Hotel mistake, wibu to tell them I'll correct it after Christmas?

[Sanshin]

Recently went to Vietnam on holiday. Stayed in a 3 star hotel for 3 days at a cost of £90. Lovely hotel, lovely staff.

Whilst there we booked a trip organised by the hotel at a cost of $100.

When we checked out they forgot to charge us for the trip and we never realised as we were rushing around so just settled the bill they presented to us.

A week later I receive a friend request on Facebook from a lady who worked at the hotel. I accepted and she sent a message saying that whilst we were at the hotel we booked a trip that they forgot to charge us for. She goes on to ask if we will now pay for it because if we don't, the staff have to pay for it themselves. It was very polite but almost pleading. I felt really guilty as I know $100 is a hell of a lot of money to these people so I replied straight away and said of course we will pay.

I spoke to DH on the night who wasn't happy because we will now how to pay a currency conversion fee but agreed we would pay. Then as we have been so busy since we got back we forgot.

So she sends another message asking if we can pay now and if we send her the card details we can pay like that. I meant to speak to DH about it again but he's working long hours at the minute and I keep meaning to mention it but when he's here I keep forgetting!

Anyway yesterday she sent another message. However now we can't really afford to pay it until after Christmas. We have £500 left to last us until after Christmas and that $100 will leave us skint. If they'd charged us at the time it wouldn't have been a problem!

As it was there mistake wibu to tell them I'll pay after Christmas?

Can't believe the amount of people who aren't immediately thinking this is a fucking scam!
Who gives their card details to anyone over Facebook? Open your eyes people

This could be a thief, who actively steals from both the hotel (by not putting charges on customers bills) and customers (by later asking for the money (I say that this is targeted fraud)

I agree with AcademicOwl. It's nothing to do with someone being 'brown' - which is a very unpleasant way to describe people btw. I have known many white British people to do this in the places I've worked in hospitality, retail and journalism - and anywhere else that you can fudge payments.

One of these people almost got me the sack along with him because we were both responsible for payments in that department because he was scamming and I was very honest and utterly naive. I survived but I know that the company thought I was guilty but that they just didn't have enough evidence to sack me too. His penalty was dismissal, not criminal charges. He has had several jobs since where I'm sure he's still doing it.

I don't think it's racism on the part of the OP but I do think it's patronising of some pp to assume people in the 'brown' parts of the world aren't inventive enough as white people to steal money from their employers and their customers.

We're all the same under the skin. Some of us steal; some of us don't. Some of us are naive

It sounds like a scam to me too. Although, clearly, you do owe for the trip. Wait and see if you get a proper invoice from the hotel. I'd also check the email address is the same as the hotel used to arrange your trip. If you do pay, pay by CC not DC. Then you have some come back if it is a scam.

My bet is that you won't hear any more.

Still no invoice!

I've lived in Vietnam, am currently split living between the UK and
Singapore and have a lot of experience of SE Asia and similar countries.

I don't think that we can judge by Western standards, the way that the @Sanshin was contacted. It's much more common over here to use what we would call informal methods.

I wouldn't trust an invoice. I would ask for details to transfer the money and then check out the details of the account. Is it a business account? Does it match the hotel?

A Thai company I worked for had a lady whose sole responsibility was to authorise staff expenses. She mistakenly authorised a reimbursement when $1,500 shouldn't have been paid. She would have been entirely liable for the money (about 8 months salary).

I think you are being unfair OP. You're trying to make this difficult for some poor person who is likely losing sleep over what's a fairly small amount of money.

Just don't bother paying at all! Just forget about it. All this carry on.
You shouldn't be chasing people to pay money which they forgot to charge you! It's crazy.

Well - unsurprisingly no invoice because OP hasn't contacted the hotel direct, just the Facebook woman.

Whether Facebook woman is a member of staff trying to sort it out behind the scenes or a con artist, the fact remains that OP hasn't paid for a trip she went on. Initially her question was could she defer payment until after Christmas. Now it seems she has little real intention of paying back at all.

Love the way that when someone accidentally forgets to pay for a low value item at a big conglomerate like Tesco, posters are frothing that it's theft and how OP needs to go back and pay. Whereas here for what is a very large sum of money for a non global company, meh, just forget about it.

I've been to a family-run restaurant in Spain every year for more than 20 years. It is obvious to me from one of our first visits that one of the waiters is ripping off the owners.

I like both parties but I like the waiter more. What do I do? He isn't giving me any cut of his scams though his service is second to none because he knows that we know. I've no idea whether the owners know and just tolerate him. It's not really my concern.

It reminds me of this

RaspberryRuffless Sat 09-Dec-17 09:46:30
Of course you would. You went on the trip so need to pay as soon as possible. $100 is quite a lot to not notice when paying for hotel. Surely you must have realised when you where leaving you should have paid more than what you did. Even rushing about you’d have an idea in your head what you expect the bill to be. I bet if you where overcharged by $100 you’d have noticed right away! THIS WAS MY FIRST THOUGHT, ABSOLUTELY! SO THIS MESSAGE, 100 TIMES OVER! BET YOU DIDN'T EXPECT TO EVER HEAR FROM THEM AGAIN. HUGELY CHEAP AND UNREASONABLE.

