I have stayed in three ramada's and I consider myself and idiot for having to stay 3 times until I figured out that its a terrible terrible idea.

Ramada's have very lax franchise standards, I'd rather stay in about any other hotel

Whine whine whine. It's his own fault for needing sleep.

Quit wasting the money you waste on a hotel, pajamas, beds and all that and stop sleeping.

It amazes me that this day in age, people still waste their time and an entire room of their house to something as trivial as sleeping.

Why would you wait that long and not contact your bank? Can you say charge back with me?

Also...Ramada is owned by Wyndham...

CEO's email appears to be stephendotholmesatwyndhamworldwidedotcom if the namedotlastname format follows.

If nothing else, someone might forward this to their media relations director - alysondotjohnsonatwyndhamworldwidedotcom.

@Smashville: Scratch that...if Google is correct, it appears to be stevedotholmes...and the office phone number is (973)753-6103.

Email them one last time with a copy of a letter you plan to send by Certified mail to:

The BBB
Ramada HQ
Your (or their) States AG Consumer Fraud department
Them

Tel them they have 48 hours from the sending of your email to remeidiate the situation. If the 48 hour pass send the letters.

I've used this to get more than one establishment to make good on their commitments

@Smashville: BINGO!!!!

Also: I make my own hotels at home.

If this is a credit card (and it seems to be), initiate a chargeback ASAP, if the deadline to do so has not already passed. I'm all for giving the business a chance to straighten it out before going the chargeback route, but after 2 months, it's time to stick it to them.

@katstermonster: That's nothing...since I don't sleep, I rent my bed out at night to transients AND charge them a hidden "not beating you with a sock of quarters" fee.

I am so confused by the beginning of his story.

He booked reservations online in advance with his CC.
They show up to claim the reservations, and after a hassle, the girlfriend pays in cash (and he gives them his CC info).
They stay an extra night.
He gets charged for a night.

Did I miss something?

@JustinSane07: "So the weekend goes great, my girlfriend pays for the three nights (we stayed an extra night since the hotel is so nice) we stayed in cash and all is well."

The girlfriend paid for the extra night as well.

Tony's faith in the basic goodness of big business employees is quaint but naive. He should have threatened a chargeback the first time he called, and he should have carried it out long ago. I don't know if there's a statute of limitations on chargebacks but it sounds like Ramada is trying to drag things out so it will be too late for Tony to do anything about the problem.

@JustinSane07: Actually, I'm confused, too.

It looks like he paid in advance...and for some reason his girlfriend pay a second time in cash?

@undefined: @Smashville: Best hidden fee ever.

@katstermonster: Clearly someone got double charged...but the confusing part is the beginning...if he already paid for the room (he mentions the debit from his bank account and a receipt for it), why did his girlfriend still pay for the two nights that he had already paid for?

You're making no progress with the hotel - do a chargeback on your credit card. Most cards have a time limit (30,60, or 90 days) so do it quick.

They will send you a form to explain. Summarize what happens and have all your ducks in a row and provide relevant forms.

Don't overexplain like you do here, give a summary, "After repeated attempts to resolve issue with ****, no refund was given and I am no longer able to contact the person. The person did promise a refund would be given but none has arrived." Something like that.

* Chargeback
* You don't HAVE to always be "nice" when you're being jerked around
* I would never pay for a hotel stay in cash... he should probably have paid with his CC and let his girlfriend pay him the cash directly.

@TakingItSeriously: I disagree, as this allows them to continue their terrible CS with no real penalty. I think he should cc them in on the letter at the same time he sends it to those others you mentioned.

Hopefully he has a cash receipt for his payment. I didn't see mention of it in his article. Chargeback the charge on the credit card. They'll request proof. Provide receipt indicating it was paid in cash.

Confused - 3 night stay on May 22, but charged on June 9? I'd quit messing with Donna Marie and do a chargeback - you're closely approaching 60 days since the charge.

@vladthepaler: I don't think threats are helpful. The chargeback is a good idea, but in my experience a threat results in nothing more than an immediate and complete breakdown in communications.

@Smashville: Huh...you're right. Now I'm confused as well. I thought he only put in the CC number to reserve the room, but he definitely paid for something...weird.

@Smashville: My guess? Either it was a deposit or a pay-when-booking discount rate, which got refunded when payment for the stay was made. And then the hotel charged him again.

What's standard for hotel reservations is that you enter in all the information about your stay, and it spits out a quote. You reserve the room for that time, and you get a receipt. Even though they have your credit card information, you don't actually pay until you get there, stay, and check out. At least, this has been my experience.

