This letter is to warn your readers! Be very careful when you are doing price comparisons on the web for airline travel! When you are on the Priceline.com website you are not just getting price quotes for possible future travel, YOU ARE ACTUALLY BUYING THE TICKET you are inquiring about right then and there!
There are hundreds, maybe more, of people who have been duped' in such a way (myself included). Your account will be charged immediately for the amount in question and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it! The company's rule is no flight changes, no refunds, and no cancellations no matter what. I can tell you this past week I've heard of some pretty drastic situations from other people who have also been duped and the company will not budge regardless of the dire circumstances. Visit the ConsumerAffairs.com website and read some for yourself (put Priceline.com in the search box).
If you should punch in the wrong dates or cities, too bad, you will be charged for an airline ticket that you don't want and can't use. It's all in the contract they flash on the screen when you're on the website, so it's all legal, maybe not ethical, but apparently legal.
My story is this: I thought I was only browsing the web for price comparisons on airline tickets to visit my aunt in New York. After I checked my bank account three days later I noticed I was charged ($435) for a round trip ticket to Chicago that left the day before and therefore the ticket was cancelled since I wasn't there! Priceline says there are absolutely no refunds.
I had never received a confirming e-mail the following day, and when I shut down my computer for the night, I thought that was the end of it. I called Priceline and spoke with a Customer Service Rep and he said that I should have read the 'contract' better. Well, now I'm out money and have nothing to show for it (no goods or services). I don't know anyone in Chicago, but I imagine that I could have at least sold the ticket (if it was an open one) through the newspaper, but I don't even have an airline ticket! I feel that this is a VERY DECEPTIVE business practice.
So please don't make the mistake I (and many others) did, and save yourself just as much money by either going directly to the airline websites (I found the same ticket there $ 38 cheaper anyway) or by doing your price comparisons elsewhere - just do some research first.
I have filed complaints with the following agencies: BBB, Consumer Affairs, FTC, Attorney General of CT Blumenthal and the CT Dept of Consumer Protection. I am also in the process of sending editorials to every major newspaper.
As Johnny from Sherman Oaks, California says Class action, anyone???
Jan
Hot Springs, Arkansas
U.S.A.
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