Charged by Opodo for hotel, and then charged again by the hotel!

taxiphil

Would welcome anyone's advice on the following scenario.

I recently booked a hotel stay on Opodo.co.uk. When I checked in, I showed a copy of the e-mail booking confirmation from Opodo to the gentleman on the desk. He asked for my payment card. I queried this as I was under the impression that I had already paid at the time of booking, but he said that my Opodo booking was just a reservation, not a pre-pay arrangement. I believed what he said (bearing in mind this is a large international hotel chain - and I just assumed they had tried-and-tested procedures with companies like Opodo), and duly settled the bill upon checking out.

A few days later I checked my bank account and found that Opodo and the hotel have each charged me for the room.

Neither Opodo nor the hotel will back down on this. Opodo basically said it's my fault for paying the hotel when I shouldn't have done, so I need to sort this out with the hotel. And the hotel have said I need to pursue Opodo for the refund, as the hotel always charges customers directly at the desk and don't use pre-pay arrangements with intermediaries.

I'm a bit stuck now - any ideas?

Tozer

Hi there.

Sounds obvious but can you not simply ask the hotel to confirm that they have NOT received payment for the room?

Did you pay by credit card? How much was it for?

hollydays

Tricky situation,somewhat ludicrous.
Get am email from the hotel stating that THEY are supposed to take the money from you,and send it to opodo for comment as to whether they are falsely claiming this?

taxiphil

Tozer wrote: »

Hi there.

Sounds obvious but can you not simply ask the hotel to confirm that they have NOT received payment for the room?

Did you pay by credit card? How much was it for?

I put it on my debit card, it was £52. Yep, the hotel have confirmed they didn't claim or receive any money from Opodo because it's their policy only to take payment from the guest at the desk - they don't participate in pre-pay schemes apparently.

And Opodo are saying that because the hotel didn't attempt to "redeem" the pre-paid money from them, that this money has now been forfeited - i.e. it's the equivalent of me pre-paying for a hotel then failing to turn up. Opodo say I should never have paid the hotel a second time so it's my fault and nothing to do with them - that's all very well, but the hotel wouldn't hand over the room key unless I gave them my card and my authorisation to charge it, so I was backed into a corner.

Absolute madness! But it's hard to see where the liability lies here, I'm not sure who to ultimately pursue for a refund.

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

Are both Opodo and the hotel showing on an actual statement?

The reason I ask is many hotels put an authorisation on your card when you check in to stop you leaving without paying. More often than not they dont remove this and wait til it naturally lapses and in addition charge the correct cost.

If you have just stayed recently it may be the authorisation and debit are both sitting affecting your funds.

taxiphil

Yeah, both sums appear to have been debited, according to my internet banking. And I've got a debit card slip from when I paid the hotel upon checking out, showing a specific amount paid rather than just an authorisation.

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

I'd be inclined to wait a few days and see if one dissapears.

isplumm

Hi,

Well my attitude is that you paid Opodo, so that is who you should complain to ... I would ask for complaints department ...find out who the md is & write him/her a letter, pointing out what happened & that they should refund ...

I assume for this small amount small claims is no good?

Mark