Use it if you like headaches and waisting time...
Written: Jan 13 '07 (Updated Jan 14 '07)
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Tried to book a two week family vacation to Washington, DC six months in advance and after trying for three days to book it I finally gave up and went to Travelocity.
Everytime I tried to book a flight and hotel, it would come back and say it could not complete it and then offer alternative packages. The funny thing was, the alternative packages also included the packages I had tried and it said it could not reserve. I have a total of 37 "reservation" numbers it spits out as it works on booking your package. In other words I've tried at least 37 times although it was more, I just stopped keeping tracking it became more of me vs. Priceline.com to see if I could actually book something with them. I tried changing dates, changing flights and I tried changing hotels...nothing worked.
An email to customer service just simply said that the prices change minute to minute and there may be a lag time with their partners and that it happens with all online travel sites...BULLHOOEY!!! I've used Travelocity before and never had a problem. Some friends have used Hotels.com and Expedia.com and never had a problem. This is clearly a Priceline.com problem While I can understand a certain amount of lag time on occasion, it should not happen all the time. Travelocity simply adjusts the price right before you book (if it's changed) and then you decide if you still want it.
After that we called Priceline.com. The rep was friendly enough but right from the start we weren't expecting much help. It turns out all they do is log into the same exact web site customers go to and try to book it for you. Even the rep said Priceline.com was a bit flaky in terms of booking and I think "a bit flaky" is a major understatement!
There are two MAJOR problems with Priceline.com:
1) It doesn't tell you WHY it failed to complete the reservation. This basically leaves you guessing as to what you need to change to try and book something.
2) It offers alternative packages that are the same exact packages it just said it could not reserve. If the package is no longer available, it should not offer it again.
All in all, I could not recommend Priceline.com to anyone. It's a great place to get aggravated while trying to book something that should be fun.
NOTE: I gave customer service a "Terrible" rating only because they can't do anymore than you or I could do since they access the same website used by customers. The phone in customer service rep was friendly and at least tried to help. The email support was worthless.
UPDATE: I received yet another reply from Priceline.com customer service after I offered some suggestions for improvements (items 1 & 2 above). I got the generic "we feel your pain" response and they referred me to the earlier email on how they are linked to their partner sites and there are lags, etc. They also noted that I had tried numerous times again and none of the requests had completed (WOW...at least they can see their system failed to complete a reservation).
As predicted, I went over to Travelocity and was able to painlessly book a vacation. The price was a little more but on the plus side, I got the exact rooms I wanted while with Priceline you have to call the hotel AFTER you have booked and paid for your vacation and hope they can change the rooms to what you want. Of course at that point you are stuck since packages are non-refundable.
In fact, Travelocity updated room availability during the booking process as packages changed (reading this Priceline??) and adjusted the price twice during the whole reservation process (no lag here!) but it was a good thing as the rooms got better but the price dropped and that was with non-stop flights also. All in all, the price was about $250 more than Priceline.com but it was booked on the first attempt, we got the exact rooms we wanted and we got non-stop flights (more time to see DC!).
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Vacation Package
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