I don't understand why the OP says he has a receipt for payment. He shouldn't have been charged anything for making a reservation, especially because people cancel reservations before their trip, all the time.

How did the OP pay for a hotel room before he even stayed in it?

If there was evidence within his bank account that the funds had been withdrawn, or that he had, in fact, been charged for the room - that's proof there was a reservation, no?

Did Ramada not send a confirmation or a welcome email of any kind? I know whenever I reserve anything, from a rental car to a box truck, the company sends me a confirmation email with all the information on it.

@floraposte: Good call, that seems to make sense.

@katstermonster: I do that too, but I only place them on properties where I already have four houses. It's just more efficient.

Is there no penalty for crap like this other then, "I'm sorry, we will resolve your issue in the next few weeks, unless we forget"?
I just received my $87.99 Sprint overcharge for the new palm Pre. I'm told the amount will be credited to my account in 2 to 3 billing cycles. The payment has to go out today, and I only have $350 of the $400 they are asking for. I do love the phone.

@JustinSane07: Glad I'm not the only one having a problem. My brain kind of hurts from trying to read the story.

I think someone with the same name as his girlfriend had a reservation the previous weekend and for some reason that stay was credited to his card? And maybe they paid in cash and got charged? I think Donnie & Marie and possibly the Mormon church are also somehow involved.

Honestly... this thing reads like like a Tolstoy novel, only wordier.

@takes_so_little: It's overkill on the first call, I agree. But the OP went above and beyond what he should have. After the first half dozen tries at getting in touch with the manager, though, I would have said something to the effect of, "I've been patient and diligent in giving you the opportunity to resolve this issue. If I don't hear from someone within 48 hours, I will be issuing a chargeback."

@dcarrington01: BINGO!

@floraposte: My guess at what happened. To reserve the room rate, you needed to provide a credit card number ho "hold" the room. When the OP wanted to pay in cash, they took an imprint of his CC for any "incedentals" (or in case he trashed the room). If you don't charge anything to your room, or use any paid services, they never touch your CC.

I think that the fact that the local franchise goofed up the reservation dates may have been a contributing factor. If you book a reservation and don't cancel by 4 or 6pm (or 24 hrs in advance for really discounted rates), they will charge you 1 night's stay as a "no show". When they thought he was coming a week earlier and never showed up, they charged his card...although there was that mystery guest that signed into his room.

Screw it, I am confused. This story has inspired me to say I LOVE YOU BETH COOPER !!!!

@pecan 3.14159265: I'm generally traveling on various discounted rates, which require payment at time of booking. Since he mentions a "special discount," I'm thinking that may be the situation for him as well.

@Rachacha: He got charged up front for the room when he reserved. Lost of places do this, especially discount travel websites.

When he arrived, Ramada couldn't find the reservation. So they got a room anyway and his girlfriend paid cash. Since she paid cash, there should be no charges on his card.

He got one charge refunded but not the other.

@vladthepaler: I feel really dumb for saying this, but I agree. Normally, I am all about being polite and often say that being rude gets you nowhere, but this situation seems different because Donna Jo is directly responsible for reversing the charges and she is seemingly personally dragging her feet. She isn't just a random poor CSR on the phone. I think Tony needs to grow some balls. He is obviously being jerked around judging by the 'leaving at 3:30' incident. Some of his statements just seem too polite and I think she is taking advantage of that and just assuming he will go away.

It sounds like they let someone else stay the week before on his reservation and his card. He paid cash when he actually stayed there.

Someone with a similar name probably showed up. They couldn't find their reservation and finally found it for the next weekend. They weren't booked (weekend before convention) and "corrected" the reservation, never realizing that it wasn't the same person. That person signed and the hotel billed the card holding the room.

The next weekend our poster showed up and they got confused because the reservation showed for the previous weekend. The alarm bells should have gone off when the poster "was told someone checked in and out on my girlfriends name the weekend before, and signed."

Our poster was being too easy going and should have followed up right then and there. Instead they paid cash for the room for 3 nights.

@Smashville: I think the CC was used to hold the room. Your right though, something doesn't seem right.

I'm a little confused by the posting, but I'll take a stab at what happened.

My wife and I just booked a hotel room with another chain, and to get a lower rate you pay in advance so even if you don't use it, you are still paying for it. I'm wondering if he booked for the prior weekend and got charged for it. Then when he "rebooked" for the new weekend he was charged again.

