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You have to respect Ronnie Segev's persistence. After being charged $953 by Priceline last year for a plane ticket he claims he didn't buy, the concert pianist (right) called the company up and asked for his money back. When they refused, he called and asked again. And then again. And again. And again. After his 215th call, Priceline finally sicced the NYPD on him for 215 counts of harassment. Over an unused plane ticket.
The company even went so far as to claim in court that they had to switch to an automated customer-service system in response to Segev's 215 calls (yeah, sure, have we mentioned we hate automated customer-service systems?).
A judge did later dismiss the charges, but the damage was done and Segev had already spent 40 hours in holding cell ("A tough-looking cellmate asked him, 'So, what are you in for?' 'Priceline refund' the musician sheepishly replied. It went downhill from there."). And Segev still hasn't gotten his money back, though he has just filed suit against Priceline for malicious prosecution. Somebody at Priceline needs to get their priorities in order though, as this is just the kind of story a company like that should be perfectly happy to pay to shut up. Because if they don't, you get consumers like us who are now pretty sure we're not going to be using Priceline again anytime soon...
Photo by Julie Stapen for the NY Post.
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You think that is bad press? Check out this story:
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=orbitz_blows
NYPD and Ray Kelly (and I guess then by default the mayor) have some serious customer relations problems the NYPD needs to sort out, with the recent Ticket Quota thing and now this absurdity.
Sorry, it's his own, damn fault. What kind of idiot calls a company 215 times? It's like standing at somebody's door ringing the doorbell all day. If they're not answering, either they're not home or they don't want to see you. Either way, take the hint. Take Priceline to Small Claims court. Send a letter to your bank and dispute the transaction. Make a report at one of the various complaint websites or any of the sites specifically targeting Priceline. Start a blog to embarrass Priceline. But don't just keep doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. You know what they say that's the definition of.
I had the same experience, and found some more people with the identical story here -
http://consumeraffairs.com/travel/priceline_dispute.html
Sound like a class action suit just waiting to happen.
There's no way priceline can give him his money back if they want their business model to succeed. It would be a precedent that future customers, who later regret their purchases, may use. We don't know the specifics of this guy's case...and the fact that he's not suing them for a wrongful charge but rather for malicious prosecution says something.
Here is a quick note I sent to priceline.com:
Dear priceline.com,
I recently read how you treat your customers in an article about Ronnie Segev’s arrest for contacting your customer service department. Truly outrageous and despicable conduct on your part. First, if your customer service department can’t handle 215 calls then you have no business being in a service based industry. Second, your motive was blatantly malicious: orchestrating his arrest on a Friday night so that he would have to spend the weekend in jail (don’t NY cops have anything better to do on a busy Friday night?). You must know the legal system well to be so diabolically clever. Third, the fact that you alleged all 215 calls constitute harassment shows how disingenuous you are: was his very *first* call really harassing you? Does every customer who feels the need to contact you even *once* run the risk of malicious prosecution and abuse of process? I’ll certainly protect myself from that possibility by using a company that appreciates its customers, not one that falsely arrests them.
Most sincerely,
R Kline
I just got back from my christmas vacation,the one I was stupid enough to book through priceline.com Dont ever use priceline if you dont want to suffer.I stayed at there starbay suites resort,what a shithole,I mean it was like being back on a navy sub.All sorts of noises,creeks and groins then there was the people upstairs bowling I swear thats what it sounded like.The beach was so rocky that we were afraid we would end up getting hurt.This place had beds so hard that Alcatraz seemed nicer.The front desk guy was always trying to scam us.Also the hotel was in a slum part of town.Overall I would not let my pet monkey stay there.This shithole should be avoided at all cost and that goes for priceline.
I hate priceline company.I have regreat I reservate hotels through priceline.
last night, when I found i click wrong section in searching hotel. I had closed the website before the result came out. But I can't believe I got a email from priceline about i reservation successful. I don't understand who needs to take this responsibility. I contacted them. They only remained their policy....
Such kind of company shouldn't be exist. they don't even care customer feeling.
I can't believe I got a email from priceline service center about asking me stop sending email to them. I will not ever get refun. I think the department should be trained again. It is really bad attitude to customer.