Edo

I have just come off the phone after talking to 3 different Customer Service departments at Priceline about a booking that I recently made without any resolution to my complaint.

I bought a packaged vacation including flights, car and hotel from AB to ON and I have been charged in US Dollars instead of Canadian Dollars. I prepared the package on Priceline.ca (Canadian website) and somewhere during the booking process just prior to making the payment I was probably redirected to Priceline.com (US website) without my knowledge and charged me in US Dollars. I still never saw the USD sign next to the dollar amounts when I was making the payment, nor does the final itinerary invoice that I have received show that the amounts charged are in US Dollars. I found that out from my credit card statement!!

I made the booking from Canada with my Canadian credit card and in the absence of any foreign currency signs in the booking my understanding was that I would be paying in Canadian Dollars on a Canadian website. I am certainly not happy that I have been charged in a foreign currency without my knowledge or was redirected to another country’s website. I have just checked the same ticket on the airline’s website and it would have cost me a lot less if I bought it from their website directly. Just the flight itself is about $150 cheaper and the same goes for the hire car and hotel as well which are also showing much cheaper on other price comparison websites in Canadian dollars.

That was absolutely misleading on part of Priceline and I certainly do not see any point in using Priceline in order to to get their ‘deeper discount’.

withabix

Websites like Priceline are ONLY there to earn the website owners commission. Any website that allows you to search for anything that you can buy is there for that ONE reason only.

The prices you saw on other search engines may not have included taxes or insurance, as it is fairly unusual for Priceline, Kayak, Skyscanner and other similar websites to be wide of the mark (most prices are available through most websites)...after all, they earn their commission by attracting you with low prices.

These days however, many of the airline, hotel and car hire websites carry price promises that booking direct will be the cheapest anyway.

Search for the low price. Close your browser and go direct to the direct booking website via a cashback site (if available) and earn that commission yourself...

rebs

I had an issue with Priceline a few months ago - a booking made and paid for in the UK.

I could get no joy from Priceline for a resolution, so I made a claim through my credit card company. The credit card company agreed with my view and refunded me in full.

Would it be an option to raise the issue with your credit card provider?

Edo

I can certainly try to do that but my travel time is less than 2 weeks. So will I risk missing my flight if I raise a claim through the credit card company and then not able to find an alternative flight elsewhere?

Also, what will happen if I take the travel but the credit card company gets to deal with my case once I have used the itinerary.

rebs

In my case, it was a last minute booking and there was only a couple of weeks between making the booking (just for accommodation, no flights) and the date of travel.

We referred it to our credit card company straight away, but their process was going to take us past the travel date (they wouldn't look at it for a number of days). They said that if we travelled, we would effectively invalidate any claim as that would be seen as accepting their product (the basis of our claim was one of misrepresentation).

It is a tough call - we felt that we had a strong case, so we elected to not travel to the accommodation and book elsewhere, risking not getting our money back.

As it happened, we did get our money back, but it was a difficult decision.

This was in the UK, I don't know what the rules etc are in Canada, but you don't really have anything to lose by at least having a conversation with the credit card provider

Edo

Thank you so much for the information rebs. I will speak to my credit card company today

rebs

Good luck - I hope you are able to get something sorted out

Aviator

Unless you are talking substantial amounts of money, why risk screwing up your travel plans or possibly having to pay twice?

scrubbedexpat091

Priceline always charges in USD, and the estimate they give you in CAD varies depending on what rate your bank uses.

They do tell you on the check out page it's in USD as well next to the price.

Here is a copy and paste of a test booking I did:

Summary of Charges
Room 1: geor h. lim
Nights: 3
Total Price for 1 person
prices are in US dollars $970.23

Your probably out of luck as they only charge in USD, and every test booking I have tried clearly shows its in USD.

When I type priceline.ca into the browser, I am directed to priceline.com, right off the bat.

Gotta pay attention to the small print, and it is listed its being priced in USD, so not sure what you expect to be done.

Edo

So that bit is completely missing from the invoice that I have received.

scrubbedexpat091

I can't recall if its been included in the emails I have gotten after purchase but has always been on the website prior to purchase.

Expedia.ca is as far as I know the only one of the major 3rd party sites that charges in CAD, hotwire also charges in USD and I think Orbitz does as well.

I don't see you having any case to dispute since they have it on the website prior to purchase.

The4BellsLondon

We used Priceline recently. Says US online and as you book. the invoice doesn't say US but as it doesn't say CAD I assumed
US.

Edo

So after wasting time on the phone with Priceline's call center which happens to be in Philippines and without getting to any resolution, I made an online complaint to Better Business Bureau who wrote to Priceline directly asking them to look into it. And Priceline responded to me this morning saying they're going to refund the difference.

I even made the complaint after the travel date but glad it worked. I guess you don't ask you don't get

SchnookoLoly

Awesome result, glad you got it sorted in the end!