<So I first put in $175 for Miami Beach. It failed and asked me to adjust the parameteres if I wanted to try again, so I bumped up the price to $185 and kept the 4 star rating.>

Something is fishy here. You can't just increase your bid without waiting a day.

<I will not stay at this hotel, I have already cancelled and I will lose my deposit rather than ruin a visit>

You don't lose your deposit. The whole visit is paid in full immediately.

Seems to me that Mark simply does not want to admit that he paid too much because he did not what he was doing.

Mark is stuck at the hotel he doesn't want, but Priceline has a price guarantee so he can get the lower price that he saw on the hotel's website.

A bit off topic, but does anyone know what happened to Sheryl? Can you imagine how she would have reacted to Mark's post had it been on biddingfortravel. LOL We'd have had to scrape his pieces off the wall!!

Hmmm. Anybody taking bets that mark has never actually used the Priceline site, yet alone bid and gotten the hotel he's talking about? There are just way too many "wrong" statements to allow such a possibility of his actually having done what he claims, unless he has very serious reading comprehension and memory issues.

Meanwhile his posting "Priceline Sucks" a dozen or so times in the past two days on every thread he can find about Priceline is getting old quick.

I agree that Priceline falsely overstates the "going rate" or whatever they call it on hotels and rental cars in the effort to get customers to overbid. With that said, I don't think Mark ever used Priceline as he says he will forfeit his deposit but last time I used PL there was no such thing, you pay the entire balance immediately and it's non-refundable.

So if he doesn't want to go, I'll over up $25/nt for the room he "owns". Anyone want to outbid me?

One important lesson is that never look at a price that PL posts. Learning that comes with experience.

Reading through all his info once more, I am almost certain mark99 just did a straight booking on PL - absolutely nothing whatever to do w/ "Name You Own Price".

Just too many of his details simply do not happen on the bidding side . . . . . . .

A class action suit - sheesh!

Never had a problem w/ P'line that wasn't of my own creation.

Using it now to plan upcoming stays/trip.
Go figger'....:-?

Hi jj!

Janis,

I know.....sue, sue, sue! It's the American way!

geesh!

Hi Kal! -- we REALLY need to stop meeting this way

I use pirceline all the time but I always check to see the usual hotels awarded, and check what the best rates I can get at those hotels (comparing on kayak, check the hotel website for special deals or AAA rates, etc). Then I usual bid no more the 2/3 of the best rate I can find elsewhere.

Same here. I'm not a priceline user, but I do use Hotwire. If I don't think I can save a substantial amount of money (say 30%), I don't do it -- it isn't worth it to me to guess which hotel it is for a $20 or $30 savings. But I always "come prepared".


Maybe if you file a complaint with either your credit card company, .... they will be able to help you?

Credit card companies will help if you didn't get what you paid for. In this case, he got exactly what he "contracted" for - a non-refundable room for the price he offered. There's no way the CC company is going to get into a dispute over the star ratings.

"Anybody taking bets that mark has never actually used the Priceline site..."
A good point Patrick.

I've never bid on a hotel in Miami and am not familiar with the costs but I did wonder who, in his right mind, would put in a first bid for $175. As I said before, I couldn’t bear to read the entire grumble, only the highlights.

I think Mr. Mark may well be a clever troll. Like before when he claimed you can be charged for roaming on your cell phone even if you didn't actually use it. When asked, he of course could not produce a bill or any evidence. This time, he can't seem to name the hotel. That should be a big hint.

As for Priceline: it's really not for everyone, and no, it doesn't always save you money. But then, I know when not to use Priceline. It's a bit of extra work for sure but once you learn the ins and outs, it can save you a lot of money. As long as you realize what the potential pitfalls are and you do some homework, Priceline can save you a ton of money. If you aren't willing to accept the pitfalls or do the extra work, don't use it - just book with a conventional hotel booking website and be done with it.

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

Abraham Lincoln.

Does Abraham Lincoln use Priceline?

Obviously, if Abraham Lincoln did, he'd study, study, study and not make a fool of himself on the Internet whining about the mistakes he made due to his own ignorance.

Maybe he uses it for theater tickets? :-?

But he would be writing notes to Sheryl in charcoal on the back of a shovel.

KAL--LOL !!

You've proven how a negative thread can turn out positive. Thanks for the laugh.

I've been thinking about this and I've changed my mind. Mark99 does have a point. I realized that a very similar thing happened to me:

I saw an ad in the newspaper for a car dealership where they said all their cars were high end and worth up to $60,000 and you could name your own price. So I called them up and said I'd give them $50,000 for the nicest red one they had sight unseen and I didn't need to know what car it was. I went to pick it up and would you believe it? The car they gave me, I could have gotten at any dealer for $35,000. Talk about a scam! What a rip off.

Sound familiar?