Priceline.com
Reviews and Complaints

I submitted a bid on Priceline. I checked the website which said the bid was accepted and gave me flight numbers and times.

I never received an e-mail confirmation.

The week I was to start my trip I called the airline to confirm. They had me on no flights. I called Priceline. They had no record of my bid being accepted.

They said only that it had not been confirmed. With Priceline the bidder is not supposed to confirm.

The ticket is bought the moment the bid is accepted according to Priceline's own warnings on their website.

I had to buy a high priced to keep my travel plans.

Priceline.com withholds information that if you knew would prevent you from dealing with the company.

They may give you a good fare but you can likely get it as cheap elsewhere.

I purchased tickets and was given a ticket but at what I feel where the worst possible times and flights.

If you deal with this company there is a high likelihood you will not be satisfied with the service you get.

I had difficulty reaching a real live person to complain. I suspect this is because they are use to getting complaints.

Named my own price of $8.00 and the company changed it to $15.00 a day. Issued a contract that I didn't ask for at $15.00 a day. Asked them to cancel incorrect contract and they refused and tried to charge my credit card co. I will not pickup and use a car from them

Ronald Frye

So today there is a severe winter weather warning for New England and most of the US... can't even get the car out of the garage let alone make it to the train staion and into NYC. I booked a room with Priceline. The hotel was willing to change my reservation to another night, as long as I paid a bit more (okay, get it) but Priceline would not do it! It's a severe winter storm! I've NEVER cancelled a trip before and travel frequently! Priceline had no room on thier list of policies for good customer service... they passed me back and forth... 3 times to Priceline, twice to the hotel who's hands were tied without verification that Priceline cancel the reservation. I may have just been played all afternoon by both parties.. Never again...

I too got the blown off by Priceline, I was a strong supporter of Priceline for the last 8 years until now. I spent over $400 for tickets for Disneyland Park in Anahiem and was sent a voucher to use. It states right on the voucher word for word" Voucher may be redeemed for the Disneyland Parks. Voucher will be required for redemption. The Guest Services told me they dont have any info on their system regarding my tickets for admission to the park. They check a total of six times and nothing, even the manager tryed and still nothing.

So I have to turn to my 7 year old son and tell him we flew over 3000 miles to Disneyland and cant go in the gate because our "Priceline Voucher " is not valid . All priceline can say is we can get back to you in 7days with a answer to why the voucher is not valid. Luckly I am a parent who has the financil means to dish out another $460 dollars to enter the park, but what about the families who don't have this fianancial mean, could you imagine. Shame on you Priceline!

So they get back to me 5 days later and blow me off saying I purchased tickets through them (Priceline) that are non-refundable and its my problem not theirs. Is it me or am I in the wrong, you got to be kidding me Priceline. Believe me the fight is not over, you have picked the wrong family to blow off and STEAL my 7 year old sons money, are you kidding me!

fyi, another trick that priceline uses that folks should be aware of. I recently booked a rental car through them and specified that I wanted a mid-size car with an infant car seat for my 8 month old son. I was quoted a price and went with the lowest price car rental agency-Budget--through my priceline search.

Upon showing up at the rental car counter, I was told that the infant car seat was not included in the price (but was just a "requested option") and that it would be $16/day extra (for a total of $128 over an 8 day rental). I think that priceline is practicing blatant false advertising--I would never have booked the car through them if the incremental $128 had been included in the price I was quoted. Be careful--these guys are very deliberately deceptive.

I would advise all consumers to look at Priceline.com's current legal proceedings info per their 10K, annual report filing with the SEC for fiscal year ended Dec 31, 2009 BEFORE booking with this service. They have approximately 17 pages of legal proceedings, with 2 consumer class action lawsuits in the past (see page 47 for consumer class action lawsuits).
Link:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=72780&p=irol-SECText&TEXT=aHR0cDovL2lyLmludC53ZXN0bGF3YnVzaW5lc3MuY29tL2RvY3VtZW50L3YxLzAwMDExMDQ2NTktMTAtMDA4MDAyL3htbA%3d%3d#Item3_LegalProceedings_123550

Consumer Class Actions: (per Priceline's 10K SEC filing, for fiscal year ended on Dec 31, 2009)
Here is text directly from that Priceline 10K filing:

"Two purported class actions brought by consumers were pending against us":

