Priceline.com
Reviews and Complaints

I have used Priceline a few times over the years..sometimes I have gotten a very nice Hotel. One time I got a hotel that was under construction. It was listed as a resort, yet other than access to a golf course and 2 junky pools, (one was closed)there was nothing "resort" about it. A resort is somewhere I think of taking my family and as having things for kids to do. Because the pool that allowed kids was closed, we were allowed to use the adult only pool..When I travel with my husband I like using the adult pool as well, so the guests were not thrilled with my kids splashing around.. I was worried the whole time. It was not relaxing for any of us. I found out later that I should have complained but I figured since it was Priceline, it wouldn't make a difference. Fast forward 3 years.. Wanted a staycation for Memorial Day with the family ...it never allows me to put in the number in my party, but we have 4 kids going. We generally stay in a hotel that has 2 queens and a sofa bed. There are plenty if options because we live near Scottsdale AZ . We have stayed at so many amazing properties. So I took a chance and went to priceline..I got the same crappy hotel from 3 years ago! I have used them since that bad experience and never gotten a bad place. I called some foreign country to talk to customer service..apparently they're only trained to say No, and sorry! Now I'm stuck with a bad hotel and not enough beds. They said I could complain at check in when they won't allow all of us to stay.. I dont want my money back, I just want to not stay in a place that I had such a bad experience and that wont accomdate us. It's my own fault I know, for not just booking what I want, where I wanted. I was dismissed and hung up on, by the Customer Relations..I just want to talk to someone in management yet they refuse..I will never use this site again, mainly because of their poor customer service.. It would probably be easier to reach Willliam Shatner, than any supervisors at Priceline!

I placed a bid on priceline on 15 Feb. 11, my first bid was not accepted so I made a second bid.This one was accepted but with one problem, it was in the wrong area of the city.When I contacted priceline they said that was my chioce and it would not be refunded.DO NOT USE THESE PEOPLE, TRY SOME OTHER SITE TO AVOID THERE SCAMS

I totally agree with everything I have read. I am in the process of fighting with Priceline. I am trying to cancel 1 of 4 flights for a trip I am taking in July. Long story short, one of the people in my party has been transferred to a different city and the airline we are booked on does not service that city. I first tried just to get them to rebook her flight on a carrier that flew out of her city... can't do that. Will only give me a credit for that airline and when we use the airline we will be charge $150.00 for changing the ticket...so a $200 credit will cost an additional 150 to use! Plus the chances this person can ever use the ticket is slim...again the airline does not fly out of her new city

I have spent 2 days on both the phone and the internet. Just like was mentioned by Mike the customer service reps are not aware of what goes on with communication on their website. I was told to contact customer service through email and when the person came up with a "compromise" for me (you can cancel the flight for a small fee...one time only allowance!), I was told to call customer service and they would handle it. Yeah, right! They basically said...Who told you this, this can't be done etc. I have also found they won't give you a number, won't let you talk to a supervisor etc. This whole outfit is a SCAM!
I have NEVER heard of a legit company that you could not speak to a person to resolve issues. I have been transferred from person to person, none of who are communicating with each other. Each time I have to give them my itinerary number...explain details AGAIN etc. Bottom line is I am getting the run around. I also plan on calling the attorney general's office in my state. This outfit is a JOKE. I will tell everyone I know to NEVER use Priceline. I have kept all the email and responses. I will send the "packet" to their corporate offices though I don't anticipate them caring or doing ANYTHING about this. They clearly don't care. So I am suggesting everyone...make reservations through the airline, hotel or rental car companies. You will get just as good a deal and when issues arise that force a cancellation most times they are willing to work with you...companies like Priceline just laugh!
JMR

this is the wost site to book your travel through. I booked hotels and rental car, about 2k worth and wanted to upgrade my rental car and pay the different. I was told to contact the rental car company and when I did. the company agreed if priceline okay with it. Pricline would not do it. I will never book through them again. also you could find even better deals through other web sites. They are scam

Where to begin. First of all their customer service is atrocious. The first time I called I found out several crucial things:
1. Their representatives have NO IDEA what is on their website.
2. Their representatives cannot help you with any price discrepancies advertised on their website.
3. Their representatives are total spam artists. They talk so much nonsense, I am surprised they don't find themselves laughing at their own absurdities.

The second call to customer service I found out something else:
1. They are technically not allowed to transfer calls to their supervisors.
2. They are also not allowed to transfer you to "real" customer service without a request number...which ofcourse is gained by.
3. They broke rules 1 and 2 by transferring me to a supervisor and customer service the first time I called.
4. They are good at arguing.

I am flabbergasted. I called in with a grievance and am more frustrated then ever. You want good service? Don't call these guys.

I won't go into my long story, but I agree that Priceline.com is a major rip off. We booked a packaged and purchased their insurance. We had a family emergency, cancelled way in advance and of course were denied cancellation because we had purchased the trip insurance and it could only be handled by AIG their insurer. After submitting the time-line, circumstances, we were denied based on their policy limitations that were not given to us in advance or we would not have wasted the extra money for trip insurance. Amazing fraud on the part of these two companies. I will never use their services again and will write letters to all Attorney General's of each State they operate in.

I to am on a mission.  You would not believe what Priceline.com did to me.  I bought a vacation package to the Bahamas, in March 2008.  In April I was in a near fatal accident that paralyzed me from the neck down, needless to say, I was in the hospital when my trip was booked, and I was unable to cancel. I didn't have the documentation at the hospital and it was not the first thing on my mind. Living was!  Anyhow, Well I am accepting life and getting better and I need a vacation so bad and I wrote them a letter stating what happened they said no way would they give me a new trip or refund my money!  I CAN'T BELIEVE IT, I was shocked. And they were so rude and uneducated I just could not believe it. I was speechless!
 
So I have spent a good amount of time, typing letters and sending them to every contact on the site, except for corporate you know they do not have a contact for them of course. Well since I am in a wheelchair now, and my doctor will not release me to work I have all the time in the world to fight this. And let everyone know what they did to me.  I am sending them the letters. I have sent them to corporate and every contact I could find and no response at all! It is so unfair the way they can get away with this kind of treatment. They treat their customers so badly it is unbelievable, I really cannot believe they are in business.

Are you surprised? Priceline.com is a Mormon company. MORMONS lie, Steal, cheat, etc. They LOVE money and will do whatever it takes to get it - even illegally. They are cult of white collar crimesters. Looks like they ripped off one of their own.

I bid on a full-sized car through Priceline for $65/day, which seemed steep but there was a Mormon event in Salt Lake City at that time so I agreed to that price for 4 days. Imagine my surprise when the bid came back at a cost of $384.70 for 4 days ("taxes and fees" undisclosed ahead of the bid) rather than $260; it was $124.70 over the supposed "Best Price Guarantee". If Priceline had revealed the true price, $96.175/day, before the bid there is no way I would have rented from them. I phoned them and was told by 2 people that the $124.70 could not be refunded. I call it deception and fraud.

As a hotel employee, do not book through 3rd parties... If you book through the hotel directly you will get the most accurate information, and all information would be provided to you by an employee of that hotel. 3rd Parties get commission when booking reservations, so of course they will promise you the world. When you arrive at the hotel your stuck to deal with whatever situation the 3rd party puts you in. Don't pay someone to do a job you can do easily...

Its quite possible your husband accidentaly booked a government rate via priceline which is possible and thats probably why they were asking for government employee id. There is most likely no scam here.

It's called a surcharge. Middle men and women do not work for free. Go directly to the hotel or airline and tell them exactly what you want. They sometimes negotiate too. Good luck.

I had a very similar event happen to me too. This time I stayed at a Ramada outside of Yosemite National Park. I paid $92 for the room through Priceline.com. Upon checkout, I was given t he receipt and it showed up as $62. You can imagine how annoyed I was at overpaying $30 for a room.

Furthermore, I found out that when you pay for the hotel through Priceline, it isn't your card that is used to pay for hotel. In fact, it's that you pay Priceline. Then Priceline pays with their own "credit card" for the hotel.

