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Two Bills, One Room And Zero Options
By Christopher Elliott, Tribune Media Services
Q: I'm stuck with a mystery hotel bill, and could use a little help
with solving it. Last summer I booked a room at the Sheraton in
downtown Duluth, Minn., through Hotwire.com. When we checked out, we
paid for our incidentals but not for the room, since we had pre-paid
for it online. But a few months later, my credit card was charged for
the hotel, too.
So here's the mystery. I contacted the Sheraton, and it says Hotwire didn't pay it for the room. Hotwire is unreachable. I have spent hours and hours trying to recover the extra $194 I had to pay. I've disputed the charges with my credit card company, but that's still pending. I'd just like to know whose fault this is. Any ideas? -- Rick Petersen, Redwood Falls, Minn.
A: I think everyone shares a little bit of the blame, but mostly Hotwire. The online agency should have paid your hotel for the room, if not at least responded to your query when you tried to contact it.
In order to understand what happened, it helps to know a little bit about Hotwire. The online agency sells discounted hotel rooms, but the tradeoff is that you don't find out the name of the property until you've paid for it. And all sales are final.
Why keep that information from you? Because a lot of these deals are at top-tier properties like the Sheraton, and they involve what's referred to in the business as "distressed" inventory -- rooms that would otherwise go unsold. Not exactly the kind of thing you want the world to know.
Under normal circumstances, you would pay Hotwire and at some point, Hotwire would pay the hotel. But that didn't happen. I checked with Hotwire, and it says it experienced an "error" with its payment system.
Here's where I think several parties should share the blame. Your credit card should have investigated this matter promptly and credited you for the second charge. I find its response to be unfortunate. You might want to consider switching cards to one that's more responsive to your needs.
Sheraton should have offered you more than the "Hotwire didn't pay us" response. That's a good start, but how about removing the charges from your credit card and taking the matter up with Hotwire? That would have been the responsible thing to do. In fact, all it needed to do is contact Hotwire's supplier support line, a direct line to its finance department, in order to obtain a new payment.
And yes, there were a few things you could have done differently. You say you spent "hours and hours" trying to resolve this, but that Hotwire was unreachable. I find that strange. Did you try phoning and emailing the company? I would have tried both. It's highly unlikely the company would have ignored an email from you. Hotwire's contact details are on this Web page.
Hotwire may be difficult to reach, in the sense that its phone agents are difficult to understand or that its email responses suggest it didn't bother reading your message, but I can't imagine a company its size is inaccessible.
I contacted Hotwire on your behalf. It got in touch with your hotel and arranged to have your second charge refunded. Hotwire also offered you a $25 credit for the inconvenience.
========
Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine. You can read more travel tips on his blog, elliott.org or e-mail him at celliott@ngs.org.
This news arrived on: 09/02/2008
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Posted Comments:
09-02-2008 13:18
Mr C Molloy wrote:
Scams
I can well understand what the buyer went through. There are by far to many companys out there willing to take toyr money but do not give the sevice.
I my self have lost £1005 to a company called We sell your Timesheres. The said thy would sell them for £5400, within 6 to 12 weeks or mke me 2 offers. If i did not exept their offers then i would loose my depoist. I told them at the very beging that i was a OAP and could only rise the money if i used my rent for my house and the rest i would have to use my credit card. Thy were so convicing that thy would sell them. I went ahead with the deal. I also had to sigh a contract for a year. The year is now well up but thy have refused to repay me. Thy say they have made two offers wich i refused, heres why. The first offer was from another comany altoughter. Their offer was. If i invested £5000 for 8yrs thy would take my timeshares of me and give me £1200 back. When i told the new company my sate off effers. thy said we can not make you this offer. WE sell your time Shares then offed to take said of my hands if i in vested more money. I reminded them i could not in vest any money as i was still in debt from are last deal. None of this made any difference to them. I have tried other ways of geting my cash back but to no avail. Mr C Molloy
I my self have lost £1005 to a company called We sell your Timesheres. The said thy would sell them for £5400, within 6 to 12 weeks or mke me 2 offers. If i did not exept their offers then i would loose my depoist. I told them at the very beging that i was a OAP and could only rise the money if i used my rent for my house and the rest i would have to use my credit card. Thy were so convicing that thy would sell them. I went ahead with the deal. I also had to sigh a contract for a year. The year is now well up but thy have refused to repay me. Thy say they have made two offers wich i refused, heres why. The first offer was from another comany altoughter. Their offer was. If i invested £5000 for 8yrs thy would take my timeshares of me and give me £1200 back. When i told the new company my sate off effers. thy said we can not make you this offer. WE sell your time Shares then offed to take said of my hands if i in vested more money. I reminded them i could not in vest any money as i was still in debt from are last deal. None of this made any difference to them. I have tried other ways of geting my cash back but to no avail. Mr C Molloy
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