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Priceline

Priceline • Air Travel • Wrong Airport! • Cruises • Hotels • Rental Cars • Compassion Policies • Cancellation Insurance • Disputed Charges • Defenders • Insider's View --- • Priceline Faces Class Action Suits

The idea of Priceline is appealing. It presents itself as auctioning off unsold seats, beds, etc. But the reality can sometimes be quite a bit different, as the complaints below illustrate. You may be able to get better arrangements for the same price by planning ahead and shopping around. Priceline tends to book travelers on flights that leave at odd times and that require multiple connections.

Other things to be aware of:

• There is little customer service when you are a Priceline traveler. If your plans go awry, it's not likely a quick call to an 800 number will help.
• The airline will not help you and will absolutely not let you exchange your ticket. You don't own the ticket, Priceline does. Even if the airline wants to be helpful, there's not much it can do.
• Priceline fees and surcharges are sometimes higher than those charged by travel agents and airlines, so you may end up paying more even if the ticket price is lower than you might find somewhere else.

Also, remember that Priceline's "secret" is that while the customer specifies what price he is willing to pay, he must commit to pay that price. There's no backing on once the other party accepts the offer. It's important to understand this upfront and to do your price shopping before you enter a bid on Priceline.

We have tested Priceline and found it to be a good way to get cheap airline tickets with just a few days notice. But if you have plenty of time to shop around and live near a major airport, you can probably do better by using Orbitz, Travelocity or a local travel agent.

Amongst all the complaints, we've heard from some Priceline defenders, and a Priceline employee.

Just be sure that what they're selling is what you want to buy -- and be sure you're not paying too much for it. Remember, nothing is free.

A few of the most recent complaints:

Lou of Kennesaw, GA 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!

aminta of doral, FL 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 ---

Veronica of Miamisburg, OH May 27, 2009

I made airline tickets for my weddingmoon to Jamaica through Priceline. When I made the tickets. I made the tickets for my fiancee and me. The problem is, I did not realize at the time I needed to also add my fiance's daughter to the tickets. I was under the impression she was flying down with her grandparents. I realized this error just a few hours after I booked. Of course, Priceline would not add my soon to be step-daughter or cancel our tickets. I spoke to 4 diffrent people. No one would budge. They do not care of your circumstances. They have no mercy on anyone.

We ended-up booking our step daughter a ticket through the airlines, costing us 700.00 for her ticket. My mistake. Lesson learned hard. NEVER EVER EVER use priceline. They lost my buisness.

Toni of The Woodlands, TX May 12, 2009

I booked both a car and a hotel through Price Line. Their map of the Budget rental location was incorrect and took me a while to find. By the time I found the rental location it was after noon. AND, they didn't have one single vehicle available. They said Priceline was often wrong. When I got back to my office and contacted Priceline, they said I would be billed for the hotel room, even though THEY booked a car that didn't exist at a location that was incorrect. They would take no responsibility for the cost of the hotel. This is just wrong. They should have assumed the cost due to their negligence. I doubt I will ever use them again.

Richard of Pleasanton, CA May 7, 2009

My daughter used my credit card to buy a flight to return from college. When she went to the airport she discovered priceline.com had put MY name from the credit card information into the Passenger name field, rendering the ticket useless. She called priceline to get them to change it but they wouldn't and offered ME a ticket (since it was in MY name) to use in the next year, with fees that would cost me just as much as the original ticket! Priceline's online system messed this up and they would NOT rectify the situation.

aman of sugar land, TX May 7, 2009

on 3/22/09 Ibought 3 electronics travilling air tickets on line from price line to travil from houston to minneapolis thigh deniver back to houston. they charge me for each ticket 324.90. totla of 3 tickets 974.90. final I called them steted go to dniver riquested direct back to hoston form minneapolice. they said ok you pay only penality, finally they charge me for 3 additional ticket each for 355.01 total 1065.03 pluse 90, total 1155.03 pluse 974.90 total total chrge from my bank 2129.70. I called them may time refused pay me back the diffirenc.

M. L of Calabash, NC May 2, 2009

I booked a roundtrip travel departing on May 2, 2009 from San Francisco to Wilmington NC with a specific return date of June 23, 2009. I was requested to submit my credit card information. Assuming that what I booked for was what I was going to get, I went on ahead and entered my information. After they charged my card, I immediately received an itinerary reflecting a return date of July 2, 2009. I immediately called Priceline and spoke with Nikki who explained or should I say read to me of the "terms of their non-refundable tickets." I told her I had no problem with that if I was the one who created this error but it was them! She refused to accept what I was saying and continued telling me it was my fault and that I was the one who put in July 2nd as my departure date.

