URGENT-Need Help with Priceline problem
 

Urgent- Please post the telephone number for priceline.com customer service (not the automated number)<BR><BR>42 hours from now we will be in Los Angeles. I bid on a 4 star hotel and was notified my offer was accepted. Now, I find out that the hotel I received is only a 2 star and the rack rate is FAR LESS than what has been charged on my credit card! It has already been billed to my credit card as well. I feel like this was some type of "bait and switch". Luckily, I have the print out showing that I was bidding on a 4 star hotel....I can't seem to reach a Live Operator and just keep getting telephone prompts taking me in circles. I sent an email but haven't heard back and I'm running out of time. I've never felt so frustrated in my life.<BR><BR>I really need to get this resolved NOW before we leave/. If not, I guess we just really OVERPAID for a 2 star hotel and will need to take it since this is our only reservation and our credit card has already been billed. I have called directory assistance, searched the internet web site and can't find the phone number to reach a REAL PERSON. I know many swear by priceline.com (this was my first experience) so must have the phone number. The hours are ticking and I need to resolve this. HELP....please give me the phone number! I can't find anywhere that it is listed, all I get is automated prompts and I need a real person!<BR>Thanks so much, Stressing, Cindy

Did you check to see if this hotel has misrated for others at www.biddingfortravel.com? It doesn't matter what rack rate is versus what you paid--no guarantee that you will get a lower price. It does matter if the hotel is misrated based on Priceline's standards (not AAA, Mobil, etc.)

As Kay has indicated, there is no universal star rating system in the US. Priceline has their own system and it is described on their web site. Biddingfortravel is invaluable in planning Priceline strategies, especially their lists of hotels that other people have won, which are sorted not only by city but also by neighborhood and star rating. <BR><BR>I think the only recourse you have is if Priceline doesn't rate this hotel as 4-star, or if you can connvince them that it does so erroneously.<BR><BR>Another possibility is to challenge the charge on your cc, providing documentation that Priceline did not provide what you bought (i.e., that THEY do not consider it a 4-star), based perhaps on info from biddingfortravel.<BR><BR>As far as I know, there is no way to reach a real person by phone at Priceline. It's one way they keep their costs down.

Below is the address, phone and Fax for Priceline's Corporate headquarters. Start at the top and work your way down. Let us know how you make out.<BR><BR>800 Connecticut Avenue<BR>Norwalk, CT 06854 <BR>Phone: (203) 299-8000<BR>Fax: (203) 595-0160 <BR>

Can you tell us, Cindy, the hotel in question?

Cindy, Biddingfortravel.com lists the following 4 stars available via Priceline in the LA area. They ALL look like 4 stars to me with the Bonaventure and Radisson LAX a question mark. I'm curious now as to which you received.<BR><BR>(from biddingfortravel.com):<BR>4 Star<BR>Beverly Hills Hilton<BR>Le Meridien Beverly Hills<BR>Sofitel Los Angeles<BR>W Westwood<BR>Westin Century Plaza<BR>Park Hyatt<BR>Millenium Biltmore<BR>Wyndham Checkers<BR>Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites<BR>Omni Los Angeles<BR>Westin LAX<BR>Radisson LAX<BR>Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel<BR>Wyndham Bel Age<BR>

Cindy: Calm down. Stop trying to contact Priceline. You would be wasting your time. There is no way to change or cancel your reservation. You cannot dispute the charge with your credit card company successfully. Throughout the bidding process on Priceline, you are reminded of their Terms and Conditions. You initial a box indicating that you agree with those terms and conditions before completing the bidding process. The entry on your credit card statement will read "Non-Refundable" or something like that. <BR><BR>I am guessing that you did not do your homework before bidding on Priceline. While many have quibbled over the star ratings, all agree that any complaints in that regard are more than overcome by the low rates. <BR><BR>I'm guessing that you simply overbid, or paid too much attention to the "median retail" prices for a 4* hotel when bidding, if your bid was far more than the hotel's rack rate.<BR><BR>Before using Priceline, you must shop extensively and do your homework. Hotel ratings vary, depending upon the source, but not usually by more than one star.<BR><BR>It would appear, also, that you bid on Priceline only a few days before your trip. Perhaps your desire to have your bid accepted led you to bid way too high.<BR><BR>I'd be real curious to know the name of the hotel, how many stars the hotel gives itself, and the amount of your bid.

