Complaint Review: PRICELINE.COM LLC - Norwalk Connecticut

I booked a trip (flight+hotel) with Priceline. Based on the itinerary I supposedly paid $28 towards the "Priceline seat reservation convenience fee". At the time of check-in and at the airport, we found the seats were not reserved. The Airline received no information from Priceline. I contacted Priceline several times and Priceline refused to refund the fees. So, I created a credit card dispute for a $28 fee. Priceline, in spite, decided to cancel our non-refundable return flight and hotel reservation. They never informed me by phone/email about these and were totally unexpected. This is an outrageous action by Priceline as I never created a dispute on the Hotel Reservation or Flight Reservation. I solely disputed the supposedly “PRICELINE seat reservation convenience fee” charged by Priceline. This was explicitly stated in a dispute created by Citibank's credit card.

As to the flight reservation, Priceline action is irrational, unilateral, and illegal as credit card charges were made by American Airlines (not Priceline) for the Airline Reservation (tickets) were never disputed by me, and the ticket reservation was fully funded by my money. American Airlines was in full receipt of the funds. Priceline had no cost included in Air Tickets Reservation charges charged on my card, and the Airline Reservation along with Hotel Reservation was never disputed by me. The only item of the dispute was the PRICELINE seat reservation fee, a convenience charge, which never got fulfilled by Priceline/Airlines. I have several times called Priceline and talked to several agents and two supervisors. They have never called back/emailed to resolve this.

On July 19, 2023, I made my last attempt to sort this issue with Priceline. I called Priceline and I talked with the Priceline Flight Department agent who said she cannot provide me with a hardcopy/email but can verbally provide the cost breakdown. During this process, she investigated trip itinerary details and found the seat reservation/selection transaction had failed on the date of booking of reservations and was not passed to the Airline. She stated that the $28 charge corresponding to it should not be on my trip and contract. She also said if it has been charged to a credit card then Priceline will refund it. This was a total shock given on July 12th Priceline officially responded to the credit card dispute with an invoice which has $28 Convenience Charge. The agent resolved Priceline never charged the credit card the $28 fee. They just charged the Hotel Reservation cost.

I wanted to confirm the above information so an hour later I called again. This time the agent stated $28 charge is valid and non-refundable. So, I asked for her supervisor. The supervisor, Ms. Isabel (Agent id# MFW), also stated $28 is a valid charge. When I told her about the previous agent’s statement, she initially pushed back on it but then eventually confirmed Priceline was not able to send information to the Airlines. The transaction failed on May 12, 2023, the day I made the reservations. She informed me that for some odd reason, this was not caught by Priceline, and it was not reported to me. Also, she could not figure out why the same charge of $28 for the PRICELINE Seat Reservation fee still appears on my trip itinerary and the contract. After divulging this information, she refused to talk further stating my trip on her system had been tagged with a credit card dispute which forbids her and her colleagues from talking to me further. She also informed I cannot further talk to any Priceline employee about this trip. Further, Priceline has not refunded my Hotel Charge, as they promised in the cancellation email.

I seek your help in resolving this issue with Priceline. Given I had to rebook the reservations, at my cost, I lost approximately $4675.78. I believe Priceline should compensate me for this. Also, Priceline has not refunded my Hotel Charge of $866, as they promised in the cancellation email.