"Marshall, et al. v. priceline.com, Inc.: On February 17, 2005, a putative class action complaint was filed in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware for New Castle County by Jeanne Marshall and three other individuals on behalf of themselves and a putative class of allegedly similarly situated consumers nationwide against us. The complaint alleged that we violated the Delaware Consumer Fraud Act, Del. Code Ann. Tit. 6, § 2511, et seq., relating to our disclosures and charges to customers to cover taxes under city hotel occupancy tax ordinances nationwide, and service fees. We moved to dismiss the complaint on April 21, 2005. On June 10, 2005, plaintiffs filed an amended complaint that asserts claims under the Delaware Consumer Fraud Act and for breach of contract and the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing. On October 31, 2006, the court granted in part and denied in part our motion to dismiss. The court dismissed all claims arising under the Delaware Consumer Fraud Act. The court also dismissed all claims for breach of contract and the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing that relate to our charges for service fees. The court denied our motion to dismiss the breach of contract and implied duty of good faith and fair dealing claims as they relate to our charges to consumers to cover taxes under city hotel occupancy tax ordinances. On February 1, 2008, two of the four plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their claims against us. On February 29, 2008, the remaining plaintiffs moved for leave to amend their complaint to assert additional claims for breach of contract and the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing alleging that we included a hidden fee within the room rate charge. On August 28, 2008, the court granted plaintiffs’ motion for leave to amend. The plaintiffs filed their second amended complaint on September 12, 2008, and we answered that complaint on September 26, 2008. The parties’ summary judgment motions have been submitted and a hearing was held in January 2009; we are awaiting the court’s ruling."

"Chiste, et al. v. priceline.com Inc., et al.: On December 11, 2008, a putative class action was filed by plaintiff Matthew R. Chiste and two other individuals on behalf of themselves and a putative class of allegedly similarly situated consumers nationwide against us, Lowestfare.com, Inc. and Travelweb, LLC. The complaint alleges the defendants overcharge consumers by collecting Hotel Occupancy and sales taxes over and above that necessary to pay the actual taxes on the hotel room reserved by the customer. The complaint asserts claims for deceptive business practices, declaratory and injunctive relief, conversion, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract. Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint on March 6, 2009. Briefing was completed on July 3, 2009. The parties are awaiting the court’s decision."

I booked a car rental on priceline for pickup on Nov 20th 2010. When I arrived at airport, no pick-up. After calling hotline a shuttle was sent to pick us up. I was told the computer was down, they would give me car, but needed me to write down my ssn#, birthdate, place of birth and current address. The gentleman handed me a note pad, and asked for my credit card and ID to copy. In the corner stood, what I assumed to be a lot attendant, who was shaking his head. I was told that a credit check was needed, and they could do it when, the computers came back up. It was midnight and I'm sure they wanted to go home. I expressed my concern with providing my identity, especially when a reservation had been made, and credit card information provided thru priceline. I called a cab, location was a old car lot, many miles from the airport, and went to several other rental companies, but no rental cars were available as this was Thanksgiving Holiday. This transaction was cancelled. 2 days later Priceline.com charges my card for $ 66.00. I have spent many hours to no avail, talking to priceline.com personnel. I have not received any Service, Product or Goodwill from Priceline.com, yet am charged $66.00. I have contacted the Rental Company who states that the charge is Priceline.com not theirs. Where is my money...HELP !

I offered $20 a day for 14 days for a rental car. The price was accepted, but instead of $280 I was charged $454. I was expecting to pay something for taxes but never 60%. After a little digging I find out that they charged me extra for returning my car at a different airport even though when I made the offer I told them exactly where I was picking up and where I was returning. I called and they did nothing. Told me to read the fine print. It's a scam. Don't ever think that what you are agreeing to pay is what they are going to eventually charge on your credit card. Beware.

My husband and I had been planning a trip to Las Vegas for a few weeks now. We already booked flights and were keeping an eye out for good hotel deals. We eventually decided to try the "name your own price" option on the priceline website. Keep in mind we had a pretty good idea of the prices that were out there and it was nearly time for us to decide and book a room. Enter priceline. We pretty much knew what kind of hotel we wanted to stay at. So in the " Name Your Own Price" we bid a higher price to try to avoid some of the cheaper, smaller, and frankly crappier hotels. We understood and agreed to the the non refundable - non exchangeable stipulation because we figured we knew the prices and we had nothing to lose but getting us a better deal. Our bid was accepted. But with one huge problem. The hotel priceline booked us was actually 30% cheaper if we hadn't used priceline's "Name Your Own Price" option at all. Their new slogan should be Raise Your Own Price. So in short the hotels that we were trying to opt out of by exceeding their prices is the exact hotel priceline stuck us into. At a nonrefundable/ exchangeable price. So I called priceline and they admitted that there had been an error on their end, due to their own prices being cheaper and their "Lowest Price Guarantee" promise. They proceeded to refund me the difference in price. The only problem now is that I am stuck at a hotel that i tried to avoid by over biding even their highest priced rooms. They were unwilling to even attempt to put me in a nicer more expensive hotel for even more money. So far I am waiting to hear from the dispute that i filed with my bank. Thanks priceline for trying to ruin my vacation!

