cjtibbett

I stayed at the ibis Dakar at the beginning of June 2013 on two occasions (once at beginning and once at end of trip), both times through the Accor website directly on a prepaid rate.

On the first trip the money was debited right away from my Amex. However, the second stay did not get debited. I did not notice with the other charges of the trip.

However, in January 2014 the charge was added to my card; more than 6 months later. It strikes me as slightly bad form on their part, as they didn't bother to collect money for over half a year then debit my card with the entire amount with no warning or apology.

Do you think this is acceptable behaviour?

Thanks

IMH

No, clearly not. That said, these things do happen when businesses balance their books at year end -- I recently received an unexpected cheque because a deposit I'd paid for a vehicle hadn't been correctly applied to my account.

There's not much you can or should do about it unless it's actually cost you money, though. That might happen if this kind of correction caused a guest to miss a deadline for claiming expenses, or made it necessary to submit a revised tax return, or caused an account linked to a debit card to go into the red. In that case I'd certainly ask Accor to cover the consequences of their accounting error.

OverThereTooMuch

Acceptable, yes. Desirable, no.

danielonn

What if the exchange rate changed and you paid a higher rate? Accor should refund you the difference and even offer to discount the room rate? One question I had is if you cannot cash a check after three months can you dispute a charge with your credit card company for someone charging the room 6 months later?

What if I called up the Credit Card company and said"Why am I seeing this charge from XXX Hotel". I would then dispute it because while the hotel made a mistake by not charging your card the consumer booked the room and pre-paid in good faith. This late charge should come out of the errors and omissions insurance policy of the hotel and not penalize the customer.

Isn't there a rule with the credit card company about how long the merchant has to charge the customer? Let's say I booked a First Class ticket today wasn't charged until a year later but I can't afford to pay off the account a year later due to extenuating circumstances. If the merchant only realized six months to a year later who is to say the customer can pay their credit card statement. I can see a charge appearing a month later but not more than that.

With the Exchange rates changing you could end up paying more especially in Europe.

danielonn

Acceptable no, desirable no. I would dispute the charge with your credit card company. What if this extra charge put you over your monthly spending limit? What if the exchange rate changed and you end up paying more as a result? I would call the Manager of the Hotel and tell him to cough up the price and let his Errors and Omissions Insurance take over.

It's like if a Travel Agent booked you on a flight and forgot to protect you on a flight and now you arrive at the airport and First Class is only available. Well the travel agent would be responsible to pay the difference and any additional costs be it an extra night at a hotel etc.

Same goes here while its unfortunate the hotel did not charge you for six months it should not be the fault of the customer who booked in good faith. I hope you have a copy of the reservation and call up the Credit Card company to dispute it.

Please update us on what comes out of it. Either way the Federal Trade Commission states"If a company sent you more than one item in the mail you are not obligated to return the items but you could contact them and tell them you got an unsolicited extra book". I have done this when American Express sent me an unsolicited book and tried to charge me for it. I disputed the charge and told them about the FTC rule and I kept the book especially they wanted to charge me for returning the book and I was leaving on an international trip. I did not even order the book.

3544quebec

I am clearly quite simple as I have no idea how most of this post is in any way relevant to the matter being discussed. Extra books ? Unsolicited books? First class airline seats? Travel agents? Someone please explain.

danielonn

Sorry if I confused you it was not my intention. What I wanted to say is that you as the consumer have rights and if a company does not follow through with their policies in terms of charging you in an expeditious manner you as the consumer have the right to question and dispute the charge.

Often1

What happened when you called them when the charge didn't post right after your stay? Or, when it didn't post did you just figure that you'd got away with it?

For all the parade of horribles other list, how were you actually harmed in your particular situation? Did the late charge put you over your credit limit?

IMH

You're making the same assumption I did in my initial reply above, Often1: that it's reasonable to pay for things we order and consume.

In fairness to the OP, he/she just asked for our thoughts on the (very) late charge. It's other posters who have taken this into "get away with anything you can" territory.

Bottom line: if the hotel's error has cost the OP money, and if OP can honestly say that he/she wasn't aware that the charge was outstanding, then I'd expect the hotel or Accor to accept their share of the blame.

InHere

It wasn't as long as your example, but I have had a cottage in the marigny in N.O. initially put a hold on my card for a 2 night stay but apparently they didn't charge me at the conclusion of the stay and the hold was released without me realizing it. They finally charged me 3 months later and when I saw it I was upset because I remembered them taking the money months ago. I called them and they cleared it up that I wasn't actually charged back then, but I was still a little upset. I think it is a very poor practice to charge someone's card months later without at least notifying him or her. Like others have said an unexpected charge could cause someone adittional fees or cause a person to miss a reimbursement deadline. Also I have lost cards or closed accounts in my life, what would have happened if that card was canceled or the account was closed by the time they tried to charge me? Could I have gotten in trouble?

danielonn

InHere if you the customer closed your account and all obligations have been met you would not get into trouble fro a merchant who charged you months after your account closed.

I think a good question for all of us to ask our credit card companies is what is the maximum time a merchant has to post a charge to the account if they forgot to charge the account after the hold released from the account. If the answer is 4 months and you see a charge from 6 months ago I would talk with your credit card provider and tell them about the late charge from the hotel.

For instance a check has a three month validity so a credit card should be the same for when a merchant can charge a card.

For instance if I go to a supermarket and the cashier did not ring me up for the milk can the store call me back and say "Oops we forgot to charge you for the milk can you come back". No this is very unlikely to happen because once you left the premise with the intention to pay for everything and an item was left off the receipt you are not obligated to pay for it. Now an honest person may make the manager aware of the mistake but in the end it comes out of the cashier's paycheck for the mistake.

The same should go for a hotel. If a manager or reservations agent forgot to charge for the stay they should be responsible for compensating the hotel. Why penalize a good customer who had every intention of paying their room and had a valid credit card at the time of checkin with sufficient funds.

Now if a customer mistakenly took a towel then the hotel has every right to charge the customer or work with the customer to return their property.

But in this case why is the customer made to look like a criminal? There is a statue of limitations in the court for a reason and after the statue of limitations is over criminal charges for the incident cannot be brought on.

If there is a Statue of Limitations for credit card charges and the hotel tried to charge the customer after the SOL then the hotel is out of luck.

OP please find out the policies of your credit card before agreeing to pay the bill.

Please keep us posted.

cjtibbett

After seeking clarification with my credit card company, it turns out that the hotel had 6 months in which to bill the card. They were after this time period.

My credit card provider (who incidentally could show many companies how do do customer service) wrote to Accor, who were given 6 weeks to respond. I was informed that Accor never bothered to respond, so the money was credited to my account.

IMH

Thanks for following up to let us know how this went, cjtibbett, and congratulations on the positive outcome. I would probably have accepted the charge, as my initial reply above indicated, but that would have been a mistake.