Hotel overcharged my account

Apathy

So the the story is myself and my friends stayed at a hotel but one of the tvs (24-26" jvc lcd) got damaged and was asked to stump up £300 which we negotiated down to £250 as we felt this was extoriate anyways. Now we agreed this with the manager on the phone and the receptionist at the time also agreed to write an invoice and of which she wrote by hand of her name and the hotel address, date and amount as to what was charged and why it was charged. Also 4-5 witnesses and a photo taken of the receptionists name and signature.

Now since i queried this with the online booking website i then as requested to send them evidence and they said they'll sort it out of which i sent the evidence of the invoice and pictures showing them sign it to them and the hotel has responded by stating to the booking company that 'the charge was higher then they anticipated at first. But this is beside the point as they already AGREED the fee, signed And dated it as well. And the tv is literally £170 in currys to purchase as well of which i pointed they out at the time of the invoice. They then since created a 'New invoice', this time printed via word in a different format and sent them this instead and booking company disregarded my invoice which is completely unsolicited as far as im concerned as i've never seen it. You can't start making up new invoices when agreed and signed as the originals surely? It was a non-chained national hotel btw as well.

Any ideas on where i stand please?

Enterprise_1701C

Can you please make it a little clearer.

How much have you actually been charged?

Don't forget that they have to take the time to obtain the new TV and install it.

you seem fairly sure of the price in Curry's, yet you do not seem sure of the size of the TV?

bowlhead99

Seems a little confusing, as you agree you owe the hotel for the damage you did to its property, why it would be something you'd seek to take up with an online booking website?

Are you saying that the booking company are effectively the customer of the hotel - rather than purely being your agent - so the invoice written by the hotel was for the booking company (as their customer) to settle, and then booking company will charge it on to you based on the booking company's agreed Ts & Cs with you?

And the hotel has decided that the amount of cash they want to invoice their customer (bookingco) to replace their damaged equipment is more than they had initially told you?

If you are saying you are not the hotel's customer which is why you didn't want to pay them directly in the first place, then the amount that they initially told you is something that could change once they discuss it with their customer, the booking co. They may have needed to get a formal quote for repair and installation from someone who was not able to give them that quote instantly at checkout time. Whether they do that by adding on a supplemental invoice or cancelling and reissuing the first invoice for a higher amount, is not within your control.

And presumably the booking co themselves are at liberty to add on some extra administrative charges of their own for the extra effort they've had to go to in agreeing and clearing off the unexpected invoice that occurred due to your behaviour. What they charge you might be more than the hotel charges them.

It sounds like the sensible thing for you to have done (other than not damage their TV in the first place) would have been to settle up with the hotel directly when you had agreed that you'd broken their equipment and they agreed they would take £250 for it. That was the best time to negotiate and clear the charge and walk away with a piece of paper saying any damage you caused had been fully settled up.

Not sure this is something that needs to go in a bank accounts forum as your complaint is with the hotel or the booking company and not your bank account provider. However, if payment has been taken from your credit card at the 'wrong' amount versus the invoice that you took a copy of, the credit provider would have an interest in the amount charged to your card, and so it might be worth raising a formal dispute /chargeback with them and producing your invoice evidence. Though if the hotel's invoice was not written out to you anyway, the important invoice to dispute would be the one from the booking company to you, which you would dispute by saying it was not a valid charge and they have no right to bill you that much so you don't agree it.

As an aside, the price of a TV sold over the counter to a consumer at Currys is not the cost to the hotel of acquiring and installing the TV at their premises and having their hotel room out of use for a while (or without a functioning TV, reducing its value) while a replacement is sourced and installed.

robatwork

Your post was horribly confusing.

All the same I suggest you totally rewrite it and post in the Consumer Rights forum as it isn't a banking query really. If you break it down into a simple timeline with dates and amounts:
eg

• Stayed in a hotel on 14/7 to 21/7 and damaged a TV
  
• Agreed on phone on 24/7 to pay £250 for damage etc etc

alanq

Although the sums being discussed are in £ is the hotel is in the UK? The OP does not say where the hotel is which will determine which laws apply, local cost of TVs, exchange rates etc.

eddddy

I guess you need to decide which route to go down:

1. You claim that you and the hotel agreed a 'Full and final settlement' of £250. The hotel now seem to be claiming otherwise.

2. Or if you agree that £250 was not a 'full and final settlement', are the hotel claiming damages as a result of your negligence? If so, they should provide evidence of their losses (e.g. an invoice from their supplier for a new TV and installation).

3. Or if the hotel says the charge is stated in the contract you agreed to, ask which term in the contract it relates to. If the term is 'punitive', it probably can't be enforced.


If you don't get the outcome from the hotel that you want, then you could try for a chargeback (if you're claiming breach of contract). If that fails, it would be the small caims court.

Apathy

Sorry a few more details:

I negotiated directly through the hotel in the u.k and it was only when i noticed on my statement days later they actually charged £300 of my santander debit card instead of the agreed invoice at the time amd they said that's it all cleared up when i said £250. All of this is witnessed and signed and photographed. So an incorrct charge. I only went through to the booking website as the hotel didn't want to know and just hung up on me and the booking firm stated at the beginning that they'd sort it as well providing i have evidence. Very dodgy indeed. I don't know how else to make it clearer sending these as proof of evidence and neither are playing ball at present?

Thanks for the responses.


[Image Removed]

k3lvc

a) I'd be removing the pictures/identifiers from here - you're making yourself look foolish and open to the hotel challenging you

b) I think you've getting off lightly at £300 - you've no idea on what the TV's connected to, whether it has any other boxes etc attached and what the removal/destruction/installation/admin costs are

Maybe that last tequila and subsequent pillow fight wasn't such a good idea

robatwork

You should edit that first pic and remove the receptionist. Having her in the pic isn't relevant to the information below and a bit intrusive at best.

soolin

Apathy, please remove the photo of the member of staff immediately!

k3lvc

soolin wrote: »

Apathy, please remove the photo of the member of staff immediately!

I've reported already - any sympathy for OP lost when they posted that (but on the upside she does have a nice smiley face )