I had planned a trip by flying to Sacramento and renting a car upon my arrival. I thought I would save some money on a car rental by making a bid through Priceline.com. My arrival date by way of Southwest Airlines, speaking of which can only be purchased directly through Southwest and not through Priceline, Orbitz, Travelocity or whoever.
By the way Southwest offers great deals and great service. Priceline offers their prices by you naming your price. If your bid is accepted you get your price. My first bid was rejected and on my second submission, I had an bid that was accepted. I was glad to see my bid accepted and all the savings I made. After viewing my confirmation, I immediately knew something was wrong because the total charges were way too much. I made a bid to rent a car for two days and on my confirmation I was being charged for Three days, totaling $185.39. I noticed that the confirmation had me arriving one day prior to my arriving date.
I immediately called Priceline to notify them of the error. I was told they could not cancel nor change the reservation which had already been paid for. I was told to go ahead and make another bid and the would cancel out the original reservation after making a sucessful bid. The trick is that to make another bid you are required to make some sort of change because you cannot make an identical bid by just changing the dates. I tried bidding on a different class cars and even bidded proportionately higher all of which were unsuccessful.
Eventually, after running out of ways I could make changes in my reservation, a notice appeared on the screen that I would have to wait a week before I can resubmit a bid. I couldn't wait a week not knowing and without guarantee that even if I did that I could successfully get a comparable bid so I emailed Priceline.com's customer service.
They were of no help and only reiterated procedures and policies of Priceline. I finally mildly threatened that I would publically voice and write about the treatment and bad service I was getting from them. I received a reply email suggesting that I can go to lowestfare.com and get a confirmed reservation with their affiliate and then they would cancel my original reservation. So, I thought great, and that's what I did without any problem. I got a comparable car for a comparable price. Now, I thought all my problems were solved until I inquired about how I go about cancelling my original reservation. I was emailed a form to fill out to cancel my original reservation. On the form it states that I would be charged one day's car rental as a service charge! That brings me back to square one!
Priceline had me coming and going and now they just HAD me! I was HAD! I feel like the "Butt" of a joke, the victim of a prank & like the homeless guy looking for some bench to sleep on all in One!
Did I save money by to business with Priceline.com?"NO" Was I made ou to be the fool?"YES" Would I ever do business with Priceline.com again?"NO, NO' & NO!" Would I spread the word warning others about Priceline.com until Priceline.com becomes another dotcom dinosaur? You damn straight I would, it's my mission!
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