CC problem....but VISA still charged!

[TommyL]

Hello.

Just wondering if anybody has had the same experience before.....

Yesterday I bid on a 4* New York hotel for October, 2 rooms 5 nights.

At $160 I won, but now there is a message saying that there is a problem with my creditcard.

I thought that this was strange, as just one hour before, I had checked that I had sufficient funds on my account.

So again i log into my account, just to discover that my VISA just have been charged about $1800, which is about the same amount that Priceline would have charged for the rooms.

So now I'm $1800 short, and no hotel rooms....

I have sent a mail to Priceline (Hong Kong), and got a canned reply.....maybe i have to wait until monday before I hear from them again.

Regards

TommyL

PS this might be off-topic....didn't know where else to post this.....

[WillTravel]

I had a positive experience with Priceline Hong Kong's customer service before, although not with this problem.

If you don't get ahold of them quickly, I would of course dispute it with your credit card.

I've never heard of this.

Did you create a profile when you did your bids? Can you check there to see if you did win anything?

[ufjoe21]

shouldn't be a problem, priceline will admit you don't have a reservation yet so you shouldn't have been charged anything

[TommyL]

I have a profile, have made a couple of successful bids without any problems. Got confirmation screen, and VISA card charged.

But there is something very strange going on....when I log in to check my bidding history for the same area, I get the same rejection screen on all of them......

For example one bid I did for NYC, MTW only, I get a rejection screen that says that my bid for MTW and MTE was rejected.....which was a previous bid i had....if you see what i mean.

I wonder if they have problems with their system or something....

I have cleared my cookies and cache, but the same result......

Hope you are right ufjoe21, was literally seeing my vacation going down the drain :)

Best Regards

TommyL

[thereuare]

Print the page that shows your rejected bid at that price (just to make sure they don't change it).

[TommyL]

Today I got confirmed from VISA that it is indeed Priceline Hong Kong which has charged my creditcard for $1800.

I got a reply from Priceline Hong Kong, and they are not willing to admit any glitches in their system!

So now I have to dispute this charge with VISA. I just hope this doesn't affect the rest of my accepted bids, which is already paid for.

I am very disappointed with Priceline HK now. I've been trying to get through to them on the phone, but it is useless. I just get thrown around in their menu system.

I don't think i will do business with them again. Too bad :)

Best Regards

TommyL

[thereuare]

Seems to me that you should have a losing confirmation email with a corresponding bid id number on it.

[TommyL]

That's correct. I have the mails, but there is something not quite right.

I remember clearly that my second last bid was rejected (NYC hotel). Then, i rebid, and raised my bid with about $7. This last bid was accepted, but there was a problem with my credit card.

I found this very strange, as I knew that there were more than enough funds on my account.

Now, I use a VISA debit card, which is linked to my bankaccount. So when Priceline charged me $1800 just before, there was not sufficient funds for my last bid.

Now, the last "Urgent" mail I received, clearly states that there were a problem charging my card.

The second last mail, which is a normal mail with the results of the second last bid, should link to a rejected bid. But it does not! It links instead to the last bid which had the creditcard problem!

The ref numbers in those two mails are different, yet they link back to the same screen, same ref number.

What I believe happened is, that Priceline charged me for that second last bid, which was rejected. The amount seem to fit also. But Priceline just says that none of the bids was accepted or charged for.

My problem is not that Pricline charged me, because mistakes happen all the time.

But it's disappointing that after I have explained the problem for them, they are not willing to admit any error, or trying to resolve this issue.

I simply do not believe that in this day and age it's impossible to find out that they have wrongfully charged me $1800.

Another thing is their support. When I send a mail, they will not reply before the very end of the working day(in Hong Kong that is), so I will have to wait until the next day for my next reply.

And as I mentioned before, it is impossible to get hold of any live person on the phone.

When VISA gets my money back, i will stay clear of Priceline HK. Seems like US or UK is better when it comes to support, at least that is my impression after reading up on this board.

Regards

TommyL

[WillTravel]

That is such an odd situation, and I'm sure stressful as well. If you didn't "win" a bid, though, I don't see how they can charge you.

[TommyL]

That is such an odd situation, and I'm sure stressful as well. If you didn't "win" a bid, though, I don't see how they can charge you.

I know, and cannot understand it either. Makes no sense that they would have charged me for a rejected bid.

If only there was a person I could talk to on the phone...live....would have made it easier to explain the situation.

I have no doubt that I will get my money back, but I'd rather resolve this directly with Priceline, not dispute the charge with VISA. I'm a bit worried that if I start a big fuzz with this, it will somehow affect my already payed bookings....that they may cancel the other hotels because they feel that I wrongfully dispute this last charge or something... Or maybe I'm just beeing paranoid here :)

Anyhow, I'll keep you posted when I hear anything new.

Best Regards

TommyL

[TommyL]

Okay, the money is back on my account now.....don't know if it was VISA or Priceline who fixed it for me. VISA wouldn't say too much about it....dunno why.

I am so relieved right now....went into total panic mode when the money was charged, calling VISA to block my card....

But I am not impressed with Priceline HK and their non-existent support.

I have sent several mails, but they have just ignored me completely. Even if it is fixed now, they could have sent me a mail, explaining what happened. Well, my Mastercard is in the mail, so I'll stick to Priceline US or UK in the future.

Ok, I'll shut up now :)

Regards

TommyL

[WillTravel]

I'm glad it was resolved. But it definitely makes me want to stay away from Priceline HK!