I booked a vacation to Orlando, FL thew Priceline.com only because they were offering special packages on attractions and services. One was for round trip transportation to and from the airport to hotel for $30 and another for 3 day hopper passes to Disney World for $64.
After I submitted my credit card info and pressed "Buy My Vacation Now" a page came up stating that the extra packages were not available. I immediately e-mailed priceline stating that they were frauds and wanted the whole transaction canceled. I received this response back:
Thank your for taking the time to send us an e-mail. We apologize for any inconvience and understand that you had selected attraction and services that were shown available to you. After you submitted your credit card information, your were advised that they were not available. You would like to cancel all your transactions.
Per our records our system was unable to process your request10xxxxxxxxx9, Please note that you have not been charged for it.
Our booking system is linked to our travel partners' booking system just as any other Internet travel service or travel agency. Regrettably there are occasional time lags, which impact true reservation system database at the time we access it. The time lag is common
throughout the travel industry and is not unique to us. While it is rare that this happens, it appears that due to changing inventory the reservation we offered was no longer available at the time we attempted to book it.
Please review the list of remaining itineraries and try again, if the itinerary you had selected is still listed, please be aware that it may or may not be available due to changing inventory.
Also we are unable to manually remove or delete any request or request data submitted on our website. All customer request data is systematically removed via an automated process within certain factors.
Since your request 10xxxxxxxxx9 was not processed, you are under no obligation and no further processing of your request will be attempted. If you do not wish to continue with your request, simply disreguard it
and do nothing - unless you enter the last four digits of your credit/debit card or intials when requested and click the "Buy My Reservation Now" button you will not be charged.
We apologize for any inconvenience and hope this information is helpful to you.
Sincerely,
Saumil P.
Customer Service Specialist
No where in this reponse does Saumil P. Ever state in plain english that they will not cancel the whole package. After reading the second from last paragraph and never receiving any confirmations or itinerary from priceline, I assumed that the "whole" transaction was not processed and book another vacation with Expedia.com.
When I received my credit card statement i was shocked to see that there was a charge of $591.64 from priceline and two $201.56 charges from United Airlines. I called my credit card co. They got United to remove their charges, but after 2 attempts priceline would not budge. The first time they stated that i did not have any complaints while staying at the hotel. That's because i never stayed at that hotel. The second time they said that, " Priceline Vacation Package is non-refundable and non-changeable." And that I "agreed to the terms and conditions of the purchase."
So, they are saying that, you the consumer, can not change anything, but they can change whatever whenever they want. I agreed to the terms for the package i picked, with the extra attractions and services, not the package they gave me.
Why isn't there a law that allows consumers at least 3 days to back out of these "contracts." Or, Priceline should be made to notify us of any changes before we commit to purchasing the package, not after. We should have the right to back out if any changes are made that we don't agree with.
As far as Priceline.com goes, all i can say is Buyer Beware!!!
Erika
Buffalo, New York
U.S.A.
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