However, I do realize that this what you'd consider internal pricing between the hotel and Priceline and that really, the hotel shouldn't give you a receipt that shows you what Priceline pays.

To everyone reading, please make sure from now on that if you book through Priceline, that you check the hotel's own website and rates first.

Priceline is terrible at customer relations. They do not help resolve problems they make you work hard to get your refund when a mistake is made and the hotels do not like when you book with third parties. I experience with priceline was the the worst of any travel booking I have done before. I would never use them again and would not recommend any one book hotels using third parties.

Due to system error in priceline computers, if you update your offer price to a lower price, it may still keep the original higher price. To avoid this, if you ever change anything in your offer [place, type of car or hotel, price, date, etc.], log out of your account, close your browser and delete all temporary files and history from cache and open your browser again and log in again and only then re-submit. This happenned to me and I called them at [protected]; got customer service in Guadaljara in Jasilco state in Mexico, and after being put on hold many times, they finally agreed it was their fault and cancelled my reservation at no charge [initially tried to charge me twenty dollars cancellation fee but i had to fight against it]

Okay let me give you a little insight from someone in the hotel business. First off 99.9% of hotels hate priceline, hotels.com, expedia, and all other 3rd party reservations. Nothing against the guests themselves, but those companies tend to make promises that they can't keep. They can't guarantee a certain bed type, when they book your reservation, it is booked as a "House Reservation" meaning whatever is available upon check in. If you want to guarantee bed type book with the hotel directly. In regards to pricing. The hotel should not have disclosed the rate that priceline is paying them to you, but unfortunately it happens once in a while. The rate they gave you is what priceline pays them. What you pay priceline is of course going to be higher, they have to make money off the reservation. Bottom line if you have requests book with the hotel itself, if you have no preference for anything then book with a 3rd party. You get what you pay for.

You should get a travel credit on United good for one year from the date of the original flight or when you canceled your flight altogether. If you still have the e-ticket number, call united airlines and see if you could use the value of that ticket towards a new reservations.

I thought the same.

i had the same problem, booked a hotel...tried calling to make sure that i got a room with 2 beds...they can't open the reservation..PRICLINE WON'T LET THEM OPEN THEIR RESERVATION...what a freaken rip off!

This was the worst experience I have ever had with a company. Not just the fact that they changed my flights so much that I lost two days of a 4 day vacation, but trying to speak to someone that speaks english fluently and that can do more than just read what is on there screen. Also, they couldn't even find me in the system but sure as hell could call back after they hung up on me. But proceeded to call my mother in law, they didn't even know who they were talking to.
They can not help you at all. I haven't had a vacation in 13 years and finally had a chance to go somewhere and they literally messed it up so bad I lost my money on the flight stayed home and not taking a vacation at all. I work for the Dept of Justice and believe me I will let everyone that I know and don't know not to use your service. I have also gone on facebook and will write a complaint so that anyone that brings up your website will also get my comments. My mother in law who paid for the flight is also doing everything in her power to make sure people know what is going on with your company.

I agree! Priceline reserved 1 queen bed for the 3 of us. The hotel clerk said that they always only reserve 1 queen bed, so that's what they plan on - even though they often then have families of 3-5 show up expecting the correct number of beds. They also automatically gave us a smoking room. I'm guessing they automatically give Priceline customers smoking rooms - so rude. So, they tell us we can upgrade to a 2 queen or sweet for $20.00. We learn we could rent a rollaway for 10, but it won't fit in a queen room and, of course, the room is smoking. So, we upgrade. What other choice do we have? We've already paid for the room! They explain how irritated they are with Pricelin for always reserving 1 bed no matter how many guests. This is the only online service they have problems with --- and the customer pays. Yes, it is the hotel itself ripping us off, but also Priceline's fault for never specifying number of guests. Unless they change their policy, I will not be using Priceline again.

