capital one

gaz46

I got married at a hotel in Scotland 4 years ago on departure i was told there was a cigarette burn on the carpet in the public bar area and i would have to pay for the damage ( this was just before the smoking ban started) there was no proof it was one of my guests but thought i didnt want to spoil my big day so i would just pay for the damage
the hotel said they would forward me the bill

when i got back from honeymoon they had debited my capital 1 cc £3500.00 i rang the hotel and they said they had replaced the whole carpet which i thought was ridiculous furthermore it was never replaced to this day or even repaired
i spoke th cap1 and at first got my money refunded then 2 weeks later took it back of my card again
i sent loads of letters to cap 1 and told them nothing had been replaced or repaired and complained to the hotel
cap1 said i had to take my complaint up with the hotel and it was not their problem
Could anyone tell me if i can claim this money back as the hotel just kept my money and capitol 1 just dismised my complaint

ipodchick2144

You might have a legal case on your hands there, they used the money unlawfully (not for the purpose stated) maybe go to citizens advice and ask about it? That is a horrific amount of money! Id take my complaint as far as i possibly could. Also make sure you get hold of the hotels headoffice and make sure you put in an official complaint. All that fails, u could go to the press? no hotel wants bad press do they?

thriftymomma

I'd say CAB too. That sounds very dodgy.

never-in-doubt

Time to play the hotel at their own game. Contact Cap1 and agree that you said to the hotel you'd pay for the damage upto £100 maximum. They have to disprove you, you never agreed to anything more than £100. Do a chargeback and explain to Cap1 that they have to oblige their obligations, in particular s.75 of the consumer credit act.

Hang on, 4yrs ago? Your card would have expired and you'd have a new one - how then, did they get the card start/expiry dates and CVV? Something dodgy here.....

gaz46

Hi thanks for your reply This happened in march 2006, when i booked the rooms for the hotel i did it with my cap1 card by phone when we arrived they asked me to put my card in the machine and put in my pin this was to pay for any extras on my room,they took the payment whilst we were in malasia,I even informed cap 1 we would be abroad in case we needed to use the card,when we got home the money had been taken
i rang cap1 and asked how this was done without my authority they said the card was left open,and i asked why did they allow £3500.00 to be taken even though we were abroad they said we had used the card with the hotel before and they had no reason to suspect anything was wrong.
I wrote numerous letters to cap1 to ask for my money back and they always came back with ( we are sorry but you need to take this up with the merchant there is nothing else we can do)
Eventually i just gave up and paid off the card
in conclusion the hotel kept £3500.00 and did not repair or replace the carpet,there was never any proof the cigarette burn was caused by any of my guests,the damage was caused in a public bar area and there were lots of other people in the bar that night
The Hotel by the way is called Auchen Castle in Moffatt Scotland check out Trip advisor and see all the complaints
Again thanks for the reply

chattychappy

What a horrible tale. Ultimately I think its worth suing over (both the CC company and the hotel) though I haven't a clue how these things work under Scottish law.

Clearly better to get the necessary legal advice from a CAB if possible. But else a short session with a local solicitor might be worth it given the amount of money involved.

Beyond that, it sounds like more than just a contractual dispute - but something more like fraud. So I wonder if the OFT or even the police would be interested. It sounds like theft to me...