? Both Priceline and Hilton should be ashamed of their selves for "stealing" customers money like that. There should always be some kind of concession for customers in these conditions. Is there anything that I can do to either get a refund or a credit? I would prefer a refund, because I do not want to do business with either of them again.
Reviewed April 6, 2010
My son wanted to rent a car so he got on line with Priceline (don't know why) and used mt credit card and reserved a car at Avis they closed at 6.00pm and we got there 5 minutes before they closed. The lady was rude and and after saying some thing to her she said we could go some where else,Price line charged me $44.00, they say it's some kind of ins and will not refund the money. Moral is don't go through Priceline, they are charging you for no service. Beware! I lost $44.00 and got nothing in return. They give you nothing for your money.
Reviewed April 6, 2010
I booked three rooms in a hotel and needed to cancel one of them due to a change in our travel companions. I requested for a transfer of the room to the same Hotel the night prior in a nearby city. To my surprise, once you book a room through Priceline, you cannot make any changes whatsoever. That includes your guests. Each room you book, they require you to preregister the under the name of the person who will be staying in the room. But they do not tell you that you can't change the name to someone else for any reason.
This is the worst customer service I've seen in the hotel industry and I would recommend looking elsewhere to find a good deal on a room. People who do business this way do not deserve your business. You never know what might happen, so why put up with businesses like this when you don't have to? Buy the way, they charge you in full in advance. I've learned the hard way don't make that mistake. Priceline is a scam.
Reviewed April 3, 2010
In January 2010, I booked two trips on Priceline. First trip was from Indianapolis to Orlando for Feb 13-16, then we left Orlando to fly to the Bahamas on Feb 16-22. All was good. Then 2 weeks later, I got an invitation through my email to add a rental car. Since I had considered getting a rental while in Orlando, I clicked on the link to see what the cost would be. Unfortunately, Priceline only allowed me to rent from the 2-13 through 2-22 since it did not recognize that I would be leaving the country in the middle of the trip. Since I did not have the option, for just the first few days of my trip, I cancelled out. Or at least I attempted to cancel out.
As soon as I exited, I received a confirmation of my car rental and you guessed it, for 9 days when I was not even in the country 6 of those days. I immediately called Priceline to explain, this was an error. In addition, I explained I had not even given a Credit Card number so how could they charge me. I was told they billed the rental car to the same card I used weeks earlier to book the flight. This was done without my permission. I complained. This was fraud and got the same song and dance that everyone else does with Priceline. No cancellations, no exceptions, no consideration, there was a computer error, no working with the customer, no satisfaction and no concern for the consumer!
It gets better, I then called my credit card company "Master Card" and explained what had happened and asked that since I have fraud insurance and satisfaction guaranteed on all purchases, I wanted to request them to not pay Priceline and refund my money. I was told no problem because I had called before the charge even came through and they would just block the charge. I subsequently spoke to not just 1 person but 3 customer service reps, who told me not to worry about this and that MC would take care of it.
I went on my trip and rented a car for the 4 days I was in Orlando from another reputable business. Then I got the MC bill and there it was, the charge of $465.00. I am now being told. The 3 Reps should not have told me this and they can not refund my money because Priceline refused to refund them. However, the car rental company never billed Priceline because I checked. If I had been aware I was stuck with this reservation, I would have sucked it up and took the darn car for at least the 4 days and tried to put some of the $465 charge to good use.
Instead I rented from another car rental and paid another $300. Needless to say, we are cancelling our MC and I will never use Priceline again or probably any other internet travel discount company. Forget the poor customer service part of this deal, but it just does not seem like this should be legal to add charges to one's card without permission. $465.00 pain and suffering due to the fear that now, Priceline has my charge card number. They can continue to add trips, rentals and anything else they want to on it. Another reason to cancel my MC.
Reviewed April 2, 2010
i entered a bid for a rental car in Pheonix, Arizona and my bid was accepted. Reservation was put in my husband's name because we were using his credit card. A week before we were to leave on vacation, my husband was deployed with FEMA to the mid-west which meant he could not go with us on vacation. I called Priceline to ask if we could change the name of the reservation to me because I was the one who would be picking up the car at the airport. They would not allow me to do so even though I was listed as an additional driver on the reservation.
They were very emphatic that my husband would have to be present with his license and credit card when the car was picked up. No exceptions to this rule, which means we are out over $300 and will have to pay for another car rental in my name. How can they continue to get away with their policies and no exceptions to them, life does happen! We are out $300+ and are going to have to pay over $400 for a new reservation that will not be with Priceline! We have paid for a rental car that we cannot have.
Reviewed April 2, 2010
I had reserved a room at a hotel for the 27th of March 2010. I reserved 2 weeks ago. The hotel I reserved was supposed to have a pool. When we arrived at the hotel, there was no pool and the desk guy starts cussing at me like I just robbed a 7-11, if you know what I mean. He goes on to state how they told Priceline they had no pool 5 months ago and said he would refund my reservation to Priceline but I would have to call them to get my refund. So I did, while standing in this hotel. They act like I’m lying to her. She puts me on hold and calls the hotel.
So then the hotel clerk/manager or whatever he was starts cursing at her. Tells her I’m standing right in front of him and that they don’t have a pool and he is refunding the reservation ok she gets back on the phone with me says they will refund my money minus a 10 dollar fee for me cancelling within 48hrs of reservation. On a hotel that was supposed to have a pool and didn’t. I should be my fault for their false advertising and am still waiting on my refund. I asked to speak to her supervisor.
She said there was no one higher up and so I ask her name, she replied Mary. I replied, “Mary what?” She said her last name I need not know but it would all be in the report and the she hung up on me. I was speechless. I will never do business with Priceline again. I will be contacting the BBB if they are listed and will trash talk and discourage anyone I ever hear mention them.
Reviewed March 28, 2010
We decided a last minute trip to Seattle on March 24th. The evening before, we were searching websites for hotel rooms and Priceline.com was one of our stops. We were checking prices for a 3 night stay but didn't like the prices so we backed out of the website, as Priceline tells you to if you don't want to confirm the purchase. The next day, however, we were charged $355 for a 3 night stay. We contact Priceline but they refused to refund the fraudulent charges.
Is there anything we can do to get our money back? I see there are a massive amount of complaints online dating back as far as 2003 stating the same problem with Priceline. Is there any way to get the government to track down on these guys? Seven years of fraudulently charging people's credit cards seems an awful long time. We had already paid for a room through Orbitz (which is a great company) at a different hotel and stayed there. We never used the rooms that Priceline took from our card without permission. We really need to get the $355 back from Priceline, as we couldn't afford to pay that much in the first place, and now are not only out the $355 but paid for the rooms that we actually did confirm online.
Reviewed March 24, 2010
On March 24, 2010, I checked rental car prices for April 23-24 in Columbus, Ohio. Hotwire, Priceline, and CarRental offered a price of roughly $25.50 for rental and fees/taxes. I then opted to use Priceline's negotiator function, which is advertised as Best price and quality guaranteed.
With the negotiator function, one cannot choose a vendor and must commit to paying upfront. The Priceline negotiator produced a lower nominal rental fee matching my offer, but included a significantly high fee/tax amount. As a result of using the option that Priceline advertises as Best price and quality guaranteed, I paid over $29 for a rental car that I could have obtained for less than $26.
I immediately phoned Priceline to inquire, and was told by Joe that the best price guarantee did not apply. I was told that the itinerary was not identical because the negotiator option gave me a different rental car company, Alamo, than the three (Avis, Hertz & Budget) offering the $25 net price.
At best, this Priceline practice is highly misleading, and, in my view, deceptive. Without question, it is a mistake to use Pricelines negotiator service. It also yields Priceline and those who can so manipulate fees an unlimited ability to bilk the public.
Reviewed March 19, 2010
Priceline website/confirmation details listed "Free buses to all Heathrow, London terminals, 1 Queen bed, comfortable room with sitting area, marble bathroom". The hotel offered no free transportation; we had to pay equivalent to $25; hotel staff said we would need to take up the transportation issue with Priceline, as it was their website who offered this service, not the hotel's website; they have no deal with Priceline to include transportation.
In addition to this, we received 1 full size bed, not queen, it was lumpy and uncomfortable; the bathroom was not marble; our window view consisted of a brick wall some 6' away. Priceline return emails were rude, unprofessional; practically called us liars regarding room description, and said we would need to take up transportation reimbursement issue with the hotel, as they were not responsible.
One of the reasons for booking this hotel was because of the advertised free buses; we reluctantly dealt with room condition, as it was overnight stay in order to catch a few hours sleep before flights back to Denver. Priceline falsely advertised and the itinerary was not as listed. We have never been treated so badly by such immature, unprofessional, so-called customer service people. They are willing to tarnish their reputation for so very little. Needless to say we will never again use this company.
Reviewed March 18, 2010
I'd booked a trip to San Francisco and reserved/rented a car w/ Hertz through Priceline. My airline reservation with Southwest Airlines was cancelled and I've been issued a credit. I contacted Priceline, informed them I became ill and could not travel, that my airline gave me a credit for future use and I asked them for a credit, not a refund and that I knew their policy was no change, no refund. The customer service rep said they could not under any circumstance offer a credit so I asked to speak with a supervisor.
The supervisor said if I had called before the reservation should have been used, they may have had the option of offering a credit. They said Hertz charged them for the rental even though I never made it to SF. I told her I thought she was lying to me about Hertz charging them and that if they couldn't do anything to extend a future credit, I would no longer use priceline for anything. Just a warning to other consumers, I paid $58 to learn my lesson. Save your money by going direct.
Reviewed March 17, 2010
We were traveling and decided to give Priceline a shot. We researched as best we could in advance to get an idea of what prices we should be paying in the area we were looking. Unfortunately, I did not investigate the complaints made about Priceline or I would never have used them. We gave as much detailed info as we could to where we wanted to be and what we wanted to pay. We were excited when our bid was accepted only to find that it was a 3rd or 4th tier hotel that we would never have considered staying at.
When we called the hotel to get the pricing for the night, it was much, much less than what we were going to be paying through the "discounted" amount from Priceline. I called Priceline and to this day, I do not know why I bothered. It was a nightmare. They must train their employees on how to be rude and uncooperative. We didn't stay at the hotel. It would not have mattered if it were free. It is not a place we would ever stay so it didn't matter. We ended up paying the bill. Do yourself a favor and pay extra to avoid using this unethical business. Consequently, I lost of over $400.
Reviewed March 15, 2010
In the last 30 days, I have buried a dear friend. The next day, my mother was rushed to the hospital out of state with a major stroke, I returned home only to get a call that at the same time, my dad was rushed to the hospital for an aneurysm and had to have surgery of which a 4-hour surgery but lasted 9 hours since complications accrued. So I went back out of state. Now, 2 days before my dear friend’s funeral, some friends from out of state called and said that they are coming to visit and booked a hotel next to Disneyland so we want to be with these 2 couples who we have not seen in years and booked the same hotel the same day as they did and get it confirmed with Priceline.
Well, the day we go to check in, the hotel had no reservation for me. I called Priceline. They tried to get me another hotel but every time I told them that I wanted one within walking distance of Disneyland, they give me one-mile away! They said that their corporate office will call but never did. They not only screwed my whole weekend, they also never apologized! I have used them before but never again! I had to pay to park each day at Disneyland which cost $15.00 per day at 3 days, gas, another hotel and time travel, and the fact of not being able to stay with friends at the same hotel! My wife was extremely upset!
Reviewed March 12, 2010
The first time I dealt with Priceline's "name your own price" for a hotel, the hotel was so awful, it was hard to believe (peeling paint, an awful smell - really awful). But, I let it go. That was a year ago. Yesterday, I used the "name your own price" for a hotel in a town about 2 hours from my home. I knew most of the hotels and figured, how bad could it be. I haven't been to the hotel but for me and my 2 kids, we got a room with one queen size bed. And the hotel does not have any available 2 bed rooms.
I called customer service and got nothing. They wanted to cancel but since we are leaving today for a stay tonight, that's a bit foolish. And I did not get 1/2 off, or even close to it. I checked the hotel's website and the price for the room was a whopping $15 more than what I paid. I could have paid $15 more at another hotel, from another site, and had the free breakfast most hotels offer - not the one we're at of course. Last time I'll use Priceline.com. What a mess.
Reviewed March 9, 2010
I purchased a vacation package for air fare, hotel and car rental on 3-8-10 at 12 am pacific standard time. While making the reservations to depart Seattle airport on 4-9-10 and arrive at Reagan National Airport and return to Seattle on 4-12-10 with hotel reservations at Hilton Mark Center and rental car. I double checked my reservation to read as indicated and then the website asks for the customers initials to confirm (DH) which I put then it took approximately two minutes as the site refreshed and refreshed once the screen appeared with my credit card charge and finalized itinerary.
It stated that I was going to be flying out of LAX airport in Los Angles to BWI Baltimore airport in Maryland and staying at a hotel at Dulles airport. None of this was correct. LAX is well over 1200 miles away from my home in Seattle, Washington. I would never choose to fly out of an airport 1200 miles away from my home and not to mention into BWI when I clearly choose Reagan National Airport and hotel in Springfield. I called Priceline immediately and talked for over two hours explaining my problem to someone in the Philippines, who told me they could not authorize a refund and that they would make note in the computer. I was told to call in the morning 3-9-10 and speak to a customer service rep to get my refund. I was outraged and agreed to call back.
Today, on 3-9-10, when I have made over eight calls back and forth to Priceline, I have been told that I would have to pay a fee in order to get my money back of $200 for airfare, $$49.81 hotel and $11.51 for car rental. Their is an error on the Priceline website. Roy agreed last night that there was an error on Priceline's end of website issues. Prior to making my trip reservations at midnight, two hours before I was having trouble making reservations and called them to find out why. I was told that the website was having problems making reservations and that it could not make open ended airline reservations and that they were working on it and for me to try back later which I did and clearly the website is still having bugs.
Each person Terry and I talked with was rude, horrible customer service, couldn't transfer me to a supervisor and wasn't helpful and even suggested I made an error after being told that the website was having problems. The only person who remotely helped was Roy indicating the site was having errors.Today, on 3-9-10, when Terry, my husband, called and spoke with Arlene, she was putting him on mute every few seconds to laugh as to suggest that being charged $784.91 was a joke. It is like going to the store and buying items but not being able to leave with your items and then paying a fee because of it. This is the worst and I mean the worst company ever. I am physically ill, upset and shaken by the whole ordeal and the way my husband and I have been treated.
To date, I still have not been able to talk to a manager and I am still out the fees charged. I feel taken advantage of and completely over taken with emotions of how we have been treated.
Reviewed March 9, 2010
I wanted to watch the "Blue man" show in Vegas on March 02. I'd like to choose 10 pm show but there is only date, not time on the description but the price is good. After I checked out, I figure out it's a 7 pm show which I can't make it. I called Priceline right away! They told me, "We can't refund you. You can change the time on the day of the show. It's not a problem!" On the March 02, the ticket office told me "can't change the time" and I called Priceline again. They told me "can't change the time and no refund." I feel very sorry for Priceline. It's not the way to do business! I'll never buy any tickets on Priceline no matter how cheap is the price!
Reviewed March 8, 2010
I was on Priceline website searching for tickets. They had an option of searching for the best deal but required a credit card in the event you wished to purchase. They searched for the tickets and then purchased them without an opportunity for me to see the flights. It just gave me a confirmation number. Then the flights came up. Much to my astonishment, they were the worst possible times. I called the customer service number immediately and got the most horrible treatment ever! Customer service is not in their vocabulary. Better call it, customer torture.
I explained that I was not given the opportunity to review the tickets. They did not offer any help whatsoever and kept reading from the script, "these are not refundable". Done. I will never use Priceline again for obvious reasons and I will tell everyone I know not to use them. Hopefully, word of mouth works and they will be exposed for their unconscionable practices. Shame on you William Shatner for representing a company that treats people so poorly, has no ethics, terrible business practices, etc. I am calling American Express to dispute these charges and the BBB to log my complaint. Hopefully, this experience can help someone else from getting burned by this company. Whatever happened to "customer comes first"?
Reviewed March 8, 2010
I was originally placed at this hotel via a bid on priceline.com. After a few weeks, the manager suggested that I just pay them directly rather than mess with priceline, which was fine with me, much less hassle and inconvenience. I paid them the same amount that they were receiving from priceline.com. I paid the hotel sometimes weekly or for a few days at a time, sometimes a single day.
On the one occasion that I was asked to pay for an entire week, upfront in advance and I was unable to do so (but did pay for about 5 days), I was told that I would receive no further discounts and if I wanted to keep that room I would have to pay more than twice my daily rate, which I could not. I returned to getting rooms on priceline.com and was sent back to that same location just two nights later for about a week. Then I was bounced out again, and returned.
About one week into the stay, I was visited by the local Police Department and encouraged to leave the city of Farmers Branch. The information that they gave me could only have come from the hotel and is not just conjecture, at best. They said I had too many visitors (which is not the case and seldom if ever did I see anyone outside in the hallway when a visitor was leaving my room).
I on two separate occasions had friends that were leaving the hotel, stopped by the Police for minor traffic violations and searched. I was stopped less than a block form the hotel, two nights prior to the Police showing up at my door, for an expired inspection sticker, at 11 at night. All of the information that was conveyed to me came from either anonymous sources or observation.
Reviewed March 6, 2010
I had made a reservation with Priceline.com. The rate of the hotel was good and booking it was simple enough. However, my trip plans had changed and I had to cancel the hotel room. I first called the hotel to make the cancellations, and was informed that only Priceline can do that, since I booked through them. I called Priceline, and made an effort to do so. Mind you; they advertise no cancellation fees, etc. The representative informed me that this was not possible. I requested to speak with their supervisor.
They informed me that the best that they can do is make the cancellation, but I would be charged with a cancellation fee of $6.70 (So much for the advertised "No Cancellation Fees"). This morning, "online" I checked my credit card and saw that the full amount was charged. Once again I telephoned Priceline and spoke to a representative. Their response was basically: "That's too bad, there is nothing I can do". Priceline is nothing but a scam.
Reviewed March 3, 2010
This was my first time using Priceline. I did my due diligence and read the entire website. I made my offer and it was accepted. But there are 2 things that were very wrong with my reservation. First, it is for a city I did not specify in my offer. It is simply too far from the city I requested. Second, they told me the name on the reservation is mine while I made the reservation for another individual. I put her name on the form and saw it repeated to me twice as the person who owned the reservation.
I was on the phone for an hour and 15 minutes with Priceline being transferred around and given the same story. I waited on hold for over 45 minutes for a supervisor only to discover that the agent had transferred me to the wrong supervisor. She then transferred me to another CSR whom I could barely hear and he refused to speak louder. I understand Priceline's policies and I still agree to them if the request I initially made and on good faith gave my credit card was honored.
I was told that the city in which they booked me is "in the area" of where I requested, but no where did I see on the website it specify that they had the right to put me 20 miles south of the destination in a completely different city. Even if the reservation had been in Provo, I still made it for another person and she can't use this. I called the same minute I got the confirmation. There is no reason why Priceline couldn't work with me to find a solution or cancel the reservation all together. This is fraud. They stole $174.63 from me, kept me on the phone for over an hour trying to find a manager, and destroyed my morning.
Reviewed March 3, 2010
I spoke to at least seven different people in three different departments. None of whom could or would help me book a new vacation package.
I was told that I would have to book the Airline portion of the package separately from the hotel and rental car and the price of the round-trip airline fare they quoted me for myself and another passenger traveling with me was outrageous. It cost almost the price of an entire vacation package, I had put in a tentative booking for that no one could even pull up on their computers.
I had all the information for this new vacation package documented (I wrote it down) and the person who supposedly put that information in the computer assured me that when I called back to book this new package that the entire package could be booked by phone and then the airline credit of approximately $90 would be deducted from the total price.
When I called Priceline to book the new package. I was told that I could only do the airline portion with the credit and that I would have to book the hotel and rental car online. I do not have online internet access at my home. I am using a friend's computer to send in my complaint. I told each of the many people I spoke to at Priceline that I do not have home internet access and all they did was repeat that the hotel and rental car portions of the package had to be done online!
Reviewed Feb. 26, 2010
I was booking a rental car thru Priceline which I have done before. I filled out the request and it said unable to process, please hit previous, so I did and retyped where I thought I made a mistake. Instead of the norm, it skipped a section and bumped up my price. I immediately called priceline of the glitch and they treated me like I was trying to scam them. They over charged me $84 and my call only went to deaf ears.
Reviewed Feb. 26, 2010
I had a death in the family and booked a trip through Priceline and they assigned the flights. I attempted to change to get there quicker and they would not change the times and they refused. So I asked for a refund which they were willing to give a partial only on the flights and told me to call back the next day if I decide to accept their offer.
I did call the next day and they refused to work with me and would not let me speak to someone I could understand and refused to let me speak to a manager to attempt to resolve the issue in some way. I have used them in the past and was very pleased with their service but I will never do so again. I lost $658 in the process and when I attempted to contact the hotel, I was advised to take the issue up with Priceline and they would not work with me.
Reviewed Feb. 25, 2010
I've used Priceline in the past and I've always been satisfied with their service. Today, when I made hotel reservations using a company credit card in our Controller's, the reservation was made correctly in my name. The web site then offered to add a rental car to my trip. I added a rental car. There was no prompt for identifying the driver and no prompt for pick-up or drop off. The reservation was made under our controller's name. In the past with Priceline, I've made car reservations using the same credit card to pay for the car and then using my personal card for security. I contacted Priceline support and their response was that once the reservations were made no changes could be made. $60.97 loss.
Reviewed Feb. 25, 2010
I booked a flight but had to postpone it because of medical emergency. I paid $150.00 extra to put it on hold for a year. I rebooked & they charged me another $150.00 plus the ticket. This cost us $600.00, when all was said and done. There needs to be a law against them for no kind understanding or consideration of life happenings, things change. It doesn't cost them anything!
Reviewed Feb. 25, 2010
On Feb 10th, the Northeast was hit with a snow blizzard. I booked my trip through Priceline. They have been stalling me my payments from the airline for over 10 business days as required. I have called customer service reps. They keep referring to the account system, to refund my money. I had presented this problem to them from 10th of Feb when I was on the phone with them all day long on the 10th. I called the partner who was booked on same trip. He still has gotten the runaround about refunding his money. This is very displeasing to people and the way Priceline handles their responsibility to the consumer. I have not received the money that I had called on Feb 10th and had spoken to several people on this subject. The last person I talked to said it would take 5-10 business days. Here it is, Feb. 25. and I'm still getting ** and still have no money refunded.
Reviewed Feb. 25, 2010
Booked an airline flight with them. A pop up screen asked if I wanted a rental car, so I responded and gave them the dates and size of car. A rate quote came up and I confirmed the reservation with no question of the price as I needed a rental car. My meeting plans changed a few days later, so I went to Priceline to change the dates ahead, one day. After unsuccessfully trying to change the airline tickets, I went straight to the airline and changed them with a slight extra charge (which I expected to pay).
I requested through Priceline to change the car rental reservation to match and was told that I had "bid on a price" so the change could not be made. It was told to me that the car rental company wouldn't allow it. I contacted the car rental company and they told me that Priceline hadn't yet paid for the rental, so they couldn't change it. It was "Priceline's" policy not theirs as Priceline had my money. They wished they could have helped me. They did in fact make a reservation direct for me. At no time with Priceline was the cost of the car brought up nor the possibility of an additional charge to change it (which I would have gladly paid). I was told there was no one else to talk with about reversing their decision, it was final.
The irony is the car rental company charge was actually $30 less than the Priceline, so called "Price I was supposed to have named" which didn't happen. Age old story, what sounds like a good deal most times isn't. I will never use Priceline and will always advise anyone who wants to book travel to not use them. Their "greed" and untruthfulness will cost them business.
Reviewed Feb. 24, 2010
Booked a hotel in Key West through Priceline.com using a bid of $200/night for a four star hotel. After I found out the name of the hotel, I checked out their website and found the same room listed for $25 less per night. When I called Priceline back, they said the room was $225. I called the hotel to confirm and they told me that the room was in fact $25/night less if I had booked it direct. Follow-up calls to Priceline were either ignored or recording only.
Reviewed Feb. 24, 2010
I would like to write about my dis-satisfaction with Priceline.com 2/24/10. Note: I've been a hotels.com for many years, but my best friend told me you should try Priceline.com because it's cheap and that I'm in a really tight budget being a single mother and all. So I want a head and booked online for my upcoming trip in late March. I chose the exact date and a 2 star hotel, then I thought about my 2 kids, so I've switched to a 3 star hotel instead. Long story short, the system automatically changed my date for the next day which is 2/25/10, but that was not the initial date I've put in.
I plea to the Customer Support and was transferred to a Customer Relation to see what can be done and if a one time exception can be made, meaning no charge for first time user, due to an error an End User has caused, I've plea and asked but agents didn't seem to want to hear about it and says, "Sorry but nothing can be done" etc. I've asked for someone higher, but the Customer Relation Daisy, (she should be fired) stated that she is the highest level of Customer Service.
That is totally untrue, I know how the Customer Service works. It's not like a consumer makes the same mistake over and over. I've sympathize that I was a new user and I didn't understand how their system works, etc. but Daisy didn't seem to care, she should not be a Customer Relations. At this time, I've written to Corporate to see if there is an exception that can be made. If there is, then I may want to use Priceline here and there, if not, I will never ever deal with Priceline.com. I would like to note that a consumer should not have to go through this, especially it's the company's website's fault.
Reviewed Feb. 24, 2010
I was terribly dissatisfied with the service provided by Priceline.com during my last car rental reservation. On January 25, 2010, I went to Alamo in Miami, Florida to pickup up the vehicle. When I arrived, I was notified that I could not rent the vehicle because I had been placed on the companies "Do Not Rent List." I later discovered that the issue was due to the fact that I had previously sued Enterprise rental car 10 years prior. I was not aware that had Alamo and Enterprise had merged along with National car rental. The fact that Alamo had my information since January 11, 2010 via Priceline should have created a red flag within their system long before I made the trip.
I should have been informed of any issues associated with me renting the vehicle before leaving home. It was a major inconvenience to the start of my trip; I was 3 hours late to a business presentation. The worst part of it all was the fact that Priceline turned their backs on me during the issue. It finally took the supervisor at Alamo 3 hours later to recognize the sense of urgency and handle the situation by replacing my name with my fiance's name on the reservation. Priceline declined to do this even after Alamo made several attempts to get them to switch the reservation within their system.
The supervisor at Alamo, Kathryn, took it upon herself to accommodate us in the time of need. She also expressed concerns as to why Priceline wouldn't come to the rescue of their client. If I would have been alone, I would have not had any form of transportation during my stay. I no longer feel confident that Priceline.com cares about users of their services, after making the original transaction.
Priceline should have a plan in place for customers that experience this type of issue or anything similar. If I would have been alone, I would have not had any form of transportation during my stay. It happened to be the busiest time of the year in south Florida due to the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl. Finding another company to rent a vehicle was extremely difficult due to such short notice.
Reviewed Feb. 24, 2010
I went on the website for Priceline to take advantage of their "Name your own price" service when looking for a hotel for my vacation to Las Vegas. They state that "Name your own price" means you name the price you are willing to pay and they find a hotel that is willing to accept your price. They let you know within minutes if your final price was accepted. If so, they charge your card and give you a confirmation number and the hotel that accepted your offer and you are all set. If the offer is not accepted, you then have the ability to counter offer and so on. I requested a 5 star hotel near the strip, and offered $79.00/night, which was accepted. My card was then charged the total for my 3 night stay plus any taxes.
I will say that I was not happy with the hotel choice, "Trump Hotel", for many reasons but understood that I was obligated and that was the risk I took. The reason for not liking the choice was I assumed that all 5 star resorts would include a casino and would be on the Las Vegas Strip which the Trump Hotel is not. I assumed a 5 star resort would comfortably sleep 2 people in a room, but all rooms only come with one bed! I assumed being Las Vegas, you would have the option of requesting a smoking room, but all rooms and the entire hotel is non-smoking! Not only does the resort not have a casino, which was our reason for going to Las Vegas, but it was not even on the strip!
All this aside, I was willing to accept the fact that I was stuck with the choice. However, once I called the resort to inquire about their pool and fitness center (this is a 5 star resort by the way), I was told that the price I paid on Priceline does not include the use of the pool, business center or fitness center and that I would be charged an extra $20.00/night once I checked into the hotel on top of what I paid to Priceline! I was also told that this was not even an option, but I had to pay the $20/night surcharge whether or not I even used the pool or fitness center!
I was given the old "Bait and Switch" from Priceline and the Trump Hotel. I logically thought, well a reputable company like Priceline and Trump enterprises would surely let me out of the reservation now that I was being charged these extra fees without my knowledge prior to naming my own price. Wrong! Priceline took my complaint, but would not let me out of the deal, and basically said it is very typical for resorts to charge "resort fees" and that I would have to just accept it. I have never been charged a surcharge to use a pool at a 5 star resort or any resort for that matter in the 20 years I have been vacationing in Las Vegas and think that there should be a class-action law suit filed with Priceline. After researching the internet, I have found many complaints of others who were scammed by this "bait and switch" involving both Priceline and Trump Hotel in Las Vegas.
Reviewed Feb. 23, 2010
I bid $180 per night on Priceline Name Your Price for a 4-star hotel in Miami in May 2010. I was given a reservation for the Sonesta Bayfront Hotel for $180 per night. When I looked up the room rates online for that date, I discovered that this rate is the standard rate for this hotel. I complained to Priceline customer service and was told that Priceline does not guarantee discounted hotel rates. I was told that Priceline only guarantees that the reservation is not refundable and cannot be cancelled under any circumstances whatsoever.
Reviewed Feb. 22, 2010
Just last month (January 2010), I was in Hong Kong on a business trip and wanted to do a side trip to Bali (just as I did in 2009). I spent hours trying to decide on a hotel by searching websites, and even had a local travel agency assisting. The resort I stayed in last year was great, but since I convinced 2 friends to join me there from the USA, I thought I'd try for something better/or different.
I returned to Priceline website. When you search Nusa Dua (a specific beach in Bali), all the 5 star hotels came up at $140 and higher. So I decided to try naming your price. I bid $75 for a 5 Star hotel never thinking I would actually get it (was testing the waters to see what reasonable price would be accepted). Surprisingly, my bid for Nusa Dua Beach 5 Star property was accepted for Novotel Nusa Dua. So, I went to the official hotel website and found that their daily rate was less than what Priceline accepted. I went back to Priceline website and redid the search for 5 star hotels in that area. Again, nothing less than $140 appeared.
So, I contacted Priceline by phone from Hong Kong, and they told me the hotels they post are just "sample" listings and that I should have done my research. About the fact that Novotels own website was cheaper, Priceline only said, "From my records you are still getting a discount." I argued that I was looking at Novotel's website and that it was cheaper. Also, for the record, I did do my research using Travelocity, kayak, etc. and generally came up with $100 plus for 5 star beach resorts. Even the Hong Kong travel agency "package" prices were above $150 a night.
But the most deceiving thing of all is when you go to Novotel Nusa Dua website; the primary photo depicts this marvelous beach. But you read the fine print and it is not on the beach at all. It is surrounded by a golf course. Apparently, they own a piece of beach that you can get to by shuttle bus that looks nothing like the main photo on their website.
I contacted Novotel directly to see if they would swap for their other Novotel beach location, but they said no changes allowed. I literally think this is the only property in all of Nusa Dua that is not on the beach.
Again I called Priceline, and they: (a). refused to match Novotel's website price and (b). refused to let me use the money (almost a week's stay) as credit to another property. In fact, they refused any attempt at resolving the conflict, or standing by their guarantee.
I then called my credit card company (again from Hong Kong) and they were gladly willing to help me fight the charge, but cautioned that I might be stuck with the bill and would still have to pay for another hotel on top of it. As we were leaving in less than 3 days, we decided as a group to grin and bear it. That was a huge mistake.
Let me point out that I was in Bali last year with my 3 year old son while I was 5 months pregnant, without incident.
Within 24 hours of arriving at the Novotel (where the rooms were remarkably lovely and spacious), all but one person out of 5 - two children (8 mo. old and 4 year old) plus 2 adults - were severely afflicted with stomach bug/gastroenteritis. We rarely left the hotel room and spent our time projectile vomiting and/or having spontaneous diarrhea. Housekeeping had to replace towels and linens at least 2x a day.
This is a 5 star resort. Nowhere in any of the bathrooms, etc, does it say the water is not safe to drink (or brush your teeth, etc.). Notably, we never ate any food outside the resort (room service mostly) because we could not dare be away from a bathroom. Also noteworthy, none of us actually drank the tap water. The baby’s water was boiled for making a bottle. But we did brush our teeth using tap water, we did order fruit smoothies and drinks from the hotel bar on our first day by the pool and we did drink the water served to us by Novotels own restaurant.
Most decent "resorts" I have visited (like in Mexico, Cambodia, etc.) where the water is questionable, either very clearly state this in the hotel room and provide bottled water, and/or they have incredible water filtration systems.
By the 3rd day, the baby had to be hospitalized for 5 nights, to the tune of $3,500. This was no small ordeal without cell-phones, language barrier, etc. Thankfully, one of the people in our group was a medical doctor (the only one who did not get sick), and we are all well-traveled individuals (even the kids) so we eventually found the necessary resources, which were not what Novotel offered or suggested.
Ironically, while driving between the hospital and the hotel, we saw at least two billboards with the Novotel Nusa Dua Beach photo! I wish I had my camera because I would have taken a picture. It is the most misleading advertising I have ever seen from a hotel. Novotel Nusa Dua should have a picture of a golf-course and not the flat beach chair scene, which is not even what their private beach really looked like (it was a large sloping hill to the water and the chairs were nowhere close to the shore line).
For our last 2 nights, after checking the baby out of the hospital, we happily switched to Nusa Dua Spa and Hotel, where I stayed the year before. We noticed the huge water filtration system, and the short distance to the beach/sand/water from the hotel, and the flat accessible chairs near the water. No false advertising here. While the price was a wee bit more, it included buffet breakfast for each of us (Novotel charged $18 per person for this option.) We breathed a huge sigh of relief being out of Novotel.
Did I mention that Novotel had only one restaurant on the entire property, plus a pastry cafe? How is that 5 star? Nusa Dua Spa and Resort had at least 5 restaurants that I could tell. Although we were at Nusa Dua Spa and Resort for only 2 days, it was the best part of our vacation.
I will never trust Priceline’s guarantee or stay at any Novotel again. I don’t care if this was a unique situation or not. I felt duped, mislead and was extremely disappointed. Even if the baby had to be hospitalized, or we were all still got sick from Bali Belly, at least, if we had stayed at the Nusa Dua Spa and Resort, we would have been way more comfortable.
We felt like prisoners at the Novotel, literally not able to leave our hotel room or eat anything besides room service (which is how we think us all got sick in the first place either that or the pool water). When we really needed help, Novotel did change the linens, but finding the hospital and the rest of our medical needs including the least of which, buying bottled water/Gatorade (no help in finding pedialyte until we got to the hospital), we were on our own.
Reviewed Feb. 22, 2010
I bid on a 4-star hotel in Las Vegas. When my bid wasn't accepted, I received a special offer that included a price for a 4-star hotel in Las Vegas. I had to act quickly because this special offer was very limited. After I agreed and completed the transaction, I checked other travel sites to see what I saved. The price was exactly the same as Orbitz and Travelocity, but the difference is that I lost flexibility with Priceline as the reservation cannot be changed or canceled as it can with other sites. What a ripoff!
Reviewed Feb. 17, 2010
I purchased a room Saturday, February 13, 2010. I drove several hundred miles to Monterey with my family and my room was over-booked. I called and after spending an hour on the phone was only given the option of a refund (which takes 6-10 days) It is very upsetting that there was not an escalation process. I have called twice to deal with this with no escalation path to a supervisor or manager. I was offered nothing more than two options:
#2.) Look for the same room price- at this point, I was in Monterey. It was 6:00 pm and there was a Pebble Beach Golf Tournament going on, so finding a room was not going to happen.
I understand that while this may seem very petty to ask for $5.00 back, I paid for and was given a confirmation on a room that should not have been offered to me. I was not the only person that this happened to. The manager at the hotel explained to me that 8 people had been overbooked and should have been contacted by Priceline. I have asked for nothing more than the return of my money, that in good faith I immediately paid on a non-existent product and in return have yet to get any type of resolution.
This could have been avoided had someone contacted me through email or called me. I would not have driven the distance. Imagine had I flown there from somewhere else.
My concern is that this may be a bigger issue with this happening to more than just me and are there other people who are having this happen to them as well. This amount becomes more substantial times for every user that gets overbooked on their system and priceline does not refund a portion. To me that is a break in their system that should not be ignored.
Reviewed Feb. 17, 2010
I booked a total of 5 round trip fights along with rental cars with Priceline. My family and I had to fly out to Chicago to attend my 61-year old Uncle Jack's funeral. The travel plans all worked out until the following morning after we laid my uncle to rest on Feb. 9, 2010. The morning of Feb. 10, 2010, I received a phone call at the hotel from my dad. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. We had just said goodbye to his brother and now my dad's mother. My wonderful grandmother who we just saw the night before had just past. I was beside myself crying like crazy. She was so active and wonderful, my favorite person. With tears still in my eyes and crying like a baby, I called Priceline to change my flight. I was scheduled to leave that afternoon. I don't recall but they told me that I had to call 2 hours before my flight to make changes, never mind preparing for another funeral.
Needless to say, I called back that afternoon and they told me it was too late to do anything. They had already had me down as a no-show and resold my seats. They told me that they'd get back to me within 24 hours and we can try and work it out. 24 hours passed and I didn't hear from them. I called back several times and had to explain the whole story to each person I talked to. By the way, I was scheduled to get married on that Sunday, Feb. 14th, Valentine's Day. My brother who had flown with me was starting a job on Monday. I was sure to let them know all that. I had to give them all the funeral home information, my grandma's name and my uncle's name. It sounded as if they were finally going to help me. Yeah right, I spent hours taking to one person and being transferred to the next, all while my grandmother's viewing was in the next room.
Priceline has policies for the customer to follow but then they don't even follow their own policies. They lie, read from a script, try to get the customer on technicalities. I went back and forth with the executive office regarding what time I talked to someone. The broad couldn't even figure out the time difference from Central time to Eastern time, not to mention that they keep you on hold and send you through all their computer prompts. I had to finally ask her what time did she has and tell her what time it was from where I was calling from. I will never use Priceline again! Don't get your hopes up and getting something resolved. They make it sound good, but they lie.
Reviewed Feb. 17, 2010
I booked a rental car and was awarded my price of $16/day for an 8-day rental. With fees and all the total came to $167.72. I was prompted to "upgrade" for $3 more per day. I said yes to the upgrade. The total came to $198.20. Done deal! So I thought! I checked my bank statement online and noticed 2 pending transactions. One for $167.72 and another for $198.20. I was expecting a debit of $198.20, but certainly not another one for $167.72! I called Priceline and finally talked to a human. I was told that the bank may not credit my account for up to 7 days. They considered this to be 2 separate transactions even though it was all during the same bid.
I wanted to know why they considered this to be 2 separate transactions. Why didn't they simply add the difference of $28.38 to the first transaction of $167.72 before I upgraded? They told me that's just the way they do it. So now, I have $365.92 coming out of my checking account instead of the $198.20. I will eventually be credited for the $167.72, but in the meantime, I don't have use of it until that happens. It's insane! Don't ever fall for the upgrade trick! I will not be using Priceline anymore.
Reviewed Feb. 17, 2010
I went to Priceline.com and bid on a room at the Holiday Inn in North Adams, MA. I was given the Howard Johnson Hotel close by which I did not want and then was told I could not get a refund. I called the 800 number and spoke to 3 sales and customer service people, all of whom said there was no way to reverse the charges or change the hotel. The bid I made was $60.00, and then I was stuck with Howard Johnson’s that was listed at a $55.00 rate on their website. Additionally, Priceline stuck me with a Travel Insurance: $5.00 (USD) charge. Unless there was some fine print, I did not want that either. The website is set up to "get you" and it’s really not helpful to the consumer. I feel I was ripped off!
Reviewed Feb. 16, 2010
My family and I booked a hotel on priceline.com for only one night. What we saw on their website about this particular property is what we were looking for traveling with four kids. When arriving we were given a totally different type of room and amenities were not available to us in this particular room according to the front desk, such as a role bed. We were very frustrated with due to the fact that we were sold the accommodations Priceline would be showing on their website. Upon checkout I received a receipt for a lower price of about $35 than Priceline had charged our credit card. Wow, deception is what I call it.
Upon our arrival back home, I called Priceline. And just as others I have now read their stories, this company has no idea about customer service or consumer relations. Their was not a single voice on the other end who could help me resolve the fact of why I was charged so much more than the hotel or given a totally different type of room after we are lead to believe they guarantee a lower pricing. Mechanical voices continued to tell me that this amount would be charged and how sorry they were. I was then told that there is never a manager, supervisor or any one in authority there to speak with after there is no resolution with a complaint. I was told over and over to e-mail to whoever see fit. This will be a company that any of my family members and friends will make a point to never become a customer of again.
Reviewed Feb. 10, 2010
I bought a vacation package on Priceline's website. Two hours later, the same exact package on the same site (Priceline) was $150 cheaper. Priceline is refusing to honor their Best Price Guarantee and is using unethical methods to do so. When I say 'same' I mean same hotel, same flight numbers/airlines, same rental car, same dates - the only difference was that it was $150 cheaper. I attempted to get a Best Price Guarantee for the $150 by calling their customer service number.
4 out of the 5 Priceline reps I talked to were unable to recreate the package with the lower price even though I was able to each time during my conversation with them. When I told them that I just recreated the package at the lower price on my computer, one rep told me that it was the wrong hotel, another told me that the flights weren't the same, and another told me that she couldn't add the rental car (how could an employee of Priceline not know not to add a rental car?). So since they couldn't recreate the package themselves at the lower price, they couldn't honor the price guarantee. Funny, since I was able to recreate it successfully at the lower price not only while simultaneously on the phone with Priceline reps (for over 3 hours), but on 5 other computers at my office, on my wife's computer 60 miles away, and on a friend's computer out of state.
I was able to get 1 rep who was able to recreate the package at the lower price but then he turned around and said that it didn't qualify because it had to be on a competitor's site, not Priceline's own site. Wrong - from Priceline.com: "The lower priced vacation package must be found on an online site operated by Priceline.com or another travel reservation service for the identical vacation package".
I even called Priceline's customer service pretending to want to purchase a package and the rep was able to bring up the very same package at the lower price, proving that someone at Priceline can see the identical package at the lower price. I was given the run around for 5 hours on the phone with their Customer Service department, was made to feel stupid (such as being accused of picking the wrong hotel or the wrong flight), and feel cheated because of this unethical business practice.
I have filed complaints with BBB and via Priceline's online help. However, I don't have high expectations of hearing back. I'm going to try and video record it when I call them again to prove that while I'm on the phone with them, I am able to create the package with a lower price. And that they are flat out lying to me so that they do not have to honor their price guarantee. YouTube, anyone?
Reviewed Feb. 9, 2010
I made an online hotel reservation with Arizona Hotels. My travel plans changed and I found out that I could not cancel or change my reservations through Priceline! I will never use Priceline or Arizona Hotels and I urge others not to use them.
Reviewed Feb. 8, 2010
My three stars ** hotel in final destination for 4 nights was unexpectedly cancelled 5 minutes before I left for the airport. I received an email advising me of the fact, as if I requested the cancellation which I did not. I called the hotel and there was a gas leak emergency. Priceline emailed me about a refund of $150.40 (! )- that comes up to $37.60 a night in ** hotel! I had no hotel, tried to find some while driving to the airport to catch my flight and Priceline was extremely uncooperative.
Refused to help me, insisting on refunding me just that - $37 a night out of $631.73 package (4 nights ** hotel, return plane ticket and 4 days economy rent a car). I had to find a hotel on my own (without internet, pretty much standing in the security line at the airport, because my arrival time was late at night and I had no place to go in a city, I have never been before. Not only the refund is pathetic given that every time I make reservation, there is at least $12 tax and fees surcharge to each segment - whether it is a 1(one) hotel night or 1 day car rental fee - (advertised car rental, for example, is $30 per day = $120 plus surprising $49(!) tax and fees charge!
