Priceline.com: Is it Worth It?

I have had a horrible time with Priceline.com. My husband is in Tech School for the Air Force. I thought I would surprise him by visiting him, and in a magazine (Glamour, I think?), it said that Priceline.com was awesome for last minute deals on flights, hotels, and even car rentals. So that's the first mistake I made: Obtaining plane ticket advice from a fashion magazine. What I should have done with actually Google Priceline.com. When I did (after I made my huge mistake I will divulge in later...), I found an incredible amount of horror stories associated with Priceline.com. My heart sank of course.

What had happened is this: Priceline.com does not stress enough on their site that they do not do refunds. At all. No refunds. None what-so-ever. And as you might know, things in the military change constantly. And as it happened, my husbands 'free' weekend changed to the next, and I naturally wanted to either refund my ticket, or exchange my ticket for the upcoming week. I called the number for customer service, and I each of the representatives were extremely, extremely rude. Is this part of their training...? I read later on that the reason why Pricline.com does not do refunds is because they promise the flight, the hotel, or car rental that a person will be using their services. So the person who purchases the vacation package (for example) is pretty much sworn to being on the plane that scheduled day. And the worst part about this is that my vacation package (which included a flight and hotel) cost $600.00 in total. The only thing Priceline.com offered to do was to keep my ticket on 'hold' in case I wanted to exchange it with another ticket some other time. But for some reason, they could do absolutely nothing about the hotel. And the hotel was the most expensive part of the trip! I was on the verge of tears speaking to one of the representatives...and he was absolutely emotionless. I think what hurt me more was the fact that he was so robotic and unfeeling in what he said. I was just very hurt. I can't put my ticket on 'hold' for a future exchange because I simply do not trust Priceline.com from this experience. I'm sure someday I'll call and say, "Hey...about that ticket on hold...."

And their response would be: "There is no such ticket. The change to exchange that ticket expired 30 days from when you called. Sorry, but you should have read the find print on the website. Did you not have your magnifying glass on you? Your fault."

I can already see it in my head. Awful, isn't it? I can say that Priceline.com is good for you only if you absolutely KNOW for sure (100%) that your plans will not change. You have to be as sure as the rising sun that your plans will not change. I even bought travelers' insurance for an extra $35.00 because it said that it protected a traveler in the case that a ticket had to be changed or cancelled. This is where I was mislead. After looking a little deeper at the site after making my big mistake, I noticed that the travelers' insurance is extremely, excruciatingly limited. It only possibly covers if someone if your immediate family dies and some other extreme things. Oh, and there's a time limit on when the insurance runs out, and it's not very forgiving. From what I read according to the horror stories online, Priceline.com did NOT pay some customers even when they presented or offered to present proof of death.

I wholeheartedly regret my decision to purchase my ticket from Priceline.com. Not only am I completely void of $600.00 of my hard earned dollars, but I'm forced to board that plane and go to an empty hotel...no husband, nothing to look forward to. I'm visiting a state for no reason....only to make the best of my ticket. I'm definitely going to drive to my husband next time and do everything myself. I guess what they say is true...when you want something done right, you must do it yourself, your way. But whatever you do, never leave it up to Priceline.com to book your flight....I am very sure they will do what they can to gently steal your money from under you and then present their emotionless customer service side when you least need it. Good luck in your travels. I wish you better luck than mine.