I never even purchased anything from priceline.com but I had gone to thier website numerous times to compare prices with other web based agencies. I inquired about a rental car through budget over nine months ago but did not actually use the sevice. It did require me to use my credit card to reserve a price but I had no issues with that part of the transaction. I do remember having to register as I do with any service and I do remember accepting thier terms. What I have an issue with is that it seems that Priceline sold my information. I notcied (seven months later) that I had several small charges on my statement that I was not aware of. It seemed I had a company called Great Fun charging me every month small but steady charges. $11.99 here, $29.99 up front. I was told by great fun that during my registration process I was asked if I want to sign up for discounts through priceline and it seemed like I was interested in it. That was it. That is what I got charged for. Seeming to want information. Now I assumed that I was going to get some sort of junk email with special promotions for priceline as do most companies. That was simply all the questions asked. I was told by my Great Fun Rep Mary who I spoke with that no they did not have anything in writing authorizing them to withdrawl money out of my account. She also told me that It was an implied consent. She said " an offer was made during the registration and you seemed to be interested." I told her that I was intetested in finding out how to save money but not in being charged for a membership that I dont want and really probably doesnt even exist. Also it was not made aware to customers that they were signing up for a membership that they were going to be charged for. She replied with "we dont have any type of consent or notification". She was right. I never recieved anything in the mail. Not an email. Nothing. I asssume that they didnt becuase they knew if they did I would not have agreed to it. So needless to say they took out $29.99 for a "membership start up fee" and an additional $11.99 a month since Novemeber of last year. Now yes I will say that it is my fault for not investigating this a little bit earlier but I think that this is clearly not an ethical way to do business and becuase of the way that they bill in such small amounts it was not enough to really grasp my attention. When I did it was too late. They have taken over a hundred dollars out of my account. I feel really sorry for anyone else they have gotten. I am extrememly disappointed in Priceline and will never use their sevice again.
0 comments