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Fighting with Priceline.com ...


biddingforhotel
By biddingforhotel,
in

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You may not know that I have proved Priceline.com's computer is doing lots of fraud; it may pretend that it is bidding for you but in fact doing nothing but telling you no hotel accept your bid to jack up your bidding price ... So, when you contact their customer service, and they would lie to you and ask you to check with your credit card company ...etc and when you do, in fact, priceline.com NEVER charge, nor verify your credit card... Eventually, I found out this fraud from Priceline.com. and they do not want you to bid from them, instead would like you to book from their sister website ... They hotel rate gets more and more teasing, sort of for you one or twice, and "block" you if you are experienced bidder. It's like you go to Casino, if you win too many times, they would say, sorry, you are not welcome...

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Dear VP of Priceline.com Customer Service,

Ok, this very unpolited lady called from Priceline claimed she was

the supervisor of Fraud Department told me her name is Gioda Keaing.

She was very impatient, impolite and made a lot bad assumptions. She

even suggest that I suit Priceline.com. She told me she was the final

decision and I have to sue priceline.com in order to get my

priceline.com account back.

If I am not hear anything from priceline.com to get my issue resolved,

I would just go ahead and report to Atterney General Office all the

lies and misleading emails I have received from Priceline.com. Yet,

priceline.com's computer and website pretending to bid for the

customers, yet doing nothing. I would have to request for an

investigation on priceline.com to see if it violate any laws.

I would also report to Best Business Bureau and various travel

websites, blogs, and forums. I would also go to Small Claim Court to

take priceline.com to court as atterney suggested, unless I want to

make it a class action as suggested since it may be hundreds of

thousands priceline.com victims out there...

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If their system "pretending to bid for customers," it's suprising how many people get their bids accepted. :)

I wish you luck with the "Best Business Bureau" or the "Atterney General Office" as you're not going to be able to prove that Priceline committed any fraudulent activity. A Judge would throw your 'case' out, as a rejected bid on Priceline is not terms for damages.

p.s. This does not belong in the Priceline - New Jersey Thread

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A few comments regarding the above:

1) Let's remember that English is not necessarily a first language for some board members (we are truly a global board). I often say i speak "get by" spanish (if i had to... i could get by :) ), but i'm sure if i attempted to post on a Spanish message board my post would be less comprehendable than the above

2) I do disagree with the original poster's conclusions... the entire system is automated. You can't prove that there was a hotel available to accept your bid at the time it was placed... it's an opaque system. As well, if there is no hotel available to accept your bid, Priceline has no reason to charge or verify your credit card.

I'm not an attorney, but the law of common sense tells me your suit has no merrit.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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Priceline Does Sometimes Lie about Availability

Unfortunately, I must say that the op is basically correct, whether he has the data to back it up I don't know, but I do. I have proven this in my case to my own satisfaction by the laws of probability (it would take me a couple of days of work to do all of the calculations on paper, but I know I could prove it to any reasonable person that the probability of what has happened to me over the last couple of years is esentially zero without some rejecting of valid bids over the hotel's rate by Priceline). This now includes several times having a lower bid having been accepted IN THE SAME ZONE immediately after a higher bid was rejected:

Priceline Rejections

I do not know how often this happens - It does not appear to happen to most people yet. But I have seen others post such experiences on the internet, I don't think I am the only one.

Unfortunately, there is no possible recourse against Priceline for doing this, as to gather an iron tight case in a court of law would require spending lots of money on hotels you don't need and then lots of legal fees.

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Interesting that the fraud unit of PL recommended a lawsuit. I am thinking of a small claim suit on a bid because I do have proof I did not bid for the hotel type (resort) that I "won".

To you other lawyers out there: Is there personal jurisdiction over PL in all state courts because they did business with me via the web in my state (Michigan)? Or do they have to be sued in PL.com home state? And what state would that be? Anybody sue them and collect?

In my case the loss is high enough, especially with Michigan's triple damages for cheated consumers, to entice me to take PL to court. And, yes, I know that I risk a ban for life from PL.

