Free hotel stays

barriejohn69

goldenJill what was the number you called? Was it a UK number or american? I have had a right guts full of the scenario as everytime I answer their query I get another one

Jarnn

Hi all,

have been following this thread for a few days and ejoyed the banter - if only our MP's worked as well as this group they could achieve miracles

Just a few seeds to think about.........

The call centre cop out where they say you could get that rate by contacting them as it was available at the time the booking was made.........

Ask them for a copy of the communications between the relevant departments which can confirm this WAS the case as it WILL be recorded / documented somewhere.

Inform them that you are concerned they are using misleading advertising at best and downright lies at worse and that you will be contacting Trading Standards, your local MP and the national press to ask them to investigate 'questionable practices' by a leading hotel group who are wriggling like a worm on a hook trying to get out of honouring their own TC's.
Suggest you will be asking the authorities to seek 'disclosure' regarding company electronic communications.

NOW - the possibility is that they are setting these prices after the event and there will be an electronic trail that will prove this is the case and leave them f****d and facing an embarrisingly negative PR fallout.
It will also open up the communications between themselves and Expedia etc and show how they have tried to out-manouvre 'genuine applicants' by adjusting prices to avoid taking the hit.

Other than the cost of time to each of you, there is nothing else to lose and will take up more of their time in trying to resolve the situation meaning they may decide to settle.

The different excuses received by each of the members on the forum will also be useful ammunition to support your case as the reasons should be standard and not as varied as the feedback here would suggest.

I am sure the members are all over the UK and this will mean even more MP's having to take this up for a concerned member of THEIR community - if you write to them at their offices they HAVE to reply to you.



Just a few thoughts troops, have fun and best of luck.

taxiphil

Some excellent advice there JARNN, and welcome to MSE by the way.

If I hear on Monday they've rejected my claim by saying I could have got it cheaper by phoning them (which I strongly suspect they will, after reading about GlennTheBaker's experience), I'll definitely take up your suggestions.

By the way, I did cover my back by phoning them for a quote first, and true to form they never quoted the lower price of £80. Although I didn't have the means to record the call, I had my phone on loudspeaker throughout the call and my partner will act as a witness to what they said if necessary.

I also think this advertised policy is a case for the Advertising Standards Authority to get their teeth into if they are not honouring their own T&Cs.

GoldenJill - really pleased to hear they appear to be playing fair with you now. Just shows what a bit of perseverance can do, and it goes to show they are trying it on with people in the first place.

TBeckett100

arent the loopholes occuring because we are using ramada .CO.UK instead of .COM where the actual rate guarantee differs dramtically and they are deal with in diffe4rent countries. the .CO.UK website has more loopholes than a knitted jumper.

view

Hi all, thanks for your posts.

I don't think I said anything magical on the telephone call I just stated that I had followed their best rate guarantee to the letter and asked why, if I had done so in good faith, they were trying to wriggle out of honouring the claim and plucking excuses out of mid air. I was calm and just reiterated the above until she finally said I can put you through to my manager's voicemail. To which I chuckled and said "fine although I know I won't hear back from her".

She put me through and I left a calm message re-explaining everything I had done and the conversation I had had with the call centre, and asked the manager to phone me back to discuss.

Of course I never heard back from the manager, as correctly assumed, however, had a success in the end via the email.

I always stand up for what I feel is right, whether it be for myself or someone else. Best advice is to be calm, think about what you will say before getting onto the phone and just to repeat your statement if the other party does not want to reply. Remember, the person in the call centre does not make the decisions on company policy and by threatening/shouting/being abusive will get you nowhere; and it's not nice for them either.

Barriejohn69 I phoned the 1800 number - it is an American number, however, if you use a cheap prefix number for calls to the US eg: http://www.telediscount.co.uk you will find it's not as expensive as you think.

Good luck
GJx

dmg24

Please remember that the Wyndham Group can pull this offer at any time.

Taking the route that GoldenJill did, of politely but firmly stating her position, is perfect. She remained calm and got a result.

Threatening to inform regulatory authorities, as suggested by JARNN, will have the opposite effect. People do not react well to 'threats', and they are likely to cancel the booking altogether. Even if they do honour that one claim, they are likely to pull the whole deal altogether. That will not benefit any of us.

Stick with GoldenJill's example, it will get you a lot further.

taxiphil, did you get the name of the person you spoke to in the call centre? If so, then you just need to quote this to them, and ask them to check the recording.

Many of us who got great deals through the Easyjethotels deal had to go through similar hoops to get a result. But we got the result by remaining civil, and not making threats.

PandaPants_2

I have submitted my claim twice now and still havent had a response. Any ideas??

dmg24

When did you send it? If quite a while, maybe a phone call?

taxiphil

I can appreciate having to jump through a few hoops to avail myself of the free night - it's a very generous policy after all. But the latest approach of the UK claims dept seems to be to fabricate an earlier price which wasn't actually available. So if we don't make a fuss they'll just turn down all future claims anyway, so that doesn't benefit any of us either.

When you say "threats", nobody's suggesting getting nasty or anything - just politely reminding them that it's unacceptable to fabricate a price which was never actually available. And this is only assuming earlier attempts to reason with them have failed.

Yes I did get the person's name, and I hope that in the event of a dispute their records will accurately reflect that I was never offered an £80 rate.

dmg24

Inform them that you are concerned they are using misleading advertising at best and downright lies at worse and that you will be contacting Trading Standards, your local MP and the national press to ask them to investigate 'questionable practices' by a leading hotel group who are wriggling like a worm on a hook trying to get out of honouring their own TC's.
Suggest you will be asking the authorities to seek 'disclosure' regarding company electronic communications.

If someone said that to me, however calmly it would said, I would take it to be a threat.