Priceline.com Bait and Switch on Hotel bid (made by someone else!) & would not honor lower price guarantee Norwalk Connecticut
I was browsing the priceline.com website looking at 4-star hotels in Hawaii and checking out what the prices were. I left the screen up when my dog began barking at the gate and went out to see what was going on. It was a UPS delivery, which took a few minutes to have bought up to the porch. When I got back to the computer there was a screen up that said I had booked hotel and that you were charging my Visa card $651.53!!!!!!
I checked, and saw they had booked me into a resort, not a 4-star hotel, as I asked for in the bidding process. To add insult to injury, the priceline.com cost was $50 MORE a day than what the resort would have charged me if I called and booked it myself, PLUS there are other resort fees not disclosed on pricelne.com.
I immediately called their customer service line to report these errors, and was connected to a young woman in India who kept repeating that there was nothing she or anyone could do, and that I must pay that charge even though I did not choose it. I asked to speak to someone who could help me; a manager or supervisor, and was told that there is no one who can help me and I must pay the charge even if I don't use the reservation. When I told her that if I had wanted a resort I would have chosen one, and that this resort charges $50 less a day than what I was to pay, she said that was too bad, she was very sorry, but there was nothing she could do.
I then wrote a snail mail letter to Jeffrey Boyd, priceline.com CEO and explained the situation, and asking him to please fix these errors. Ten days after I sent the letter I got an e-mail from a customer service rep saying she was replying for Mr. Boyd, and that there was nothing they would do for me. In essence, she told me to get lost...stop contacting them.
My next step is a lawsuit, which I believe is warranted here. If any of you are interested in joining me in this suit as class action parties, watch this space and I'll have an attorney for you to contact within a week or so.
Dharmsurfer
Hilo, Hawaii
U.S.A.