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Without getting into too many details:

1. I have a copy of my actual bidding form for this $700 bid. The 3* and 4* were checked because I bid a 3*. The resort box was on the form but it was greyed out - and not checked. That's the evidence I have that I did not bid for a resort.

2. PL web site in the FAQ section makes it clear that resorts are not in the star level system. Resorts are in the "other classifications" section with boutique hotels.

3. The T&C you quoted warns of star level upgrades only. It does not mention changes to "other classifications".

At any rate I have never lost a jury trial and see little to no risk of losing a case in my home town where I have written proof that I was stuck with a hotel type that PL did not tell me I could get.

So my questions on where to sue PL still stands.

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QUOTE (betsybug @ Mar 13 2005, 10:56 AM)

First you wrote:

"Yes, I knew or should have known that a 4* could be upgraded to a resort. But not a 3* upgrade to a resort. PL never told me this could happen and I have never seen a reported resort upgrade from a 3* on this board or on TOBB."

A day later you wrote:

"I had no idea a resort could be awarded without the resort option being selected."

I think Priceline would be able to use your statement to defend itself to judge and jury. You made a mistake, a costly mistake, but to blame others is wrong. The only responsible party is you. You know an upgrade is possible from any level based upon many posts here and there.

You need to get over it and move on.

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You were willing to spend $700 for a 3* hotel, but you are unhappy to receive a resort instead? :)

Is this resort so much worse than the hotels you were targeting? Did you post your win?

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If you're going to make an argument about their T&C and FAQ, make sure you're looking at the correct information. I see no "other classifications" on their Name your own price Hotel FAQ page.

It is mentioned on their Shop & Compare FAQ, but you didn't use Shop & Compare, so using that in your argument doesn't help. Unless you're looking for a lifeline.

At any rate I have never lost a jury trial and see little to no risk of losing a case in my home town where I have written proof that I was stuck with a hotel type that PL did not tell me I could get.

So my questions on where to sue PL still stands.

If that is the case, shouldn't you have an attorney who could provide you with that information instead of travel bulletin board users? :) Their legal counsel would have a field day with your 'case'.
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You may not know that I have proved Priceline.com's computer is doing lots of fraud; it may pretend that it is bidding for you but in fact doing nothing but telling you no hotel accept your bid to jack up your bidding price ... So, when you contact their customer service, and they

... and "block" you if you are experienced bidder. It's like you go to Casino, if you win too many times, they would say, sorry, you are not welcome...

... take priceline.com to court as atterney suggested, unless I want to make it a class action as suggested since it may be hundreds of thousands priceline.com victims out there...

Back to the original post by biddingforhotel; some additional comments. I hope he/she follows up on this interesting topic.

I am not sure whether this practice by Priceline is as commonplace as you think it is. At least, if thousands of others are being forced to raise their bids well beyond the hotel's minimum sell level they haven't picked up on any evidence of such hanky panky going on. Folks often report here rebidding by adding zones not active for the star level they are trying for and eventually getting a hotel in their original zone. Forced overbidding clearly doesn't routinely happen to Priceline bidders.

Whatever Priceline doing to the "chosen" few (or many?), it is not a total ban on credit cards. They apparently have targeted certain users (perhaps the compulsive rebidders who frequently try to hit a hotel's minimum price on the nose?) for their unstated, undeclared "special" treatment. As best I can tell, this appears to mean first bids from their chosen customers for a hotel zone will (usually?) be accepted normally, but any attempt to rebid for your targeted zone by adding non-active zones will be rejected without consideration (possibly though, an excessive bid will still be accepted, as biddingforhotel implies).

I don't know if you are going to be able to locate hundreds (much less hundreds of thousands) of users out there who have experienced this kind of special, unethical treatment by Priceline and have a clue as to what has been happening to them. Most users probably don't try to rebid multiple times for the same zone at the same time; and most users won't have a clue if they are being forced by Priceline to overbid. Nonetheless, best wishes biddingforhotel and let us know how this turns out for you.

Because of this garbage, I generally don't bid Priceline any more unless I have lots of time on my hands and the potential savings are quite large. Those conditions seem to be met less and less frequently for myself.

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