So I order 2 round trip tickets from nyc to buffalo. After I hit submit I immediately realized I had made a mistake and one of the flights was too early for me (But not my companion). I immediately call priceline and the do nothing to help and jsut rattle off about the terms and condition with the name your price function. So I suck it up and order another ticket to buffalo but this time one way because I can make the return flight I had ordered through priceline.

So I go to try and use the ticket to return to nyc from buffalo and now I cannot use that flight because they say I had changed my "iternary" by not using the initial ticket. They say there are no changes to tickets but their terms and services say nothing about a change of itenary being a change of ticket. Totall ripoff and scam designed to make me pay an addition $161 to pay for the same exact flight I already have purchased a ticket for. Scam!

On 8/30/10 around 6pm, I came home to find my apartment infested with ants. While my landlord dealt with the ants, I quickly made a hotel reservation at the Glendale Vagabond Inn through www.petvacations.com, a site advertising pet-friendly hotels. I packed up my dog and cat, and showed up at the hotel around 7:30pm. When I got to the hotel, the clerk told me they didn't have any pet-friendly rooms left. She called her manager and was supposedly given permission to open up another non-pet-friendly room for me. I was told they were going to charge me an extra $60 per night for my pets. Meanwhile, there's a sign on the counter that says pets cost $10/night. I had already paid $181 for the "pet-friendly" room. My credit card had already been charged, so I assumed this included any pet fees. I told the clerk that I didn't think the extra fees were fair as it was the hotel's fault they'd accepted the reservation without having the room, and asked to cancel the reservation. I was told I needed to call Priceline. I didn't even know Priceline owned petvacations.com. So, I went to the car and called Priceline. I was told that I couldn't cancel the reservation because it was after noon on the day of check in. How could I cancel a reservation before it has even been made? I had to be quite demanding in order to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor called the hotel and asked if they would waive the $60, but they supposedly refused. The most they agreed to was cancelling the reservation and refunding me $87. So I basically paid $94 to sleep in my ant-infested bed at home.

The next day I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I got the following response:

"Priceline contacted the hotel and spoke with Lortis who confirmed to priceline that the property allocate a number of rooms for pets, and when all these pet allocated rooms are all occupied, the hotel has the option to open another non pet allocated room. However, the hotel must charge an additional fee for providing a non pet allocated room for the special cleaning process required once the guest check's out of the non pet allocated room. As a goodwill gesture, the consumer has already received a courtesy one night refund, and we can offer no additional refund for the hotel room that was used by the consumer."

I didn't think this response was fair, and responded to this effect. I also pointed out that I had not used the room, as the last line of their response seems to assert. Today I got the following response:

"We have received the consumer's additional comments. As you requested, we have again reviewed this matter to see if we overlooked anything that might support a more favorable conclusion. Priceline contacted the Vagabond Inn Glendale General Manager, Joanna on behalf of the consumer, at [protected]. Joanna informed priceline that the guest check-in at 7:40 PM and the guest upgraded to a room with a king bed, and therefore the hotel required an additional charge of $60 for the upgrade. The hotel advised that they are unable to issue any further refunds, and the consumer may contact the Vagabond Inn Glendale General Manager, Joanna for any further assistance.

Vagabond Inn Glendale

120 W. Colorado Street

Glendale, CA 91204

Phone Number: [protected]

Fax Number: [protected]

We are sorry that we are unable to assist the consumer any further in this situation.

Sincerely,

N. D'Angelo

priceline.com"

I booked round trip airline tickets with priceline and was prompted to "save even more on car rentals" So I also reserved a car. 3 days later, still 2 weeks before my departure, I learned that I could have rented a car from a major car rental (Enterprise) for over $150 less. I called Priceline to cancel the car reservation and was told that's it's not possible. I even called the VP and CEO's office and was told the same thing. Furthermore, upon scrutinizing the e-mail confirmation from Priceline I see that they've put me down for a full sized car when I only requested a compact.

While using Priceline's bidding option. I received multiple messages such as "Bid too low" and "enter a higher bid." leading me to believe that I honestly could not find a car rental in Little Rock for less. In my opinion, this is no different from shill bidding, which is a dubious practice that might not even be legal.