In the situation that I must get a refund for an inhabitable hotel, I get $37 per night in ** hotel? Somebody is just simply stealing my money - that's what it is! I am a self employed person, lately growing, doing business out of my state. I made 7 (!) business trip reservations with Priceline as of Jan 1, 2010. I spent $2,500 on this web site in last 4 weeks! Guess who is not getting my business anymore! I am very disappointed. Nobody even called me the day of my departure to warn me, there was no hotel.
Priceline's email came exactly 5 minutes before I left my house for the airport. I was lucky to notice it when I was turning my home computer off. I could have arrived to my original hotel and find out I had no place to stay at 10:00 pm. That is an awful and irresponsible service not to mention the pathetic refund Priceline gave me. The bill of about $190 in a new two stars ** hotel after Priceline gave me $150.40 for a 4 nights in three ** hotel, not to mention the distress.
Reviewed Feb. 5, 2010
On Feb. 02, 2010, I purchased 3 rooms on Priceline "Name your own price". Before bidding on them, I went through their website to check and make sure they had shuttle service, which the hotels they had listed did offer, along with parking. Nowhere on their website did it state that there would be additional charges for these amenities. After winning this bid, the confirmation said if you needed more information on the hotel to go to the hotel's website, which I did. It stated that they had shuttle service and parking.
When I called the hotel they stated that they no longer honor priceline for their shuttle and parking, and now charge additional fees for these services. I called priceline for assistance in cancelling these reservations. After failing to get any satisfaction from customer service and their supervisor (both continued to read the same pre-written priceline policy about no cancellations), I was advised to contact priceline by email, which I have done twice.
I went back on their website to check if I had missed something, and mysteriously the hotel I booked is no longer available if you enter shuttle service under amenities. They finally called today and gave me the runaround about their policy again and that they have no obligation to cancel. I have no choice now but to honor the reservations, but I feel they were very misleading and untruthful on their website and consumers need to be aware of their practices.
Reviewed Feb. 5, 2010
I purchased airline tickets through Priceline and paid for the cancellation insurance as well. American Airlines left my wife and I standing at the airport with a delayed flight. Priceline would not refund the money or help with future flight credits. Incidentally, this also caused us to miss a connecting flight and a cruise liner. I was out well over a thousand dollars, and nobody cared. I left at the airport, missed my cruise, and had to pay for a hotel room. It cost about $1500.00.
Reviewed Jan. 31, 2010
I booked my ticket with the representative and they had me arriving at the wrong airport. I called back and they told me that there was nothing they could do! I would have to rebook and my credit card would be charged again. I called several time with no resolution! Please do not book with Priceline! I lost $625.00 and I could not take my flight. They keep saying there is nothing they can do!
Reviewed Jan. 29, 2010
I made a reservation to a La Quinta motel, located in Lake Charles, TX and was quoted a price by Priceline of $45.00 plus tax. This was suppose to be a savings offer. However, a few days later, a traveling partner called the hotel directly and was quoted a price of $39.00 plus tax. It wasn't a big deal except that Priceline does not offer much in the way of savings or adjustments. They simply state, "It costs more because when you made the reservation, it was guaranteed!"
Big deal! I can make the reservation with the motel direct and it is "guaranteed." What is stated by Priceline and reality is vastly different and slickly worded. When I called Priceline direct, I found that they do not believe in customer service. It was about as bad as I have encountered in past years.
To be short and cut to the chase, this is simply a booking agency I would never use again or would I ever recommend such to someone else. Priceline lives up to it's reputation... of sorry service and hype.
Reviewed Jan. 28, 2010
I purchased round trip tickets from priceline and requested a direct flight to my destination and also return flight. You could just guess the shock when I opened my itinerary to find that there were connecting flights. I called customer service and they just kept telling me sorry, there is nothing that they can do. They would not even correct the flight, let alone refund or offer a credit. Please do not use this company for anything.
Reviewed Jan. 26, 2010
I will graduate from an online college this year and was excited to make my trip plans to my graduation. I made these plans almost six months ahead of time. I just found out that I could graduate much closer to home, so I tried to cancel the flight package knowing that I would have to pay some sort of penalty. The hotel is nonrefundable, the car is nonrefundable and I will have to pay $100-$150 plus any difference in price to change the tickets to another flight if I so desire. So my "penalty" equals the entire package. I will never use Priceline again. I will also contact the hotel and the car rental company to let them know that I will not use them again since they are apparently so inflexible. I am absolutely sure neither of them would have any trouble renting the room and the car considering they now have five months lead time. If I choose not to make the trip, I am out nearly $700. If I do make the trip, I am still out that amount, but also two days of vacation time.
Reviewed Jan. 24, 2010
Boycott Priceline! Priceline continues to deceive and cheat innocent customers! I thought I was booking a hotel in Key West, but instead, the hotel was in Key West Beach! This was far from where I wanted to be. Of course, even though I called their Customer Service immediately, no changes could be made. They should call it "customer non-service". I called the hotel to cancel and, of course, they could not cancel either. So the room was paid for and left empty for the night. $175 wasted from my retirement income!
Reviewed Jan. 23, 2010
My husband wanted to buy tickets from Seattle to Tulsa, OK. He had meeting on Tuesday, 26th January at 10:00 am. He didn't name his price. He just chose the tickets that appeared with the rate. He chose the departing flight from Seattle for Monday afternoon and while he was choosing returning flight some link appeared to add a rental car. He clicked on it and boom, he got the confirmation that he is returning on Tuesday at 6:30 am. He hadn't even chosen the returning flight. He just added a rental car and there he bought a ticket.
He called the customer service. No one answered. After almost 4 calls, someone from customer service answered. She did not even speak English and here he was explaining to her the situation. She did not listen to him and just kept repeating mechanically that it is our cancellation policy to charge $100 fee. My husband did not get to even choose the return flight and how could he be charged with the web error that occurred. It's priceline's responsibility to make sure their website is working efficiently and for any malfunction, they shouldn't charge customers. It is mine and our family's last time doing business with priceline.
Reviewed Jan. 19, 2010
My father fell and shattered his knee. He had to have emergency knee replacement and could not travel per doctor's orders. We called; of course Priceline was no help. It’s $150 cancellation fee, no exceptions. Ok, we agreed. Two tickets at $150 are equal to $300. Two days later we were charged a $600 cancellation fee. It’s been 2 months and we cannot get a straight answer from anyone. Priceline blamed our bank; our bank sends the statement showing Priceline deducted four $150 fees, which totaled to $600. We've tried everything to just get our $300 back. Can anyone help? My parents, on top of the now medical expenses, don’t have that $300 to travel home on!
Reviewed Jan. 18, 2010
Hotel Reservations were made for a hotel in Mobile, AL. Upon learning that the business trip was canceled, I called the Hotel first to cancel the reservation. They indicated I must call Priceline.com to cancel the reservation. I checked Priceline's website for information concerning the hotel and it indicated that cancellations must be made by noon on the day before the reservation time. So I called Priceline.com and spoke to two individuals who indicated that reservations cannot be canceled and that my credit card would be charged regardless. I offered to pay a cancellation fee, but insisted that I need to cancel the entire reservation. They refused stating that their policy is that the reservation cannot be canceled.
Reviewed Jan. 17, 2010
I purchased an airline ticket using Priceline.com but due to a sudden death, I had to cancel my reservation. Priceline states that you have 24 hours to cancel a reservation with no penalty and no charge to your credit card. This is totally untrue. My card was debited the same day I made the reservation and I have not been refunded as of yet. That was over a month ago.
Because of this incident, my bank account is overdrawn. Priceline told me that I needed to contact the airline and the airline told me that since I made the reservation through Priceline, it was not their responsibility. Priceline stated that the airline had my money, and the airline stated that Priceline had my money. After numerous phone calls to Priceline and after numerous excuses from Priceline (which I feel are all lies), I am still awaiting my refund.
Reviewed Jan. 13, 2010
I booked a rental car for December 12, 2009 until January 8, 2010 thru Priceline.com. I went online January 2, 2010 to book my reservation for another 28 days to the same company. Alamo car rental stated that I had to come back on January 8, 2010 to update the contract. With going to the hospital for knee surgery rehab and other issues, I forgot about the new contract on January 8, 2010. I received a call from Alamo on January 13, 2010 to come up and sign the new contract with no problem. Alamo was unable to do this because my original reservation date with Priceline was for the 8th of January and Priceline refused to change it to the 13th.
The other option was to cancel the current contract and start a new one (when you have your credit limit tied up with Priceline like I do you don't have anymore funds to work with), which the customer service rep said it would take 5-7 business days for the refund to get completed and then we could start a new one. I explained that if we did that, I would end up walking home, or missing work and end up in the Military Brig because I couldn't get to work. They didn't want to hear this at all.
I was transferred to a supervisor and she told me that she could put a one day refund on my account, but she too was unable to just transfer the funds to a new contract even if I paid a penalty or not. After talking with both customer service reps for over an hour, my only option was to accept the rush refund (which will hopefully be going in at the one day like I was told) and walk home (14 miles with just having my ACL replaced in my knee) with everything that was in the rental car. They didn't even give this a second thought. All they kept saying was, "Sorry but we can't start a new contract. All we can do is refund your money minus a penalty of a one day rental fee.” As far as me walking home they couldn't give a rat’s ass and that to me is poor.
I've been in the Armed Forces for 23 years and have used your company for many different issues and this is the way that your company treated me? It is completely ** and wrong no matter which way you look at it. I will be making a complaint to the Armed Forces Legal Administration and do my best to make this a very well known issue with every resource that I can. I can't get over that your company has an ounce of humanity and would rather have an injured person walk 14 miles to get home rather then work with them on a new contract. This is number 1 on my list the worst customer service issue that I have been involved in. I hope that everybody in the Priceline Company has a great day even if their customers are able to do so with the way that customer service reps handle business like they do.
Reviewed Jan. 11, 2010
I booked a flight with Priceline. When I went to get on the flight they would not let me because there was a different name. Priceline used a different name and I don’t know how they got it and I could not go on this flight and lost $650.00 and they won’t refund my money. This is their computer glitch and they won’t help. I feel they stole my money. I have been under major stress because I am out $650.00 plus. I had to make a new flight for $1400.00 and I thought I was not going to make my son’s Air Force graduation. This is causing an on-going stress that I can not deal with.
Reviewed Jan. 10, 2010
I called to complain about ants in my hotel room. Two customer service agents could not speak or understand English. Where do they get these people? It was impossible to lodge any concerns as the agents had no facility with the English language. Horrible wait time, horrible customer service.
Reviewed Jan. 9, 2010
In December 29, 2009 at 10:14 pm, I made a hotel reservation through Hotels By City by mistake, which I cancelled the same day at 10:30 pm, less than 15 minutes. I did call direct the hotel to cancel, and they have it in record. Also, after several attempts to this company by phone to explain the issue, always was an automatic service so I had to cancel it through the Internet. Now they are charging me $25 for processing fee plus one night at the hotel. I called customer service to explain the situation and that everything was done in a period of 15 minutes, but no mercy for the petition saying that that is their policy and nothing can be done. My question is where did the night hotel fee goes if the hotel didn't charge it? That’s how this people make money.
Reviewed Jan. 7, 2010
After searching the web for tickets, I found that all the tickets for my travel destination and dates was selling for $301. My friend suggested priceline, and so I logged in. Biggest mistake I've made so far this year. After searching their site for flights, and finding that they were the same price, I decided to name my price. I suggested $225, but it came back and said that my offer would be accepted for $249. So, I figured why not save $50.
I saved $50 and gained a headache, heartburn and aggravation. I was put on an outbound flight that left 2hrs before my preferred departure (not bad), and on a return flight that leaves 9 hours before my preferred time. When all you're spending is a weekend, arriving at 9:00 PM on Friday and leaving at 7:00 AM, on Sunday is stupid! I would have much preferred to spend the $50 and get to stay on Sunday. Who did this transaction benefit? Definitely not me, and this is the reason I'll tell anyone who'll listen that they should use Expedia or Farebuzz.
Reviewed Jan. 7, 2010
On 12-31-200, I booked an online reservation with priceline.com from Ft Laud to L.A. in the amount of $800.67. On 1-1-2010, when I received the reservation confirmation via e-mail, I realized I had entered the incorrect returning date instead of typing 1-19-2010. I immediately called priceline.com customer service. I spoke to Stan, I explained the situation to Stan and Stan told me I had two options, not to worry this happens all of the time. Option 1, I can change the reservation and I would only pay a 1 time fee of $50.00. Procedure: Go online, make another reservation with the correct arrival date, once I make the new reservation call priceline.com with the new reservation number and priceline.com will refund you the $800.67 (minus)$50.00 one time change fee or Option 2 cancel the entire reservation and pay the penalty of $100 X 2=$200.00 + tax $116.44.
I opted for option #1. I went back online and re-booked my package in the total amount of $1098.04. I called back Priceline back this time. I spoke to Dana A. I explained the entire situation mentioned above. He said no problem he asked me for the new reservation, I gave it to him, I gave him the old reservation number as well. He proceeded to process my reservation change just as Stan said it would be done. Dana told me I would receive a refund in the amount of $800.67(minus) the 1 time $50.00 change fee within 5 to 7 business days. Beautiful, no problem.
1-3-2010, I went in my online checking account and noticed priceline.com had re-ran my card without my authorization in the amounts of $116.44 and $50.00. I proceeded to call Priceline and ask them why they re-ran my card and they said they couldn't see on their computer screen that they ran my card again that that might have been them checking if I had a valid credit card with enough funds. I explained there was no need for that since they already ran my card for the correct amount the first time when I originally made my reservation. They gave me their famous line, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience ma'am, I will refer this matter to customer service and they will contact you by either email or a phone call."
They did neither. I called again on Monday, and I got the exact same response, but I was transferred over to David which supposedly was going to fax my credit union a letter to release the hold which never got done. I later called again and I spoke to Jack and he gave me the same story, "I am sorry for the inconvenience ma'am, I will forward this matter to customer service." I then received email #1 stating I would receive a credit of $750.67, no mention of $116.44 and $50.00 authorization. 1-5-2010 I go into my account and I got charged the correct amounts for the corrected reservation plus $116.44 and $50.00 authorization cleared. I called Priceline again and questioned $116.44 and $50.00 charge, no direct answer, same line, "Sorry ma'am for your inconvenience, we have to forward to customer service."
Now, I receive email #2, A survey on their service. I went online into my account, I noticed I only received a credit of $465.76 and notice now that they ran my card again $100.00 twice, a total of $200.00. I call again and speak to David, I ask for higher management, CEO Email, he said he cannot do that and used famous line, "Sorry ma'am for the inconvenience, we will for ward to customer service." I later receive email #3 Stating I will receive remaining refund of $284.91. No mention of why I was charged $116.44, $50.00, and why they ran authorization for $100.00 and $100.00?
