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Hotel will not return credit card funds

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  • 09-11-2012 7:53pm
    #1
    cue
    Registered Users Posts: 564 ✭✭✭


    My OH booked a hotel over the phone. She said that she was going to pay cash but they took her credit card details for the booking. They did not say anything about taking any money off the card.
    She stayed two nights. She paid cash leaving. Then she found out that they took the price of five nights off the credit card. They said that it was hotel policy for a booking over the phone. I have been trying to get this money returned for two months. They promise that they will send out a cheque. So far, nothing.
    I am going to pursue this through the small claims courts. Are there any other avenues I should be following?


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    #2
    Procrastastudy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,224 ✭✭✭Procrastastudy


    cue wrote: »
    My OH booked a hotel over the phone. She said that she was going to pay cash but they took her credit card details for the booking. They did not say anything about taking any money off the card.
    She stayed two nights. She paid cash leaving. Then she found out that they took the price of five nights off the credit card. They said that it was hotel policy for a booking over the phone. I have been trying to get this money returned for two months. They promise that they will send out a cheque. So far, nothing.
    I am going to pursue this through the small claims courts. Are there any other avenues I should be following?

    Charge back through the bank.


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    #3
    Osborne
    Registered Users Posts: 310 ✭✭Osborne


    Have you spoke to the General Manager directly? It seems very unusual for a Hotel to take over two months to respond.

    I have a feeling the amount could have been a pre-authorisation on the credit card the funds are being held. If this is the case, the Hotel should release the amount.


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    #4
    foxinsox
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,080 ✭✭✭foxinsox


    That sounds like a very dodgy policy.

    Who have you been dealing with at the hotel?

    If you have already been dealing with the Manager. I would write a letter (registered) addressed to the General Manager of the hotel.

    Outline what you have said here and include a photocopy of the receipt from when you paid for your two nights and a copy of the credit card bill.

    All they have to do is issue a refund on their credit card machine, it takes 2 seconds, they do not have to be sending you a cheque.
    If it was done as a pre-auth, I'm not sure how to release the money but I'd be pretty sure it is very simple for them to do.

    If it was me I'd have returned to that hotel already and stood there til they refunded the money back to my card.

    You shouldn't have to go to all the hassle of the small claims court with this. Hope you get it sorted soon.


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    #5
    Nonoperational
    Registered Users Posts: 7,401 ✭✭✭Nonoperational


    You booked two nights, paid for them when leaving, and they randomly took 5 nights from your credit card? That sounds completely bonkers.


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    #6
    jarvis
    Registered Users Posts: 1,497 ✭✭✭jarvis


    Charge them for interest. If it's 2 months then youve been paying interest.


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    #7
    GerardKeating
    Registered Users Posts: 7,674 ✭✭✭GerardKeating


    cue wrote: »
    My OH booked a hotel over the phone. She said that she was going to pay cash but they took her credit card details for the booking. They did not say anything about taking any money off the card.
    She stayed two nights. She paid cash leaving. Then she found out that they took the price of five nights off the credit card. They said that it was hotel policy for a booking over the phone. I have been trying to get this money returned for two months. They promise that they will send out a cheque. So far, nothing.
    I am going to pursue this through the small claims courts. Are there any other avenues I should be following?

    You might be out of time for it, but report it to your bank as an unauthorised charge and tell them for to do a chargeback.


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    #8
    cue
    Registered Users Posts: 564 ✭✭✭cue


    The bank are looking into it but it will take them 30 days before they will do a charge-back. Meanwhile I have rang them a few times and been fobbed off and lied to.
    I didn't want to go round and confront them because I know that I would lose control.
    I have sent them a solicitors letter so hopefully they will start to respond.
    Thanks for the replies.


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    #9
    TheDriver
    Registered Users Posts: 12,523 ✭✭✭✭TheDriver


    cue wrote: »
    I have sent them a solicitors letter so hopefully they will start to respond.

    why? all you need is to initiate a chargeback, you have a receipt to show you paid in cash so easy to sort. They are obviously ignorant so forcing replies make it any easier so your only wasting money on solicitors


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    #10
    GerardKeating
    Registered Users Posts: 7,674 ✭✭✭GerardKeating


    cue wrote: »
    The bank are looking into it but it will take them 30 days before they will do a charge-back. Meanwhile I have rang them a few times and been fobbed off and lied to.
    I didn't want to go round and confront them because I know that I would lose control.
    I have sent them a solicitors letter so hopefully they will start to respond.
    Thanks for the replies.

