Priceline have me dangling by a thread and don't know what to do.

feesh

I am normally very au fait with my rights, but this is a bit of a weird situation as the company in question can't actually tell me at this point in time as to whether or not they have ballsed up my order.....

Back in late November/early December, I made a reservation for a hotel in Brussels for 11th - 14th Feb (that's THIS Thursday) through Priceline.

Having emailed and spoken to the hotel twice over the past month or so to try and sort out a non-smoking room, I discovered that the hotel has absolutely no record of my reservation. They told me that I need to sort it out with my booking agent.

Priceline took the money from my account for this booking back in December.

So I called, and emailed Priceline on Friday and was told they would look into it and respond within 2 working days.

I called them this afternoon after hearing nothing from them, and find out that they've done absolutely NOTHING in the interim to sort out my problem.

They tried calling the hotel in Brussels while I was on the phone to them but had no response.

I then got cut off and had to call Priceline back and explain my story over and over again to another 3 agents before getting back to the right department again.

Same story. No response from the Brussels hotel and nothing they can do to help me at this stage.

I was hopping mad, but calmly and assertively set out my case and asked for a full refund - with only 48 hours to go before we arrive in Brussels I would like to put my energy into sorting out some alternative accomodation through another agent, rather than continue down this dead-end road of trying to deal with Priceline.

But Priceline won't let me cancel, yet can't confirm whether or not I actually have a room for Thursday night or not.

I just want my money back! The customer service agents are all foreign and don't understand that I have rights re: Distance Selling Regs etc.

I wish I could speak to someone in England but it doesn't seem to be possible.

I don't know what to do. I could book an alternative hotel which I have found on Expedia but it's non-refundable. It's a risk I am willing to take, I guess, especially as I am sure that the hotel I was originally booked with through Priceline is now full for one of the nights we were supposed to be staying there.

Does anyone know what my rights are here? Also does anyone have any kind of customer service number for a Priceline office based in England?

feesh

I would really appreciate it if any legal experts out there could advise me on this, as I am struggling to understand the Distance Selling Regs as they apply in this situation.

Thank you in advance - I really have to sort this out tomorrow.

vicshippers

It's not distance selling...it's plain ole contract law.

Can you contact them by e-mail? If so I would e-mail them confirming that you are cancelling the booking as neither you nor they can confirm the reservation with the hotel in question and you only have 24 hours now to make other arrangements. I'd then stick this letter in recorded post.

How did you pay for the booking? If credit card (fingers crossed this is how you paid) I would contact the card issuer and make them aware of the situation and ask them how they would like you to proceed.

Hope it gets sorted for you as soon as possible and you have a lovely time in Brussels!

peachyprice

feesh wrote: »

Having emailed and spoken to the hotel twice over the past month or so to try and sort out a non-smoking room, I discovered that the hotel has absolutely no record of my reservation. They told me that I need to sort it out with my booking agent.

All hotels are non-smoking now, by law;)


Although it's just as well you didn't know this otherwise you'd have turned up in Brussels with nowhere to stay.

Did you pay by credit card? If so you may be able to get a charge back through them.

pulliptears

peachyprice wrote: »

All hotels are non-smoking now, by law;)

not sure that applies in Brussels though as there are still smoking rooms advertised and the smoking laws seem a lot more relazed.

peachyprice

pulliptears wrote: »

not sure that applies in Brussels though as there are still smoking rooms advertised and the smoking laws seem a lot more relazed.

Ah, very true, it was supposed to change 1st Jan 2010, but they may have moved the date.

I forget that it's only us here in the UK who follow the EU rules to the 'T'.:D

PeteMc

peachyprice wrote: »

Ah, very true, it was supposed to change 1st Jan 2010, but they may have moved the date.

I forget that it's only us here in the UK who follow the EU rules to the 'T'.:D

I thought you could smoke in UK hotel bedrooms as well?

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2007/uksi_20070765_en_1#pt2-l1g4

Unless this has been superceded by later legislation?

feesh

Thanks Vicshippers. I do email them quite a lot, as I have been told it's the best way to communicate with Priceline - however half of their given email addresses on their website bounce back, and the ones that get through are met with a standard response asking you to call them.

If you do call them, when you eventually get through to a human, you have to explain your story at least 3 times to non-English speaking call centre staff who stick rigidly to an Americanised script and absolutely point blank refuse to refund me.

I sent an email last night quoting UK Law at them and this is what I got back:

Dear priceline.co.uk Customer

In order to better assist you, we have made arrangements for you to speak with a Customer Care Consultant.

Please call us at 1-800-657-9168.

When you call this number, you will need to enter the following information:
Your request number XXXXXX.

Sincerely,

priceline.co.uk Customer Care Team

Incidentally, regarding the little off-topic debate about smoking, the smoking rules in Britain have absolutely NOTHING to do with any EU regulations - it was an entirely British initiative (this seems to be a common misconception that somehow the EU forced it on us!). Some other countries in Europe do have similar laws, but not Belgium and if you want a non-smoking hotel room in Belgium you do have to ask for it.

isplumm

Hi,

Could it be the way that priceline operate - ie. they don't tell the hotel until 24 hours before, as they have a pre-defined allocation? So the hotel will not have your details until 24 hours before .... have you checked this morning to see whether the hotel has your details yet??

Mark

OlliesDad

The problem you have is that Priceline haven't broken their part of the contract yet. They won't break it until the day you checkin and there is no room available. Therefore if you want a refund at this point, it comes doen to their cancellation policy.

If you do attempt to checkin and no room is available, you will be able to claim any subsequent loss from them i.e the extra cost of booking a room last minute.

feesh

OlliesDad wrote: »

The problem you have is that Priceline haven't broken their part of the contract yet. They won't break it until the day you checkin and there is no room available. Therefore if you want a refund at this point, it comes doen to their cancellation policy.

If you do attempt to checkin and no room is available, you will be able to claim any subsequent loss from them i.e the extra cost of booking a room last minute.

You've hit the nail on the head there Ollie's Dad! There's no breach of contract unless I get turned away from the hotel and frankly, I don't want the hassle of that happening. We are getting there quite late at night.

I have been on the phone to Priceline again this morning and they were useless. Said there was nothing they could do as they were "still researching my problem" and therefore cannot refund me.

If this was an English company I would be more empowered to sort this out (at least I would have the worst-case option of driving to their offices to pay them a visit in person), but as they are based in the US I feel very hopeless - I will definitely be writing a letter of complaint but I am not expecting results after my experiences with them so far.

I also just rang the hotel in Brussels - definitely NO record of my booking, although they do have availability now for all the nights we are there.

However, I snapped up a bargain on the Expedia website yesterday as a back up option - it is now too late to cancel this now (I had to cancel it by midday today if I wanted my money back) so I am just going to go with that option instead. I am £120 down and a little wiser from this whole experience. I will not use Priceline again, or any other company which does not have a strong UK presence.

I will be pursuing the matter with my credit card company (s75 claim) and possibly travel insurance but anything I get back now will be a bonus to be honest.

I am pretty sure this whole mess is the fault of the hotel, not Priceline, but at the end of the day Priceline customer services weren't there for me when I needed them to step up to the mark and I won't be using them again. Their call centre is an exasperating experience, to say the least.