Another Thread about a claim against a Travelodge stay.

marianne1506

Hi all,

This is my first post and I've previous been stalking these boards following a letter from the famous Civil Recovery Services concerning a claim against me for £100.73 after a stay at Birmingham Central Bullring travelodge on 26th january 2012.

I'll try and keep it short : i received the letter from CRS a whole month after my stay which i found quite strange for one. I ignored the letter as no damage was caused in either of the two rooms i booked - i spent time in both of them. I then received another letter and decided i should ring them and requested to know what the specific damage was. The lady i spoke to said it was smashed glass trodden into the carpet, causing it to rip. She obviously was aware of the complete shock in my voice when i exclaimed "what? but no glass was smashed?!" and therefore i said had a right to be provided with photographic evidence. I received an email stating they would rely on witness statement from the cleaning staff which i do not think is good enough evidence at all.

after discussions with the other members of my party we decided that there was NO possibility that we broke glass in our room - we left one empty glass bottle by the bin under the desk as the bin was full and it was IN TACT. all i can assume is that a cleaner came along with a hoover, shoved it under the desk hence smashing the glass and hoovered over it therefore causing it the carpet to rip.

From this i wrote a very detailed 3 page letter to both CRS and travelodge head office last tuesday 20th detailing what must have happened and there is no way it could have been us as it would've been noticed or cause damage to our feet (we walked around with bare feet in the rooms) and that its pretty much impossible to smash a glass bottle on carpet unless you smash into it with a heavy object. i.e vaccum.

Anyway i received a letter today from Travelodge Customer Services (still havent head from CRS) saying how they would like to refer me to section 5.4 in their T&Cs which details our smoking policy.......HOLD ON WHAT? so now they think i was smoking in there? which is it? damage to carpet by glass or smoking?!

I have found the whole process laughable and really think that this letter from travelodge shows that they have no idea what they're talking about and therefore they cant hold this claim against me!


any thoughts? I'm wondering if CRS will get back to me and what they will expect. Should i send another letter/email/ring Travelodge head office and express how i feel about their "customer service"?

daveyjp

Tell CRS you dispute the charge and they should refer it back to Travelodge. TBH I'd ignore anything else from either of them after that.

marianne1506

so i have received another letter from CRS saying that they need to refer back to travelodge (again) and that travelodge are going to rely on a "witness statement" from the cleaner. They have no photographic evidence of any kind...

Surely this wouldn't be able to stand up in court?

I really can't be bothered to write back to them again as i would just repeat exactly what i said in my first letter.

woohoo_postingid

Write directly to the top guys - don't bother with customer services:

http://www.travelodge.co.uk/executive_team/

Write to the CEO and send a copy to everyone else on the page.

Ignore CRS

marianne1506

i wrote to customer service head office in Thame in oxford and they literally just rehashed their T & Cs, went on about a contract being formed with myself and travelodge and that CRS act on behalf of travelodge to sort out their claims.

i feel like im just constantly sending letters to and fro now!

ellay864

I had a problem with TL claiming I'd smoked in rooms but CRS dropped the case pretty quickly after a stiffly worded letter. Basically they have to prove you did anything. If it comes to it tell them you'll see them in court and it'll probably go away - see the advice etc when I posted my situation
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3580701

marianne1506

i think the problem is though that smoking in a room is a lot harder to prove. this is damage. or what they say is "glass smashed and trodden into the carpet causing it to rip"

but to say they will only be relying on the statement from the cleaner surely isnt good enough right? we were a party of 7 all together in 3 rooms who will all state that the room in question was left without damage and the glass bottle in question was left in one piece next to the bin.

I really dont know what to do now as if i wrote back to CRS i would literally say the same thing to them again. We didn't damage anything and travelodge cannot expect to rely on one staff members statement.

ellay864

TL will say that it is CRS now taking the action and that they cannot do anything to stop it. Write to CRS and the TL CEO in the same letter. That's what I did. I said I had several members of my party willing to testify in court and that I categorically denied all allegations. I didn't actually use the words 'I'll see you in court' but that's the message I was giving and they decided that on this occasion they would not press it further. My friends also had the same threat at the same time and they were scared into paying up but then immediately wrote back and they did actually get their money back.
They use CRS to scare people into thinking they'll be hauled up in court etc but they don't have a leg to stand on. Just stick to your guns and they will back down

Freia

Totally ignore anything and everything that comes from CRS. They will hound you for months with emails, text messages and phone calls if they have your details. They will threaten the same things over and over again. They know that some people will be frightened into paying up but all it is is scare tactics. They would have to take you to Court to prove anything and I have yet to hear of any one being taken to Court through being accused of either damage to rooms, or smoking. BE BRAVE AND IGNORE THEM !!!

scream85

Hi marianne1506,

Did you ever resolve this dispute? I have just received a similar letter, but this time it is claiming I have done damage to a wall and the amount they are claiming for is a colossal £400!!!!

Any help / advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

bloss0m

OP hasn't been logged in for over 2 months

05-04-2012 6:10 PM

scream85 wrote: »

Hi marianne1506,

Did you ever resolve this dispute? I have just received a similar letter, but this time it is claiming I have done damage to a wall and the amount they are claiming for is a colossal £400!!!!

Any help / advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks