Priceline.com Scam, poor customer service Internet, Internet

I made a reservation for a hotel stay for 7 days using priceline.com. Upon checking in, I was informed by the receptionist that since I was staying more than 4 days my rate should have been lower and she was unsure why. The hotel did have vacancies. I called priceline.com asking them how is it that I got a higher rate. They said that I had to check with the hotel after making the reservation on priceline and let them know within 24 hours for the price guarantee to work! If I am going to contact the hotels and compare prices, why would I even use priceline.com!

To make matters worse, they told me that they cannot refund any part of the money if I decide to check in early. That is, they had charged me for the full stay and they had already disbursed the money to the hotel! If they had at least allowed me to check out the next day, I would have literally checked out and checked right back in and I would have obtained a better rate. Furthermore, if I had completely ignored priceline.com and gone ahead and made reservations with the hotel directly, I would not have been on the hook for all the 7 days right off the bat! Most hotels bill you day-to-day and you are allowed to check out early without being billed for the entire period. Give or take a day or two! 

The whole thing stinks and comes across at worst, as a scam and at best, as gross ineptness in running a business! Rest assured priceline has lost a long time customer. I will never be coming back to them again and I will make sure I share my thoughts in as many internet message boards and with friends as possible.