Priceline.com has the worst service! We bid a hotel room through Priceline.com.08/09 When we arrived the hotel exhausting from the long drive, we heard the terrible news. The front desk told us that our room was not booked. The hotel was already fully booked for three weeks. Priceline.com simply made a mistake. No way they could let us have a room that night. We called the Priceline customer service holding on the line for 30 minutes (was 1:30 am) and the only thing we got from them was there's nothing they can do, the only thing they can do is refund the money. Otherwise, we had to wait for another 30 valuable minutes for them to search another..but they could not guarantee. Horrible service! Story did not end here...after we returned from the trip, found out that we did not get the refund from Priceline.com. Called them again, XXX Priceline said we canceled our reservation for the reason why we did not get our money back. HORRIBLE! Okay, so later someone from Price.com finally called us for apology but they are not sincere AT ALL!
This is what they wrote:
" If your reservation included travel insurance, then this refund does not include the travel insurance premium.
Your refund will be posted by your credit card company within the next 10 business days.
We would like to remind you that this cancellation has been granted based on the extenuating circumstances related to your reservation. Under normal circumstances, reservations cannot be changed or cancelled."

YES I understand reservation cannot be changed or cancelled, but you didn't give us a room ! you didn't do any service for us. In the other words, you stole our time and money!

We booked what was supposed to be a 4 star hotel with Priceline. Once we got the confirmation of your reservation I checked the hotel & realized that the rooms given to Priceline customers were barely 3 star rooms. A tiny room with one double bed for two adults is the room we have been allocated. I have been to many hotels & have never seen a four star hotel with one double bed! The hotel is not a four star hotel by any standard except for Priceline. Of course phone calls to the hotel & Priceline did nothing. Will not use Priceline again.

I will never use Priceline again. On 4-30-08, I booked a trip for myself and 2 uncles to see my Dad who was diagnosed with colon cancer. On 5-2-08, he unexpectly passed away. When I cancelled my trip for 5-3-08, I received nothing but a runaround. Spoke to two agents who spoke poor english and seemed liked they were reading from a script. When I asked for a supervisor, I was placed on hold then disconnected. Great service when you are in the middle of dealing with the death of your father. i will tell everyone I know not to use this company

We recently booked a Raleigh, NC area package through Priceline. Dates were: 04/26 thru 04/30. The flight and car rental went as scheduled with no hang-ups. The prepaid, Best Western Cary Inn and extended Stay hotel was a great disappointment. We looked forward to use of the pool - empty and garbage left from last year surrounding the pool. Snack machine was out of order. Fire alarm sounded at 1:30 a.m. on April 27. We waited outside of motel for approximately one hour with no direction or safety assurances from staff/management. No one checked to see if everyone was out and no one gave the all clear after fire trucks left. Will not stay at that Best Western upon my many return trips to Cary.

I booked a 3 star hotel on priceline and when I got to the room I was very dissapointed. It was no better than a motel 6. I tried to call a representive and I was hung up and had no help from a person named Michael (3041) and reny(93386). It took me over 1 hour to get hold of a guest services reprensentive and when I did Alexandria7390) stated there was nothing they could do. I will never use priceline again. You don't save money.

I am confused -- how is bad service at a hotel priceline's fault? It sounds as though priceline was pretty open and up front about the fact that they cannot guarantee the room type or special requests. Your posting states that.

I used priceline.com for the first (and last) time about a month ago to purchase 3 round trip tickets from Seattle to Austin, Texas for a friends wedding. At the time of the purchase, I was not certain of the departure date - so I wanted to buy refundable tickets. Although the priceline.com website was very clear about stating that any tickets bought through their "name your own price" outlet were non-refundable, they were not clear about whether tickets purchased throughout the rest of their site were non-refundable. After digging through a lot of material on their website, I came to the conclusion that the tickets could be refunded (minus $150) as long as I canceled in a "timely manner". This made sense to me so I purchased the 3 $350 tickets (for a total of $1050).

A few days later I was realized I was going to have to change the departure date from Seattle to Austin to a day earlier. I called customer support and they attempted to help me. Unfortunately, the cheapest alternative to what I already had was $700 and I didn't want to spend that kind of money. I confirmed that I would be able to cancel the tickets and looked at other websites to find something cheaper.

