section 75 counter claim

paul_selby77

Sorry if this is in the wrong area - newbie 1st post !

i wont go into too longer story as not to bore , but in a condensed version here goes :

In august the wife booked a 2 night stay at a hotel for her and the daughter .
They checked in , went upto room and were met with a very strong smell of cannabis ( room next door) . She informed the front desk (this was around 3pm)
Her room was unclean , and not as advertised. The hotel was full so could not move rooms.
The culprit was removed by police around 11pm , causing alot of disruption in the hotel.
come breakfast time the food was atrocious , tables and cutlery dirty . They ate out .
The 2 night stay became 1 , and they checked out (had paid full fee £198 upon checking in)
I got intouch with HSBC under section 75 , sent all pictures and info and was awarded a dispute refund in full .
Yesterday we received a letter from the hotel stating WE owed them £198 and to pay in full within 7 days.
I spoke to HSBC last night and they have basically said "we got you your money back.....thats our bit sorted"

What should we do next ?

waamo

That's not a valid letter before claim. Write back to the hotel stating if they intend issuing legal proceedings you want a compliant letter before claim.

Failure to provide one will be pointed out to the court and may invalidate any claim they have.

It may well put them off.

paul_selby77

Thanks waamo . I should add the last correspondence from the hotel was the 20th august , when they offered us a reduced rate stay . I basically said thanks but no thanks and i was looking for at least a 50% refund due to it been a 1 night stay as opposed to 2 . They never replied which is why i made the dispute via HSBC . On my credit card statement there is the refund showing the same day as we paid , and we received the money back the end of october - would this be the start of the 60 days they (the hotel) have to dispute the claim ? My other half is panicking a bit with the mention of legal action thats all

davidmcn

I doubt the hotel is going to bother with legal action for £198, especially if there's a high chance they'd lose. It would cost them more than that to send a lawyer to court for them.

paul_selby77

Cheers davidmcn . Do you think i should reply to the letter ? I did speak to the head of the hotels legal department yesterday so i could ring or reply via email and then have a "paper trail" as such .

davidmcn

paul_selby77 wrote: »

Cheers davidmcn . Do you think i should reply to the letter ? I did speak to the head of the hotels legal department yesterday so i could ring or reply via email and then have a "paper trail" as such .

I doubt it will make a great deal of difference either way, but no harm in repeating what you've already told them and making clear that you intend to defend any court action.

I suppose arguably you might owe them something for the one night of disappointing accommodation.

DoaM

paul_selby77 wrote: »

On my credit card statement there is the refund showing the same day as we paid , and we received the money back the end of october - would this be the start of the 60 days they (the hotel) have to dispute the claim ? My other half is panicking a bit with the mention of legal action thats all

Can you clarify this bit please? Have you received a refund of £198 twice? (i.e. once from the hotel and once from your S75 claim). If yes then you owe the hotel £198.

m0bov

Don't reply to the letter! Only a valid court or solicitors letter. Its not even an LBA, so trying it on. Just ignore.

paul_selby77

Sorry Doam , i did not make it clear ! no , just refunded the once , and the refund is marked "mydispute £198" , this is above the original payment to the hotel on my statement .

baza52

why not pay them for the night they stayed?

paul_selby77

I did offer to pay 50% , this offer was emailed to the Hotel`s manageress , the regional manager and also chairmans PA - non of whom could be bothered to reply which is why i went down the section 75 route.