They are not honoring their change policy that Stan and Dana A. did for me on 1-1-2010 and 1-2-2010. If Stan and Dana would have told me it would cost me a total of $416.44 to make a change I would have kept my old reservation, I would deal with one less vacation day. Stan totally misguided me because he gave me two options and first option was I would get a one time only 50.00 change fee.
Priceline.com should honor what Dana A. and Stan told me. Priceline.com totally scammed me! Still waiting to see what will happen now. I have not been able to sleep for the past 4 evenings. I am a single Mom that lives paycheck to paycheck. I am trying to recover my economic situation due to me having an emergency appendectomy at the end of October 09, and I have a job that doesn't pay me for time off, and I was trying to treat myself and take a much needed vacation, and now I will not enjoy my vacation due to all of the migraines I have and insomnia this situation has cost me. They stole my spending money on the trip. Beware all, do not use Priceline. They are disgusting scam artist!
Reviewed Jan. 6, 2010
I was extremely dissatisfied with Priceline on a number of levels. I originally booked a 2-room reservation for the Holiday Inn Soho in NYC though upon arrival, the clerk said only 1 room was reserved. Of course this made no sense since we were a party of 6 with 2 adults and 4 children. They only had a room with a King bed obviously unable to accommodate our group. They did have 2 Kings available but of course would only honor the Priceline rate for 1 room that was not acceptable. I proceeded to check in to the 1 King and I called Priceline which was of no assistance at all.
A customer service representative advised that I go back on-line and book the additional room which I did however the additional room offered was not at the Holiday Inn but at the Marriott which is 3 miles away, again it is not acceptable. Again, I called Priceline to tell them that their idea had not worked very well, I asked that the room at the Marriott be released and my account not charged. Of course, they refused to cancel the reservation. My next step was to call the Marriott directly who told me that they had no reservation for my party and that it seemed not to have come through. They, too, were not very helpful referring me to contact Priceline which I did, again offering no service or solution for this problem/error.
To summarize, I spent the 1st 2 hours of my trip to NYC, with 4 kids, in tow on the phone trying to fix this mess and to add insult to injury, I am being charged for a room I did not use or do I want. I needed 2 rooms at the same property, not 3 miles apart. I am a single Mom who saved to take my children to NYC for their 1st visit and to see my sister and her children who I do not get to see very often and what I experienced is inexcusable rudeness, unbelievable lack of customer service and total indifference to the situation. Upon my return, I have written to **** twice and I have been told in no uncertain terms that it is not their problem and no refund will be issued to me. When I explained that it was their customer service representative that advised me to obtain the 2nd room for the HI Soho online, their reply was I was just unlucky they guess.
I cannot afford to be ripped off this or any amount of money. I am a single and unemployed Mom trying to raise 2 kids after their Dad lost his job of 25 years and has yet to recover financially or emotionally. Between my sister and I, we have now paid over $1230 for 2 nights in NYC on hotels via Priceline alone. I am a native NY'er and I know NYC is expensive but at $615 each, I could have stayed somewhere better than HI but thanks to Priceline, I overpaid for a crummy hotel and they ruined hours of my vacation. Please be advised that I will be sending a copy of this to every newspaper, TV station and news program that I can find. I will not rest until Priceline has refunded my money and they are shown for who they are and how they treat their customers, that is lousy beyond words!
Reviewed Jan. 6, 2010
I was shopping for hotel and car rentals for a trip to Colorado in December 2009. Priceline came up in my websearch. I had never used them and didn't know about the process of bidding for a low price. They just offered a price and I accepted it for the hotel and car rentals. It wasn't but a few hours later after booking with them that I had to cancel those reservations. It was then after searching their website for a number to cancel that I learned that I could not cancel. I was also unable to talk to a customer representative. Their website did not make it clear upfront that any reservations made could not be cancelled! This is unfair to the consumer.
Reviewed Jan. 5, 2010
I get an email from Priceline indicating I can get a 4 1/2 star hotel in the area that I want for $65.00 a night. The email said book now. I did. Then the response is "not available". This is bait and switch tactics. I end up booking a hotel for $75.00 a night not even knowing if it is a 3 star hotel. Then I get another advertisement stating I could get a 3 1/2 star hotel for $50.00 a night in the original area that I wanted. I go to book that room, not available is the response. Isn't that bait and switch again?
Of course, you call customer service and they're of no help. Why would you send an advertisement to me indicating I could have hotel for less than the original advertisement after I booked for a higher price and you know it is not going to be available anyway, straight up bait and switch tactics. Consequences are; I will never use Priceline again. I get upset/stressed when I am tricked. Not good for my health. Second, I have to pay more money for a hotel in an area that I really didn't want. But, I did learn a valuable lesson, don't trust Priceline.
Reviewed Dec. 31, 2009
I booked with Priceline in April 2009 for a Christmas vacation to Jamaica (airline and hotel). Upon arrival, I was quoted the Hilton's "no advance, no promotion" high season holiday rate per room. The hotel price that I paid through Priceline was $1,164.14 more than what the same two rooms would have cost me if I had not used Priceline and just booked the rooms on my own. Four emails and two phone calls to Priceline were totally ignored. Their supposed price guarantee is only good for 24 hours after booking your package. Save yourself money and aggravation. Don't use Priceline.
Reviewed Dec. 28, 2009
I booked a motel in Renton, Washington and bid $40 for the day after Christmas. Marriott Hotel accepted the bid and I was charged $53.01 (including the hotel tax). No problem. When I got there, tired after 5 hours of driving, I discovered I had to have a $179 deposit before the hotel would let me have the room! This was not on my contract with Priceline! The hotel told me I agreed to abide by any incidental fees that the hotel imposes. As a student, I did not have that much spare cash available. My girlfriend and I did not get the room and after visiting her children, had to turn around and drive 5 hours home. Priceline and Marriott have thus far refused to refund money for a hotel room I was unable to use!
Reviewed Dec. 27, 2009
Priceline "upgraded" my into Inlet Tower Hotel in Anchorage, which is supposed to be a 3-star place. They (Priceline) misrepresented the quality and amenities of this smelly, dirty, poorly renovated flop house. They advertise on their website that there is a pool. There is not nor was there room service, secure parking or sanitary conditions. I have pictures - lots of them! I would like someone to explain to me what the Priceline's criteria is for a 3-star hotel. Apparently, Priceline's 3-star rating does not concur with any known travel guide.
I contacted Priceline immediately after they had booked us. I let the representative know about the gross misrepresentation of services and about our disabilities that made staying at that hotel a problem. After more than an hour, they said there was nothing they or I could do about it. The representative was smug and was laughing at us. In my experience thus far, no one at Priceline really cares whether the room is any good; if the rating really fits; if your disabilities are accommodated; or if their customers are happy. Pictures don't lie.
Reviewed Dec. 27, 2009
My son is on active Navy duty serving on the Kearsarge. He had an accident over a week ago and developed a blood clot and infection in the wound. He was admitted to the military hospital in Virginia on Christmas Day for emergency surgery. The doctors say that he will be unable to travel for several weeks. So we called Priceline to cancel his flight or see if we could get a voucher that he could use later. They told us it would cost us an additional $150 on top of the flight cost to get a voucher.
We told them we had a document from the doctor stating he could not fly and that he was in the hospital. They still told us they could do nothing and suggested we eat the cost of the flight. Now, a $125 one-way flight doesn't seem like much but it is to us and to our son who as an active duty military doesn't make much a month. Is this how we treat our military men and women? This is not the first time Priceline has done this. We had an incident with our other son when he was deployed overseas. That time, it cost him $325.
Reviewed Dec. 26, 2009
I placed a bid on Priceline for a hotel in Revere, MA and indicated that I needed to be near the city of Boston and the Logan Airport located in Revere, MA about 3 miles from Boston. My bid was accepted by a hotel that indicated it was located in Revere/Saugus and about 20 min. away from the airport and 30 min. from Boston, not near public transportation. I called Priceline to inform them that the hotel they chose did not meet the requirements that I put in the field and they persisted in telling me that because the hotel was in Revere/Saugus, it was still near Revere and that it didn't matter that I chose Revere to be near Boston and near the airport not near Saugus! I argued with them; my mother argued with them and customer service proceeded to repeat the same thing over and over in heavily-accented English. They had no concept of the fact that anything in Revere near Saugus is miles and miles from Boston! Obviously, if I requested to be near Boston and the airport, being near Saugus would not help me. There was absolutely no assistance given by the customer service. They served no purpose whatsoever. It was a nightmare. Never ever use Priceline!
Reviewed Dec. 26, 2009
Having found my 10-year-old daughter after 4 years of not knowing where she was, I booked a round trip ticket to San Antonio, Texas on December 7, 2009. The total for the trip was $498. After a successful day in court, I had to extend my stay to depart on Monday, the 21st of December, so I could see my daughter for the first time in four years. After a painful conversation with two different representatives to extend my stay, one of which is under investigation by Priceline for inaccurate information, Priceline quoted me $165 for the new flight which included a $150 airport fee. I told them that would work and proceeded to do another transaction with them to extend my hotel stay which cost another $389.54. So, all in all, my trip consisted in total of those three charges, $498, $389, and $165.
This was where it started to snowball. After a great weekend with my daughter, I went to withdraw money from one of my accounts and could not which I couldn't understand, so I proceeded to withdraw the last $80 I had in a reserve account to pay a bill I had incurred while I was there.
Once I returned to my hotel, I went into my account and to my utter dismay I had negative $320 in one account and negative $11 in another. After further reviewing my account, I saw a strange charge for $318, no way having any part to do with my trip totals or my trip at all. Further review of my statement and there was another charge for $150, $15, $165 and the hotel charge of $389.54. So in total, in one day, they charged me $1037. Of this money with $500 left in my vacation budget, they took the last $483, charges to this day never substantiated, leaving my bank to charge me four $35 fees, causing me to be negative in my account over $300.
Having had spent the day with my daughter, I had $21 in cash left in my pocket, that was it. Five hours later of phone calls, the runaround, "no managers are available" crap, I finally got Priceline on a conference call with my bank to verify these $500 in extra charges. The manager at Priceline agreed in this conference call to refund the $1037 in charges from that day due to the incredible inconvenience, and they faxed my bank the letterhead saying that these funds would not be charged or processed. My bank then waived the fees for Priceline's cooperation, released my funds back to me and I was able to return home on the 21st.
Now, it's Christmas Eve and I'm doing the only shopping I could do this year due to time and my card got denied. I went to my office and checked my account and once again I was negative. I reviewed my statement and found that for the second time, Priceline charged me the $389 that had been refunded once, the $150 and the $15, which caused three overcharges from my bank raping me once again of money on Christmas Eve for a total of $659.54 all of which was my Christmas budget. After numerous more hours on the phone with Priceline, a second conference call with them and my bank, and a second acknowledgement of these charges having been taken from my account, I hung up with them thinking a resolution had been met.
After the one hour not on the phone to eat Christmas dinner, I then called back to my bank, and Priceline told my bank that they needed to release to them $489 (?) before they would refund my $659.54 no matter how many times my bank told them those charges were not pending in my account and there was no record of them. I had to pay Priceline before they would give me a refund; it was unreal! So, once again, there was no resolution to 3+ hours of phone calls even conference calls with my bank. As of now, no one has offered me anything. My account is still negative because I have filed a dispute with my bank, and Priceline has done nothing.
Reviewed Dec. 22, 2009
I wanted to book a nice hotel for my extended family to stay for New Year at Las Vegas. After searching around, I decided to book a hotel through Priceline "name your own price". I setup a 4-star hotel criteria and Priceline ended up with a hotel that costs higher than the hotel itself (this hotel has been rated as 3 1/2-star at other reputable websites). I called customer services. No one helped me. I then emailed and called the executive office. Guess what, it is even worse than the customer service desk. Customer service desk agreed to refund me the difference Priceline charged me, but the executive office is just not helping me - he refused to refund the difference. I will never book through Priceline and will also tell friends, family, and colleagues not to book through Priceline.
Reviewed Dec. 19, 2009
I was renting a car, and after several screens where the total "rack" costs were displayed for the rental days, I entered my bid. Either I made the mistake or Priceline did - but regardless, I entered $75, meaning for the three days of the rental, and it came out $75 a day! This is twice what the rack rates are, and Priceline would not budge on their assertion that I was going to pay that amount per day. It should have been $25 a day or so, which would have represented a reasonable winning bid, but I ended up paying $75 a day. It seems to me that Priceline should have not allowed the bid to go through without warning me that it was way over the full price per day for the car. It seems unethical to allow this to go through.
Reviewed Dec. 17, 2009
On 11-13-09, I purchased through Priceline a one night stay at the Econo Lodge Hotel in Williams, AZ. On the way there, there was a severe snow storm and a jack-knifed truck. I-17 was closed and traffic was backed up for several hours. I called the hotel to let them know we would not be able to make it and the reason why. I asked if my credit card could be reimbursed. The girl I spoke to said her boss ** was not in and I would have to call back later in the afternoon. To make a long story short, I called several more times and the same girl said he was not there because he could not get to work because of the snow. They charged me $100.00 for the room and that was my Christmas Vacation money.
I also did not get a refund for the ticket I purchased for the polar express which was why I booked at the Econo Lodge. So I just lost $131.00. I feel I was cheated both by Priceline and Econo Lodge, so were several other families. I will never do business with Priceline or Econo Lodge ever again. It ruined my family and friends’ Christmas vacation. Not to mention the children who were looking forward to this trip. I know the economy is bad right now but for people to rip people off just because they have the power to do so is sad. I don’t know how they sleep at night.
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I booked a hotel with Priceline, and when getting to the hotel, I found out the hotel stated the booking was cancelled. Both Priceline and the hotel charged me for the same stay. When asked to correct the situation, Priceline stated I needed to call the hotel to resolve the situation. So, they washed their hands off my problem. It's a very, very bad business. They have a partnership and should be working together to resolve issues.
Reviewed Sept. 3, 2009
I went to their website to look for a hotel. At the top of the page, it clearly stated no cancellation or change fees, therefore, I made a hotel reservation. Later, after finding out that I made the reservation at the wrong hotel, I tried to change hotels. This was approximately three hours after making the original reservation. When I tried to make a change, I was told I had to do it the day prior. That's hard to do when I didn't even have a reservation then. I talked to two different customer service representatives to no satisfaction. I ended up at a different hotel than the rest of my family. Priceline lost a customer and anyone I talk to.
Reviewed Sept. 2, 2009
Through Priceline's online "Name Your Own Price," I booked a hotel. I made sure that the travel insurance box was not checked. However, when I received my receipt, there was an added per night fee of $15.00 for Travel Insurance! I called customer service and after almost 20 minutes of waiting, I was only coldly informed that there was nothing the rep could do. It was my problem for booking with Priceline! I wonder how many other have fallen pray to these fraudulent charges. This could really add up! Maybe there should be an investigation and a class action suit in the future.