I purchased a $350 replacement ticket for myself from another company (Expedia) that left Seattle a day earlier than by priceline.com tickets. (The remaining 2 tickets did not need to be changed so I left them as is.) I then called priceline.com and told them I wanted a refund for my ticket. They informed me that the ticket was non-refundable and that they would hold the money for a year and that I could use it during that time - but after a year the money would be gone. I told them that I felt that was deceptive - that I had been informed that I could get a refund for my ticket, that I didn't purchase non-refundable tickets - that their website STILL said that I could cancel the tickets and only be out $150. They replied that they would have to "listen to the tapes" of the person who informed me that I could get a refund - to verify that she actually said that. I was informed that they would call me back if 5 business days.

5 business days came and went without a call. I called them back and they apologized for not returning my call when they promised. I was also informed that they had not yet listened to the tapes. Additionally, I was now told that my were non only non-refundable - but that I could no longer cancel them - meaning that I was out the full cost of the ticket. I told them that I had made 2 previous calls to cancel the tickets and that this was unfair. They apologized and I was told that they would call me within 3 business days. I confirmed that they had my correct phone number.

It's now 8 business days since they were supposed to call me back. I have heard nothing. I don't know if they ever canceled by ticket. I don't know if I have $350 credit at priceline.com. I don't WANT $500 credit at priceline.com. Their site is very deceptive as to the nature of the tickets. At no time were people rude to me on the phone - everyone was very nice and/or apologetic. I was never rude to anyone on the phone. However, it seems pretty clear their job is to get you off the phone and hope that you go away. I was promised twice that they would return by calls - but no return call was every made.

PRICELINE F'ED ME UP. I BOUGHT 2 DIFFERENT TICKETS & THEY HAVE ME ARRIVING IN PDX @ 10:00AM AND LEAVING PDX @ 7:45 AM ON THE SAME DAY. WHEN I SAW THERE MISTAKE, THEY ASSURED ME THE TICKET WAS NOT ACCEPTED-BUT WHEN I LOOKED IN MY BANK ACCOUNT THEY CHARGED BOTH TICKETS ANYWAY. ON THE PHONE THEY AGAIN DENIED THAT THE CHARGED THE 2ND TICKET UNTIL I WENT OVER THE FACTS WITH THEM FOR OVER 1 HOUR, THEN I WAS TOLD THERE WAS NO ONE HIGHER TO TALK TOO AND TOUGH LUCK. WHEN YOU PUT IN FOR TICKETS, THE TIME DOES NOT SHOW UNTIL AFTER YOU "BUY TICKETS NOW". i KEEP TELLING THEM IT IS THERE MISTAKE, AND ALL THEY HAVE TO DO IS ADJUST ONE OF THE TIMES SO THERE WILL BE NO OVER LAP - BUT THEY COULD GIVE A S__T. I THINK THAT EVERYONE SHOULD BE VERY VERY CAREFUL. THEY ARE DISHONEST AND CHEATS. I WISH I COULD TAKE THEM TO COURT OVER THIS. I AM POOR AND HAVE HAD 8 SURGRIES AND CANNOT AFFORD THIS f___K UP. I WISH I HAD PAID CLOSER ATTENTION AND NOT BELIEVED THEM. I HAVE NEVER HAD SUCH HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE WITH ANY COMPANY THANKS

Do not use Priceline. They bill you for a rental car and then the rental car company bills you too. So you get double billed. And Priceline has no customer service rep you can talk too. It's all by email. What a horrible way to run a business. Never use them or you will have problems with no way to fix them.

Priceline cannot be trusted. A few weeks ago they processed a charge against my account despite the fact that an incorrect security code was provided to their website by an unauthorized user.

Priceline claims it does not historically save your security code. The fact is they tried twice to process this charge against my creidt card, once unsuccessfully. They then apparnetly searched my record of purchases, found my security code, and supplied it to American Express without my authorization.

On many phone calls, they finally told me they will on occasion process a charge without a correct security code, but also told me they would not tell me what those circumstances are.

This is criminal behavior, and PRiceline must be avoided.