Hotel taking money out for "damages"

alvinlwh

Hi all

Made a post about this 3 days ago but it seems to have disappeared. Retrying posting it again on a PC now.

Got a problem with a serviced apartment that I stayed at over Christmas, 22 Dec to 29 Dec.

On check in, put a pre authorisation of £100 on my credit card to cover damages.

On checking out on 29 Dec, did not think much of it as they say it will clear once the apartment is found to be in order.

Then on 4 Jan, got an email from them saying that there is a burn on the carpet and it will cost £385 to replace the carpet. Checked my credit card and it shows a £285 charge from them showing as pending/unposted.

Now my questions:
First regarding how they had taken money:
1. Can they take an amount greater than the pre authorised amount?
2. The £100 pre authorised amount is not showing up in my CC account, where is it? Is it part of this £285? Or will it show up later?
3. If the pre authorised £100 is counted as one entry, then this £285 will be a separate transaction, and since I never OKed it by entering my PIN, it is an authorised transaction right? Therefore I can get my CC issuer to block it?

Next:
4. Should I fight this? I know I had not caused the damage as I never used the cupboard the carpet is in. I had seen the damage but though nothing about it. Further more, as someone in the construction industry, I know that the section inside the cupboard can be cut out and replaced. It is not like the damage is in the middle of the room where the whole room's carpet needs to be replaced. Should I fight this on this basis?
5. Also, should I ask them to prove that I did the damage?
6. Should I ask for VAT receipts of the repairs, labour and/or materials breakdown, etc and etc? Basically to make life very difficult for them?

Finally:
7. I do have travel insurance which I had confirmed that they will cover for this damage. Should I just pay up and claim off them and get over this?

Cheers everyone, just wanting to know what is the most painfree way of not paying for something that I had not done.

Browntoa

Did you smoke in the room ?

DoaM

Did they do a check-in inspection (with photos)? If not then how can they prove the burn was caused by you? Fight this ... report the £285 (to your card provider) as a fraudulent transaction, and also report the preauth £100 as needing to be refunded/not paid due to their fraudulent actions.


Check them out on Trip Advisor etc. ... you may find they have history for doing exactly this.

alvinlwh

Browntoa wrote: »

Did you smoke in the room ?

No, and the burn was with an iron, not cigs.

If you were to ask if I did ironing in the apartment, then yes, I did. But point is I did not set the iron down on the carpet and caused the damage.

alvinlwh

DoaM wrote: »

Did they do a check-in inspection (with photos)? If not then how can they prove the burn was caused by you? Fight this ... report the £285 (to your card provider) as a fraudulent transaction, and also report the preauth £100 as needing to be refunded/not paid due to their fraudulent actions.


Check them out on Trip Advisor etc. ... you may find they have history for doing exactly this.

Thanks, this is the same advice everyone in my office is telling me. I arrived at 5pm, the time their reception closes, so there is no check-in inspection. I (my wife) actually did noticed the damage on day 3, but did not think much of it.

However, I will like to confirm one thing first, can the final amount be higher than the pre authorised amount? If yes, then legally, it is authorised as I did key my PIN in for the pre authorised amount.

bris

You authorised the payment when you checked in. The pre auth is just to put funds on hold but doesn't necessarily mean that's all they can take.


The charge back will fail because it wasn't a fraudulent transaction so that advice is just plain wrong, so this turns it into a civil matter.


You have to take into consideration the rooms are cleaned and checked everyday, it's unlikely they will be wrong but that's for the courts to decide, we can't say otherwise as no one here was there.

davidmcn

If you are insured then I would recommend passing it to your insurers earlier rather than later (even if you are convinced you're not liable), as it's generally a condition that they've managed the case from the start.

alvinlwh

bris wrote: »

You authorised the payment when you checked in. The pre auth is just to put funds on hold but doesn't necessarily mean that's all they can take.


The charge back will fail because it wasn't a fraudulent transaction so that advice is just plain wrong, so this turns it into a civil matter.


You have to take into consideration the rooms are cleaned and checked everyday, it's unlikely they will be wrong but that's for the courts to decide, we can't say otherwise as no one here was there.

Thanks, this was my main question. However, they asked for £385 but only took £285, what about the other £100, which happens to be the same amount as the pre authorisation amount?

Anyhow, I had contacted my CC issuer and they also say it is not fraud but it "depends on their (the apartment) terms and conditions" if they can keep my card details and take more after the transaction for payment of the room OR take more than the pre authorised amount. Strange that there is no rules over that they can hold on to card details or take as much as they wish.

They also told me that I should contact the apartment to dispute the payment, and if no joy after 30 days, contact their dispute team to reverse the charge.

Finally according to their own terms and conditions:
"In the rare event that guests have damaged the apartment or caused problems for staff/other guests you will be contacted by management to rectify. If the costs are less than £100 then the balance will be refunded, however should the costs be more than £100 you will be asked to pay this immediately."

It says "asked to pay immediately", not charged immediately.

alvinlwh

davidmcn wrote: »

If you are insured then I would recommend passing it to your insurers earlier rather than later (even if you are convinced you're not liable), as it's generally a condition that they've managed the case from the start.

My insurers had told me that there is no time limit for my claim and I should take as long as I need to gather as much information as possible. By gathering as much information as possible means that I will be as much as a PITA to them (apartment) as I am to fight them. Things I will be asking for will be (as DoaM said):

1. Prove that I had caused the damage with dated pictures showing that it was fine before I entered the apartment.
2. Dated pictures on my departure of the damage.
3. Prove that there was no one else in the apartment after I left since there was 6 days between my departure and the email telling me of the damage.
4. Invoices of the materials and labour for the replacement of the carpet.
5. Explanation on why the damaged section in a walk in wardrobe cannot be cut out and replaced with a metal trim along the sliding door line. They insisted on replacing the carpet of the whole room.

Personally, I will like to avoid all these trouble and go the insurance route, but everyone I spoke to told me that I should not just admit to any wrong doings that I had not committed as a matter of principle.

Even if, like you said, they had managed the case right from the start, I still can make it as painful as possible for them to get the money before getting it back from my own insurers.

DoaM

alvinlwh wrote: »

5. Explanation on why the damaged section in a walk in wardrobe cannot be cut out and replaced with a metal trim along the sliding door line. They insisted on replacing the carpet of the whole room.

They're "at it". IMHO it is a fraudulent claim. If they're really replacing the whole carpet, insist on them sending you (intact) the carpet they have removed - after all it will now belong to you.


What have Trip Advisor etc. reviews said about them?

alvinlwh

DoaM wrote: »

They're "at it". IMHO it is a fraudulent claim. If they're really replacing the whole carpet, insist on them sending you (intact) the carpet they have removed - after all it will now belong to you.


What have Trip Advisor etc. reviews said about them?

A guy I work with suggested that I go to Trading Standards (I work in the same building as them, in fact the same department too!) which I did. They are looking into it and contacting the local council where the apartment is located to see if there are similar cases and will advise me from there on.

There are some similar incidents on Tripadvisor but like I said at this point, I will put it down to housekeeping staff missing it previously and picking it up after I had left.