Biddingfortravel

[LeeLeeLuvsDisney]

I'm banned both at home and at work. She won't respond to my email. It's definitely not a mistake. I'm banned!

Three cheers for BetterBidding...I won't get banned there for a minor mistake!

And three cheers for the Budget board! I'm going to DLR on a tight budget in 4 days! YAY!!! I can't wait! I'm perusing the board for more ideas so my sweetie and I can make it to Tokyo DL and DS next year!

 

[nbodyhome]

I didn't like posting on biddingfortravel due to the way the admins treated the posters.

I don't really use Priceline as much as I used to - 8 or so years ago, I used it a lot. The last few times, I've been disappointed in what I've gotten. I can usually do better on my own.

 

[mom2grace]

Just wanted to post a follow-up to this most recent thread about BiddingForTravel. I was banned from BFT yesterday. The exact reason why is unknown, but I can speculate that it was because I forgot to place my Priceline bid through the special link that Sheryl gives you so that she can make money. Because of that, I'm not longer welcome on the board. Nice customer service, huh? No warning. No response to my very polite email asking for an explanation.

It just makes me love places like the Disboards, Flyertalk and BetterBidding so much more! Everyone is so pleasant.

OMG! I have never used bidding for travel until this week! I too got banned! UGH! I did email the customer service and they gave me her email, I haven't heard back yet. The administrator is still Sheryl.


This is response I got from the customer service

Sheryl is known to have a complicated set of rules that she enforces to the letter. She is also known to ban, as one of her members posted recently, "at the drop of a hat". You should not take the ban personally. You are one of a large group of people who made a mistake at her board and is not being told why or, possibly, given a second chance. To you, that may not seem like a friendly or professional way of running a business message board, but it is her right, as the administrator of the board, to ban anyone for any reason or for no reason at all, without explanation. She is not in violation of ezboard's Terms Of Use when she does so.

Please try the e-mail address given above and ask what, if anything, you can do to correct the situation. If she does not reply, I'm sorry, that is all you can do and we cannot help you further with the situation.

If we can help you with anything else, please let us know.

 

[BethR]

Sheryl is known to have a complicated set of rules that she enforces to the letter. She is also known to ban, as one of her members posted recently, "at the drop of a hat". You should not take the ban personally. You are one of a large group of people who made a mistake at her board and is not being told why or, possibly, given a second chance. To you, that may not seem like a friendly or professional way of running a business message board, but it is her right, as the administrator of the board, to ban anyone for any reason or for no reason at all, without explanation.

WOW! And people think that Pete can be tough!

I have used the site several times - but for information ONLY! I get the info that I need, then I go off to bid. And not through her links either!

 

[NHLFAN]

I've been using biddingfortravel.com for years now and always post both my accepted winning bids and losing bids.
Sheryl or other mods. have always responded is a professional manner within 24hrs of my posts.
I do think they might get tired of pointing out the FAQ's to people who post questions without reading them first.
Biddingfortravel.com has helped me save over $400 in last two months alone.

 

[SeattleRedBear]

Discovered biddingfortravel and betterbidding.com about the same time. Not only did the admin's tone at biddingfortravel turn me off, but the FAQ (and the entire process in general) is unnecessarily complex. The mod at betterbidding is a really nice guy who makes a point of thanking people for their contributions and if you forget to go through their site to connect to priceline, you get a little reminder to do that in the future because that's one of the ways the site gets it's funding. No threats and the mod and community is especially helpful to newbies.

Nearly always use priceline for hotels and 95% of the time I'm happy with the results. Never used skyauction as I wanted to keep my miles and by the time they started offering hotels, i was pretty regularly using betterbidding. Besides, betterbidding has maps now so you can get a map of the area with little stickpins for the individual hotels showing recent bids, etc.

 

[sk!mom]

I have used the site several times - but for information ONLY! I get the info that I need, then I go off to bid. And not through her links either!

That's exactly how I use her site.

 

[FreshTressa]

I've posted over there a lot, mostly a couple of years ago, but it all got lost in the crash.

 

[KCMiller]

The moderator over there is as mean as all get out. She has even banned people who use other bidding sites, without them even posting or using biddingfortravel. What a life she must have! My pet name for her is Shelob.

Needless to say, I'm in the happy 'banned' group. Which doesn't prevent me from using the information on that board, it just prevents me from sharing information WITH the board. Which may be why there are fewer and fewer posts - there's a LOT of us banned folks.

KC

 

[ogreenlee]

Y'all are blowin' my mind!! I'm only on one other message board besides this one, and we can say anything we want for the most part. It's a music message board, so it's definitely more "out there".

It sounds like this Cheryl woman is the Kim Jong Il of the EZ board world.

 

[grlpwrd]

The moderator over there is as mean as all get out. She has even banned people who use other bidding sites, without them even posting or using biddingfortravel. What a life she must have! My pet name for her is Shelob.

