S75 against a service rather than goods

TheBigBad

What are my rights with regards payment for a service made on a credit card?

I stayed at Marriott County Hall this weekend and was very disappointed to say the least.

1. I requested early check in. Whilst I appreciate they do not guarantee this, I did call ahead on my way to London to ask about it. They told me "not a problem, many guests have already checked out". When I arrived I waited almost 90 minutes to check in.
2. On Saturday morning I called reception to ask if my breakfast was included in my reservation, I was told that it was not. I went to the hotel restaurant and paid for breakfast.
3. At 5:45am today I received a wake up call from reception. I did not request this nor did I appreciate being woken up at that time.
4. Upon arrival to the restaurant for todays breakfast I was told that as I had booked an Executive room that my breakfast was complimentary and that I should go to the library. The lady at the library checked me in and confirmed that Saturdays breakfast should also have been complimentary.

Upon checkout I raised these concerns at reception. The receptionist called the library to confirm and they said that I was indeed on their list. The receptionist said that her system said breakfast was not complimentary. The lady at the library double checked, I was definitely on her list. I checked my invoice, I had stayed in an Executive room.

The receptionist claimed that the library was incorrect and somehow their list was wrong. I asked how she come to that assumption, maybe the receptionists system was the one that was wrong? I asked to speak to the Duty Manager.

After a 20 minute wait the receptionist come over to inform me that the library had made a mistake and that I was not on their list, she had been looking at a different room!?!?! Strange, I gave her my room number and she confirmed my name back to me. I asked the receptionist why she was lying to me, and how two separate members have staff could have made the same mistake, one of whom had now checked her list numerous times.

Finally the duty manager came to see me, talked some waffle, listened to me go over my issues again and basically fobbed me off with the removal of yesterdays breakfast charges and said he would speak to the people involved in the other incidents and would call me shortly. That was 7 hours ago, still no call.

Not sure if this is a chargeback issue or just a complaint to be honest. Although I do feel I did not get the level of service I expected for £465 a night!!:mad:

I am happy to pay them some money, but ultimately they charged my credit card upon check in. I do not feel the service received was adequate, if it had been a meal, a home improvement, or anything else I could look at before paying I would have certainly disputed the price if it was not what I had expected.

grumbler

What you feel is of no importance. The question is whether they provided the service that they had to provide (and your have to be able to prove this), not that you feel they should have.

So far I see only the unexpected wake up call to complain about that hardly can be a ground for charging them back.

How do you estimated your chances of winning in a court? The chances of a successful claim under s75 are even smaller.

bigadaj

A series of minor inconveniences that added up to an overall very bad experience.

First thing is to contact the hotel at a. Senior level and detail your experience as a formal complaint. They should respond and you then need to asses whether their recompense meets your expectations.

If not then go back to your card provider, and provide the same details which should justify a chargeback, partial or in full.

I did this a. Couple of years ago, though booked through an intermediary website, had a bit of resistance but was eventually re- credited probably took a couple of months in all, though only an hour or two in time on e-mails and letters.

TheBigBad

Yes I figured it was a long shot.

Looks like its the complaints route then.

Funnily enough, as I am typing this they have just called me to say that they have given me an additional 2000 rewards points as a goodwill gesture. Not quite sure what this is worth to me

jacques_chirac

Your only legitimate complaint is the wake up call. What loss or inconvenience did this cause you? It has happened to me several times, my reaction was to roll over and go back to sleep.

Maestro.

jacques_chirac wrote: »

Your only legitimate complaint is the wake up call. What loss or inconvenience did this cause you? It has happened to me several times, my reaction was to roll over and go back to sleep.

It's pretty poor for a service that costs in a night more than my rent does a month?

If you bought a new car and it only worked some of the time would you just deal with it or seek some recompense?

jacques_chirac

Maestro. wrote: »

It's pretty poor for a service that costs in a night more than my rent does a month?

If you bought a new car and it only worked some of the time would you just deal with it or seek some recompense?

The breakfast issue was remedied. The alarm call issue is so trivial I wouldn't bat an eyelid. If I had a genuine issue then of course I would complain, but it strikes me that the OP is looking for a problem where there is not one.

The cost is reflective of the extremely high demand for accommodation in London this weekend. It would normally be half that amount.

roonaldo

this isnt a section 75 issue

reclusive46

You could try and do a chargeback, you'll probably lose but it will inconvenience them. I did this once to a really bad hotel and I won because they never responded to the chargeback.

dalesrider

reclusive46 wrote: »

You could try and do a chargeback, you'll probably lose but it will inconvenience them. I did this once to a really bad hotel and I won because they never responded to the chargeback.

TBH. You would be lucky if the card provider would even do a chargeback.
There is no cover for quality.

Early check in.
No cover for that one.
Unless it was a paid for service.

Non receipt of alarm call. Was it listed as a item on the bill? If not then again. No chargeback right.
If it was then you might get them to chargeback that part of the bill.

Breakfast...
Did it not mention on the booking conformation what you got for the £465.

opinions4u

TheBigBad wrote: »

Yes I figured it was a long shot.

Looks like its the complaints route then.

Funnily enough, as I am typing this they have just called me to say that they have given me an additional 2000 rewards points as a goodwill gesture. Not quite sure what this is worth to me

I believe they pay 2 points per £ spent. So they've treated you like somebody who spent an extra £1,000.

But I'd estimate the value at somewhere well below 1p each. So I reckon they've palmed you off with a tenner.