Comments on: Priceline Users Be Careful: Name the Wrong Price and You May Go To Jail

By: John

John — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:58:43 +0000

I’m not quite sure I understand why you’re so upset. By your line of thinking, you could start at $1/day bid for a $40/day car, then subsequently increase your price by a single dollar until you got the lowest possible rate….this would be very bad business for priceline and other bargain sites. It’s just smart business. One bid every 24 hours assumes you’ll be a more aggressive bidder, that is unless you plan far enough ahead of time and bid once a day for several weeks.

By: Len Penzo

Len Penzo — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 01:21:57 +0000

I agree. At least give us a second attempt if the price is perceived as “insulting” and warn us we’ll be thrown in jail if we do it again. Right?

By: Megan

Megan — Sat, 21 May 2011 19:42:21 +0000

Hey Len,

I know it’s a year later after your posting but I found the EXACT same thing this week. I was so ticked off, I started looking on line to see if anyone else had this problem. I was looking for a minivan too. Did the exact same 40% lower (in fact – I found a price that was significantly less then Priceline’s on a van website and started negotiating with that price in mind). I was sentenced to the Priceline Penitentiary. Priceline, however, out of the kindness of their heart asked if I wanted to negotiate for a different type of vehicle (not one that wanted or need…thank you very much). So – they don’t really want the cashola. Strange, very strange.

By: Mike PIper

Mike PIper — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

I got put into “Google Jail” recently.

Too many searches in too short a time. They thought I was a spambot or something. Locked me out from searching for a few hours.

I find it hard to believe my search volume places meaningful strain on their servers…

You’d think they (and Priceline) would set the bar a little higher before blocking somebody out.

By: Money Beagle

Money Beagle — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

From their explanation, it doesn’t seem like you got put in jail because of a lowball offer, it looks like it assumed, possibly incorrectly from the way you described the situation, that you had made the offer, gotten rejected, and came back and made it again. Their ‘suggestion’ of a lower price wasn’t an outright rejection. It was all part of the same offer.

It sounds like a potential technical glitch to me. I would contact Priceline and say that you only made one offer but got locked out because it thought you made more than one.

By: mdb

mdb — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

I can see this being necessary in order to get hotel/airline/car rental companies to participate. The company sets a floor rate it will accept, if your bid is above the floor your bid is accepted. Without this rule all you need to do is start at $1 and increment up by $1 to get the floor price. I could see many companies saying no to such an arrangement.

By: Jennifer Barry

Jennifer Barry — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

This is a hysterical story, Len. I guess you offended the computer algorithm. I’ve never really used their website because of the rule that you couldn’t find out what you bought until it was non-refundable – like an airline ticket for a flight that leaves at 5 am and has 5 connections.

By: Len Penzo

Len Penzo — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

@MoneyBeagle: I was, technically, in the hoosegow the minute my first offer was rejected – I just didn’t find out about it until I made the second offer. I bet a lot of folks never know they are tossed into the Priceline jail because they get rejected the first time and don’t come back.
@mdb: Agreed. But like Mike said, you’d think they would set the bar a bit higher. It’s not as if I bid a price that was 99% off the regular price – I only bid 40% off!
@Jen: It is a bit scary not knowing what you will be getting. That’s why I will not take a chance on naming my own price for a hotel or flight – for the reasons you mentioned. Red eyes, multiple connections, etc. For a rental car, I wanted a Grand Caravan. I did a bit of research and found well over half the agencies that dealt with Priceline carried them.

For the record, I came back 24 hours later after I was released from jail and entered another bid – this time for $71 (hey, I figured I would capitulate and take their suggestion.) They accepted my offer and I saved a grand total of $350! (about 30% off). Oh – and I got a Grand Caravan. Yea! Thanks, Priceline!

By: Chris Fulmer

Chris Fulmer — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

Look at this from Priceline’s point of view — they’re in business to maximize profit. If there’s a hotel room for which their minimum price is $50, they want to stop you from bidding $1, then $2, then $3, then $4, until you get to $50 and hit their floor.

The “regular” price isn’t built into their system — how do you even know what that is? Is it the “rack rate” or the best rate you can find on, say, expedia? Is it the AAA rate?

There are ways around this, especially in hotel searches — if your second bid is somewhat different than your first, you can immediately rebid. For car rentals, that probably means accepting a different car class, different rental date or different pickup location.

By: Len Penzo

Len Penzo — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

Thanks for the tip, Chris.

I would venture the “regular” rates are the unadulterated no-discount basic rates. Before naming my price with Priceline I checked published car rates on Expedia and Priceline and also the car rental agency sites. For the most part, the prices between the travel sites like Expedia and the rental car sites lined up almost to the dollar. (That is not to say that will always be the case, which it isn’t – but it was in this instance.)