OMG! THANK YOU FOR POINTING THAT OUT

Still no invoice?
Well big deal.
You know you took the trip, you know you didn’t pay, why do you need an invoice to pay the hotel direct?
The money is owed.
Paying over Fb is insecure.
Pay the hotel.
Get this off your worry-load. Be pro active.

The trip was such a lot of money in relation to the rest of the stay I'm wondering about it. What did it involve? Must have been amazing.

It can't hurt to make sure and to settle up to the correct recipient at a reasonable period - say at 30 days. If it wasn't value for money then I'd negotiate a discount.

You mention that you didn’t notice because you were in such a rush when you were leaving. Who doesn’t check their bill at a restaurant, shop, etc? It’s ludicrous not too! The number of times I’ve been overcharged means I continue to do exactly that.
I have a feeling that you had a sneaky feeling that you hadn’t been charged, therefore didn’t look at the bill too closely.
I agree with others here though. It doesn’t sound legit for the woman to be begging you over fb for your credit card details. You would be mad to send them to her.
I find it interesting that the hotel haven’t sent you an email invoice. I’d send it again. This time to the name of the manager direct.
I definitely wouldn’t send anything to this woman. What was her involvement with the trip? Did she organise it or what exactly?
I’d make it clear that you’ll definitely send the money using a money transfer via your bank only when you receive the invoice. Keep asking for the invoice from the manager.
As for being able to afford it, pay for it using the money you would have used to buy presents to your OH and yourself. Then tighten your belts like the rest of us have to do at this time of of year.
It WBVVU not to pay the invoice promptly!!!

Who doesn’t check their bill at a restaurant, shop, etc? It’s ludicrous not too!

Like you, I always do. But unlike you, I recognise that lots of people don't. I wouldn't pay a bill that I thought was too much without a query when I received it without a query at the time. If I had the chance to look at it again, I'd also query it. It does seem like an awful lot of money in relation to the stay. Wouldn't you do that, seeing as you're as sensible over money as me?

Lots of 'querys' there. But I'm sure you get my drift.

Even if you get an invoice Sanshin, I'd still be extremely wary. If this is a scam, the person could easily fake that.

I wouldn't consider handing over my credit card details, the only way I'd pay would be a direct credit into the hotels bank account and even then it's going to be hard to know if it's actually the hotels account isn't it.

I don't think you should do anything yet, if this is genuine, I feel the hotel will write directly to you and then you can perhaps phone them to sort it out.

I'd ignore all the typical mumsnet horrifieds and indignants because you've asked if it's unreasonable paying after Christmas. I understand that you thought you'd paid in full and had you paid this at the time, you'd have adjusted what you spent after that as you'd have had less available. Now this has been sprung on you, it's going to be hard to pay before Christmas.

I doubt an operating hotel will go bankrupt because they have to wait a couple of weeks for their money and as it's their mistake and you fully intend to pay, I'd tread very carefully with how you make payment and who to.

My gut feeling is that the hotel found out and were cross and the employee has used this as an opportunity to get the payment for themselves. That may be unfair, but time will tell. No hotel would add you on Facebook and then constantly harass you, because why would they go that route when they already have your details, I think most would send a company email or write a letter if they wanted to recover funds.

I would consider reporting the incident to the authorities out there or at least the hotel in case this person is scamming and has tried this before with others.

And FWIW, we don't usually do a thorough check of the bill at checkout, if it seems roughly right, we pay and check afterwards.

ffs people are so ridiculous on here.

Frankly the hotel is at fault for not charging you, and they should contact you and ask for the money in a professional way, not via some random maybe employee via fb.

This whole pay the scammer cause you owe money even if it doesn't go to the person it is owed, is pathetic, so if I owe my brother a fiver and pay my next door neighbour, poof debt is no longer owed and my brother can chase the neighbour for the money. I have paid someone so all good.

Coming back from holiday, thinking you paid everything and spend money you have on generally living is frankly common, I wouldn't expect a £100 bill out the blue and be able to pay it... the hotel who is a t fault in my opinion should wait for it, (if its even them requesting it)

I would never pay a proper business that has my email and has contacted me via that email before, over Facebook.

The hotel is a business and should act as such. I also believe it was the hotels mistake and they should wait if need be, the op hasn’t said she isn’t going to pay but rather at the moment she would be left short over the Christmas period and honestly I would do the same. If I wasn’t charged for something and didn’t realise until a few weeks after, I would have probably spent the money so really I wouldn’t have it to give. I also think that the op is hoping she doesn’t have to pay and there is no shame in that, I’m on benefits so can’t afford a holiday like that etc but if I wasn’t charged for something I would be secretly happy and I don’t feel ashamed to say that either.

I do think though, that if you (op) are certain you want to pay but not until after Christmas you should get in touch with the hotel instead of messing about waiting on a stupid reply. If however, you are hoping not to be charged then just ignore the message and move on in the hope the hotel doesn’t email you.

I do feel that it was the hotels mistake therefore it is on them to chase up the payment.

Why can’t you directly ring the hotel up if you’ve still not received an invoice

Why should she do that? The onus is on the hotel, not her. Their cock up!

I suppose some people just have different morals.

The woman on the reception looked like Chloe Grace Moritz.

What's that got to do with anything?

Have you contacted the hotel yet?