Priceline Car Rentals Consumer Reviews - Page 3

This is the worst company even to get a rental car from! The worst experience in my life. I pay for a car in advance and read all the terms and conditions. Thought I was good but nope not at all. I got there to get my car that has already been paid for and they will not give it to me due to I do not have a major credit card in my name. I informed them the website says they take debit cards and they don't. They told me I had to call Priceline to get a time extension but when I did that Priceline refused to help me and said they could not guarantee the rates. I will never ever again use Priceline nor do I recommend anyone else.

I received a email, as usual, from Priceline.com for $7 car rentals in certain areas. I went to the rental site, selected a car, then placed my bid. I received an immediate response with my bid plus the normally added fees and taxes. The response was very acceptable. I waited to make sure nothing else would change. I cancelled a previous rental which was higher. I returned to the Priceline site, proceeded to complete rental info, when all of a sudden, "Your bid was not accepted." Below it stated what I needed to do to offer an acceptable bid. This does not help at all.

I was mislead. Once they took my bid, added fees, etc, and gave me a cost for the rental, that should be the final step, then complete required forms. I think this is what is called "the bait and switch offers". Needless to say I will never use Priceline again for any service, even if they have the best/lowest offers.

Priceline is terrible. I tried to use Kayak because I knew Priceline was fishy but when I googled Kayak, Priceline inserted itself into the search by Making it "Kayak vs Priceline" in the search. I didn't notice it and thought I was on Kayak. I booked the car that actually ended up being $20 more than I would have paid on Kayak. Then my trip got canceled due to severe weather and I tried to cancel and they refused a single dollar of refund. I ended up paying for a car for 4 days that I couldn't use because of weather. I will never use them again.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA -- I contacted Priceline website online and rented a car. I was referred to Avis rental service at Atlanta Airport for pick up. On getting to Avis cashier, she told me that the company have changed its policy. That it no longer take debit card and I will need credit card to rent a car from them. I did not have a credit card at that time. I asked the cashier to take sum amount upfront from my card and let me have the car to celebrate my birthday with a friend. She told me that the company do not accept that type of arrangement. She however gave me Priceline telephone number and reference number.

She asked me to call for refund. I called Priceline for more than ten times, the call kept falling into answering machine. I was shocked to hear from answering machine that my money is not refundable, even if not used. I could not believe myself that a company in USA can just take your money without providing any service. I felt so bad that this company can defraud me with my hard earned money. I hope someone can let this company be accountable for this fraudulent acct. I advise the public to stop doing business with Priceline. They are frauds and very dishonest.

TAMPA, FLORIDA -- I bid on cars at the Tampa Airport and got a car from Sixt, a rental company not at the airport but that had a shuttle. That was NOT what I wanted so I called and of course they don't cancel or refund/change. I had to go through several people and be on hold multiple times until finally I spoke with a manager who had some compassion. She ended up canceling for me. I offered to even rent a more expensive care just to be IN the airport and not have to shuttle anywhere. The manager was kind and canceled my reservation and refunded it in full. The other employees were unable to help me and I had almost given up.

I am so thankful for the kindness of that manager. I think it was dishonest of Priceline to act like it was an IN-airport car and then give a out-of-airport rental. I won't be using them again because of this. This was my first time using Priceline and it will be my last. Trust is a big deal to me. The manager gets 5 stars though.

My bid on Priceline for a mid-sized car was accepted by Hertz at Denver A/P. Car provided by Hertz was a stripped down Toyota Yaris (sub-compact by industry standards). Priceline's response when I chatted with Rico at Customer No Service was as follows: "I understand that you would like to get a different type of car, however, make and model examples shown on our website are only examples and we cannot guarantee that you will receive either of these cars. The Rental Companies decide which makes and models are mid-size cars and will provide you with the one that is available at the time of your arrival." (Transcribed verbatim from chat line). Be advised - buyer beware.

GARDNER, MASSACHUSETTS -- Priceline Car Rental Price Bidding Process seems to have all the earmarks of a bait and switch scheme. You bid for the lowest price you can get on a car and they give you a per day price that includes tax and fees. Then when you bite on a per day price the tax and fees were not included in that deal so that the real price per day is substantially higher. In my case it was $184 higher than anticipated and there seems to be no way out of the deal. Your credit card is charged and the deal is non-refundable, non-cancellable. Maybe others have not been baited into this but it happened to me.

DENVER, COLORADO -- Priceline Car Rental Price Bidding Process seems to have all the earmarks of a bait and switch scheme. You bid for the lowest price you can get on a car and they give you a per day price that includes tax and fees. Then when you bite on a per day price the tax and fees were not included in that deal so that the real price per day is substantially higher. In my case it was $184 higher than anticipated and there seems to be no way out of the deal. Your credit card is charged and the deal is non-refundable, non-cancellable. Maybe others have not been baited into this but it happened to me.

MEXICO, CALIFORNIA -- I decided to book a car rental for my trip to Mexico. I entered my credit card and paid for the reservation on Saturday morning. As I noticed no confirmation email was sent. On Sunday I ask through their customer service chat about the reservation and charge, and they explicitly said the charge was not made to the credit card, and therefore the confirmation was not done so I should try again. Instead of going on Priceline.com again I decided to book directly through National rent a car website and by the way found a less expensive fare.

Monday morning I wake up and surprise! They charged my credit card on Monday and emailed me with the reservation number at 6 a.m. I asked for them to give my money back and sent the image of the chat the day before to the customer service, and they couldn't do anything. Finally I called and explained everything. That was today and I'm still waiting for a reply. DO NOT USE PRICELINE. That's all I can recommend. Deals are not the best around and besides it's a really bad customer service, as if you are doing them a favor of using their website.

NORFOLK, CONNECTICUT -- I had a rental car reservation booked through Priceline for Dec. 27-Dec.31 at Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport. The reservation was through Hertz. When I got to the airport, there were no cars available at Hertz and a two-plus hour wait for any cars.

I called Priceline and a nice man informed me that I could go to another rental car counter and rent a car there and, as long as it was for the same dates and same class of car, I would be reimbursed the difference of what I paid for the new rental car from what I had paid Priceline originally. So I found a car available at Payless Rental.

In speaking with the rental agent at Payless, I was informed for the same dates and the same car class, I could pay either $150 a day for the walk-up rate or I could pay $68.98 a day for a package that would include Roadside and Partial Collision. It seemed like a logical choice to opt for the lower rate, even if it included these options I was willingly not opting for. I even asked the rental agent to please note on my contract that the cheaper option required the Roadside and Collision just so you'd be see I weighed the options wisely. Ultimately my choice saved Priceline $324.08!

But after submitting my refund request, I was docked $84.92. Again, I must repeat, I WAS DOCKED $84.92 FOR SAVING THEM $324.08. This makes no sense at all. I've taken to posting this review as I seem to have exhausted all other options at getting my money back. And if I am going to again be denied this seemingly reasonable request, I would expect a phone call from someone in a qualifying position giving a reasonable explanation of why.