Section 75 Claim - Hotel Overcharged Me!

kodiplod · 15 April 2019 at 6:25PM

Okay so this has been going on since July 2018.

I booked a hotel through Booking.com and the price was a lot cheaper than anywhere else. Stayed at the hotel and paid on checkout with my credit card to the hotel.

After leaving, I notice I was charged a lot more money by the hotel than what I was quoted by booking.com. I emailed the hotel straight away and they did promise the refund.

They never refunded me and I ended up going through my credit card and opening a section 75 claim. The hotel are refusing any liability and said that the prices are all correct and would have never of charged such a low amount (the price I found was subsequently cheaper).

AMEX have said that because it was booked through Booking.com they have to refuse the claim and cannot help.. I don't understand this as no payment was made to Booking.com.

Is there anything I can do here as its a lot of money and something I cannot afford as I should not have been charged this amount in the first place. Any help is appreciated!

comeandgo · 15 April 2019 at 6:29PM

I think the time to dispute the cost was at check out. Do you have any proof of the price you were quoted?

kodiplod · 15 April 2019 at 6:33PM

I know, however I was stupid and didn't realise until I was back home. Yeah I have proof of the booking from booking.com which shows the lower rate. Also have proof of an email from the hotel confirming they will refund me, included all of this in the dispute to AMEX.

philip1427 · 15 April 2019 at 7:01PM

Can you explain a bit more about Amex's reasons for not honouring your claim? It seems to me, that you have a good case and that you have proof to back it up?

Do you have a booking confirmation from booking.com but in this case you were to settle the fee with the hotel upon checking out? And you also have email correspondence with the hotel saying they were at fault?

Terry_Towelling · 15 April 2019 at 8:00PM

S75 simply provides you with a means of holding your CC company liable for any losses that result from a breach of contract or misrepresentation by the supplier of good/services. You may try to argue that you were quoted a price that induced you into taking the hotel room and that this was actually a misrepresentation and you wouldn't have made the booking if you'd not been misled at the beginning. The problem with that is it wasn't the supplier (the hotel) who misrepresented the cost but Booking.com.

Possibly if booking.com and the hotels they promote hold contracts to advertise prices on their behalves, it might be possible to argue that booking.com was simply a 'shop window' of the hotel and the hotel should be honouring any prices displayed by their agent. I have no idea whether any such contracts exist though.

Because you paid using Amex, I have no idea what other protections that offers you (beyond statutory S75). Visa and MasterCard have their Chargeback rules that might have helped given the documented promise of a refund by the hotel but I have no idea what Amex promises in disputes. If Amex does have some sort of Chargeback mechanism you are probably way past time to make one. If a right was available earlier on then I would be yelling at Amex for not using it when they first got hold of your dispute - especially if you provided all the relevant information at that time.

I'm not sure how you managed to miss the price problem at check-out. If you saw the amount you were accepting (which you normally do) you must have thought it was affordable (albeit not in line with what booking.com had said it would be).

If the hotel is part of a large chain you might try and escalate your complaint (with all relevant evidence) to their head office. Simultaneously, you might raise a complaint at a higher level within booking.com for effectively putting you in a tricky position and costing you more than they promised you would be - but be prepared for them to reference something in their T&Cs that gets them off the hook.

eco_warrior · 15 April 2019 at 8:03PM

This would normally be a chargeback as it’s more a billing discrepancy than breach of contract situation.

If you have paid in person at the hotel then you have agreed to the cost at the time. So I’d think you’d have no dispute rights in this instance I’m afraid.

eco_warrior · 15 April 2019 at 8:04PM

Just realised it was last year, so as TT has said it’s probably too late for a dispute.

kodiplod · 15 April 2019 at 9:10PM

AMEX are basically saying that they cannot help as booking.com are acting as a travel agent and something along the lines of "debtor, creditor, supplier" and there being no link. They have said that they can contact Booking.com to see what they say (with my written consent) but that if it was Booking.com that provided the price then it would be denied. They did provide the price but no payment was made to them.

I have already disputed the charge previously and they kept asking for evidence which I provided but they told me nothing could be done and to setup a section 75 claim.

I have contacted the hotel directly and they are refusing to reply to me and are now denying that any refund is due to me.

The amount is a lot of money and I physically cannot afford it and am getting charged £100 interest each month because of the charge. I am a little worried as I won't be able to pay this and am unsure what to do.

Ben8282 · 15 April 2019 at 9:19PM

kodiplod wrote: »

The amount is a lot of money and I physically cannot afford it and am getting charged £100 interest each month because of the charge. I am a little worried as I won't be able to pay this and am unsure what to do.

Isn't this a bit over the top?

kodiplod wrote: »

I have already disputed the charge previously and they kept asking for evidence which I provided but they told me nothing could be done and to setup a section 75 claim.
.

I very much doubt this.

There are no grounds for the s75 claim.
You should have checked your bill when checking out from the hotel. You give the impression that this was a MASSIVE overcharge so it is difficult to understand how you failed to notice.
If you have confirmation of the room rate originally quoted and, much more importantly, an e-mail from the hotel promising you a refund I don't understand why Amex are refusing a chargeback. They would normally accept the e-mail from the hotel as evidence of entitlement to refund and pursue the matter from there. Certainly they should have at least raised a chargeback and awaited a response from the hotel.
Are you sure that they overcharged the room? Are you sure that you didn't charge all sorts of things such as pruchases in the hotel nightclub to your room account?

Terry_Towelling · 15 April 2019 at 9:34PM

I'm not sure the D-C-S chain is an issue here because booking.com never took your money (as you have said). They just advertised a price and reserved the room for you. All payment-related stuff was done direct with the hotel, so I think Amex's reasoning is wrong there.

That's not to say there is a S75 claim, just that Amex's reasons for refusing you are possibly not right.

I still don't understand how you managed to miss the higher charge at check-out - if it really is that big a discrepancy, shouldn't it have been obvious then? Sorry, I know that's not helpful.

Now, are you sure the higher price is all down to the room rate? Do booking.com prices include VAT, meals, extras etc, or just the room rate? If the £100 per month interest is all down to this hotel stay it must have been a massive bill.

And finally, has this got any connection to your other dispute involving hotels.com and a price match promise from around the same time last year? Is there more information that needs to be aired for us to fully understand what's happened and why - and more importantly - whether there is any remedy available to you?

kodiplod · 15 April 2019 at 10:57PM

Everything was included in the total price apart from any additional extras at the hotel, the only thing was a bottle of water which was £7.

No there is no relation to this and the hotels.com charge.

I did not notice the charge as it was my wife who actually used my card to pay etc but even so she would’ve told me if anything was off.

According to Amex, the hotel also said they emailed me asking for proof and that I haven’t responded which again is a complete lie.

I have a screen grab of the receipt/order confirmation with booking.com showing the price I was quoted and I also have an email from the hotel manager saying that they are sorting the refund.

Perhaps there was a misprice somewhere along the lines as the hotel prices are a lot more than what I was quoted. The hotel are refusing to accept any blame but all I have done is booked a room at a price I expected to pay and be charged a lot more!

Section 75 Claim - Hotel Overcharged Me!

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