Class Action Claims Priceline.com Recorded Phone Call in California Without Consent

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Priceline.com finds itself as the defendant in a proposed class action wherein a California woman claims the online discount travel agency has recorded calls with consumers without their consent and in violation of state law.

According to the 15-page suit, Priceline contacted the plaintiff in July 2019 with regard to a complaint filed by the woman with the Better Business Bureau. The lawsuit alleges that Priceline made a recording of the call without disclosing to the plaintiff that the communication was being recorded. During the call, the plaintiff and Priceline discussed the woman’s “personal and sensitive information,” the case claims.

“At no time did Plaintiff ever provide actual or constructive consent to Defendants to record the telephone call,” the complaint says, reiterating that the contents of the call between the plaintiff and Priceline were “confidential in nature.”

Cited in the lawsuit are sections 630 and 632 of the California Penal Code, which prohibit one party from intentionally recording a phone conversation without the knowledge or consent of the other party. A violation of the law has occurred “the moment the recording is made without the consent of all parties thereto,” according to the case, regardless of whether such is disclosed later.

The plaintiff alleges that it is Priceline.com’s “pattern and practice” to record incoming calls made by California residents. Priceline does not utilize a pre-call recorded message, the suit claims, nor disclose or inform customers that calls are recorded until nearly the end of the communication.

The lawsuit looks to represent a class of California residents whose inbound and outbound phone conversations were recorded by Priceline.com without their consent within the last year.