Credit card - refusal to help

grocerjack

Hi, unsure if this belongs here but can't find an obvious other forum. We recently booked a hotel stay for one night to attend a relatives wedding held there. An hour before the scheduled end time we were all asked to move downstairs (politely) as they wanted to start clearing the venue room up. Everyone was in good spirits so we happily complied. When downstairs in the bar my wife was refused service. It was done very publicly and she was humiliated. We had all had a drink but none of us were badly drunk. I did take this up with the so called duty manager but he refused to budge. The irony was others were refused service (not from our party) and the bar looked very much closed. Despite very polite protestations drink was refused, even water. We were told we could only order and have it in a bedroom, with a service charge.

My wife was so humiliated and so upset, and I was frustrated at reasoned challenges falling on unresponsive and unempowered ears we decided to leave the hotel and go home by taxi (we live about 10 miles away). Staying would have endorsed the hotels behaviour and been an admission of something we were not guilty of (being presumed too drunk) . I complained to the hotel and after an investigation they have agreed we were treated incorrectly and the staff involved have been referred to HR for disciplinary actions.

I believe we should not pay the room bill (but have honoured any drinks we bought) as we didn't stay, but it had been pre-approved on a credit card. We are being asked to pay the room and breakfast in full for 6 hours of suitcase storage. I always thought we had credit card protection for faulty goods or services - in fact we always use credit cards for this reason. However, they now say they will not withhold payment or request refund (the fee has gone through) - we even paid the taxi fare via the card which they initially said was proof we hadn't stayed at the hotel. Are they right? Is this a case of tough luck? If it is the card gets binned and we'll do cash only from now on as it appears there is little protection against such events, especially when the have agreed we were poorly treated. Cheers Jack!

grocerjack

Mods.....feel free to move to more appropriate forum

[Deleted User]

You're talking about section 75, which can be very useful - so don't go binning your cards, whatever you do.

Section 75 gives you the same rights against the car provider as the retailer.

However, in this case the retailer (the hotel) was able to provide the goods, but you chose not to use them. That's not a failure to provide, so you will have to prove that the goods were sub standard under the circumstances, which is going to be a challenge to say the least.

A goodwill gesture from the hotel would be more likely, although that is unlikely to reflect the cost of the room.

Nasqueron

Section 75 covers problems/disputes with the buyer, not where you changed your mind about staying because of the way you were treated. The hotel reserved your room, will have to clean it etc and they couldn't have let it out that night losing them money - the fact you chose not to stay is not their issue.


As above the best you can hope for is a goodwill gesture or token compensation.

MEM62

I might be miffed if I was on a roll and couldn't get a drink but humiliated? Really? I can't see why; particularly as she was not the only one refused service.

The credit card company have no liability here in my opinion. The service that you paid for was available but you chose not to use it. You will not able to make a case that being refused a drink in the bar constitutes beach of contract and your argument that staying would have been seen as an admission of some misdemeanour and endorsement of the hotels actions won't even begin to stand up.

I agree it's an unfortunate incident but you have no claim.

thriftylass

grocerjack wrote: »

Hi, unsure if this belongs here but can't find an obvious other forum. We recently booked a hotel stay for one night to attend a relatives wedding held there. An hour before the scheduled end time It wasn't exactly the middle of the party, if there is not enough business the can shut the bar, happened to me before we were all asked to move downstairs (politely) as they wanted to start clearing the venue room up. Everyone was in good spirits so we happily complied. When downstairs in the bar my wife was refused service. It was done very publicly and she was humiliated. We had all had a drink but none of us were badly drunk. I did take this up with the so called duty manager but he refused to budge. The irony was others were refused service (not from our party) and the bar looked very much closed Maybe it was just closed as normal hotel service was over. Despite very polite protestations drink was refused, even water. We were told we could only order and have it in a bedroom, with a service charge which sounds a good offer if the bar was shut already.

My wife was so humiliated and so upset, and I was frustrated at reasoned challenges falling on unresponsive and unempowered ears we decided to leave the hotel and go home by taxi (we live about 10 miles away). Staying would have endorsed the hotels behaviour and been an admission of something we were not guilty of (being presumed too drunkdid they actually give that as a reason) . I complained to the hotel and after an investigation they have agreed we were treated incorrectly and the staff involved have been referred to HR for disciplinary actions.

I believe we should not pay the room bill (but have honoured any drinks we bought) as we didn't stay, but it had been pre-approved on a credit card. We are being asked to pay the room and breakfast in full for 6 hours of suitcase storage. I always thought we had credit card protection for faulty goods or services - in fact we always use credit cards for this reason. However, they now say they will not withhold payment or request refund (the fee has gone through) - we even paid the taxi fare via the card which they initially said was proof we hadn't stayed at the hotel. Are they right? Is this a case of tough luck? If it is the card gets binned and we'll do cash only from now on as it appears there is little protection against such events, especially when the have agreed we were poorly treated. Cheers Jack!

Playing devil's advocat here. I think you will have to pay the bill. Even if they didn't act in a decent manner it might have just been a case, sorry too late bar is shut.

eskbanker

thriftylass wrote: »

Playing devil's advocat here.

They never got a warnink that the bar was closing?

CakeCrusader

There's no legal obligation on any bar to serve alcohol, and legally they have to refuse if they think that you're intoxicated. You made the decision to leave, you weren't forced out, there's absolutely no breach of contract here. You do have to pay for the room though, use of the bar isn't usually part of the hotel agreement unless it states so in your contract.

BoGoF

Willing to bet the staff have not been referred for disciplinary action.

They are just telling you what you want to hear for what was a completely OTT reaction from you and your wife.

grocerjack

thriftylass wrote: »

Playing devil's advocat here. I think you will have to pay the bill. Even if they didn't act in a decent manner it might have just been a case, sorry too late bar is shut.

We did pay the bar bill, it was merely the fact we were treated so rudely and poorly that made us feel we couldn't stay. We were lucky we had the option to go home by virtue of not living too far from the venue.

grocerjack

BoGoF wrote: »

Willing to bet the staff have not been referred for disciplinary action.

They are just telling you what you want to hear for what was a completely OTT reaction from you and your wife.

I came on here for advice, not opinions from a troll minded idiot. Especially from someone who wasn't there and therefore did not witness the rude treatment we received.