Hotwire review: Hotwire bad policy! 55

Hotwire is the most evil and crooked company I have ever delt with. The fact that a company like this is able to operate in the United States is a very disturbing eye openning experience. I highly recomment that anyone who is looking to book a car, hotel or flight go to the company to do and not through Hotwire. CROOKS!

taxes and fees my friend// the cost of the ticket and then before you purchase it gives the total you will be charged/

I had an experience like this with Hotwire last year. I went through the process of booking a room on their website. On the final screen my price was $33 and change. I take screenshots to be on the safe side. I pressed confirm and booked it. I get an email saying it's actually $83 they are charging me. I called them and get nowhere. I call back several times over the ensuing week, send in my documentation including PICTURES PROVEN MY QUOTE several times. Everybody is lazy, is not aware of the documentation, doesn't bother to get acquainted with the case each time I call. I'm told the dept that actually makes ruling on disputes, cannot be reached by phone, and no rep can talk to them. This dept refuses my refund, and they refuse to look at the documentation, saying only the special dept can look at. I go up the ladder, explaining each time that they cannot quote me a price (which I could prove with photos), then charge me a different one. I'm told nobody can change the decision. I finally get a higher manager. She checks my documents and refunds me. What a bunch of f#$8ing liars. Obviously somebody CAN both look at the info, AND make a decision. Just has to be the right somebody. Thanks hotwire, you dishonest idiots. I have used priceline ever since.

Don't trust the rating system. They rate hotels with a 3 star rating, whereas other sites have rated them 2 or less with poor reviews.

The last hotel had rats in our room. We lost our box of groceries to rats who helped themselves to it. I video taped it and I believe it helped us get most of our money back from Hotwire.

They gave us some credit in a form of Hotwire dollars for the night that we did stay there. However I did not sleep since I was woke up around 3 AM to sounds in the room but by the 3rd time I found that it was rats. We packed up, with out showers and checked out with no place to go at 5:30 in the morning.

Turns out this place is know for bad service and below minimal cleanliness as well as roach problem. But I did not find any bugs or signs of them.

They book rooms that can and should be closed by the Health Board.

So today I thought I would use it. The 3 star hotel was 81.99 - 25.00 credit.

So I get the name of the new Hotel again it has horrifying reviews. And by far is not a 3 star hotel.

I will never use them again since I can not trust the rating system.

I hope this place is not a roach-rat infested place or I'm leaving and calling the news team about my past 2 booking within the last 2 weeks.

Beware of using HotWire as they sell your name and credit card information to companies such as Travelers Advantage and Rebate Giant and others. These companies enroll you and charge your credit card without your knowledge or consent. This is a scam and I am going to make my State Attorney General aware of it.

We'll I was looking to see what deals I might be able to find, And when I came to the end of reading the so called good deal, I went to read the terms and conditions and how they are final and no changes. Decided to check out for fraud and found these comments saving me a really big hassle!

Hotwire is a dishonest company. I booked a reservation in a hotel in NY city for one day. Due to the worst snow storm that hit the east coast in several years I called 72 hours in advance to cancel my hotel room... thier policy states (or so they say) that if you cant make it due to weather conditions they will refund you. The person on the phone could see that the highways were closed and there is no way I could make it to NYC since I was traveling from NC. She told me to call back, I asked why... she said.. "just call back and we will give you a refund tomorrow." I called back the next day, same story, they said to call back and they can refund me but closer to the date. I called back the day of the booking and they said "we cant help you with anything".
I was so disappointed because I changed all my plans due to what I was told for 3 days, I thought they would refund me (as promised) but they didnt. They stalled me to not refund me in the end. I asked to talk to a supervisor, who called me a lier, saying I never called them before today, said she didnt have time for my "shananigans" and when I asked to cancel my account, she said "do it yourself." Lastly, I pointed out the horrible customer service I recieved and she said "why dont you just book thru someone else next time." Wowwwwwww I was schoked! These ppl are dishonest, not professional and the worst customer service in the industry. Never Ever book thru them, they are really dishonest and have inconsistent customer service. I had the worst expereince in the travel industry yet and I have been traveling since I was 5.

