The Hotel withdrew £120 from our card after we left for body wash and cream already in the room!

krissy08

My partner booked two rooms for a 4 night stay at this hotel . Our first surprise was the free breakfast that came with our room order did not come with eggs, sausages, beans, or mushrooms- all those are extras . The staff looked terrified and repeatedly ask you your room number even though you are checked in on arrival, all adding to the less than 5* feel.
We had the kids in one room and us in another. We thought it was nice to not bother the cleaning staff during our stay and primarily didn't want any COVID exposure basically cleaned up ourselves as much as we could during our stay. We we're quite disappointed by the state of the rooms- general state (I took photos)- dead plants on display- dirty table and cups but we aren't the type to moan so we just carried on good thing I took photos. Imagine our surprise, a week after we checked out to find the hotel had deducted £120 for body wash and creams - items already available in the bathroom !!! Items items used for bubble baths and to wipe down the rooms during our stay .It was not in the terms and conditions of which we had a photo at booking, that soaps in the bathrooms were chargeable and definitely not the cost of any item -just a random withdrawal. 

Now I remember that during our stay- at the desk I heard one lady member of staff ask another-a guy-speaking about a guest who had left- how much should I charge on the card for the bedsheet issue- My partner and I wondered to ourselves- do they just make the charges up and wouldn't they contact the individual?
We have now found out the hard way-Obviously they do- I am now fighting the charges and have only been told to expect a call back. I know they can charge back on cards but have never heard of a charge for soap and cream and cannot find anything in their terms and conditions which I kept. How do I fight these charges off a debit card please.  Thank you as always

DCFC79

krissy08 said:

My partner booked two rooms for a 4 night stay at this hotel . Our first surprise was the free breakfast that came with our room order did not come with eggs, sausages, beans, or mushrooms- all those are extras . The staff looked terrified and repeatedly ask you your room number even though you are checked in on arrival, all adding to the less than 5* feel.
We had the kids in one room and us in another. We thought it was nice to not bother the cleaning staff during our stay and primarily didn't want any COVID exposure basically cleaned up ourselves as much as we could during our stay. We we're quite disappointed by the state of the rooms- general state (I took photos)- dead plants on display- dirty table and cups but we aren't the type to moan so we just carried on good thing I took photos. Imagine our surprise, a week after we checked out to find the hotel had deducted £120 for body wash and creams - items already available in the bathroom !!! Items items used for bubble baths and to wipe down the rooms during our stay .It was not in the terms and conditions of which we had a photo at booking, that soaps in the bathrooms were chargeable and definitely not the cost of any item -just a random withdrawal. 

Now I remember that during our stay- at the desk I heard one lady member of staff ask another-a guy-speaking about a guest who had left- how much should I charge on the card for the bedsheet issue- My partner and I wondered to ourselves- do they just make the charges up and wouldn't they contact the individual?
We have now found out the hard way-Obviously they do- I am now fighting the charges and have only been told to expect a call back. I know they can charge back on cards but have never heard of a charge for soap and cream and cannot find anything in their terms and conditions which I kept. How do I fight these charges off a debit card please.  Thank you as always

You tried speaking to your bank ?

send a lba for the money to be returned.

comeandgo

Did you take the toiletries home with you?  I have heard of hotels charging for taking the full size toiletries home but never for using them.

MalMonroe

Hotels can't charge you for anything they haven't mentioned will be chargeable. That's just plain theft. And besides, we have Consumer rights in this country!

I'd also ask them about the free breakfast that was supposed to be provided too.

You say the accommodation wasn't really satisfactory but "we aren't the type to moan" - but you should be! You were paying to stay there and didn't receive the quality you deserved. Don't let yourselves be ripped off.

Tell the hotel that you want your money back as they have taken £120 which has not been authorised by you. There's a link here to a recently published article about how to use chargeback from a debit card from this very site. 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/visa-mastercard-chargeback/

MalMonroe

comeandgo said:

Did you take the toiletries home with you?  I have heard of hotels charging for taking the full size toiletries home but never for using them.

I've never heard of such a thing, nor have I ever been charged for such things by any hotel I've ever stayed in. I would never expect to be charged, nor would I pay and I've stayed in many hotels, both here and overseas. 

missile

Charge back on your credit card?

krissy08

Thank you for all your replies.

We tossed away some of the containers definitely so they weren't in the room- and like MalMonroe said- I never even gave it a thought.

I paid with a debit card -and I didn't see anything in the terms and conditions about soap being chargeable. This has definitely taught me for the future. I got notification yesterday so will be complaining to my bank tomorrow as well.

krissy08

I will be notifying them and looking into chargeback asap

comeandgo

MalMonroe said:

comeandgo said:

Did you take the toiletries home with you?  I have heard of hotels charging for taking the full size toiletries home but never for using them.

I've never heard of such a thing, nor have I ever been charged for such things by any hotel I've ever stayed in. I would never expect to be charged, nor would I pay and I've stayed in many hotels, both here and overseas. 

I also stay in many hotels and some have full size jo malone or Elemis toiletries for use but not to take away, unlike the small sample sizes, and I’ve never been charged as I don’t steal things from hotels.

Dymphna60

Is there anything in the terms and conditions that say you can’t take the toiletries with you ? 

Then I wouldn’t think they can charge you ? 

I know you didn’t, you used them to clean your showers and toilets and threw the containers away . Not in the bin in the hotel room ? 

@MalMonroe we must have stayed at very different hotels I have never yet stayed at a spa type hotel that doesn’t say something along the lines of a full range of our luxury products are available online or from reception. 

The not so subtle subtext don’t nick them . 

cymruchris

I would expect the little complimentary sizes to be free (around 15-30ml) but full size bottles I might wonder before assuming they were free. I'd ask the hotel as to where it said these were chargeable to find out at what stage, and how they would inform their guests. Based on the reply and your experience, I would then formulate a complaint accordingly. (So if they said 'There's a big sign in every bathroom next to the product showing the price list' and there wasn't one, you'd have grounds to complain and get your money refunded.