Needless to say, I'm in the happy 'banned' group. Which doesn't prevent me from using the information on that board, it just prevents me from sharing information WITH the board. Which may be why there are fewer and fewer posts - there's a LOT of us banned folks.

KC

I used to go there a lot, but no more.

Seems like she's shooting herself in the foot ...

 

[punkin]

Her board-her rules. I don't need her to be nice to me. She provides a free service that saves me tons of money-a few years ago we stayed at the Dolphin for $70 per night thanks to that board. For that kind of savings I will follow her rules, post to her website to help others save money (I think that's only fair), and save my funny conversationalist side for this board.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

I don't go there anymore either. Last year when I was booking a pre-cruise hotel there was some poor guy on the Ft. Lauderdale page just getting ripped to shreds. I can't remember exactly what technical blunder he was making concerning her list of rules but it was something pretty darn minor. The thing was he kept posting, "I'm really sorry, but I don't understand exactly what you want" and he would try to ask his question again in a different way --- and she would blast him again.

I sent him a PM with the info he was looking for, but he never replied. I'm sure that by that point, he and just had enough.

and I haven't been back since. It was just ridiculous, there is no reason to treat people that way.

 

[LeeLeeLuvsDisney]

Her board-her rules. I don't need her to be nice to me. She provides a free service that saves me tons of money-a few years ago we stayed at the Dolphin for $70 per night thanks to that board. For that kind of savings I will follow her rules, post to her website to help others save money (I think that's only fair), and save my funny conversationalist side for this board.

I followed her rules exactly. I was polite and didn't waste her time with any questions that were already answered in the FAQ. I asked for a bidding strategy, and got an answer immediately (because I posted exactly what she asks for). The only thing I forgot to do was use the A-B link she sends in the private message. And I got banned. No warning, no "next time please use the link"...I made a mistake and now I can't use her site!

I agree with above poster...she is shooting herself in the foot. I'm traveling more now and starting to use Priceline and I was willing to post my results to assist others, but now, forget it. Her site will get no help from me.

Everyone be warned...if you do anything to upset Sheryl The Hun, you will be banned without any warning. Why bother walking on eggshells around her? Not worth it, IMO.

 

[punkin]

I followed her rules exactly. I was polite and didn't waste her time with any questions that were already answered in the FAQ. I asked for a bidding strategy, and got an answer immediately (because I posted exactly what she asks for). The only thing I forgot to do was use the A-B link she sends in the private message. And I got banned. No warning, no "next time please use the link"...I made a mistake and now I can't use her site!

I agree with above poster...she is shooting herself in the foot. I'm traveling more now and starting to use Priceline and I was willing to post my results to assist others, but now, forget it. Her site will get no help from me.

Everyone be warned...if you do anything to upset Sheryl The Hun, you will be banned without any warning. Why bother walking on eggshells around her? Not worth it, IMO.

She can't tell if you are using the link or not. God knows I've not used it many times (sometimes I just can't connect to it). The banning issue is usually a software problem and you see many posts on the site about people supposedly getting "banned" and Sheryl always answers that they were not.

 

[Julia M]

I used her site multiple times, following her instructions to the letter (I would copy and paste the list of questions, to make sure I didn't forget anything!)

I never once was questioned about my requests, only given info. I always immediately posted what my winning bid was (or if I didn't get a room)

I understood (understand) what free bids are, and I followed her link for bidding.

And I was banned.

I couldn't access her email to even ask why.

Julia

 

[LeeLeeLuvsDisney]

She can't tell if you are using the link or not. God knows I've not used it many times (sometimes I just can't connect to it). The banning issue is usually a software problem and you see many posts on the site about people supposedly getting "banned" and Sheryl always answers that they were not.

Sheryl is ignoring my email, so I doubt it's a software problem.

 

[DianeV]

I really do think there is a way for her to know if you use the link..perhaps she gets a log of people that do and she can compare it to those who post or ask for help..I really wouldnt be surprised!

 

[disneyfan551]

Maybe she's out of town, you never know!

 

[KCMiller]

I'm all for giving people the benefit of the doubt, and would have loved to stayed a member, but she sent me a very nasty email. I saw that people were posting about a hotel I had stayed at myself, and which I had bid on through Priceline, so I posted a review, and got blasted because I hadn't used her system. And then I was banned. And when I wrote to ask why, she responded in a very unprofessional, argumentative, nasty manner.

It is a valuable service, and I'm sure she works hard, but good manners are for everyone. And even people who follow her rules carefully are banned or blasted for asking questions. I just don't understand why she behaves this way, but obviously, if people are writing to the host company, and they are responding that yes, they know that she's mean, then there's a problem. But it's her board, and I guess she can act any way she wants. Me, I'll continue to lurk, continue to bid, and continue to wish that I could share my experiences with the rest of the board - because I made a mistake, once, I'm not allowed, though.


KC