Reviewed Aug. 28, 2009
I submitted a request for a 2 plus star hotel in Seattle on August 8, 2009 with Priceline at a high price. They informed me that I won the bid for Red Roof Inn in Sea Tac. When I arrived, there was no clerk, the bookkeeper was checking guests in and had no idea what he was doing. The clerk who should have checked us in was running around the parking lot trying to figure out where all of the guests were supposed to park as their parking lot only holds 1/3 of the guests’ vehicles. I later found out that one guest had all of his things stolen!
Anyway, we locate our room only to find mold all over the bathroom floor, in the tub, which was so worn you could see metal showing through, a hole in the ceiling, dust all over, no tables, chairs, smelly sheets, half hung curtain, etc. I asked the bookkeeper if he had more rooms. He informed me that they were fully booked and the room that he gave me was a remolded room. Wow! I called Priceline, worthless individuals who do not give a damn. Red Roof claims if you are not happy they will give you a refund. Right, they never returned my call! So, I am notifying the attorney general and hope that you will too! Thanks for listening, hope this helps.
Reviewed Aug. 28, 2009
I tried to book a hotel online on 8/4/2009 through Priceline.com. My offer was declined according to the website immediately after "naming my own price." I was on vacation by car and was unable to check my email the next day or two. I came to realize, according to my email (the website said the offer was not accepted) that my offer had been accepted. I had already made other plans to stay at a different hotel and never stayed at the Extended Suites Destin. I called the corporate to tell them of my story. They were condescending and mocked my situation. They simply reiterated that their policy states no refunds. I had no way of seeing my offer was accepted and was not looking for that email because to my knowledge, the offer was declined and showed this on my internet web browser.
I did not stay at the Extended Suites Destin. I have a receipt from another hotel I stayed at that night because I knew my offer had not been accepted according to the website. According to Priceline.com, since they sent me an email stating my offer had been "accepted" for the room, I failed to check the status of my room bid. I think this is absolutely unethical and inappropriate that a business can take your money without your knowledge. I never knew my offer was accepted and was unable to check my email! The offer was not accepted online. I never stayed at the room. I am infuriated and will take this to the highest level. If I knew my bid was accepted, I would've never booked to another room. I have receipts from the hotel I did stay at that night and I am angry that I was charged for a room I never stayed in.
I suggest everyone to contact the Better Business Bureau directly and file a complaint with your credit card company. Priceline.com's company policy states that if you purchased a hotel room and either have a delayed flight or it can't meet "special needs," you can get a refund. Obviously, they refund people for not being able to stay in their room. Why would they not refund me when I didn't even know my offer was accepted and never stayed in my room? Another extenuating circumstance is that I was on the road and was unable to check my email, so apparently, I have to pay $79 for a hotel I never knew I won? Obviously, Priceline.com did not want to refund me and this is complete fraud. I want a full refund for the entire amount of the hotel and a full, written apology from these disregarding and condescending Priceline executives.
Reviewed Aug. 28, 2009
This morning, I went online at Priceline to book a hotel for my trip to San Francisco in October (11th to 16th) while using their "bid" process. I have used this service before so I do know the policy and the fact that you cannot cancel. However, in error, I realized only after I submitted my bid that I had the wrong area in San Francisco. Yes, it was my mistake and I have admitted that to everyone. Within 5 minutes of making a reservation, I called Priceline's customer service department. Please note that I called 5 minutes after. I explained my situation over and over again to several customer service representatives. I emailed the executives of this organization many times today. I had one call returned only to indicate that they could not assist me.
Please understand the specifics of my issue. I do not know the city and I am 40 minutes from my meeting on foot. I cannot expense cab fare as I was advised that I must book a hotel within walking distance. I am a woman alone in a strange city and I want to be close to others attending these meetings. This is now a safety concern. You must understand that this is very distressing. Priceline continues to tell me that they cannot cancel this reservation and to indicate how reasonable I was when I called them. I didn't ask for a refund and even agreed to pay any price difference of the hotel when I moved and yet I am getting nowhere. I am not being unreasonable. I know that they have policies, but where is the balance between policy and customer service? No one will help me and the executives at Priceline also refused to assist me.
Reviewed Aug. 25, 2009
I purchased three (3) tickets online through Priceline.com. I recently accepted a position in CA. I made reservations for my family to fly from Kona, Hawaii on 8/26/2009. My daughter became ill with the influenza. I purchased travel insurance, $16.00 for each ticket. When I spoke to the insurance company (AIG), they told me that I needed a letter from the doctor proving that my daughter had the influenza. They also informed me that they would only pay for the portion of the $150.00 per ticket, plus they would pay none of the additional charges on the new retail-priced ticket.
I was able to find a flight cheaper than what I paid. But then, I was informed that I would be paying $150.00 per ticket plus the new retail rates for my new airline tickets. I feel that the trip Insurance is a scam, and no one in their customer service could really care at all. I will never book another ticket through them again in my life. Priceline is a joke?
Reviewed Aug. 24, 2009
Priceline request # **, Hotel confirmation # ** - I booked a room for two persons through the above company for 7 nights, naming my Price at $160.00 per night. When phoning the hotel (Best Western Convention Center, 522 West 38th Street, New York, New York), I was informed that the hotel would charge an additional $40.00 per night plus additional tax, amounting to $45.63 over and above the Priceline. Nowhere in the extensive Priceline verbage was this type of charge mentioned. The company is practicing a very shady business. Their practices are very deceitful and there have been many complaints about them.
Speaking with ** at Best Western Hotels Customer Support, she stated that "3rd party booking agents do not inform customers, nor advise customers of possible additional charges." I am left with an unsatisfactory hotel, on a dark and largely abandoned street, paying $1,654.23 ($236.31 per night), which is way over the Priceline "deal" price. The company does not inform guests of additional charges that will be made. Thank you for your help in satisfying my request either to eliminate the $45 per night charge or cancelling the reservation entirely.
Reviewed Aug. 24, 2009
I bought an airline ticket. I paid an extra fee of $16 for "Trip Protection" on their web page where you have the option to buy the insurance. It lists the advantages to "Trip Protection." The first thing it lists is (copy and pasted from their website) "Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption (reimbursement up to the full cost of your trip)." Their customer service reps quoted me a price of $864 and said they could not apply my flight credit. I then requested a manager and was denied. I then contacted the airline (American Airlines) directly and had the book my new ticket. I had to reschedule my trip and I was still charged a $150 penalty and a $20 service fee, even though I bought the trip insurance. I did this 12 days before the scheduled flight.
Reviewed Aug. 21, 2009
My son purchased a travel package to California. We had to cancel the package due to family illness and other circumstances. I called Priceline for my son to cancel and was shifted from one person to another. I was on the phone for 3 days with rude, non-caring personnel. I did however get a refund on the hotel and not even the full amount. I could not get a refund on the airline ticket because it was non-refundable and cannot transfer it. I called United Airlines and they said that they were not paid yet for the ticket and the only one who could cancel it was Priceline. This is why I was on the phone for 3 days. I then spoke to supervisors and the refund department at United. They told me that Priceline owns the ticket. There is no compassion with Priceline and it even sickens me to say their name. My son has to pay a $150 fee to change the date and place of travel, never to use the ticket again. Priceline could have refunded the ticket, less the fee.
Reviewed Aug. 19, 2009
I used an online agency called hotelguide.com to book a hotel in Columbia, SC. The Columbia list appeared and I chose Howard Express Inn at $59 a night. I Mapquest the location and the hotel was located in Beaufort, SC, approximately 80 miles away from Columbia. I immediately canceled, within 10 minutes from the time I reserved the room and three days later, my account was charged $202.82. I emailed hotelguide.com and after some confusion and two more emails, I was penalized $66.94 and was told that Priceline.com was responsible for the charge. Priceline 1-800 said to wait 10 days for my refund. No refund. I sent an email, no response, and BBB, no response.
Reviewed Aug. 18, 2009
I bid on a 5 star hotel for a recent trip to San Antonio with my family. They claim it could be a 4 or 5 star hotel you receive. We got stuck at the Marriott Plaza which is an old, outdated, smelly hotel, blocks from anything which is in no way even a 4 star hotel. And once they accept your bid, you are out of options. You cannot change or cancel. This is a complete misrepresentation of what we bid on. And if you read other reviews of this hotel, you will find I am certainly not alone in my opinion. When you bid on a 5 star hotel and end up in a considerably lower one is nothing more than bait and switch. I will never use Priceline again. My family had to stay in a tiny smelly room, with a view of the roof, in a bad part of town (walking to the Riverwalk at night is sporty at best), lousy service for five nights, with no options.
Reviewed Aug. 11, 2009
I reserved a hotel through Priceline "make offer to Toronto" and got the bid. Then, I talked to a friend of mine who lives in Hamilton, CA. He works in Toronto and he warned me from coming to Toronto because the city is warning people not to come in their city because of the garbage strike and high risk of health problems, the spread of viruses and diseases. Then, I called Priceline and their answer was "you can't cancel whatsoever". Then, I called the hotel and they said, "it's Priceline and not us", although I informed them that I have two young children with me who already have existing allergies and other health issues and did not want them to be exposed to a city like Toronto at this time because of the health scares and the city already warning people not to come in.
Although Priceline never warned their consumers about this problem, they still refused. I called my credit card company and assured me that the transaction is still posting and once Priceline takes the money, they will get it back. But they could not get the money back and I lost $776, although we tried to cancel a day or two before leaving and the hotel had plenty of time to fill the room with other guests.
Reviewed Aug. 7, 2009
When I arrived at my Portland, Oregon destination, I was told my rental car reservation was for Portland, Maine even though I requested Portland, Oregon. There were no cars at the agency I was assigned to, forcing me to go to another agency and pay $1,000 for a weekly rental. Now, I've paid you over $400 to Priceline for the original reservation, and I'm stuck with a $1,000 additional bill. I called their so-called customer service department and received automated messages saying no one was available to help me. How can a company not offer customer support when situations go wrong? It would appear Priceline has no human service element built into its operation - it is simply automated. So in the end, I asked my self, why am I responding to their customer service survey when they haven't even responded to my complaint? Is a human reading it? I think not. I am now and will forever be an ex-Priceline customer.
Reviewed Aug. 4, 2009
I purchased a vacation package to attend a convention in Reno, NV. I confirmed a 5:30am departure from BWI to Reno arriving at 11:45am. When I received the confirmation, the departure time was 5pm. The convention started on 8/24/09 at 9:00, and I have to register and attend sessions that day. I called Priceline and told them my problem. I requested that I be able to change the departure from BWI to RIC (flight leaving at 5:30 on the 24) and that everything else in the package would stay the same. I immediately made the reservation through Priceline and paid $496.58 for two one-way tickets to Reno.
I later got an email stating that all the air travel had been cancelled and I was to receive a refund of $270 for two roundtrip tickets. Approximately $1600 was taken from my account. The original package was $1128.28 for two roundtrip tickets and hotel for 4 nights. Now, I have to make another reservation for two one-way tickets from Reno at an additional cost. I was told I was being considered for another $150 refund due to the error.
I have checked the cost of the return tickets, and it is approximate $500. That will total over $2,000 for a $1100 package that I paid for and did not receive. It would have been cheaper to keep the original package and then purchase additional departure tickets! Thus far, I have spoken with at least 6 different representatives who have hung up or disconnected me several times, as I try to straighten out this mess.
Today, I received an email stating I would not receive the $150 refund. I want to know what happened to the package I paid for and where my money is since their error caused this situation. Sunday, August 2, 2009, prior to the denial of the refund, I had advised the last representative that I would be contacting Consumer Protection. This has been going on since July 14, 2009. My trip is in two weeks, and I still do not have tickets for the return trip. I do not believe they have acted in good faith; they simply cancelled my tickets and took my money. I have been harmed because of their misinformation and error.
Reviewed Aug. 1, 2009
I booked a cruise through Priceline.com and one of the bonuses I received was a voucher for a 2-night hotel stay through their "name your own price" process. I received the voucher and went through the "name your own price" process for a hotel room in NYC. I chose only 4 and 3 1/2 star hotels knowing I would not be able to pick the specific hotel, but wanting to make sure it was decent. I also included trip insurance at an additional cost in case an emergency came up and I needed to cancel my trip. (I have a child with chronic health conditions so that could be a possibility.) My price was accepted by a hotel and after learning what hotel it was, I proceeded to go to the hotel's website, Affinia Manhattan.
Immediately, I learned that the hotel allowed pets in the hotel rooms and main lobby areas. I am highly allergic to cats and knew I would not be able to stay at that hotel. I called Priceline's customer service immediately. They told me to call back in the morning because they would have to contact the hotel's reservation department which had already closed. I did call back the next morning and spoke with a customer service representative who told me they would refund all of the money that had been charged to my credit card for the total hotel stay (which was for 3 nights) minus the trip insurance and minus $75 until I provided them with a letter from my doctor stating I had a severe cat allergy and would not be able to stay at that hotel. I did get the letter from my doctor and faxed it to Priceline that same day.
When I asked them about getting the bonus voucher back to use again (for my husband who has no allergies), they told me it had already been used and would not be sent again. This is the point where I became upset with them. The voucher had not been used and was worth at least $150. No one stayed in NYC. The reservation had been cancelled immediately. I have a medical condition which didn't allow me to stay at that hotel and I had trip insurance which gave me the right to cancel the reservation as well. I felt like they were stealing money from me. I also didn't agree with them not refunding the trip insurance, but at least I could live with that. I asked to speak to a manager of customer service and was told no one would speak on the phone and I should instead write the VP of Customer Affairs online. I did write her and was hoping someone in that capacity would be much more understanding that they were in the wrong here.
But to my surprise and disappointment, they gave me the runaround. They told me that the voucher link could only be used one time. (I asked them to send a new link or something comparable even if they couldn't send another voucher). They told me that had been generous in allowing me to cancel - that's not true. I had trip insurance, a note from a doctor, and nowhere on their website does it say that you may be given a hotel that allows pets, especially a 4 or 3 1/2 star hotel or I never would have booked through them in the first place. I told them that this was unacceptable. The voucher was rightfully mine and they should not be taking it away from me. They basically told me that they would not reinstate the voucher and to expect no further response from them regarding this matter. Unbelievable. I have read online other people complaining that their customer service borders on criminal and in this case, they are truly stealing from me.
Reviewed Aug. 1, 2009
I used Priceline because of Border's Perks to book a hotel for the weekend of August 7-9th in NYC for our wedding anniversary. We wanted to be in Soho, so we chose that field plus the 4 star hotel field. The website is very misleading; however, we got a hotel in the financial district, which was not where we wanted to be. We called to ask if we could possibly change to the Thompson Hotel in Soho and they said they would refund our money for the Thompson Hotel in the financial district. And then when we went on the website to bid again to get the Soho Hotel, it would be an additional fee of $25, so we agreed and re-bid. They charged us $238.80 to re-bid and now we ended up with another hotel in the financial district. We called again to let them know that once again we were in the financial district and could we please just book 60 Thompson in Soho, which is more money and they said no, they couldn't do anything about it. In this economy, you would think they would be a little more customer service friendly, especially when we want to book a more expensive hotel.
Reviewed July 31, 2009
Over the last two days, I have attempted many times to contact your company via phone to resolve an issue that has caused me great distress and financial burden. I used your company for the first time this month to book a flight home to Lithuania for myself and my daughter. I put in open availability and picked the flight based on price. You sent me an itinerary on July 9th (please see attached copy of email). I looked at the email and it clearly states that the departing flight is on Thursday, July 30. That is in fact wrong.
The flight you booked me on actually departed on Wednesday, July 29th. I did indeed check with the airline on Wednesday to confirm my flight and you can imagine my dismay when they told me that it was departing that afternoon! I frantically rushed to pack, raced across town to get my daughter out of day care, raced back home when I realized I had left her passport, got back in Atlanta traffic to race to the airport, rushed to find parking and raced inside with my 2 year old daughter only to miss the flight by 15 minutes.
To further add to my stress, I then spent two and a half frustrating hours going back and forth with the airlines and your company representatives trying to resolve this issue. I was told during the first phone call to go to Delta and see if they could put me on the next flight to New York. Delta basically said it wasn't their fault and they couldn't help me with the problem. I then called Priceline again and was told for the second time that it was my fault and I was responsible. I again tried to talk with the airlines only to be told again it is not their responsibility.
So for the third time, I called your company to try and resolve the issue. Only this time, your representative actually hung up on me! I was completely stunned not to mention exhausted as I had been trying to entertain my 2 year old daughter while all this is happening. Please explain to me how it is my fault that the departing date on my email clearly states Thursday, July 30, 2009? I find this completely unacceptable, confusing and misleading. I have been extremely dissatisfied with your response to date and hope that you will work with me to come to an acceptable resolution. I do not feel that I should have to pay $2,000 for your mistake.
After this incident, I checked with the Better Business Bureau and was dismayed to find that you have complaint after complaint after complaint logged against your company (1,914 complaints in the last 36 months). You can be assured that I will be adding my experience if this is not resolved. I will also be contacting Visa next week to dispute this charge.
I am a small business owner and work very hard to maintain customer service and satisfaction. If I sent someone a statement with erroneous information that ended up costing them $2,000, you can best believe that they would expect me to right the situation and admit to my mistake. Booking flights is your business and I do not see how an error like this could occur. And I especially don't see how it can be my fault as you have told me on several phone calls. I look forward to hearing from you soon regarding this matter.
Reviewed July 30, 2009
Priceline is a scam. They need to be put out of business! Don't bid on hotels. I had bid on a hotel in Boston on Priceline's website. When I placed my bid, I wasn't asked how many beds I needed or the size of bed. I needed 2 double beds for my 20-year-old son and I called the hotel after getting the confirmation and the credit card was charged $307.00. It was only $12 less than if I would have got the room on Expedia or Hotels.com. This wasn't a bargain. I called the hotel to change from one bed to two beds in the room. But the hotel couldn't access my reservation since Priceline had made it.
I called Priceline and they said they would call the hotel to change it. They then came back on the line to tell me I could get a room with two double beds, but the price would be $50 additional per night. I calculated the price and found that it was higher than if I would have just gone on another travel website and booked it myself. Now, I have to eat the $300 since I refuse to spend the night in a room that only has one bed for me and my son. This is just wrong! I wish I would have come to this website to see all the complaints about Priceline. William Shatner should be ashamed to be affiliated with this company!
Reviewed July 30, 2009
I booked a hotel through Priceline.com's "name your own price" feature for a hotel at the Newark International Airport. Instead, I ended up with a hotel in a very bad area of downtown Newark. When I contacted Priceline's customer service department, I was told that according to them, that hotel is considered part of the Newark Airport and refused to refund or change my reservation. I contacted the hotel and they told me that they do not consider themselves an airport hotel and would have been happy to refund my money except for the fact the Priceline handled the transaction.
I believe the main reason they do not show you the hotel you book until after they get your money is because they know in most cases you will not like what you get. Their excuse is that they showed me a map with a shaded area where any of the hotels might be. The problem was, the entire map they showed was shaded. Nice trick! This is obviously a shell game designed by some very devious business people to lure people in. Shaded maps? Try shady business practices.
Reviewed July 27, 2009
Don't bid on hotels; their hotel ratings are inconsistent and they use it unfairly on consumers. I just bid for a 3.5-star hotel in South Lake Tahoe and ended up getting a hotel that's nowhere close to the 3.5 star rating. When compared to priceline.com's other 3.5-star hotels, it not even close in terms of quality. I have stayed at all three of these hotels, and I can tell you that Montbleu is in a different class compared to the other two properties mentioned above.
I have complained to Priceline with calls and emails, but they claim their ratings are correct. They seem to evaluate hotels based on a few key competitors and not based on any of their customers. I seriously doubt that anyone from Priceline have been to the hotel that we got! If they did or even ask their customers on the experience, they would know.
Reviewed July 23, 2009
They made a car rental reservation for me at one price, but the actual price when I got there is $100 more. I called to ask why and they said the reservation price is only an "estimate". I asked why would someone want to use Priceline if the prices are only "estimates" and their answers were weak.
Reviewed July 20, 2009
I was told that their customer service department is open between 9-4 EST, Monday through Friday. Otherwise, their calls are routed randomly to the Philippines. I have a feeling that there is nothing that you can do for real. There is no address for this company and there is about 86 complaints for the same thing that happened to me. It caused my account to be overdraft.
Reviewed July 16, 2009
I bid on a hotel and won it (Microtel) for $61. Priceline added the taxes and fees of $12/night. I later found that the taxes and fees were only $8. So Priceline had a hidden extra fee of $4/night. It turns out that the hotel would have given me a $65 rate if I had called direct, so there was no savings with Priceline and I had a non-cancellable reservation. Bad deal.
Reviewed July 16, 2009
I just gotta vent here for a few minutes.
I booked a hotel through Priceline a few weeks ago. I booked a room with a full size bed so that my girlfriend and I could have a little romantic getaway. Well, when we get there we find that our room has two twin size beds and the air conditioner doesn't even work. So it was too hot to even try to stay in the same little cramped bed that only children should ever have to sleep in. So I called Priceline and I asked them to remedy the situation. They tell me they will get back to me within 5 business days.
8 business days later, I write to them again asking what is going on. They say 2 more days and they will have a reply. A few days later, I get an email saying I need to call a number to talk to a real person. Only when I do, the automated system tells me that only people who are on vacation and/or who are about to be are the only ones they are taking calls from. So I write back again asking for a percentage off of the stay. I didn't ask for a full refund, just a discount. It seems fair to me since I didn't get what I paid $170 for. It’s been weeks now that it has gone back and forth and now they send me a letter saying that they only guarantee that you will have walls around you. Nothing inside the hotel, room, etc. is actually guaranteed. Basically, they didn't even have to have a bed in the room! Awesome! They said go complain to the hotel!
The hotel didn't have the confirmation screen and page that said I was supposed to get a full sized bed in my room; Priceline did. Why bother paying a company to get you what you want if they don't and their only reasoning for not is that they don't have to?! Don't bother with Priceline! Go somewhere else! There are other sites that will guarantee to work with the hotels to make you happy with your stay if something like this happens where they screw you out of what you paid for.
Reviewed July 15, 2009
My husband, David **, and I used the name-your-bid feature on Priceline.com for hotel reservations for July 1st on June 30, 2009 (Priceline request # **; hotel conf. # **). We read all of the disclaimers, etc. Priceline matched us up with the Hotel Preston in Nashville, TN. We were appalled when we visited the hotel's website. Several featured packages included: sex toys, lust dust, strip pole lessons, and gaycations. There was no way we were taking our young children to a hotel and risk being exposed to this. When we contacted Priceline, they refused to trade out our hotel (with 24-hour notice, even) or refund our money.
When we contacted the hotel, a gentleman there understood why we would be concerned and would have given us our money back if it were up to the hotel, but all money is handled through Priceline. Priceline told us that if we went there and didn't like it, they might have refunded us our money. I am not going to take three young children (ages 2, 6, and 8) into a place like that. We ended up out that money ($84.03) and spending more to book another hotel on our own. We understand that we agreed to take the hotel that Priceline books us with, but there is not a single word in the disclaimer that ever suggests something of this nature. If there was a hotel not suitable for children, they should have put that in the fine print. However, they did not, and we want a refund in full and perhaps Priceline needs to add that to the fine print in the future.
Reviewed July 14, 2009
Very rude and not willing to work with the customer once they had your credit card number. Their "name your own price" leaves no room to narrow down request and does not list possible fees included in the hotel's requirements. So ultimately, the "name your own price" is not a true rate.
Reviewed July 10, 2009
I purchased two plane tickets to Las Vegas by bidding my price through Priceline.com. The tickets were to fly with Delta whom I've had previous problems with. Our flight was said to depart on Monday, July 13th, 2009 around 5PM and return on Thursday, July 16th 2009. My fiancee's brother was also flying to Vegas for a business meeting, which is why we decided to book the trip in the first place. We didn't have to pay for a room because we planned on staying with my fiancee's brother. His flight departed on Sunday, July 12th 2009 around 7AM. His flight was delayed due to mechanical problems. He tried to get on a different flight at a later time, but Delta was reluctant to do so.
After extensive arguing, they decided to refund his money thus having to cancel the trip altogether, leaving us with two plane tickets to Las Vegas. We tried contacting Delta airlines and they said it was out of their hands because we purchased the tickets through a third party so we tried contacting Priceline. That proved to be impossible. We have paid a little over $500 for a service we didn't get to use. I would like to get a refund or at least a credit for another date.
Reviewed July 9, 2009
I tried to book a motel through Priceline on June 12 for the 13th. I booked Kings Inn in Georgia. Upon arrival about 12:30-1:30 on the 13th, I went to the front desk to check in and was informed by the little black girl behind the counter that there was no reservation for me. I asked, "Are you sure?" She said yes. She also informed me of the bad storm the night before and that it had knocked out the electricity, fax and online service and that was probably why they had no record. I said okay and left.
Upon receipt of my credit card statement, I noticed a charge for this hotel. I emailed Priceline and explained the situation. I got a form letter in return, stating that they spoke with Ravi, the manager of the Kings Inn, and he said we were a no-show. Even after I explained what happened to Priceline, they just automatically believed the manager, (same nationality as the person at Priceline). I then called the manager myself and spoke with him. I informed him exactly what happened. He then proceeded to ask me what I wanted him to do. I said I want him to refund the cost of the room. He said he would and left it at that. I then re-emailed Priceline and told them what the manager had said. They then emailed me again and said that the manager did not speak to me and they were not refunding my hotel cost.
I then called this manager again and informed him that I had our conversation recorded on my phone and that I would be contacting my lawyer. I believe that the same nationality of Priceline person and manager of hotel played a big part in not getting payment. I informed them that I was there upon numerous occasions and was told that there was no reservation. I also informed them that if I were going to make up a story it would be better than the one that really happened. I think that the customer service personnel of Priceline need to look at the whole picture and fight for the people rather than the big corporations, and I think that they need better customer service personnel. I will never use them again and I will make sure to spread the word.
Reviewed July 9, 2009
I booked a hotel using "Name your price" method on Priceline.com. On the day of my check in, they said they have not received my itinerary from Priceline.com so they can't check me in. After 2 hours and talking to 2 reps from customer service before Julio, I was told by Julio that he would call me back once he booked my hotel. He didn't call back after booking the hotel, using the same credit card on file. On my 4th call I got Nash from customer relations on the line. Nash doesn't show any effort to understand my frustration and keep telling me about the contract. Both reps didn't understand my frustrations not being able to check into my hotel and missing my dinner plan and spending 3 hours talking to Priceline on my cell phone. I also get charged twice for one hotel. I cannot check in and another charge from a hotel that Julio booked for me. Is this how Priceline operates?
I wasted 3 hours of my time which I could have used to make business calls and reviewing my client file. I missed my dinner plan with a potential client. I had to drive 20 miles back and forth to the hotel, work, and new hotel and I used 180 minutes of my cell phone plan.
Reviewed July 7, 2009
My family member bought a car rental and a plane ticket package to take her kids to Orlando, FL. When she returned the rental car on the booked date, she found out that the airline ticket was booked to leave two days prior. The return date on the airline ticket was two days before the date for the car rental. Since her return tickets were now no good, she had to buy one way tickets at full price in order to get her and her kids home.
Reviewed July 5, 2009
Where to start! I asked my kids to pick a place they would like to visit during summer break. I expected Hawaii or an amusement park but they picked Cannon Beach, OR. By the way, it’s a great place and I recommend it for every one of all ages and very dog friendly. Armed with the destination, I immediately went on-line to start searching for places to stay and make travel arraignments. I found a great home on the beach and booked it and started to search Priceline for my airline and car rental. This was my first big mistake for not searching complaints.
I am a victim of a great advertising campaign. I got the tickets and booked the car. I filled out their extensive information regarding information about the passengers, which I am traveling with my three kids, wife and mother-in-law. My kids’ ages are 4, 14 and 18 and I wanted them to sit together. Priceline adds a note to your reservation which basically says seats together requested. This means you will need to pay the airline a fee to get your seats together but you will not know this until 24 hours prior to take off.
I called Priceline and with no compassion, they said we cannot help you contact the airline. I did so and they said they could not help us, we would need to contact Priceline or they could rebook us for $100 per ticket and take control of the reservations. This did not dawn on me until day of travel but when you reserve with Priceline, you do not own the ticket, they do and you cannot make any changes to these tickets without paying out the rest of the reservation.
I worried about this all the way up to 10:15 a.m. prior to takeoff when I went up to US Airways website online check-in. I put in all of my reservation information and clicked to the next page and to check on seating to find my entire family were scattered all around the cabin and no seats together unless you wanted to pay an additional $10 per seat. I contacted Priceline and they told me they could not help me. I would have to contact the airline to which I did. I got a just as rude agent on the phone and she basically said, “If you want these seats together, you will need to pay the $10 per seat.” Well, needless to say, $60 dollars later, I have my family together. I have never tried Priceline and never will again.
I also have never flown US Airways and again will never fly again. This is not only because of the $10 a seat premium but also for the additional $100 to check my luggage and the rude behavior I experienced on the flight. I fly 20 times a year and have never seen such an unkempt group of flight attendants with attitudes. Don’t ask for a drink that they don’t carry because you will get snapped at. I made the mistake of asking for pink lemonade for my daughter and was snapped at with, “We only carry Coca Cola products!” Well that doesn’t fly with me and I snapped back by saying, “How am I supposed to know Coca Cola doesn’t carry pink lemonade!” He responded with, “Look in the sky magazine, this will tell you what we carry.” I said, “That is way too much work, just give me a coke,” to which I mocked his southern accent, which was rude of me but he just got under my skin. I am a little nervous about the flight back and whether or not we will be seated to together but that will have to wait until the end of our vacation.
