On April 2, I purchased, with my credit card, 2 round-trip flights to Cleveland, Ohio, leaving ABIA, in Austin, Tx. At 6:20 A.M. On April 7, and arrangements were made for someone to pick my 72 year old mother and myself, and drive us from Cleveland to Erie, Pennsylvania, which was our destination.
We were making this trip to see my brother, who had been diagnosed with cancer and who lives in Erie, and was scheduled for a medical procedure on April 8, early in the morning and we felt the need to see him before the procedure. My step-father had passed away in January, so you can imagine how a mother would feel, when one of her children, grown or not would feel, given this information.
On April 6, I drove about 50 miles, to pick up my mother and proceed to Austin, to be close to the airport and thereby reduce the stress of the additional travel in ever heavy traffic in the morning.
Shortly after our arrival at my sister's house in Austin, my husband called and told me that I needed to contact the Delta, because they had called, and our flight had been cancelled. I called them and they confirmed this, saying that the best they could do was put us on a flight at 5:00 P.M., which was not possible for us, as it would have left us stranded at the airport in Cleveland due to the late arrival hour.
After pressing them, being put on hold several times for extended periods of time and asking about the possibility of other flights out, they stated that the cancellation was due to bad weather in Cinncinati.
I can understand that, but I have no control over the weather either! My sister and I tied up two lines, her home phone and my cell phone, for at least 2 hours, and I think it was more, trying to resolve this issue to no avail.
Repeated attempts to contact Priceline were useless, and failed.in frustration, I called my credit card company to ask for their advice, and was advised that they could investigate it if I filed a dispute, and that during that process that the amount charged would be credited back to my card, and no interest would accrue.
I must be naive, because I expected that to involve them contacting Priceline and Delta, to determine the reason for the cancellation, who generated the cancellation and that once determined that the flight had been cancelled by the airline, that my money would be refunded immediately. WRONG!!! I would understand, if... I had just changed my mind, and cancelled it, but I DIDN'T!
This resulted in my being forced, in order to get to Cleveland and on to Erie on time, to make other travel arrangements, purchasing airline tickets that cost almost twice as much.
It is almost impossible to get in touch with Priceline by phone, and all you get when you e-mail them is a response saying the tickets are non-refundable. When I finally did get to talk to someone, I was referred back to my credit card company, because Priceline couldn't discuss it with me, the credit card company said they were bound to honor the charge, because from what Priceline sent them, it appeared to be a valid charge, even though I had explained to them that the airline had cancelled the flight.
Delta said I was due a refund, and referred me back to Priceline, since the flight was booked through Priceline and Priceline collected the charges. Priceline refuses to give me a refund or credit this back to my credit card, and a Priceline representative told me yesterday, that I forfeited my right ot a refund, when the dispute was generated, that I should have contacted them first. Ha! I tried!
I'm tired, but I won't give up! I'm tired of getting the run-a-round, I'm tired of the stress! I work part time, and don't do much traveling; I can't afford it!
I can afford it even less now, even if I wanted to fly somewhere! I work hard for my money, and can't afford to pay for services I didn't receive! I initially just wanted my money back, now I want the $798.90 plus the interest the credit card company will be charging me for it, and for the time and stress Priceline has put me through.
Please help!
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