After a double-billing error on his car rental bill, Priceline promises Larry Lundeen a prompt refund. But it never comes, despite the online travel agency’s insistence to the contrary.
What can you do when your credit card records don’t match up with those of your travel company?
Believe it or not, you still have a few options.
Lundeen booked a $247 rental car through Priceline rental last year, but was billed twice for the same amount.
That’s not as uncommon as you might think. When you pay for a car through a so-called “opaque” travel site, you’re issued a voucher that covers the cost of the rental. Sometimes, car rental personnel disregard the voucher or don’t fully understand how to use it, and charge you again.
I don’t have the particulars of how Lundeen’s billing snafu happened. But he explains the aftermath in painstaking detail.
I called and spoke to a Priceline representative, and was assured that the problem would be corrected and that I should see a credit in next month’s credit card statement.
A month later, I called again as the credit did not show up. I was told once again that the transaction must have crossed in the mail as it had been completed on their end and that it would show up on the next billing cycle as a credit.
The next billing cycle indicated no credit and my next call resulted in my being told that I should contact the car rental company myself and resolve the billing charge. I told them that I had used Priceline.com to book the travel and that I thought it was their responsibility to correct any errors, especially in light of their assuring me that this had been done twice over the phone. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told I would receive a call.
No call was received and I think the person simply told me this to get rid of me.
Repeated efforts to email Priceline have been in vain. His credit card company couldn’t help, either. Says Lundeen: “It is obvious from my unsuccessful attempts that Priceline has no intent on correcting the double billing error.”
So I contacted Priceline on his behalf. Its response:
We’re still looking into this one. Our records show a booking that was refunded, but that was from 2008. I’ve asked our folks to contact the customer directly, since I don’t think he’s talking about a year-old booking. But we’ll see.
Priceline has given me hope that Lundeen would be taken care of. The resolution could go one of two ways: Either he’s already been refunded, but couldn’t find the money, which happened just last week. Or Priceline didn’t return the money last year, and will fix the problem.
In the meantime, Lundeen says he’s going to contact the attorney general in his state, which I think is a good idea — assuming, of course, Priceline still has his money.
“When I think of Priceline,” he told me. “I see red.”
Lundeen had other options. He could have contacted his car rental company. He also could have escalated the complaint with his credit card company. Often, an email from a travel company indicating that you were erroneously billed can be interpreted as a letter of credit, which would allow a bank to initiate a successful dispute of the charge.
If nothing else, this underscores the necessity of monitoring your credit card statements closely. For example, last week’s case could have been resolved if the traveler had just read her credit card bill a little closer. And with closer monitoring, Lundeen’s case could have been passed along to the car rental company or, if appropriate, a small claims court, when the refund didn’t show up in a timely manner.
How about Lundeen?
“Although the double billing is not a major amount of money, it is the idea that this company feels they can stiff the consumer without consequences,” he told me. “The next time I travel I would go directly to the air lines and car rental company and not depend on a third party for services. That is a lesson I have learned.”
(Photo: BodHack/Flickr Create Commons)
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Has anyone verified that Priceline credited the correct account? Maybe Mr. Lundeen has more than one credit card, or Priceline simply got the wrong person (who’s not likely to look a gift credit in the mouth). Did Mr. Lundeen actually have a Priceline car rental in 2008? Perhaps they credited that one (on another card) so he’s looking in the wrong place.
But if a customer asks for a supervisor, he should get one *now*, not a call back, much less the brush-off.
I guess there are several scenarios on how this could come to fruition. First, Priceline never credited Mr. Lundeed. This is very possible and likely. Maybe the rental car company never returned the funds to Priceline and so they are passing the buck. Two other scenarios would be Priceline did indeed live up to it’s promise and Mr. Lundeed missed it on his bill, as did the previous woman. Another chance option, though less likely due to his uncommon name, is they refunded the wrong person. Either way, Mr. Lundeed needs to scour his bills and be sure he is in the right.
Assuming he is the victim here, I say call the Attorney General. They will help! Contact your bank and credit card. One might even pursue small claims, and ask for damages due to the financial effect double billing has on an individual and their refusal to correct.
Last, whenever wanting a supervisor, if you don’t get one don’t give up. One lesson we have all learned, or should have in life, is keep calling and asking when you don’ receive the answer you want on important matters. Eventually, you’ll reach someone willing to help! Sounds like a pain, but sometimes you have to do it!
These horror stories with Priceline and Travelocity and Expedia and Hotels.com and all of the other middleman travel websites simply re-confirm what I’ve always done: book through the companies you’re dealing with directly. The couple of times a lower price has lured me to use one of those sites have ended badly, with either a missing reservation or a cancellation fee that I would have avoided had I booked directly with the hotel. It’s your choice: gamble on grief accompanying a lower price, or pay a bit more for one less company to deal with.
I, too, now book directly with the airline or hotel I intend to use, although I will say that I’ve used hotels.com several times and have never had a problem. The problem nowadays is that if there’s a problem and you didn’t book directly with the airline or hotel, you’re stuck trying to get the third party vendor to intercede with some alacrity. Your emergency is not their emergency. And given that we’re witnessing the apotheosis of capitalism, always keep in mind that the bottom line is the bottom line.
I had the same thing happen to me with priceline and a hotel. I immediately called the hotel when I saw that they had charged and they said they would credit me and did within 5 days. The only issue I had is that they charged me an extra $2.50 which they said they didn’t see so I am disputing it with my credit card. I did not involve priceline as I saw this as a mistake the hotel made which is what happened. The person who checked me out charged my card instead of changing payment option to voucher. It was annoying to have to do this as I stopped booking with hotels directly since they double charged me before and in doing so caused me $70 in overdraft fees which I have to this day not been able to receive back. I thought using priceline would solve this problem but it obviously did not. Now I always use my credit card because that way I can dispute it and not incur overdraft fees.
I have long ago stopped booking with anyone other than the hotel or travel provider directly. I hate the passing the buck that we constantly see otherwise.
Well I got the same from Priceline too.
Car Rental from Priceline in LAX charge to my credit card 8/29/09 to 8/31/09 for $66.03
Budget Rent A Car charge to my credit card for $68.61 again.
I tried to called both Priceline and Budget Rent A Car — was on hold for nearly 40 minutes, gave up.
Sent email to both Priceline and Budget Rent A Car. Wait for response.