THANK YOU THANK YOU!<BR>I got it all resolved and they apologized. I am to get a refund on my credit card. In the meantime, I booked a 4 star with hotwire.com and am very pleased (Westin in Century City area). Gotta run but just wanted to update and let you know the good news. I really thank you for your help!!! Cindy

Happy to hear everything worked out for you. If there is some type of glitch within their system and you never "down graded to accept anything less than a 4 star, then you did deserve an apology and a refund" I would imagine there was quite a difference between a 2 star and a 4 star. By the way, what 2 star did you receive??<BR><BR>When companies do make errors, I have a lot more respect when they just "own up" and do the right thing as it appears they did in your case. Enjoy Los Angeles and stop stressing....enjoy! Vicki

Cindy, I think it's really great that your problem was resolved. Hope you have a wonderful trip.<BR><BR>In light of all the helpful responses you received, could you please come back to the board and let everyone know what exactly the mixup was, so that others can be aware? In other words, what was the 2 star you were originally given, what number did you use to contact Priceline, and what steps you and they went through in order to fix your problem? Thanks.

Definite troll post. Otherwise, hotel name and price would have been revealed. No way this is a true story.

Nani, curious as to what makes you think this is a troll posting?? Cindy mentioned that she had sent an email so perhaps she did hear back from someone. I've emailed priceline.com before and heard back within the day....also, there was a phone number and fax number supplied. Just because she didn't indicate how it was resolved, doesn't make it not so.....ALL net sites get "bugs" in them from time to time....

I agree, doesn't sound like a troll to me (will we ever know?). The reason....1) she didn't mention the hotel she received as a 2 star because there was no need...she wasn't asking for our opinion of it!<BR>2) although most travel web sites are 99.99% acurate, there are glitches from time to time. I've read too many once in a blue moon horror stories to know that these things DO HAPPEN. 3) Priceline.com is impossible to reach an operator. Hopefully, this is part of their customer service that they will improve upon. Seems like the #1 complaint I've heard.<BR><BR>Hopefully, Cindy wont' chalk this one bad experience up and give them another try sometime in the future. Maybe next time she'll get lucky and bid on a 3 star and accidently get a 4 star!! Give her the benefit of the doubt...not a troll.

Not the first time I've heard of this happening on Priceline, hotels.com, etc. Before accepting a deal on a "discount" website, check with the property to see what their rack rate is for the same stay dates. I've found on many occasions that the Priceline price was identical, or at most $10 less than the rack rate... the only difference being that instead of the normal 24 hour cancellation policy, I've now locked myself into a non-refundable reservation. Get it? I think you can all do the math to see what is going on here.

Today on the radio I heard an ad for Priceline, advertising their "new policy" on hotels: they will refund 100% of the difference if you can find a lower price on a hotel they book for you. Anyone else heard this?

Priceline Best Price Guarantee Details are on their website. Curious "details" include:<BR><BR>Hotel Rooms purchased through priceline's "Best Price Guarantee" cannot be cancelled, changed or refunded.<BR><BR>Guarantee does not apply if priceline refunds or cancels rooms for any reason.<BR><BR>Limit one refund per household per six-week period.<BR>

It would seem that "Cindy" overbid and/or was unhappy with the hotel, not that she got a 2* rather than a 4* (because she did not mention the name of the HOTEL). Over on BFT, there is not ONE (among many thousands) post where anyone has reported this ever happening. "Cindy" also states that "in the meantime" she booked a hotel with Hotwire but does not mention the PRICE. Priceline's hotel ratings have such specific amenity listings that it is impossible to believe that "Cindy" got a 2* rather than a 4*. "Cindy" probably went ahead and booked another room with Hotwire and plans to dispute the Priceline charges on her card when she gets home.

If Cindy isn't a troll, she's an ungrateful poster at least. She cries for URGENT help and many other posters reply to assist her.<BR><BR>When she's done with 'us', she just moves on. The least she could have done is given the hotel and price she bid as a few posters had requested this info. I won't ever bother helping Cindy in the future.

Part of me is inclined to agree with GiveMeGive that Cindy is for real, but simply ungrateful. <BR><BR>However, before labeling her as selfish, (and I'm one of the posters who asked her to give us some more information), I looked back and noticed that she said she was leaving for LA right away. So it's more than likely that she is away right now. And she did come back and say "thank you" which is more than many other posters do. <BR><BR>So, I'm willing to give her a chance to come back and give some more information. (And if she doesn't, THEN I'll call her ungrateful!)

