Taken Advantage Of

I'm sure that Hector knew this blog was coming. You see, blogging for me is like therapy, and I need to vent. I apologize to all of you, in advance, for this venting session.

While in the process of planning our summer vacation, a friend recommended that I go through http://www.priceline.com/ to reserve our hotel rooms. We need hotel rooms to stay in for the trip up to South Dakota, and for the return trip home (it's a 2 day road trip each way). My friend got a really great deal on a hotel through that website last summer (she paid $98/night for a hotel that normally rented for $199/night, right on San Antonio's River Walk). So I went on the website, did a little research on other websites, and then submitted a bid on a hotel room. Oh, for those of you who don't know how this website works... It's kind of like those last minute deals you can get on flights through airlines like Southwest for $49... As the date of your stay gets closer, and hotels realize that they are not going to be renting their rooms, they start accepting lower bids on the rooms through websites like Priceline.com, because they figure that getting something for a room is, well, better than nothing. So the customer winds up getting a nice room at a great deal. At least, that's how it's supposed to work. Unfortunately, this is not how things worked for me.

I put in a bid for a hotel room, and was given a CHEAPER room!!! The charge for the room was processed on my card, and on their website it said that they could not change my reservation in any way. When I called Priceline's Customer Service Department, I was told the same thing... there was nothing that could be done to change the reservation, and that they could not cancel it. Regardless of the price per night to normally rent the room, the price I was paying for the room was the price I was paying for the room. When I pressed harder, and explained to the representative that I was basically being ripped off because I was being charged more for a room than it would normally rent for, and the whole point of the website was to SAVE me money, he insisted there was nothing he could do about it. And then I did something that I knew would make my husband cringe, if he knew I was doing it. The words that were about to come out of my mouth (love you, Honey!) would have sent chills down Hector's spine. I told the representative, "I need to speak to your Supervisor, now!" Little piece of info. here for those of you who don't know... My hubby is a "Supervisor" for a well known company's Customer Service Department. He doesn't really like it all that much when a customer's call gets transferred to him, simply because he feels like anything he could possibly do to resolve the matter could have, and SHOULD HAVE, been done by the representative in the first place, if the representative was doing their job correctly.

Anyway, I spoke to the Supervisor and explained to him that under these circumstances I felt like he needed to credit my account the charge for the room and cancel the reservation. He insisted there was nothing that could be done, and that's when I asked him this simple question: "If you went to a BMW car dealership, and signed a contract for a BMW (it's all I could think of at the time) worth $40,000, and after you signed that contract and walked out to drive your new BMW home, they handed you the keys to a used Yugo (here again, it's the first thing that came to mind), would you feel as if you were getting what you paid for and expected, or would you feel as if you were being ripped off and taken advantage of?" He did not answer the question and proceeded to tell me that he was ending the call, and asked if there was anything else he could do for me. MISTAKE... :-). I interrupted him and said "Sir, I would greatly appreciate it if you could do me one more simple favor." "Yes Mrs. ____ (fill in the blank with my completely butchered last name). What else can I do for you?" "You can answer the question. Would you feel ripped off?" Again, he did not answer my question. I'll admit, my blood was BOILING at that point. Especially when I asked him the same question a 3rd time, and then he said, "Since there seems to be nothing else I can do for you, I am going to end this call." To which I said, "Well, actually there is something else you can do for me. Tell me something, sir. If your wife rented a hotel room for your family's summer vacation that normally rented for $200/night, and she was given a room that normally rented for $50/night, and she was told basically that oh well, sorry, but that's the room she was being given, would she be disappointed? Would you be disappointed? Would you refuse to ever do business with them again, and would you then make a point to tell everyone you know in your family, all of your friends, and your many loyal blog readers, to never give that hotel their business? Because, those are my intentions."

He was silent... And that's when I said, "I will assume by your silence that the answer is yes." He started to re-explain to me that priceline.com makes NO GUARANTEE THAT THE HOTEL ROOM THEIR CUSTOMERS RECEIVE WILL ACTUALLY BE COMPARABLE TO OR BETTER THAN THEIR BIDDING PRICE. But I feared that I was about to lose my composure, so I hung up on him. When I tried to call back I couldn't get through to another representative, because obviously they had done something in their system, so that the phone queue no longer acknowledged my order number. Right then and there I realized that I truly had been scammed.

I truly HATE being taken advantage of! Some might say it's a pride thing. After all, I feel like I am an educated, informed woman who tends to be quite a savvy consumer. So it's extremely difficult for me to simply walk away when something like this happens to me, especially when I feel like I am being ripped off or being made a fool of. Why can't I just let it go? And the answer to that question is that I guess it has a lot to do with the fact that I try my best to be fair to everyone I come in contact with, and I want people to do the same for me. That's not unrealistic thinking, right?!?! :-) I know that there are unkind and dishonest people in the world, but I try my best to steer clear of negative people and situations. But this time, I didn't see it coming. I was blind-sided, and it really stinks.

I'm sure that some of you out there may have used priceline.com yourself, and had a positive experience. But this is what I would like for you all to know. Priceline and similar websites make no guarantee that the customer bidding on a hotel room will actually receive a room that is worth that bidding price, or more. I asked the Supervisor if I were to have bid $1,000 on a room, could I have received a $50/night room, and he said YES!

I suppose I should simply let it go and walk away, knowing that in the grand scheme of things, I have it pretty good. I have a loving God, a great hubby, 3 awesome kids, a supportive family, truly wonderful friends, and you all, my loyal blog readers. I have a roof over my head, clothes in my closet, and food in my kitchen. What more could I want in this world? Well, I really want people to be nice to me, and world peace... That's not asking too much, is it? :-)