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Hotel charged me for
sanya47
Posts: 3 Newbie
My boyfriend and I recently went for a short trip in Reims, France. We were due to arrive at 3am in the morning, so I emailed the hotel we wanted to book asking if we would be able to check in at that time. The receptionist replied to me saying that nobody would be there so they would email me a code to access the building before our arrival, but she needed me to send her my credit card details first so that she could take full payment for the one night stay.
I was wary of sending card details (including security code) via email but she assured me it was safe. After I sent them, I received no reply from the hotel to confirm the payment and booking. I sent several further emails requesting the access code for the hotel door and a receipt for my payment but received nothing. I tried calling them and spoke to a man briefly but the line was really bad and he ended up hanging up on me.
I therefore assumed that the booking had not been made. When we arrived in Reims, we drove past the hotel just in case to see if anyone was there but all the lights were off so we had to find elsewhere to stay, which was a big hassle at that time of night.
After arriving home, I have now seen on my bank statement that the hotel has charged me £70 for the night, even though it was never confirmed and we were not able to access the building. I have sent several emails of complaint but have been told that had we gone up to the hotel door we would have seen a sign with a phone number to call someone to let us in, so it's our fault for not doing that.
I am sure there must be some kind of law about taking payment and not giving receipt/confirmation of booking - please can anyone help?
Any advice would be much appreciated!
I was wary of sending card details (including security code) via email but she assured me it was safe. After I sent them, I received no reply from the hotel to confirm the payment and booking. I sent several further emails requesting the access code for the hotel door and a receipt for my payment but received nothing. I tried calling them and spoke to a man briefly but the line was really bad and he ended up hanging up on me.
I therefore assumed that the booking had not been made. When we arrived in Reims, we drove past the hotel just in case to see if anyone was there but all the lights were off so we had to find elsewhere to stay, which was a big hassle at that time of night.
After arriving home, I have now seen on my bank statement that the hotel has charged me £70 for the night, even though it was never confirmed and we were not able to access the building. I have sent several emails of complaint but have been told that had we gone up to the hotel door we would have seen a sign with a phone number to call someone to let us in, so it's our fault for not doing that.
I am sure there must be some kind of law about taking payment and not giving receipt/confirmation of booking - please can anyone help?
Any advice would be much appreciated!
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Comments
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Oops I submitted before finishing the title - supposed to be "hotel charged me for room I could not access". Sorry I'm new!0
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Did you email them to cancel?One important thing to remember is that when you get to the end of this sentence, you'll realise it's just my sig.0
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halibut2209 wrote: »Did you email them to cancel?
Cancel what? They never had the booking confirmed so how could they cancel it0 -
A similar thing happened with me at a restaurant. I booked a table for 10 people via the email link they suggested and heard nothing back at all. My friends decided they wanted to go somewhere else so I booked a different restaurant but didn't bother cancelling this one as they had never confirmed they could accomodate us.
Come the night and they phone me up and start getting irate when I told them I was somewhere else. They claimed I owed them £5 a head. Thankfully they didn't have my card details so that never happened!
Its annoying when people don't confirm bookings. Its terrible customer service!This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com0 -
Do I have any rights to demand a refund?
Probably.
How well versed in French law are you?
If they continue to refuse a refund, you may well have to involve the French courts.
Maybe look here... UK European Consumer Centre
Where they say...European Consumer Centres offer free consumer advice and support to consumers residing in the EU who are buying goods or services from traders based in other EU countries.
Btw... to adjust your title, click the Edit button, the click 'Go Advanced'. Then type whatever you like in the Title box.0 -
your credit card company will sort this out for you0
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If you went to all the effort to drive past the hotel, I don't understand why you wouldn't have at least got out and tried the door or made at least some kind of effort to figure out how to get in0
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OP, you mention "credit card" and "bank statement".
Was it a credit card you used or a debit card?
I see that we are talking about £75 so a Section 75 claim won't be possible, even if a credit card was used.
If your card company is to be able to help, it will be by way of a chargeback.
However, I think even that will fail because you willingly gave your card details and you did not cancel the booking... just failed to turn up.0
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