I told her that I went back to the previous screen in my computer and that it's reflecting my request of June 23, 2009. She still did not believe me and insisted I had entered July 2, 2009. She gave me the option to cancel with an additional fee. I asked her how can they charged me a fee when they have the power to waiver that since I was at no fault either. I ended up asking to speak to her supervisor, David, who told me the same exact thing. Hello?! Are they not listening? .... I did not enter July 2nd!!!! July 2nd did not even enter my mind so how could I even enter it in the request? I explained to him how imperative it is for that specific departure date of June 23rd to be met due to personal legal matters. At the end, he couldn't help me and when I asked him if I could speak to his boss, he gave me an e-mail address (mind you, an e-mail address .... not a phone number!) After calming myself down, I looked it up in the computer and e-mailed Lisa from Connecticut. At this time, I am waiting for her to contact me by phone as I have requested.

I am very angry with this company. I feel that my rights had been violated. They took my money but refused to give me the product that that money was intended for. For now, if this is not resolved, I will find myself having to purchase another return ticket for June 23rd .... and believe me, this time it will not be from Priceline.com. They should call themselves Scamline.com!

Heidi of Rochester, MN April 29, 2009

Priceline accepted a bid for 19 and then offered us an upgrade to 24 - obviously still in our price range. However, the catch is that it was plus 24 (double our initial offer) only this misrepresentation was never made clear as we were never given a total amount! We are now paying nearly 3x our intial bid and Priceline is unable to offer any recourse. To get to this stage, I emailed at least 4 times, frustrated by a system taht will not let you email without a reservation number (difficult when you already have a confirmation number). Then emailed two further clarifications and was put on hold by the first agent only to be told he could do nothing; spoke with someone else who also could do nothing!

Daniel of Syracuse, NY April 29, 2009

I rented a car online pickup date 6/06/09 from Hertz through priceline and paid a CDW fee of 63.00, sixty-three dollars which wasn't refunded even though I cancelled the rental with Hertz 4/4/09 before the 24 hours required. I called priceline who told me I didn't cancel with priceline so I wouldn't get a refund. It was my first and last time I'll use priceline. I talked to Fred the supervisor in this complaint 4/14/09 who I waited patiently a long, long time on hold to get. I didn't know I had to cancel with Priceline and Hertz as the online site only explained I had to cancel my rental which I did through my local Hertz.

Fred said, "you'll get a refund in 10 days," on the date of 4/14/09 and I called again today Wed. 4/29/09 because it was still on my credit card. At this time 8:55 a.m. I spoke to someone who didn't speak English well and said he was customer relations and his name was Dence I.D. #5260359. He wouldn't spell his name, but I had to spell my name when I called them so I don't know if the spelling of his name is right, but he repeated it twice and it sounded as I spelled it and I have his I.D. number unless he lied. He placed me on hold four times and then told me I wasn't going to get a refund because I didn't contact them before the 4/14/09 date which is a lie.

I cancelled my Hertz reservation on 4/04/09 and two days before my rental because I called them and Hertz said I needed a 500, five hundred dollar deposit for a weekly rental and I didn't have it after paying priceline. I didn't call Priceline because I didn't know I had to inform them and Hertz of my change of mind.

I contacted priceline later when I learned I still was billed on my credit card statement. I was so angry for being lied to and mislead that I told the consumer relations person I would sue if necessary to get my refund and that he better live in Pakistan because I couldn't understand his English and was angry they weren't refunding my money like so many other scams on the internet from foreign countries. I said I would report him to the Attorney General and will if it needs to go further and I'll get a lawyer if it costs me money and I lose just because of my principals. I would like to state I have remained calm until this happened today. They even asked me twice how are you feeling today. The Audacity!

robert of staunton, VA April 29, 2009

I just spent over an hour on the phone trying to cancel my trip. I was disconnected the 1st time after about 15 minutes. Then had a lady who hardly spoke or understood english who ask me why I was canceling my trip (I broke my shoulder rotator cuff). she kept me on line for 20 minutes. Then told me she couldn't do anything for me. Then transfered me to another guy whom I could hardly hear. I can prove that I will be unable to travel because of surgery, I go in tomorrow at 1pm for surgery. That did not seem to matter to them.

I just upset at this how this was handle and the fact that I am not getting over 400 refunded for my airfare. I could understand a charge of 100 or so if you canceled, but when you are hurt in an accident and can prove it and basicly lose the entire airfare it seems ridiculous. He was telling me I have a credit but will be charges a fee of 180 on top of what I spent to get a new ticket. It would be cheaper for me to buy a new ticket than try to use the credit. I'm out at lease the 450 I spent on airfare. If i want to spend 180. I could the use the tickets but iI could probably get a better price on Expedia or Orbitz

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