    Your bank does not have to wait 30 days, they can do a chargeback on a fraudulent transaction imeadiatily.

    If you want to do a letter to the hotel, inform then that you have reported the fraudulent transaction to your bank, and are making an appointment with the local Gardai to report the "crime".

    Might scare them, or did you try this already.


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    #11
    cue
    Registered Users Posts: 564 ✭✭✭cue


    Bank eventually did a chargeback. :D


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    #12
    kranbo
    Registered Users Posts: 174 ✭✭kranbo


    you should name and shame the hotel


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    #13
    the_syco
    Registered Users Posts: 37,302 ✭✭✭✭the_syco


    kranbo wrote: »
    you should name and shame the hotel
    Don't do this, as Boards.ie could get into trouble legally over it.


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    #14
    ScouseMouse
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,070 ✭✭✭ScouseMouse


    the_syco wrote: »
    Don't do this, as Boards.ie could get into trouble legally over it.
    Only if its not true :)


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    #15
    sandin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,594 ✭✭✭sandin


    superscouse wrote: »
    Only if its not true :)
    But on forums you only ever get one side of the story and unless you know both sides you cannot slander what could be a correct decision.

    Even a cursory look at the op asks the question "how many nights were originally booked?" - possibly it was 7 and the poster left after 2? - I'm nit saying she did, but that's the first anomaly I see and hence the reason you simply cannot name people / organisations based on one side of a dispute.


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    #16
    dudara
    Registered Users Posts: 33,518 ✭✭✭✭dudara


    kranbo wrote: »
    you should name and shame the hotel

    Please do not do this.

    dudara


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    #17
    GerardKeating
    Registered Users Posts: 7,674 ✭✭✭GerardKeating


    cue wrote: »
    Bank eventually did a chargeback. :D

    If you were in the mind to continue this, you might pursue your Bank about the delay on processing the chargeback, insist on a proper reason for the delay, and ask about any interest you might have paid on the amount.

    You might also keep an eye on your statement, when the hotel sees the chargeback, they might not remember the reason for it, and try to represent the charge.

    regards


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    #18
    Judge Weiner
    Site Banned Posts: 28 ✭Judge Weiner


    Which would start the cycle all over again. They would lose and would get chargebacked yet again.

    Merchants are fully aware of chargeback reasons. They don't appear on their statement out of the blue. There is supposed to be dialogue between the acquiring bank and the merchant.


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    #19
    Sofiztikated
    Registered Users Posts: 6,995 ✭✭✭Sofiztikated


    Can I ask was the card used a Credit card or a Debit card?

    On a Credit Card, a preauthorisation will release after 3 days.

    On a Debit Card, a preauthorisation can hold for much MUCH longer. 30 days being the minimum.

    When debit cards started surfacing more and more, we had issues, whereby we had taken a preauthorisation on a debit card, guest had paid and settled with a different method of payment. Our merchant bank released the preauth after 3 days, 33 days later the guest still could not access the funds. Our merchant bank could not see the preauth on their side, but the guests CC bank would not release the funds.

    Most banks will release a preauth if a fax is sent by the merchant requesting the release. However, on this occasion, the bank wouldn't even respond to me.


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    #20
    wyndham
    Registered Users Posts: 2,284 ✭✭✭wyndham


    Sofiztikated wrote: »
    Can I ask was the card used a Credit card or a Debit card?

    On a Credit Card, a preauthorisation will release after 3 days.

    On a Debit Card, a preauthorisation can hold for much MUCH longer. 30 days being the minimum.

    When debit cards started surfacing more and more, we had issues, whereby we had taken a preauthorisation on a debit card, guest had paid and settled with a different method of payment. Our merchant bank released the preauth after 3 days, 33 days later the guest still could not access the funds. Our merchant bank could not see the preauth on their side, but the guests CC bank would not release the funds.

    Most banks will release a preauth if a fax is sent by the merchant requesting the release. However, on this occasion, the bank wouldn't even respond to me.

    A workaround is to do a completion on the preauthorised amount for 1c using the same host ref obtained when preauthorising. Just let the client know what you are doing in advance obviously.


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