Jill A.

(The letter I sent to the VP of the company... we still did not receive any refund, not even a partial one).

Attn: Senior Vice President
Priceline
Customer Service Operations
800 Connecticut Ave.
Norwalk, Connecticut *******

To Whom It May Concern:

RE: Regarding Trip # 218-977-200-10. Departure Flight: 22 December 2014. Returning: 30 December 2014.

On, December 17th, 2014, we contacted Priceline via telephone in order to alter our returning flight on our current itinerary. My husband received military orders prior to our departure, that he was required to return to Fort Bragg, NC, on December 30th, 2014. Initially, when we booked our flight, he was required to return on January 2nd, 2015. We explained this to the representative we spoke to, and he assured us that we could make the necessary changes to our current itinerary, if we paid the mandatory flight change fee of $200, (the airline fee) and $35, (the Priceline fee) per passenger.

After making the alterations to our returning flight, the Priceline Representative stated that our "new total ticket price was $1790, including the changes we made to our returning flight." My husband confirmed throughout their conversation that this did indeed include all of the costs associated with changing our returning flight. The representative also informed us that we would be charged with our credit card on file, for the difference between our initial flight and the current changes we made to our flights. As a witness to the phone conversation, my husband reconfirmed with the representative, "So this is the total for our new ticket price, including the changes we just made?" He stated that was all that we would be charged. Therefor, we were anticipating the new ticket price to be $1790, as he himself quoted, including the changed flight. He informed us that he would only be billing us for the returning flight difference, the Priceline and Airline Fees. Not once during this phone call, were we ever informed that we would be responsible to pay for the entire 2 person, round-trip fare for our initial itinerary and the altered 2 person round-trip fare for the altered itinerary. This was never eluded to during the conversation or clearly stated that we would pay for 4 tickets total, round-trip. My question to Priceline is, why would be have booked the second round-trip fare for 2 people; when, we would not only have to pay the entire new flight fees, but also the cancellation fees?

If this fact was clearly represented through your customer service personnel, we would have been better off taking a loss on our first tickets, and not utilizing them at all. Instead, we would have booked our second flights through an independent airline, without utilizing Priceline, in order to avoid paying not only the cancellation fees, but also paying for 4 total round-trip fares, in the total of, $3,430.40. As long term customers of Priceline, to say we are disappointed with this situation, would be a gross understatement.

For the past three years, during my husband's active duty military service, we have purchased tickets for every flight to and from California through Priceline. This includes individual flights I booked, every 2 months to NC from CA. I have been a loyal customer, and my husband and I have recommended Priceline to everyone I know as the best place to purchase flights. I will not be able to patronize or promote Priceline to anyone I know, if this situation is not amended. I instead, will have an obligation to inform people of our negative experience with Priceline via social media, Yelp, Google, and every other website that is available for posting reviews.

I do not feel that the representative clearly expressed the charges for the changes we made to our flight. My husband and I only have the opportunity to return home once each year, due to his active duty enlistment in the US Army; therefor, we will not be able to return home next Christmas. After this financial hardship of being charged for the two initial flight tickets, I expect that you will make this situation right, and reimburse us for the initial flight, which was charged in full at $1640. 40. I am anticipating your correspondence within the next 5 business days, and if I do not receive a response, I will take further action elsewhere. Thank you in advance for your time and effort in resolving this issue. We have attempted to correct the situation several times via telephone to no avail, and I trust you will correct this.

PLEASE BEWARE AS PRICELINE DOES NOT TREAT MILITARY FAMILIES WITH RESPECT, AND THEY WILL NOT HONOR MILITARY ORDERS IF YOU NEED TO CHANGE YOUR FLIGHT. YOU WILL BE CHARGED FULL PRICE FOR YOUR INITIAL FLIGHTS BOOKED AND THE NEW ONES. THEY WILL NOT EXPLAIN THIS TO YOU OVER THE PHONE. They also charge cancellation, airline and priceline fees on top of that.