dgmr45

Hello All
I don't travel very often, don't have an advanced degree in Internet and need your advice
Story is.. I attempted to book a fully refundable flight on united.com and when working through the site I added a car, which unknown to me, changed the terms of the agreement.
I made my purchase, got the confirmation are realized on it, it didn;t say fully refundable. So I immediately cancelled the whole thing and got an email back.
Then I went in and did it carefully all over again being really careful and still ended up with the same type of package it seemed. So I canceled this one as well.
Turns out that both of the cars are unrefundable.
I've called United and they say call Priceline and Priceline says sorry too bad. You'll have to pay for both when you travel in Oct.
I've asked for supervisors and no luck.
What are my options at this point? I've explained over and over that I only need one car not two, cancel one.
I've called Budget Car rental and they tell me sorry we can't do anything call Priceline..
Thanks for any help!
Sincerely
Dan

Sassafrass

No answer, but that is absolutely crummy and wrong! If you canceled, it should have been everything if it was all on one ticket or in one package.

If you booked directly through United, how is Priceline involved?

Did you use a credit card? Sometimes they can help.

Surely someone here can give you concrete advice.
There must be a solution to this.

janisj

Most airlines have package divisions -- AAVacations, BA Holidays, United Vacations, etc . AFAIK all of the packages have different rules and cancellation requirements than when just booking flights. I have used AAVacations several times (always with hotels + flights, not a car rental, though I have investigated car rentals a couple of times) because it can access REALLY discounted fares. But the fine print is very important. It is through a completely different entity than booking just flights . . . so if you did book the flights with 2 cars by accident, it is a Vacation and you have to meet those requirements. From your post it appears UA uses Priceline for their cars -- so my guess is you are out of luck, Priceline is not known for great customer servce. But I'd try calling again and throw yourself on the mercy of a supervisor and hope they can find a way out of this.

Otherwise your best option is probably to dispute the charge with your credit card.

Another idea -- ask your question on on the United forum at Flyertalk . . .

janisj

. . . You also might want to ask the moderators to move your thread to the Air Travel Forum . . .

dgmr45

I did start at the United.com site...and it said so at the top....however when I added a car I didn;t think much of the fact the banner in fact changes just slightly to include "priceline" and as a result just like another poster mentions all the terms and conditions are changed and you aren't warned.
I missed the fact that my trip was supposedly "fully refundable" expect for all the fine print..
I travel in October...
I've been told to bad..

dgmr45

Thank you for you valuable reply! I learned a very hard lesson and you are quite eight I ended up booking a package with united airlines packages as the untied agent explained to me and there was no way for him to help. I called Budget rental and they said they can't help to call Priceline.
If I had know all along that I was going to end up with Priceline, as you say they have poor service I would have rented the car directly...
I've asked for supervisor after supervisor and they tell me sorry you are SOL..
I travel in Oct...I'll try the forum you mention..
thanks much

janisj

General agents at United would not be able to help you -- it is a completely different office. I know AAVacations has its own contact information (and is not open 24/7). I assume United Vacations is the same --

. . . I just did a search and found this contact info for United Vacations (I highlighted the info related to existing reservations):

Pre-travel contact information
Call: 1-888-854-3899
Vacation planning assistance is available every day of the week from 9AM to 12AM EST.For help with your current reservation, contact us Mon-Sun from 9AM to 9PM EST.

This the the page with other contact info https://res.vacations.united.com/contactus.aspx

dgmr45

Thank you so much!
I'll give it a try!

dgmr45

how do I do this?? get intouch with the moderator to have my thread moved?

janisj

see the little orange triangle? Click that and it opens a dialog box that is like a direct message to the moderators. Just type in that you'd like your thread moved to the Air Travel board.

dgmr45

Gerat..thanks I've done so!
Sincerely
Dan

Moderator3

Moved to Air Travel forum at poster's request.

dgmr45

Thank you for moving my thread!

Sue_xx_yy

https://www.elliott.org/about-elliot...umer-advocacy/

Worth a try.

Seamus

It sounds like this was NOT booked with United Vacations, but rather the flight was booked on the main UA site and then after making the flight itinerary you chose the "Add a rental car" option. So your flight reservation - according to UA standard terms - can be cancelled without penalty within 24 hours of booking, but the same terms do not apply to the car rental booked through Priceline. Is this correct?

AJPeabody

Absolutely!

janisj

Might be. On AA (my only experience with airline packages except for a couple of Virgin Vacations years ago) you can book hotels both ways - as a vacation package or as a post booking add-on through AA Hotels. UA could be the same.

(I don't think even Christopher Elliott could shame Priceline into bending )

dgmr45

Yes that's correct... I didn't realize that upon "adding" a car when booking my flight on the Untied site changed the terms of everything...
As a result, I ended up with two different trip numbers each with only a car for the same date and time and Priceline is refusing to refund the money for one of them..
I';ll never do this again for sure.
It's a very misleading practice when at the beginign you select "fully refundable" and then when you add items say a hotel and or car the terms are changed.
My travel isn't until Oct!

janisj

I'd maybe try disputing the extra car charge with your credit card. If you can demonstrate you can't possibly use two cars at the same location I'd think you'd have a pretty strong case.

AJPeabody

A credit card charbge back will make any compromise by Priceline impossible and probably will fail. Turn the problem over to Chris Elliott