Yikes, what a tough crowd!<BR><BR>When I read her "thank you" posting (probably written as she was running out the door), I thought just the opposite....what a class act gal to take the time to thank everyone!

Cindy probably overbid on Priceline, then on top of that wasn't thrilled with the hotel. So, she looked on Hotwire and saw what she thought looked better. She booked that "in the meantime" and then came here for help in getting a refund from Priceline. I do not believe for one minute that Priceline gave her a 2* hotel for a 4* bid, OR that she was able to quickly "resolve" the matter with Priceline in the form of a refund. Big clues: 1) Being in her alleged situation at 1:24AM and trying to reach a REAL PERSON at Priceline by phone (regardless of her time zone), 2) Not mentioning the Priceline hotel, even after requests, and 3) Not mentioning the Hotwire price.

Vicki, 1:24AM of 8-19 to 11:58 AM of 8-19 means 10 hours and 34 minutes elapsed between the time she posted the first note and the 2nd. She stated in the 1st note she was going to be in LA "42 hours from now".<BR><BR>If she had time to return, to say "thanks" she had time to answer the very small number of legitimate questions raised. Something is amiss, either with the entire post, or with her sense of gratitude. This sort of thing is discouraging to those who genuinely try to help. Hopefully she'll return after her trip with an explanation of what when haywire. If not....something, not quite sure what, is rotten in the state of Denmark!

Poor Cindy frantically asks for advice because she's leaving on a trip in two days. She didn't think that all of the details of her reservation were important because what she needed first and foremost was a contact number for Priceline. Once the matter was resolved she returned to the board to quickly thank everyone for their input. The title of her original post began with the word, "URGENT". I think it's safe to say that she was in a bit of a rush, no? You people seem to be looking for reasons to be suspicious and/or annoyed. If you have such stringent standards for appopriate travel message board replies, perhaps you shouldn't participate in the first place. You're bound to end up disappointed and, unfortunately for the likes of Cindy, a bit mean. Cut the girl some slack, for Pete's sake!! She's running late!

Katherine, You said it PERFECT. This is exactly the way I was seeing it as well. The purpose of Cindy's message was to request a phone number since no one at priceline had responded to the email she had sent earlier in the day. She probably later received an email and the problem was resolved. It's very naive to assume that web sites don't have glitches. Remember United Airlines having online tickets to London for something like $29 on their website due to a glitch? <BR><BR>She NEVER requested any opinions of a particular hotel or asked if she had payed a fair price etc. This was not the purpose of her posting!! Why should she share all the details...she only requested a phone number.<BR>Also, it was only in her 2nd posting that she mentioned that she had booked another hotel room...AFTER she got the priceline screw up resolved. She even mentioned that if she didn't get it resolved, she was prepared to stay with the original booking. She also mentioned that "Luckily, she had a printed copy showing that she had bid on a 4 star hotel". She obviously knew she wasn't getting the class of hotel she was bidding on. <BR>As for the time zones....who cares....maybe she's a night owl up late stressing over the whole thing, or maybe she lives on the West Coast or Hawaii, Alaska, wherever. This wouldn't make a bit of difference.<BR><BR>I think you guys are overly skeptical!! (you notice that she gave her name....not one of these xxx names) Katherine is right, cut her some slack.

There is no doubt in MY mind that "Cindy" embellished her story for the purpose of acquiring assistance in getting phone number for Priceline, and she got it. Those of us who are frequent users of Priceline, especially those of use who participate in BFT, can recognize an inaccurate tale when we see one. What gives it away for me is "and the rack rate is FAR LESS than what has been charged on my credit card!" She did not mention the word "bid". If this were a real occurrence, it wouldn't have happened just to "Cindy" and we veteran Priceline customers would have seen a similar situation at one time or another at any number of the various travel boards and forums we visit, or it would have happened to one of us. AND, for all we know, "Cindy", being a first timer, got caught up in the "rebidding" process when her bid for a four-star was rejected and inadvertently dropped her star level, or dropped it purposely, then regretted it. I'm with whoever believes "Cindy" didn't really know what she was doing, screwed up, then tried Hotwire and was more satisfied with the results she got there, then set about trying to get the credit card charge by Priceline reversed.