Brothers and Sisters my name is Iyke. I am an RN student in a college here in Connecticut. This is my case cum story with hotwire.com. The time now is 11.15pm, Friday August 2009. Unfortunately this day happened to be the worst day of my life. Thank you so much Hotwire.com for this day!
I have used hotwire on two different occasions to book for the following hotels, a night in Hotel Indigo Newton Riverside MA and two nights in Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel Canada. On these two occasions I used my debit card to make the booking and payment. I did appreciate the deal and my stays in these two hotels were great.
This August, I’m on vacation from my job, also my school had closed from the summer section hence this is an ideal time to travel. My sister lives in Germany and she invited me to come over. My wife (Victoria) did promise to pay for my trip but shortage of recourses hindered her good willing (she just bought a new car).She then asked her best friend (Maureen) for assistance. Due to the fact that Maureen was so busy with work, she gave my wife all her credit card information to go on and make the reservation. Hotwire called Maureen's house phone (which is the right thing to do) to confirm if she authorized her credit card. Maureen was not at home, she was at work. Hotwire agent talked to Maureen's mother who is about 75 years old and the poor woman answered that she did not give such order.
Hotwire stopped right there. Hotwire did not talk to Maureen. They cancelled my flight, called Maureen’s credit card company and her credit card got blocked. My wife and I did not know all this, Maureen had no idea about all these either. I only found out when I left my Connecticut home to JFK for departure to Germany, the airliner told me that my ticket was deactivated, this information was given to me just 1:30 mins before departure. I was stunned. I called Hotwire, they referred me to their fraud department number which I also called but it went to voicemail. I left a message. After 20 minutes a lady called me from hotwire telling me that my flight was cancelled because the “owner” of the credit card said it was stolen, that no permission was given to use the card. I was baffled, I replied how that can be true. Remember it is only some one who know you and trust you, can release credit card information to the third party. I called Maureen and she said nobody ever contacted her. She called home and the mother said yes that hotwire did call. At this point I was not mad at all with Hotwire because I felt they were doing their job. Unfortunately it was short lived, the problem began.
Maureen now official told her mom about the incident incase if they call again. I missed my flight for that day. Maureen told my wife to go on and make another booking. Now we checked for Friday, the 21st flight and found Airbelin.com which we booked only to find out that Maureen's credit account has been closed courtesy of Hotwire.
Maureen apologized to us and told us that she will resolve the situation as soon as she can. Time was ticking my vacation time going by too. My wife Victoria talked to her unofficial adopted mom (Barb) who we are living with to help us with the reservation. She accepted. She was also following the whole development. We went through hotwire again since the owner of the card is making the booking herself for me this time. The card did not go through, Hotwire probably have listed my name in high security alert. Few seconds later I got a call from hotwire and the Gentleman from hotwire threatened me that if I ever got to the airport that I will be arrested and he hung up. Minutes later Hotwire called Barb on the house phone and asked her if she made a booking with my name and she said yes. then they told her if she knew that the person she was making booking for, just stole someone’s credit card two days back, Barb said NO that was not true, I stole no credit card and she tried to explain to hotwire agent, but he was so abusive and yelling which he has no right considering he has no credible evidence to support his notion but he was yelling saying that Barb is an accomplice to the fraud and she will be arrested with me. Well, Barb will be contacting her lawyer tomorrow.
Brothers and sisters, Have you ever been accused wrongly? Have you ever been called a criminal when you are innocent? If you have not been in this circumstance then you probably have no idea what it feels like. I have never had any crash with the law, never ever! Please judge this scenario and tell me what illegal thing I have done. Where did I go wrong? Because of hotwire ill and handicapped investigation, people I love are been harassed and accused unjustly. I was wrongly accused. No proper investigation was done and now they are saying I will be arrested if ever I book another airline and go to the airport. Meaning by the time this is resolved my vacation time is over, my vacation time which did not come easy. They verbally abused both I and Barb. They falsely accused me and Barb. This is painful. This isn't right. Where is Justice because I will definitely get to the root. Sure I can forfeit my vacation but I can not give up my right and Justice. I will be back later to let you all know how it ended

I have also had the same problem with auction hotwire on line...I have never even heard of them until I saw a $67.83 withdrawl on my bank account

It's pretty well documented that Hotwire, Priceline, etc are horrible. Probably should have just gone to the actual website of the hotel taht you wanted to stay at.

I Book a rental car with hotwire, hotwire do not show you who you are book with until you have booked your rental car and payment has been removed from your account. I am booked with National and did not find out until after I called national they do not accept debit cards, Hotwire do not give you an option to pick you rental car company of choice (UNFAIR). I spoke with Amy at National (OKC), I called Hotwire spoke with Briann, she told me I could get a refund after I was rejected, that is the day of my rental 11/24/2008. I have to travel out on 11/24/2008, I book ahead of time for a reason (duh). As of 11-14-2008 my account is minus 244.00, because their (HOTWIRE) inability to tell me National does not accept debit cards. I budget enough money for one rental not two rentals.

Do not rent from Hotwire, or Expedia they are all in one.

wrong

parking in not included and even when availalbe its at your expense not hotwires

Life changes. Yeah, they get that. They are real people too after all. Contracts are binding. They get that too. Apparently you don't however. Final means final.

I booked a 2 1/2 star hotel room from the Hotwire site which is supposedly to be one of these Amerisuites, HolidayInn Express, Country Inn . After I paid for it, it turned out to be somewhat a lot less like a 2 or 1 star hotel( which are rated by AAA). I felt like I have been cheated! And the Customer service rep told me pretty much like " you should have read the fine print and too bad it is your loss!" NO refund, No exchange...This deceptive and BAIT & SWITCH practice should be banned!

I booked a room through Hotwire. I was pleased to see that for a reasonable rate, I could get a room on the way to the vacation destination at a Comfort Inn or La Quinta or comparable. They booked me for the Knight's Inn in Cookeville, TN. They claimed it was 2 star, but other sites give it 1/2 to 1-1/2. I saw very bad reviews for this hotel. I could have gotten the room there on my own for only 3 dollars more than what they gave me. I could have gotten it through Hotel-Rates for $5 more and would have been allowed cancellation up to the date of arrival. I will never use them again. I contacted them and told them how displeased I was. I pretty much got the song and dance of "Too Bad, So Sad - You're Had!" I booked for another hotel through Hotel-Rates.com.
They got my money this time, but never again.