Complaint Review: Priceline - "Name Your Price" Function For Hotels

I booked a room in Raleigh using the "Name your own price" function. Including all fees and taxes, the total came to $47.

Upon arrival at the hotel, I asked (out of curiosity) how much it would have been to book the room directly. The staff said $42.

This and other hotels in this area were less than 1/3 full, judging from the parking lots.

"Name your own price" is supposed to give a discount of up to 40% - I would have expected Priceline to automatically upgrade me to a higher-rated hotel or tell me the situation rather than just take my money - I consider this deceptive and fraudulent.

Upon calling customer service, was told a) there is no guarantee that you will get a better price on Priceline and b) they would have refunded the difference but I had to call in advance of arriving at the hotel. The customer service reps (there were several as I had to call back repeatedly because no one ever called me back as they promised they would) also lied outright by stating that they had talked with the property manager when they had not. They purported to pass along information to me from the manager when in fact they had not had any conversation with the manager.

Currently awaiting a credit for the stay since the manager had said she would give me a full refund (which Priceline customer service was supposed to confirm and pursue) but I doubt I will hear anything.

I will be writing a detailed letter decribing the situation to Lisa Gillingham later this week.

Eileen
McLean, Virginia
U.S.A.