Originally Posted by
leatherheadiowa
My biggest issue, I should say question is this:
Why do they need to authorize an amount equal to my entire stay when I have already paid Priceline in full? I don't give a darn if Priceline and Marriott decide to thumb wrestle over the money I already paid, but that isn't my problem.
I can see a $40/night incidental authorization but that should be it if you pay in advance.
Leatherhead - You have an expectation or an assumption of either intelligence or training or common sense on the part of the desk clerk who is checking you in, and it would be my recommendation that you should have neither that expectation nor that assumption, rather, to the contrary, you should expect that the desk clerk standing in front of you (especially if you are checking in after 6 PM) is either lacking in intelligence or in training or both! I say this with the full knowledge that I will be bashed (incorrectly so) by some readers of this thread over sensitivity issues, but I would ask whoever is reading this to take the following into account: 1) The desk clerk who is checking you in does not or may not know how to read the reservation correctly to determine how it was made, and is not able to determine if it was made through Priceline, or Orbitz, or Marriott, and whether it was pre-paid or not; 2) The same desk clerk will look right at the reservation and think that "TravInd" means Travelocity, Inc. and when you ask what your rate is, and that your overnight stay at an airport Courtyard amounting to less than 12 hours not be authorized for incidentals will reply with "I don't know what your rate is, I can't see Travelocity rates (I made the reservation through Marriott Platinum Reservation line), and as long as I do not swipe your card, there will be no further authorization other than room and taxes, but if I do swipe your card, the computer will automatically add $35 for incidentals to the authorization, which we do not need, because your card on file was already authorized prior to check in. I asked him whether he could override that automatic add-on, and he said no, it was preprogrammed, and it could not be changed! Oh, and by the way, he was the evening shift manager! Do you follow all of that?
Originally Posted by
joshua362
Never use a debit card and never, ever use a pre-paid credit card. You are at the mercy of many, many human and computerized links in the credit authorizing chain, each of which are compensated on volume and couldn't care less about your individual predicaments.
I've been a web, telephone and retail merchant for about a year now and am blown away in what I've learned the truth to be as compared to being a 25 year consumer of multiple credit card with very large lines.
I've had my customers jerked around for weeks before seeing their funds again, even with my heavy involvement, especially if their card was declined a few times before it successfully authorized for want of a zipcode or address.
Their collective motto is to take the funds first, then answer questions and resolve issues very slowly later.
Protect thyself.
Joshua362 is so right! I have cards from several banks, all of which have their own versions of what amounts to "security" and other "internal controls," most of which do not work reliably in my experience as a former banker. Since I travel frequently, I have my mail going to a post office box instead of to my street address, which sets up the interesting dichotomy of having a billing address which does not match either service or delivery addresses. For those of you who have credit cards issued by GE (also known as Monogram Credit Card Bank or GEMB or a few others), you might be aware of your charges getting DENIED for no apparent reason. After it happens a few times, a pattern starts to emerge, where you will see the only charges being denied are when there is a separate billing address and delivery address, such as my home newspaper delivery (funny that I would want the newspaper delivered to my house and not my post office box!) or quick food delivery (pizza, Chinese) to home or hotel (again, funny that I would want my food delivered to where I am, rather than my post office box!), or flowers for Mother's Day. It even happens when the billing address does not match precisely, such as when I bought airline tickets from DL, and their billing address for me did not precisely match the format for GEMB's billing address format (there was one misplaced DASH), and the charge was repeatedly denied until we figured out the problem on a three way call with the card company, DL, and me. I have repeatedly complained about this problem with the card company, but they refuse to alter their problem policy, even as they admit it is a problem, because they also say that it is in my own interests of self protection that I should want it to stay that way! In one case, it took six weeks for a charge to post properly to my account, for a service that I have been receiving for 23 years!