I was burned twice by Hotwire. The first time I bought roundtrip airfare to Miami. The airline canceled out my return tickets, claiming I had made that decision. I appealed to both US Air/American and Hotwire, both of whom couldn't care less that they stranded my family and me. We had to buy new tickets to get home, cutting our vacation short and costing more money.
The second incident was when I showed up in Miami to claim my Hotwire National car rental. National had no record of me and no car. Hotwire struck again! Every time I've had an issue and phoned Hotwire I get offshore people who don't speak English well and who couldn't care less about me.