I have experienced an incident where a third party that works with hotels to secure a discounted rate for the customer and a hotel charged me twice for staying in the hotel. The first time I was charged for the hotel occurred a week after I stayed in the hotel. There were several problems with the room, yet due to no other available rooms, I could not be moved to a different room. I said that was fine and a discount for the room was promised to me. The third party company does not guaranteed a set price for the hotel. The customer finds out the price afterwards. However, in the contract with the customer, it does not say that the third party and the hotel can bill the customer a second time for services in the future. Yet, this is what happened to me. It was a charge that I did not authorize. Therefore, I feel that the charge was illegal.
When I checked my bank account balance in June 2015, I had a $100 charge taken out. It was for the hotel stay eight months prior for the same hotel that I was already billed for once. From that point, resolving the conflict proved difficult. The third party and the hotel both blamed each other. I asked for my money to be refunded to me. The hotel manager said that when new management took over, they realized that there was an error committed by old management. I was not charged properly the first time. Therefore, they billed me again, which was an unauthorized charge. The third party hotel said that the hotel has up to 11 months to bill them. Yet, regardless of how long the hotel has to submit billing, after the initial charge, it is still considered an unauthorized charge .
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I asked that either the third party or the hotel refund my money. They would not budge, sticking to their story that they had the legal right to do it. I was also informed by the third party company that they had contacted me about not being charged enough for the hotel, which was untrue. I received no e-mail, phone call, or letter informing me that I was going to be charged again for the hotel stay. When I informed the hotel and the third party that something was wrong with the room and I was promised a discount, they said that they had no record of any room problems and that no notes were listed on the documentation .
After not getting anywhere, both companies refusing to refund my money, I filed a complaint against both companies through the Better Business Bureau (BBB). The hotel then stated that they did find some old notes that stated that several rooms were available for that week-end. Yet, the hotel still could not find any evidence of the problems with my room. Finally, the hotel told me that they would give me back $50 if I removed the complaint from the BBB website. However, when I called the BBB, I was informed that removing a complaint from the website was not possible. Therefore, that was not a viable option for me
The hotel refused to issue a partial or full refund, so I ended up filing a dispute with my bank, in protest of the unauthorized charge on my bank account. I had most of the money restored to my bank account as a temporary credit. However, it is inconvenient and the charge can still come back if both companies refuse to give the bank money, which could still happen. I had to shut down my bank card, get a new one, and fill out much paperwork and documentation to dispute these charges.
If the case is processed through the court system, it would be a small claims court case. I feel that my option includes focusing on the fact that it is an unauthorized charge, versus the fact that the hotel keeps stating that I was not billed correctly. In any product or service that is sold, it is not ethical for a customer to be billed more than once for a service if the service has already been paid for, regardless of any error that a company may make. That is their mistake and their loss, especially in cases where the actual price of a service cannot be given in advance.
I do plan on using my Legal Service to handle this situation if the temporary bank credit is taken away, due to the fact that the hotel will not refund the charges. According to the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, a business must give a consumer enough notice of the charge that one wants the customer to incur . This is evident in the passage of “Regardless of the age or amount of your debt, the decision to authorize payments must be yours alone. A copy of your written consent must be given to you by the party obtaining it (i.e. the debt collectors). Either the financial institution or the debt collectors must notify you of the amount of the transfer and scheduled date at least ten days in advance of said date” .
The benefit of litigation is that my legal service would handle everything, which would make things easier. Yet, there is a cost to file the case. However, I would also have the right to sue for additional compensation, such as time that was lost trying to reclaim the money or whatever other damages that my attorney sees fit. The benefit is that it could set a precedent for any other individuals who have a future problem with the third party service or the hotel.
However, I would accept an alternative dispute resolution. A feasible solution is that the hotel would return half of the money to me and give a hotel credit for the other half of the money that was taken from my bank account the second time without my authorization. Another alternative resolution is that I get two free nights from the hotel, along with another complementary service, such as a spa, discounted car rental or a meal in the hotel restaurant.
- BBB Business Review. (2015). Retrieved from Better Business Bureau Web site : http://www.bbb.org/wichita/business-reviews/hotels-reservations/clc-lodging-in-wichita-ks-10983/complaints
- Electronic funds transfer act. (2015). Retrieved from Debt.org Web site: https://www.debt.org/credit/your-consumer-rights/electronic-fund-transfer-act/
- Irby, L. (2015). What to do about unauthorized credit card charges. Retrieved from About Web site : http://credit.about.com/od/creditcarddilemmas/qt/What-To-Do-About-Unauthorized-Credit-Card-Charges.htm
- Your rights as a consumer. (2010, September ). Retrieved from Consumer Reports Web site : http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2010/09/your-rights-as-a-consumer/index.htm
