A few months ago, I was trying to book a hotel room for my wife. We had some flexibility, so I was trying several different options on both Hotwire and Priceline. To hopefully not make this post too long (it took several calls for customer service to finally figure out that it was not my bank or credit card putting a hold on anything), the short version is that I was for some reason sent over to their fraud department and have not been able to use either website since to book anything. I have contacted their customer support line, but they have not been very helpful. They cannot tell me why I was sent to the fraud department - they merely give me the phone number to call the fraud department separately. The problem is that the fraud department apparently never answers the phone. I have left multiple voicemails very clearly saying my name, the reason why I was calling, and my contact information. No response at all. I have emailed and called general customer service to ask for their help, but they insist there is nothing they can do from their end, they cannot connect me to the fraud department, and they cannot escalate my concern because it has nothing to do with booking a specific trip (which sounds ridiculous because there have been at least five hotel stays in the last couple of months where I would have used them - at least five specific trips as I see it). Has anyone encountered any problems like this? Any tips on getting through to the fraud department? Typically, when I travel for personal reasons I have a great deal of flexibility and have had a lot of success saving with both Hotwire and Priceline in the past. In fact, for each of these five hotel stays I mentioned, I saw that I could have saved quite a bit through Hotwire for same city/star level. I would hate to permanently be barred from using them, but that is what it is starting to feel like. Would really be grateful for any help or suggestions as I have another trip coming up soon.
