How to Make the Priceline Corporate Office Listen

Priceline’s corporate offices are among the hardest to reach, even though the travel agency is supposed to be committed to their customers. If you’ve ever had an issue with your billing, reservations, or account information, it can seem like your complaints are falling on deaf ears, and they essentially are. Priceline is notorious for ignoring its customers when they need something from them.

How can you get the Priceline corporate offices to listen? Let’s explore an alternative to regular customer service channels called arbitration.

Use Arbitration to Settle Your Complaint with Priceline

When you use an online travel agency like Priceline, you’re putting a lot of trust in their hands. Whether you’re renting a car, a hotel room, or booking a special excursion for your vacation, it’s up to them to juggle multiple moving pieces and do everything properly. If they ever make a mistake, such as mischarging you for a room you didn’t book or booking the wrong excursion, you’ll quickly find that their corporate offices are impossible to get ahold of.

Even worse, Priceline has a habit of ignoring customer complaints and grievances since they know that those same customers won’t be able to take them to court. The contract you sign when using their services prevents you from filing a lawsuit against the company.

Sound terrible? It is. But there’s still a way you can pursue a resolution for your grievance: it’s called independent arbitration, which allows you to reach a settlement that’s every bit as legally binding as one that comes from a court of law.

Arbitration is Fair, Just, Reasonable, and Transparent

To ensure that the arbitration hearing is fair, it will be presided over by the American Arbitration Association. Thus, your hearing will comply with the Statement of Principles of Consumer Due Process Protocol, meaning that:

• The arbitration hearing will be fair for both parties and will be presided over by a qualified, competent, and independent arbitrator
• There shall be reasonable standards upheld throughout the hearing, so both parties will pay the same fees, be able to access the same information, and must be able to reach the hearing location without difficulty
• The hearing will be as transparent as possible, so any resulting agreements should be easy to understand. Both parties can also hire additional legal representation
• Arbitration alternatives, including mediation in small claims court, may be offered depending on the specifics of your case
• Any final decisions made by the arbitrator will be considered just and legally binding in the eyes of the law

Arbitration Gives You, the Customer, Leverage

Priceline deals with millions of customers every day, so they’re used to having the upper hand. But arbitration gives you a special type of leverage, even considering this massive company’s superior resources. This may make them more open to negotiating with you than they were before.

This is because Priceline will have to pay out-of-pocket for at least some expenses no matter how the arbitration hearing ends up being ruled. For instance, they’ll have to pay to prepare their side of the story and to get people down to the arbitration hearing in the first place. Then, in the event that you win a settlement, they’ll have to pay you even more money than they would have if they had just treated you fairly at the beginning of all of this.

Chances are that they’ll be much more willing to talk to you about your complaint. But in the event that they aren’t, contact FairShake. Even if you don’t have lots of cash to spare, we can help you start a successful arbitration process and we won’t charge you any money unless you win a settlement from the arbitration case.

This being said, take care that you only invoke arbitration for serious cases. The arbitrator may deem minor complaints to be too frivolous, which could put you on the hook for any of the costs that Priceline may have incurred to prepare for the arbitration hearing.

Leverage Can Lead to Faster Settlements and Real Resolutions

Priceline’s corporate offices may suddenly be much more open to negotiation as soon as they realize you have real leverage to bring to bear on the situation through arbitration. This may result in a much faster resolution or settlement.

When you file for arbitration, you have to formally raise your intentions to do so with the company you disagree with. FairShake can assist with this point and any other questions you might have.

We’ll send Priceline a letter explaining the matter and demanding either a settlement or negotiations by the end of a 30-day period. Otherwise, we can threaten to begin the arbitration process in earnest. All corporate contracts these days, including those used by Priceline, likely have a window like this to give corporate offices enough time to officially respond.

But ultimately, about half of all arbitration cases and with the company offering a satisfactory resolution to their customer before the 30-day countdown is up. Still, even if Priceline doesn’t want to be fair, you can start the arbitration proceedings formally by filing for arbitration with the American Arbitration Association. FairShake can, of course, assist with filing, plus any other issues you may have.

Do I Need an Attorney?

Going through arbitration alone can be tough. That’s why you might consider hiring an attorney to help you along the way.

Why is it important? An attorney has the legal expertise to find laws or statutes that apply to your unique situation and may be able to sway an arbitrator to your side a little more easily. They may also result in a bigger or better settlement when all is said and done.

You can still represent yourself, and you should definitely check out this informative page from the American Arbitration Association’s Pro Se Case Administration Team if you decide to do so. But remember that some independent arbitration cases, like those that deal with harassment or improper debt collection, are easier to win with the help of an attorney.

What Can I Do Next?

Fortunately, beginning the next step in your fight against Priceline is easy. Just fill out the form below and tell us the details of your complaint. FairShake will take everything you say seriously and we can help you throughout the arbitration process. Plus, we offer a 100% guarantee: you won’t be charged anything unless you win a settlement.