not up to standard
So, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I spent a lovely weekend last month in Los Angeles. I have to say, there was NOTHING about that weekend that wasn’t fantabulous, including the hotel.
Or, at least I thought.
About a week ago, I was paying the bills for the month of June. I had placed the hotel room charges on my credit card, then had the ladies pay me after the fact. I knew my bill was going to be higher than usual, but I had the funds to pay for it. No biggie. BUT, while looking through my charges, I noticed the Standard Hotel had charged me an extra $300 on top of the two room charges. Um, hello? WTF?
I called the hotel immediately and spoke with the assistant general manager. He mentioned something about damage to a sink in one of the rooms. He told me he would have his GM call me with more details. (He also said he sent an email to me the day of the “incident”, but I have no record, even in my spam folder, of this correspondence.)
DAMAGE?
to a HOTEL ROOM?
US?
please.
So, later that day, I was able to talk to the GM and get more specifics. He said the following,
“We had to replace the sink. It had either hair dye or ink stained into the sink and was unable to be removed. Therefore, while replacing the sink, we could not rent out the room. That is why we charged you $300.”
um, ok. Where do I START here? I call bullshit.
We were such lovely tenants. We placed all of our bottles neatly in the trash can before leaving. The beds were made. No beauty school dropout renditions were performed and no graffitti on linoleum took place. We weren’t even there AWAKE for more than 20 minutes the ENTIRE stay.
********
Currently, I have gone back and forth with the GM and the assistant asking for pictures. I have explained to them that we spent A LOT of money at the hotel with dinner, drinks and breakfast the next morning. The assistant gave me the impression that a refund could happen, but he also told me he would send me the photos, and I haven’t received any in 2 days.
I’m stumped and have little to no time to worry about this. Word to the wise, BE CAREFUL when you leave your hotel room. Take some photos, even. You never know when you might need them as evidence!
e
8 Comments »
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This still makes me angry. If there was a stain, it was likely there before you and I stayed in that room. I’m here for back-up, as we spent *maybe* 8 hours total in that room, 7 of those hours sleeping.
Also???? A f**king phone call would have been nice!! “Hello Miss Mel, we noticed a stain in your sink and we’ll need to charge you for it.” That way, the issue could be addressed immediately, not a month later when the credit card came due.
Lesson learned — upon check-in, inspect your room and call down to the front desk if there is anything wrong with it. Just like when you rent a car!!
Comment by LVGurl — June 23, 2009 @ 10:08 am
One other thing…. if The Standard cannot prove there was a stain, it’s a slam dunk. You demand your money back, no delays!
Comment by LVGurl — June 23, 2009 @ 10:14 am
What a freaking joke. I imagine you ladies really just spent the entire weekend in your room dying hair and painting nails, no? Their lack of timely correspondence makes me think something is definitely up. Call the cc company and dispute the charge. If they can’t prove it was you guys, they shouldn’t be able to charge you.
What a pain in the ass!
Comment by andrea — June 23, 2009 @ 12:44 pm
This makes me angry just hearing the story. I’m positive you guys wouldn’t have done anything that would have “damaged” the room in any way. I’m sure it’s just unethical people that figured they could use a group of women as a pawn to get more money somehow.
Dispute the charges if they don’t provide “proof”.
And now I’m scared about hotel rooms… I feel I need to document things with photos when I check in!
Comment by Jill - GlossyVeneer — June 23, 2009 @ 12:57 pm
are you kidding me? I am so embarrassed for my hometown. And $300 for a sink, eh. Bah. A $300 sink shouldn’t stain.
Comment by this new place — June 24, 2009 @ 5:26 am
Um, I think I would be calling Bullshit too! Now is there a way you can contact your credit card and have them reverse that charge? Or would it be covered under travel insurance of your card? Not that you should be charged it anyway, but if they don’t remove it then perhaps there is another way to get your money refunded. I don’t know, but it sure sounds fishy to me. Nice what they think they can do to out of towners eh?
Comment by BeachMama — June 25, 2009 @ 4:38 pm
What?! That is totally ridiculous. Yeah, I’d insist on photos within a certain time frame or I’d sue. Unbelievable.
Comment by Amanda — June 29, 2009 @ 11:05 am
i’d ask my credit card company to reverse the charge due to uncaptured proof. that you didn’t authorize the charge, etc.
it’s worked for me before.
Comment by gorillabuns — June 29, 2009 @ 11:40 am