I’ve had an interesting experience with what I believe is literally the evil arm of Priceline and the kind of corruption we now witness in corporations. It’s with a subsidiary of Priceline and Agoda, called “GetARoom.” They’ve been disciplined by the Better Business Bureau and have a class action lawsuit against them, yet continue to operate unimpeded.

They deceive you into thinking you’re at a hotel website—say the Holiday Inn. You book a room but are not led to a confirmation page before they charge you—-a page that confirms the details of your reservations such as date, price, taxes, room type, etc. before charging you. They charge you right away without any disclosure. But the price you pay is suddenly doubled, and you see this at the end.

So, you call the Holiday Inn and that’s when you learn a third party has made your reservation. So you call Get A Room—-the number given to you by hotel staff—and the people In this foreign office are well trained to keep your money. Some consumers have even said they were told they were speaking to the Holiday Inn when they call.

They won’t refund you even though you’ve caught them in deception. After a two-hour wait for a supervisor, they call the Holiday Inn, put the fear of god into the poor front desk guy, and then let you know the hotel refuses to cancel.

It’s such an evil script. You type “GetARoom Steals From People” in your browser and you start reading thousands of complaints on the web—people who fared much worse than you—people who are out thousands of dollars, despite their vigilance to get their money back.

Sometimes the Better Business Bureau is successful in helping to get your money back, but GetARoom has figured out that if they only refund say 1/4 of the time, it’s just enough to keep operating by appearing falsely “sympathetic and honest” part of the time. The BBB says they gave the company a year to improve their practices, but the company has failed to do so. They have a poor rating, but in Biden’s America it hardly matters to them. They’ll get a few years out of this and millions of dollars before changing their name or disappearing.

There is truly a feeling out there that anything goes, that the customer can be a victim of deception without any recourse. Evil seems to be spreading like fog and it’s up to us to take care of ourselves and our bank accounts.

I won’t be making reservations online anymore. It’s best to call the hotel directly. This is what you’re facing out there, so it’s truly a time of “buyer beware.” I’m out $300 but I’ve read about others who have it far, far, worse.

Be vigilant out there. The system is not your friend. In fact, some are deceptively evil.