Avoid these two travel mistakes if you want to have a great travel experience. Stick with Travelocity or Orbitz, two tools I have used in the past and have had no issue but I was memorized by the Priceline commercials and the abundance of them. Also, never fly US Airways. Stick with Continental or US West, two of the best airlines around. I will never cheat on my normal travel arrangement tools again.
Reviewed July 5, 2009
Priceline hotel booking is very deceptive. My offer was accepted by Affinia Suite Hotels, which I assumed a suite can accommodate 2 adults and 2 children. Upon arrival, Affinia informed me the room I booked through Priceline is one bed guest room. For two beds, I have to pay upgrade fee. I could have book directly at 4 star hotels like Marriott or Sheraton in NY City at the price I paid through Priceline and upgrade fee at Affinia. Affinia Hotel is shabby, 3 stars at its best. It has old rooms and furniture that have seen better days. First and last time I used Priceline to book a hotel.
Reviewed July 1, 2009
The car rental # ** was canceled on June 10, 2009. The trip was supposed to be June 13, 2009, but my mother had a stroke and the trip was canceled. It was canceled by way of National rental number who said our car rental was canceled, no problem. We also canceled by computer. I talked to Shannon today from National who said they do not talk to Priceline. That's ridiculous and we should have been told. When anyone attempts a phone call using 888-837-3774, there is never anyone human - only pre-programmed computer info. So no one can make any change to travel plans. I did not use your service this time, I would in the future and had in the past. I need $80.45 returned to my Visa. The numbers are in your system. I am sorry for the inconvenience, but we did everything by the book.
Reviewed June 30, 2009
I intended to surprise my wife with a trip to Florida. I purchased the trip insurance so that in case she didn't want to go, I could cancel. In the meantime, her mother becomes ill and we have to go to Michigan. Her mother was not ill enough to go to the doctor, and had no insurance. Basically, Priceline said that I had to have a doctor's excuse to cancel, so I would have paid about $200 for my ill mother-in-law to leave the house and go see a doctor so that I could get the $290 back. Priceline is a joke and I would never, ever recommend this website to anyone. They are very misleading about everything they say and do.
Reviewed June 26, 2009
When organizing our holiday to the USA, we used a debit MasterCard for all our hotels, flights and car hire. One of our bookings was with Priceline.com and we used the same debit card to book a rental car in New York. We were instantly charged a sum for collision damage insurance. When arriving at the car rental shop, we were told that they didn't accept debit cards. We then had to hire another rental car at a much higher rate. When returning from our holiday, I inquired about getting our money reimbursed but we're told that it could not be. We were double charged for a hotel, charged extra for car hire and seemed at the mercy of many scams, but were able to get our money back from Priceline.com though they bluntly refused. Tourist are meant to feel wanted, not to be taken as fools and shortchanged.
Reviewed June 25, 2009
I booked a car rental for when arriving in New York and was charged a collision damage insurance. When I was ready to get our car, the car company did not accept the debit MasterCard even though Priceline had deducted from this card. This was a setback, a further cost. We then rented another car from another company. When asking to be reimbursed, I was refused. This is a blatant scam and really puts tourists from visiting again.
Reviewed June 24, 2009
I booked a car rental with Priceline, using the bidding system. I bid $20, then $25/day. It accepted my bid, added the taxes and told me that my total would be $105.00. Then I initialed the agreement, knowing I would be paying now to get a better price. The standard price range from others was $32 to 36/day. When I got to the next page after giving my CC#, they charged me $33/day. I called and explained what the program had done and they said --we have you signed contract for 33/day. No recourse. I was scammed by Priceline! This had to be programmed in, for the program to do this. I know what I saw --they wouldn't have totaled it, if it was not accepted. I am challenging the charge with my bank. Everyone should be warned. Do not trust Priceline! They could have charged me any amount on the next page and I would have been on the line for it. They have lost all my business. Please warn the people you care about. I have lost time and money.
Reviewed June 23, 2009
I used Priceline for years and was satisfied. I bought the cancellation insurance but can't cancel. They will not honor my request. I was charged $105 for one night.
Reviewed June 15, 2009
My reservation was for a 3-star hotel, which the Holiday Inn in San Diego was. The problem was the room was barely a 1 1/2 star. What a rip off. After the Priceline "deal" and then parking, I could have stayed at a 2-star, paid full price and been better off. As I've read in other complaints, this is typical. There is no recourse once you hit "accept offer.”
Reviewed June 11, 2009
This was the first time I used Priceline, and I will never use it again. I was bidding on a hotel in Vegas, and after my offer for $85 for a 4-star hotel was met with an offer for $99, I accepted. Once I accepted, the name of the hotel appeared, which was the Westin. A link to the hotel website was provided, and upon going to the Westin's website, I found out that I could have gotten a room straight from them without the Priceline fee for $89 a night. I feel like Priceline totally scammed me. When I called Priceline to complain (and got the run-around from several people) and finally got a supervisor on the phone, he proceeded to tell me that he could no longer do anything since we had already completed our check out. Since then, I have been reading many, many complaints about Priceline on the Internet.
Reviewed June 10, 2009
This has been three years. I placed bids on tickets for retreat in Georgia three times on 2006, 2007 and 2008. So last year June 4th, I placed four bids for 4 tickets from NY to Georgia at $200 each. In the past, they always send you a mail if it is denied. They asked you to bid a little bit higher or they would tell you this is the price that they find. If it accepted, they will send you all the information about the airline who accepted the bid. This time, I checked my e-mail address every day--nothing from Priceline. I got the number from Priceline’s information system online. When you call, they ask you to enter your date of travel. When I enter the date, the system said, “Sorry, we are serving only date close to departure at this moment. Call us back.”
For days, I did not received any acceptance mail whatsoever from Priceline. So it was close to the retreat date and I don't want to wait at the last minute to hand up paying more. I went to Delta’s site on June 10, 2008 and searched for round trip tickets. I end up paying more than my bet on Priceline for the 4 tickets, so I booked the tickets got my confirmations via e-mail and the tickets via e-mail the same night (4 e-mails for each ticket individually). I paid on my credit card. Done. On June 14, Saturday (day time) I was online and I received this e-mail from priceline.com in a message dated 6/14/2008 (8:50:39 am Pacific daylight time):
“See your complete itinerary and receipt for your trip below. Due to heightened security measures at us airports, you will need a valid government-issued photo ID and we suggest that you bring a copy of your itinerary for check-in. If you are traveling outside the US, you'll almost always need a passport, but you may need to show additional documentation at your destination and/or in connecting cities. For international one-way travel, you may also be required to show proof of return travel or onward travel. Need a hotel room for your trip? Book on-line or call us toll-free.
Total trip cost: $432.62. Charges may appear on your credit card statement in separate charges from priceline.com and our travel partners. Questions about your itinerary. Please view the complete penalty rules for changes and cancellations for this fare on the "check your request" area of our website. Change penalties/restrictions apply. If you have any questions or require further assistance, please visit our customer help area at least 2 hours in advance of departure for international flights.”
The 800 number they have in this e-mail as customer service did not get me anywhere to talk to nobody, so I decided to call Northwest. I come to find out that day Delta merged with Northwest. The person at Northwest found my tickets from Delta in her system but could not find anything in northwest for me. The lady at Northwest advised me to call my credit card company to let them know what is going on so they won't pay Priceline. I called the credit card company that same Saturday, June 14th. Priceline sent me acceptance for two tickets, but still they get paid two times--a total for 4 tickets even more than what I bet for. I went back to Northwest to cancel the tickets of Priceline. Northwest did not have any reservation for me or any money from me. They told me whoever got the money out of my account, then that’s the person I need to contact. I did not get anywhere after two weeks back and forth with my credit card, Northwest and Priceline.
I decided that I won't pay the credit card for the Priceline ticket because not only I did not get any confirmation of acceptance from Priceline, I did not have any tickets from Priceline till today. I never see any ticket from Northwest that Priceline get paid for. My credit card company does not help at all to dispute the charge. So, June 20th, I called Northwest again. I asked them if I get the tickets from Priceline for other people to use it since I already paid for them. Northwest told me that their tickets are good for a year but you pay a fee to change the date or name. I went to the church board and I asked if there are four more people who need tickets to call me. June 24, 2008, I have four people from my church who decided to go, so they will use my ticket and pay me for them.
When I finally get to Rakesh **, customer service specialist, they said that the ticket is not transferable or refundable. Where is the ticket? I still don't get the tickets until today. So, June 25, 2008, again I went to the Delta site to purchase 4 more tickets for this people on my credit card and paid the card. I tried Chanel 5 Fox on my side; no one ever get back to me. I wrote a complaint on court online and never heard from anyone back.This year I'm not going to the retreat because I cannot afford it. I wrote to Priceline and asked them for my money that they took for tickets that I never have.
First of all, their excuse was their system was down that day and that was the reason they forgot to send the confirmation prior to June 14. How it is my problem? How was I supposed to know that the price was accepted without a mail or a phone call? On the form for the bid, Priceline have my physical address and my e-mail address that is the same address I used to place the bid that later on June 14. They sent me that confirmation and included my home phone and job number. The credit company, Merchant Bank, stopped their dispute. In the meantime, they are charging me service charge every month. Now, they reduced my credit limit. I want my money back from Priceline. I don't care if you have to put all your attorneys at work on my case. My boss told me to write to you and I will have a solution. Priceline took $474.90 plus $432.62 on my credit card. I paid for something I don't have and never had. Either I have the tickets I paid for or my money. I couldn't have the tickets. I wanted my money back. Why I won't have my money?
Reviewed June 5, 2009
I called Priceline customer service to ask about the newest promotion "Bring a friend get $100." All you have to do is book a trip for 2 rooms on the same credit card and they will give you a coupon for $100.00 to use on future bookings. The rules clearly state the qualifications. The qualifications are many, but simply put all I had to do is book 2 rooms on the same credit card by June 15th, 2009. I did that. But after reading the rules for the "rewards program", I also discovered that I should have been earning rewards all along, but have not been credited for any of them.
After calling customer service, they told me that I would have to book that trip "after" June 15th and it clearly states on the website by June 15th. Also, they couldn't even pull up my account to see all of the previous trips I've booked to see what rewards I've been entitled to. I also asked to speak to a supervisor because I felt that the person I initially spoke with (Daniel) and he couldn't speak English very well. So I felt that if we could get someone on the phone who speaks good English, he/she would also understand English. But I got a guy named "Andy". Although he spoke English very well, he spoke with a very heavy accent and wasn't getting the concept of my argument with Priceline.
Bottom line is I've used Priceline for over a year "very regularly" and have yet to receive "rewards" to which I am entitled. I think they advertise falsely to get people to book with them exclusively; then when it comes time to collect, you spend hours on the phone trying to get it credited with someone who neither cares, speaks English, nor can provide any answers. I think their advertising practices are fraudulent and deceptive.
Reviewed June 3, 2009
I booked a 3 star hotel for a night through Priceline.com. After reservation is completed, access to comments by Priceline customers that have stayed at the hotel is available. Unfortunately for me, all the comments were bad. The hotel has an old and a new wing. The rooms in the old wing are dirty, moldy, smelly and in need of repair. The new wing is okay. Priceline customers only get the old wing. I called Priceline for help. I explained about the two wings and all the comments about the old wings being in horrible condition. Priceline did nothing. They said, "We stand by our rating of three stars," no explanation of complaints versus rating. Priceline said that if we did not want to stay there because of the mold, it was our choice but they would not cancel the reservation. When we explained that the hotel was very willing to move our room to the new wing for a substantial increase in rate a kind of bait and switch, Priceline did nothing. When I suggested that the hotel likely got a 3 star rating by presenting just the new wing and requested Priceline to investigate, Priceline refused.
Reviewed June 2, 2009
My brother died of pancreatic cancer on 4/15/09. It was very sudden and unexpected. He was also a career Naval officer and is entitled to being buried at Arlington National Cemetery. I had a chance to see him before he died but since it was last minute, it was very expensive for us. So, after he died that week and once the family had a date set for his internment at Arlington, I had to book flights and rooms again and was hoping to save some money since we had just laid out a small fortune to get there at the last minute to say good bye to him.
So in late April, I booked two rooms in DC for me and my husband and another room for my daughter for July 26-August 1. My brother is being interred on July 29th. My daughter works for Homeland Security and received a reassignment which does not enable her now to go to see her uncle being buried at Arlington. I called Priceline to try and get a credit back for the extra room which my daughter will no longer need and they would not work with me at all. I made the reservations under great duress and this is the final straw. My daughter is very upset already that she cannot see her uncle interred with the highest honors accorded a military officer but she is in service to her country as well and understands that. However, Priceline kept on refusing to help me out.
I told them that honestly, nobody in their right mind would book a trip to Washington DC in late July if they didn't have to because it is so hot and miserable. My husband and I are still going for the ceremony but now I will have two rooms paid for and only one will be used. Priceline said to call the hotel. The hotel said they couldn't help because Priceline has the money (so they couldn't credit me back) and so, it was out of their hands. I am sure that since nobody will be using that room, that the hotel will rent it out and they will get double the room fees. I just want credit back for the extra room for a week. The airlines is working with me and I was able to cancel the plane reservation for my daughter, albeit, I did have to pay a change fee and they did give me credit and not a refund. All I wanted to do was honor my brother for his service to his country and let my daughter experience her uncle's ceremony.
Reviewed June 1, 2009
I booked a car rental for pick up in West Palm Beach (PBI) and drop off in Sarasota (SRQ). The first bid was rejected and I was asked if I would like to a) change the car type; b) change the pick up or drop off date; c) change the pick up or drop off time. The only item I could be flexible with was the car type and price. I changed it from an economy to a compact and raised the price from $20/day to $25/day. It was then accepted.
When the e-mail arrived, the drop off location had defaulted back to the original pick up location (PBI). I'm now stuck with a pick up and drop off for the same location on the same day. Not at all what I had requested. Customer Relations did nothing more than to read off of a script telling me that if the drop off location no longer worked for me, then they could waive their policy and cancel the reservation at a cost of $25! That was the cost of the reservation to begin with!
Reviewed June 1, 2009
I booked a car rental with my credit card, name your price, then they sent me an email and I checked the rate so they charged me for the car! I am trying to get a refund.
Reviewed May 29, 2009
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Priceline Company Information
- Company Name:
- Priceline
- Year Founded:
- 1998
- Address:
- 800 Connecticut Ave.
- City:
- Norwalk
- State/Province:
- CT
- Postal Code:
- 06854
- Country:
- United States
- Website:
- www.priceline.com
