motel nightmare -- need advice
A question for someone who has more experience with motel stays than I do: if one has multiple ongoing problems during a motel stay, is one entitled to a full refund?
I did not take this room as a tourist, but because I needed a place to relax for a couple of days and get some work done on my computer. I made a reservation over the phone. I was told I could not cancel my reservation without 48 hours notice (in other words--no way to cancel it, because I was calling the day before).
When I arrived I saw construction was taking place--something I had not been informed of on the phone when I made my reservation. Not only that: I was to be lodged in a room next to the room in which construction was taking place.
I immediately asked for a different room and was told none was available.
A few things that happened:
I was told the construction would only be going on there for first day of my stay, and given a slight discount for that day: but it continued the second. Both days I was told work would stop at a certain hour, but it didn't stop at that hour.
Amenities that were supposed to be in the room when I arrived were not there, and needed to be brought in later in the afternoon.
Several things were not working properly in the room I stayed in. Maintenance needed to be brought into my room several times to fix things (toilet needed to be fixed twice.)
Then, to top everything off, on the last night of my stay I found a cockroach in the bathroom.
During the course of my stay I asked several times to change rooms and was always told no other room was available.
What bothered me most of all, is that, as can be seen from some of what I've said above, management intentionally misled me. They were shamelessly dishonest. When on the last night of my stay I had had enough, said I was very unhappy with the situation, and asked what compensation management could offer me for all I'd been through, I met with more lies, minimization of the problems, and deflection of responsibility.
My intuition told me getting a full refund from people like this would be impossible. So I requested one night free. I was told that was impossible and offered another $5 off. I declined. They called back a bit later and offered me 25%. I declined again and said I'd contact the motel owner about my problem, if they could not help me. (The lady who I had previously been told was the owner told me she was just the manager, and had no authority to make that decision, when I requested the free night!!). They said they were not going to give me the owner's number (!!). At this point I was planning to just pack my things, leave the motel, find another place to stay, and contact my credit card company upon returning home to resolve the issue. Then, not longer after, I got another -- unexpected -- call from management saying they'd refund me for one day's stay (the day they discounted, of course).
Being worn out and frazzled I accepted this, though now I wish I had just followed my impulse and left the motel. I was issued the partial refund at check-out. But now being back home and thinking it over, I think it is crazy I did not get my entire stay refunded, given all the problems I experienced, my inability to get any work done while I was there, and the unscrupulous way I was treated by management.
Is there still some way for me to get full refund at this point? If anyone who has resolved a similar situation successfully in the past could advise me, I'd appreciate it.
Last edited by velivolus; Mar 20, 2009 at 11:54 pm