I booked a flight with Priceline travelling from Aug. 25-29, 2010. On the itinerary they sent me they changed the departure date from what I requested to a day earlier. I detected this discrepancy on the departure date that I was given of Aug. 24, 2010. I relaized too late and missed the flight.

I called their customer service number [protected] and when the woman finally came online and asked me for my information she kept on saying “Hello, hello, I can’t hear you. Sorry but I am going to have to end this call since I am unable to hear you”. Then she put down the phone.

I then called another customer service number that I got from a website site and was able to speak to someone. He said there is nothing that can be done since the date I selected for departure was the date they had given me which I know is not the case.

I cannot get a refund for my flight.

I will never use Priceline again and I will strongly advise anyone considering using it not to.

Priceline Trip number: [protected]***
Hotel Confirmation: [protected]***

To Whom This May Concern,

On July 2 I booked a hotel through your site. I booked the Surfside Hotel and Suites in Provincetown, MA for one night, August 7th 2010. The room that was booked was for 2 double beds courtside. I received a confirmation email stating my reservation was complete.

My party and I drove 6 hours to get to this hotel. Upon check in, the hotel manager said that they have me reserved for a king bed. I replied saying I had confirmed 2 double beds and showed her my email which stated 2 double beds. She then showed me the Priceline confirmation which they received from your company which stated 1 king. This would not have ordinarily been a problem however this hotel was booked completely. There were no other rooms they could give us. We then asked for 2 cots seeing that there would not be enough room for 4 ladies to sleep. They replied that all cots had been reserved. At this point we were given a pile of sheets and blankets and told, "Looks like some of you will be on the floor".

We then asked if they would help us locate an alternate hotel as this was not right for us to pay $256 for 2 of us to sleep on the floor. We were told that this was peak season for the area and all hotels were sold out. The manager then told us that we should contact Priceline as they were the party at fault for submitting the wrong information.

We took the keys to the room and headed up 3 flights to our king room. Once there and settled, I called the Priceline customer service line. After speaking with the first agent, she transferred me to a customer advocate.

I explained the situation to the customer advocate and he insisted that Priceline submitted the correct information to the hotel. I advised him that the manager showed me the Priceline information and it did state from your company that I had reserved 1 king room. I told him we were at a loss because first, we drove 6 hours with traffic to this hotel I had reserved a month previous. There were no other hotels within a 50 mile radius that had any type of vacancy being that this was peak season. I also explained that there were no cots we could rent from the hotel.

The customer advocate told me that all he could do was cancel my reservation minus the deposit. I was told by your company that I would lose out on $128 and have no hotel room after driving 6 hours and I was out of luck. I was told that it was not their problem and it was the hotel's fault. I told the customer advocate that this was completely unacceptable and I wished to speak with his manager. He refused to transfer my call stating that there was no one else I could speak with. He said if I had a problem with that then I could send you an email, which is what I am doing now.

I said I was extremely upset about the situation. This overnight vacation was for my best friend whom is about to be married and we wanted a girl's night out. We had made dinner reservations and bought tickets for a show that if we had left, we would also lose out another $100 for the show tickets. I asked if there was some type of compensation whether it is partial or not seeing that your company has a guarantee that we get what we pay for. We did not get what we paid for, we got taken advantage of. His response was simply, “I am sorry if you are not satisfied with the answer I have given you. Thank you for calling Priceline. Goodbye."

My party and I spent the night in this hotel because again there were no other vacancies within a 50 mile radius. The bride slept on the floor along with the maid of honor because they felt terrible that we went through all this trouble and had been taken advantage of. We had booked this specifically so we were close to our show and dinner reservations. We booked it through your company because we felt that it was a good company to use. We have used your company before and always have been satisfied.

I am now left completely unsatisfied with this experience. I am left embarrassed because my bride had to sleep on the floor. I paid $256 to have 2 of the 4 ladies sleep on the floor. I paid $256 to at least have a roof over our heads and to avoid losing out on a 50% deposit and show ticket costs. I am left feeling cheated by your company. I am left feeling that I did everything right and I got taken advantage of.

So, I am writing you this letter to see what your company can do for me. This was not in any way my fault. This was Priceline's fault for submitting the wrong information and having absolutely no solution the remedy this mistake. I feel that I should be entitled to some type of monetary reimbursement seeing that this was Priceline's fault. I do not want a voucher for future vacations as I am no longer interested in using your company for any type of travel.