Maybe or maybe not will we ever know?? I do recall reading (maybe on this forum??) where there was a 10 (?) minute period on priceline.com when the computer was picking up the last 4 digits of peoples credit card as their bid amount. At first priceline.com tried to act as if it was the bidder's fault but when this happened so many times, they figured it out and it was quickly fixed. Can you imagine if the last 4 digits were something like 9999!<BR>Luckily, all of those people got refunds since it was a computer error.<BR><BR>I've actually had pretty good luck with on line travel services (priceline, hotwire, expedia....I've used many of them) but I believe they all make mistakes some time and I respect it when they do make good to the customer. I guess maybe this is what happened to Cindy. Anyway, it all worked out well!!<BR>Lydia

Sid, I'm asking you since you seem to know a lot about priceline and I've only used them a few times. I am curious as to why you think Cindy would want the phone number of priceline.com UNLESS there really was an issue to resolve?? Just because someone bids too much etc. doesn't get them any recourse for a refund. Wouldn't there have to be a mistake made for her to want to contact them directly? I think the moral of this whole story is NOT TO WAIT until the last minute just incase of something like this! Also (out of curiosity) why doesn't priceline.com give out their phone number?? I've heard this complaint over and over and don't understand this. I've never had any reason to call them so can't speak from experience but if I did...I'd sure want to be able to contact them! It kind of gives the customer an uncaring feeling like they're "hiding from them" Mandy

Mandy, giving out their phone number equals having to take calls equals having to hire and pay customer reps equals having to deal with customer complaints equals having to possibly refund money equals loss of profit.<BR><BR>That's how they keep the price down. You get what you pay for, as some would say, you pays your money and you takes your chances.

Thanks Madge. What you say does make sense.<BR><BR>I still can't imagine customers just calling to chat....it seems like there should be a way for people with a real problem to resolve it directly. If they don't offer an option to resolve it, the customer's only recourse is to dispute it with their credit card company. I remember the first time I ever used priceline, I didn't even have a computer and there was a telephone number given out on the radio for non-computer users to call and place their bid. This was a long while ago! Mandy

I don't think the issue is if there is a phone number for Priceline. I think the issue is whether there is a phone number that is actually answered by a human being as opposed to being automated.

I'm back and everything worked out fine. I stayed at a very nice Westin Hotel in Century City area. The hotel itself was quite nice with nice desk help and the room itself was well appointed (though kind of small)with coffee pot with Starwood coffee, cotton bathrobe etc. I wouldn't recommend the location as it seemed more centrally located to businesses, brokerage firms and lots of banks. If I were to go again, I'd opt to stay closer to Santa Monica or perhaps the Westwood area. I apologize for sounding in a panic when I originally posted my message. I had sent an email to priceline with no response (except some computer generated response that didn't address my question whatsoever) after about 6 hours and was in a panic. I finally did get a "real" response and my reservation was cancelled because I had received a 2 star hotel reservation at a Quality Inn for $90. when I was actually bidding on a 4 star. I HAd NEveR LOWERED MY STAR PREFERENCE as some of you speculated. I was happy to pay $90 for a 4 star, but NOT for a 2 star. They cancelled the charges on my credit card and I was free to resume bidding all over again. But by this point I was exhausted and didn't want to fool with bidding for anyting....I just wanted to have a sure thing. For this reason, I turned to hotwire and got the sure thing....4 star hotel for $83. If I had to offer any advice to anyone bidding on priceline or using hotwire or any of these sites, don't wait until the last minute like I did. I should have had a secure reservation at least several days sooner just in case there was any problem. As for picking the location of the Century City Westin, this was my fault. I'm not that familiar with the LA area and I chose this location. For business travelers, it would probably be perfect but I wouldn't recommend the location if you're just there as a tourist (JMO). Anyway, I had a very nice trip, great weather and it all had a happy ending. Thanks again! Cindy

Glad it all worked out for you. Is the Westin in Century City the same hotel as the Westin Bonaventure?

Hey Cindy...glad everything worked out for you. I for one did take your original posting serious (others didn't). Thanks for the heads up to all of us who sometimes leave things to chance by waiting until the last minute with no time for error just incase we happen to be that 1 in a million with a problem. Vicki

Thanks for returning to post a follow up, Cindy. Glad it all worked out for you. And I think you should consider yourself one of the lucky ones to have gotten a REAL response from Priceline that solved your problem so quickly!

In answer to your question Craig - no the Westin Century City isn't the Westin Bonaventure. The Westin Bonaventure is right downtown Los Angeles and Century City is on the west side of Los Angeles.

Glad this all had a good ending for you Cindy. Hopefully, you meant Starbuck's coffee....not Starwood coffee (maybe there is such a thing??) Lydia

Cali, Thanks for your answer.