This post was prompted because of a frustrating situation we are currently dealing with. As a frugal blogger I love getting the best deals. I’ve tried to pass on my frugal tips to my hubby and kids. As a family of 6 we can’t be throwing hundreds of dollars around all willy nilly. As a family of 6 we want to save as much as we can in each area of our lives.
My husband recently applied for a class through his job that would help him on the road to getting his promotion. His employer approved him for the class and gave him the dates. This is where things get tricky. He could have stayed at the dorms of the training facility for free. The only way his job pays for a hotel is if the dorms are full. My husband chose to get a hotel room because he said, often, the recruits and others at the dorm want to party and drink and he just didn’t want to do that. I was, of course, happy about that. So he booked a hotel room through the Priceline “Name Your Own Price” tool and he got a good deal.
Yesterday, my husband got an email at work saying the class he was approved for had been canceled. He’s very frustrated because this was out of his control, he knew that there was a good chance he was not going to get his money back from Priceline. Nearly $200 we may as well have flushed down the toilet. His work won’t reimburse him because he could have stayed at the dorms. I called Priceline and they told me there is nothing they could do, it’s their policy to not refund or cancel reservations made through the “Name Your Own Price Tool”. I called the hotel directly and they told me there was nothing they could do because they are under contract with Priceline. They said they’re not even allowed to go in and change a name or anything in the Priceline reservations. The staff I talked to at the hotel was very nice and apologized to me over and over. She even put me on hold to talk to her manager but the same answer came back.
So my advice is, if you plan on using the Priceline “Name Your Own Price Tool” you better make sure nothing in your life can change during your reservation if you don’t want Priceline to take your money while you receive nothing. I’ve heard of hotel keep one nights fee or a deposit fee but never have I heard of keeping all the money you paid upfront. So our family of 6 is out nearly $200 and we receive nothing in return. I have to put 4 new tires on my car and our dryer just quit working on us. I have to wonder what that $200 goes to for Priceline when no service was received?
So if you are hospitalized during the time you were to use the hotel room…too bad so sad, they keep your money. If your friend, boss, family, etc cancels the trip and you paid for the hotel room..again too bad sucka. You lose your job and can no longer afford the trip..Priceline doesn’t seem to care from my point of view. You booked the hotel room for a weekend to go to a concert, the concert was canceled, oh well hope you didn’t need the money…I’m sure there could be lots of other scenarios but you get the point.