I would like a call back from you once you have received this letter. I also plan on post- mailing this as well. I feel that I deserve the respect of a follow up with this information at the earliest convenience. Thank you so much for your time in reading this letter. And please let me know if you need to verify any information. The hotel has also offered their assistance with this as well. You can contact the hotel manager, Elizabeth and she will be more than happy to fax you any necessary paperwork you would need.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth J****

I had made a bid on Priceline.com for 2 nights at a hotel for Boston for the nights of July 31 and Augst 1st. - 2010. Priceline said that the hotels were in Boston, but when I won the bid, I found out that the hotels were in a dangerious part of town about 8 miles in a neighboring town south of Boston called Dorechester.

First, the hotel, Comfort Inn, had only a single bed for me and my wife.

Second, for a good part of the night, I hear police sirens going up and down the busy main road, making my wife very nervious.

Third, the surronding area was like something out of the slums of New York.

Fourth, Priceline.com should be ashamed of itself for panning this hotel off as Boston when it is sending its customers into a hotel in a dangerous neighbor, especially when it is charging $95 per night!

Fifth, my call to Priceline lead nowhere - other than to say that nothing will be done and all sales are final. In other words, you got scamed Sucker.

Sixth, by the way, the hotel receptionist is behind bullet proof glass during the evening hours - which gives you some sense as to the type of clients this hotel normally has.

Seventh, I'm going to tell all my friends about my horrible experience using Priceline.com - what a scam!

Based on my experience with Priceline, I would never recommend anyone to use this service as I believe it is not honest in its representation. They sold me a hotel room for $95 that would normally go for half that much if someone were to walk into the street.

[protected]@aol.com

I booked an Hotel for a single night in San Francisco (booking#156.228.566) on July 22 for friday 23th. As soon as I did it, I realized that _MY MISTAKE_ I pick up the wrong date.
It was meant to be saturday 24th, not Friday 23th. I Immediately called Priceline hotline to CHANGE the booking. An operator told me it was NOT possible to change (but on the web site it CLEARLY appeared it was possible to! GREEN MARK CHECK!) and to change it, the only solution was to CANCEL the order and put a new one.
To CANCEL the order, the full price of the night was going to be LOST because less than 48 hours (2 days) in advance. Even if I did the reservation less than 5 minutes before the call.

Damage Resulting = the full price of the night, 149US$ + all the taxes, GONE. No refund, not even partial. Thank you priceline for giving me the opportunity to my wife to have a night in San Francisco. I made a mistake and you haven't allow me a... singleless than HALF AN HOUR to correct it. THANK YOU for your understanding, if I was rich, I was not in the need of Priceline.

Bid on a hotel after viewing "actual" hotels shown. Was given a 3 star instead of a 4 star hotel and one that was not even shown as an "actual" hotel. I was willing to pay "full price" for "actual" hotel(s) shown - but all I heard was a canned "I am sorry" those hotels are "examples". The site clearly shows the hotels as "acutal" I have a pdf copy of the page and will share if if there is a desire.

I have contacted the corporate office to see if something can be done. I will also contact all consumer fraud oversight that I possibly can. This is not clear and after having been a good customer of Priceline and after having great success in the past, I could not believe how poorly I have been treated and how fraudulent the website actually has become. The hotel they gave me is showing for $169.00 per night on other sites, I was bidding on a $459. category, so bid $250. and "won" the $169. per night hotel for $250.

Priceline does not disclose that it hits the consumer with hidden charges. Even with a confirmed room rate when my credit card billing statement came in it showed that I was charged an additional $33.00 per night for my room.

When I questioned the hotel they informed both me and the PA State Attorney General Office that Priceline has hidden charges for booking rooms and that they do not disclose to the public the fact that there are hidden charges for using Priceline. Even with a confirmed room rate I was charged 40% more by priceline for their hidden fees.

When I called priceline the and asked to speak with a manger I was told that there are no managers to speak with - when I questioned the CSR as to how a company can legally hit a consumer with undisclosed fees that are 40% of the confirmed room rate I was hung up on.

I spent 3 hours on the phone trying to get back the amount of the hidden fees, no one helped me. When I asked for a mailing address I was told there is no mailing address only the internet site which provides no help to the consumer when they are trying to get back the hidden fees. Again when I questioned the legality of undisclosed fees after the consumer already has a confirmed room rate I was hung up on.

Something needs to be done to protect the consumer from this false advertising.

Beware with priceline, they have a huge radius of an area for a hotel search. You may not get even close to the town that they have listed. When you call their attitude is ho hum I really don't care.