@calquist: Yeah, I definitely agree. It became pretty clear pretty quickly that she had the power to fix the situation, but no intention of doing so. Once that's the case, threaten all you want (except bodily harm, ha).

@vladthepaler: @katstermonster:

Initiating a chargeback on the first call is overkill, but not on the second one. I had some undisclosed fees show up on a bill at checkout and I was told that only the manager (not there in the morning) could fix it. On the second call I initiated a chargeback and filed a complaint with the national office of the franchise. I didn't tell them I had done this, just set the complaints going - of course they never returned calls. The national franchise office had promised a response from the hotel within 3 days and they were not happy when I called back saying that I wasn't called. It was only a few dollars so the national office actually sent me a check rather than have to deal with a few more rounds of complaints.

@pecan 3.14159265: Also, the reason why hotels won't let you reserve without a credit card is because they've put a "hold" on your credit card to preserve sufficient credit to ensure your room is covered for the agreed rate for the agreed period.

I travel for business frequently and have experienced either double charges or erroneous rates about six times. Each time, I was put through voicemail and telephone hell to fix it, but it was fixed eventually.

Geez, I almost didn't have the patience to read the entire thing. Am I the only one who tries to read past all the personal details and just get to the meat of the story? Your girlfriend is 21? Ok...

In any event, a quick time line probably would've been better than ten paragraphs...

I had a similar experience when I lost my printout of the resevervation confirmation. It only happened once because I learned just how completely inept the system is when you can't back up what you say with actual reservation numbers and proof of the exact information you gave when you booked.

Given the number of times I've been told that I'd booked a smoking room, or that I'd only booked two nights, or that I hadn't booked at all, I've come to the conclusion that hotels routinely overbook the desireable rooms and then try to tell the people who show up after "their" room is gone that the mistake is with the booking information.

It's ridiculous that you have to act like you're conducting a trial in order to get what you had already booked in an exhaustively detailed computer program, but it's necessary these days. (this is why I try to always do this online where I can always have a printout of what I booked, and I don't have to rely on my own notes of a telephone conversation.)

The crew of CSI:Miami once had all of their credit card numbers stolen by a Key Largo hotel. Don't they know that the producers and writers are REAL CSI cops? Stupid.

The desk clerk, or the manager who closed out that shift's cash drawer, probably pocketed the cash and billed the card to cover the theft.

Whatever happened, thanks to Consumerist for this unspoken reminder to never use a debit card for an open-ended billing like a hotel, car rental, restaurant check w/tip, etc.

Because this is a credit card billing, he can dispute the charge and pay very little or none of the amount until this is settled. Had it been debit, his checking account would be missing the money; he's be S.O.L. until/unless Ramada actually issued the proper credit.

I'm all about nice, but if you let them walk all over you, you're just screwing yourself.

Chargeback if you can, if not, your niceness may have cost you $150.

A month ago you should have started to get pushy. When that fails, contact corporate HQ, and when that fails, small claims court.

Oh, I run like the wind when it comes to Ramada Inn.

The SeaTac franchise triple-charged my account a couple of years ago. We'd booked one-night stays just before and just after a long trip to Asia.

Used the Web reservation system, paid with credit cards, and all seemed well until we got home. I found that the franchisee had charged us for a two-night stay for somebody else ... that occurred before we even had our first single-night stay.

Had all the evidence, so I called Ramada's corporate line. Asked what the extra charges were about. "Oh, that's for the other members of your party", they reply.

"Say what?" I answered, pointing out that there was no "party", that the reservations were clear, and that the charge wasn't authorized in any way, shape or form.

"You didn't book a block of rooms?" they asked. I referred them to their own reservation site, which showed just what I'd booked: two single-night stays for two people.

"We've had a lot of trouble with that franchise," said my contact. Thankfully, the charges were reversed, but that was the very last time we stayed with Ramada Inn.

@Smashville: I just have a sign near the doorway that has small print reading, "By entering this property, you agree to let me do things to you while you sleep."

Getting refunds from motels/hotels is a bitch. Wife and I were scheduled to stay at a place few years back, ended up not going. Called the day before to cancel but forgot to get confirmation #. Sure enough we get charged as a no show. Took the wife about 2 months to straighten things out because the gal working the desk who took the original call never put through the credit. Then when the wife finally got her on the phone her reply was..."oh yeah, I heard them talking about it but I never said anything." We finally got the credit.

@Rachacha: that's what i was thinking, as a former hotel employee, it looks like a straight up 'no show' fee to me. the $30 i don't get though unless that was supposed to be for the mini fridge that they didn't get