i have never heard of this, nor have i experienced it.  several years ago, i used Hotwire to rent a car for the week, every week, for over a year.  their rates were so good, it was actually cheaper than buying new, and i enjoyed driving a different "new" car every week.  i spent plenty of money through their site, and no one bothered me a bit.

i'm not trying to be argumentative, but what kind of company bans a regular, paying customer?

a retail company i once worked for had many foreign customers who would come in during the big sales and buy product in very large quantities.  the company knew darn well that the product was being shipped overseas and resold, basically on the black market.  the company looked the other way, and sold these customers everything they wanted under a "don't ask, don't tell" policy.  why?  because it was stupid to turn away a $20,000 per month customer.

my point is...so why would priceline or Hotwire turn away volume business?  who cares if it's the competition buying the product?  a sale is a sale.  :scratches head: