Hotwire's annoying fine print

[Joby K. Traveler]

Hotwire is teasing me with these promo emails advertising ridiculously low prices for car rentals; when I click through to their page, the price has increased by nearly 40%!

I would understand if the email was over 24 hours old...but I just received the promo email 3 hours ago!

What gives? Meanwhile, Hotwire is making money just by having the teasers go out and driving us to their site - they don't even have to sell anything to have this annoying little exchange (a.k.a. complete waste of my time) pay them dividends via advert revenue.

I'm beginning to find Hotwire really icky for their use of this recent email. I don't usually write flaming emails to companies, or post to message boards about it, but this annoyance inspired a heartfelt response, which I might post later for entertainment purposes.

Anyone else have this experience with Hotwire? Any ideas on how to get them to own up to their promises or at least just get them to stop the fakery? I don't care if they have fine print in gray text all over their email saying "prices may change", they're full of it if they think they can do this *in the span of just 3 hours* and not have people start talking about it for what it is.

Post your stories here if you have any suggestions...

[thereuare]

Opt out of receiving marketing emails from them... pretty easy solution. The wins they're informing you of are 'real' wins for your location, but probably not for your specific dates.

If you'd like help with an upcoming rental please post the details (location, dates, budget, car type, etc) and we'll try to assist.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

[Z3R0]

For anyone else looking to read about this, the rates shown in the promotional emails are usually rates that other people have booked recently. Because these rates are based upon availability, and may not be for the exact same details you're searching for, you may not always be able to find them when searching. You can choose which emails you want to receive or stop receiving by following the Subscription Manager link at the bottom of your email.