Hotel has taken £800+ from my account

[interrogate2018]

I've just returned from a European break we I had a 2 nite stay in a 4 star hotel. We paid cash at the end of my stay of €300 - only you discover that upon arrival at the last when I passed over my card for the €150 security deposit 2 debits of 400+ sterling was taken from my card.

My bank have given me the authorisation codes which I have given to the hotel and they are requesting more evidence! -

I'm so angry I could cry. The lady who checked me and my friend in also tried to overcharge us on Sunday by adding an extra 200 to our bill making it 500 only we challenged her - her response was that English was not her first language so sorry for mistake.

Even if the give me the money back it takes 10 working days - 😢

can i ask, is anyone on here able to advise me on the best way to complain - i keep thinking that if someone else had had this happen to them, someone that couldn't turn to their parents etc how much worse it would be for them! - its awful really and truly
the hotel were a disaster to deal with from start to finish, from the lady on reception who at best is incompetent to the managers who appear to be bouncing me around from one to the other.

its horrendous.

i got upset on the phone and told the bank they would be losing my custom, I would move my account somewhere else as they couldn't help me. im in bits tbh. i don't know whether it is a pre-auth or what is happening, i just know that I don't have enough cash in my account to pay rent etc without borrowing the money. I really want to complain to the bank/the hotel etc.

I think your anxiety is taking over here.

This is almost certainly a pre-auth and will be released in a few days.

As regards complaining to the hotel do I email head office and ask them who governs them ombudsmen wise. What is best to ensure maximum impact. Im so so angry that they have put me in this position.

If you want to know what who the financial ombudsman in Germany is then you can easily get that from Google. If you want to complain (as you have every right to) then you do not need to resort to threats, just tell them what has happened and what impact it has had on you in a calm and polite way.

In all honesty though, I think in the short term it would be very productive to employ whatever strategy you use to deal with your anxiety .

You can’t ‘complain’ if it’s just a hold. It’s standard hotel practise.
Ask the bank when the holds expire. Then you will know when you will have access to your money. The money hasn’t ‘gone’ - it’s sitting in your account with a hold on it for the hotel. When the hold drops off, you can access your money again.
If the money has been removed from your account, ie you have paid twice, or been charged for two rooms erroneously (or if you misunderstood the new room rate you were offered, or had to pay for your cancelled second room reservation) then you need to speak to the hotel manager. But find someone who can speak German to do that for you.
If the hotel believes they have charged you correctly for two rooms, as booked, you need someone who can hold their own and understand the nuances of the conversation.
Culturally, German hotels can be a little inflexible - I once returned from a day out with my family at 6pm to find all our belongings had been moved to a cupboard in the hallway, because I had mistaken our check out date. Fortunately the hotel we were supposed to be going to the next day could take us early, so we had to repack our bags on the floor of the corridor and leave for a three hour drive with a toddler, instead of dinner and an early night.
Stay calm.
If it’s a hold, it’s really nothing to worry about.

can i ask, is anyone on here able to advise me on the best way to complain

Email their head office or general manager. Tell them what has happened, and how you would like to see it resolved.

Try not to resort to threats like you did with your bank when they were not able to help you immediately.

Hotel staff are human, and human error does happen. Email them and give them a chance to rectify their mistake.

It will take a few days for the pre-auth to release. Calling over and over in a short space of time is not productive and is probably only winding you up.

Go straight to the top. Email the MD.

If you tell us the hotel/chain I can tell you the email address.

I'd be livid

Well, not only do I work for a bank, but I also used to work in complaints

Just be very clear what you want to happen. You want the hold on your money released as soon as possible and you want an apology. I don't know what else you might ask for, you could ask for compensation for the calls you have had to make and a GOGW for the distress they have caused you 2 weeks before Christmas by taking a duplicate security payment.

Be very clear. Don't go in with a 'what can you offer me' because they'll offer the lowest/smallest thing they possibly can. Start high and barter down if you want compensation.

Make sure you get names in order to escalate and keep accurate records in case you need to write it down. But try sending the transaction details as I mentioned above and getting the hotel to contact the bank.

OP is the hotel part of a chain? If so, get onto Twitter about it!

Pre-authorisations can be resolved immediately but the bank won't do it on your say so, they need the bank to confirm they will not be claiming the money.

im reluctant to go public on social media about it, apart from the fact i don't really participate in social media - got good old anxiety to thank for that also- i just want it sorted. Im not normally one for complaining, I try to resolve things it just the feeling of being passed around and no one giving a shit.

as ive said before, i don't know if it is pre-authorised etc etc, all i have been told is that the payment is pending - which means I cant access it!

im not familiar with banking holds, authorisations etc, I pay cash for nearly everything, save for what I want and stick to a strict budget so im not in the position im now in.

Pending payments, transactions, pre-authorisations all mean the same thing. A card payment allocated to your card that may or may not be taken. Normally from hotels they don’t as it’s a security deposit, but the same thing happens with any card payment.

This happened to us this year in NY they wouldn’t let us check in without a $500 pre auth ($100 per night)
This wasn’t communicated to us beforehand meaning we had to basically use all of our spending money.
It royally fucked us.
They did refund but it was 10 WORKING days later and only after I got a letter from the hotel to speed up the process with my bank.
Nightmare - best of luck OP.

im afraid they will say im slandering them or something if i give the information on a forum such as this

Sounds very much like pre authorised. If it were me I'd call the fraud team and tell them those 2 transactions are unknown. I've had this twice being overseas, money has been put back within 24hrs by the bank and then they take it up with hotel.

Speak to your fraud department at your bank. Tell them you have two identical fraudulent transactions on your account.
How they deal with it then is down to the policy of the individual bank but in my experience they investigate it swiftly and you should see the money restored to your account much faster than phoning the call center. Make sure you get the name of the person you speak to 8n fraud.

Then, email the customer complaints /service department of the hotel chain. If you can find the email of the CEO or anybody high up then cc them in too.
Explain what happened re the room booking,
Explain everything clearly and without blame.
Then say that there are two erroneous payments which have been taken from your account which you DID NOT AUTHORISE or even know about until you got home.
Tell them you have repeatedly phoned the actual hotel and keep getting no resolution and you are being passed around without anybody taking ownership of your complaint. This has meant you had no option but to contact the head office, even though you were hoping to sort this out with the staff where you stayed.

Ask if there is cctv in the hotel lobby of action at the front desk. Ask for a copy of when you were at the desk ( give them the date and time, as close as possible to the actual time.)
Advise them that you are staying off social media until you hear from them - yes, it’s a veiled threat but you have to so7nd like you mean business.
Then , tell them that you appreciate it is a busy time for them but it’s a busy time for you too and the money they have erroneously taken is your rent money which you need back ASAP. In light of this you are giving them 48 hrs from time of sending the email to sort this out and contact you to confirm it has been refunded. Don’t give them your phone number, do it all by email so there is a paper trail.
Then sit back and wait.
If they don’t respond then you and your friends should hit twitter, Facebook etc HARD. This hits business in their pockets and sometimes is the impetus they need to sort things out.

This is what i would do.
Good luck.

I don't feel comfortable putting the name of the hotel on the internet presently. I more wanted advice which you have all been kind enougb to give me. Im heading to sleep soon as I have such a headache - stress I think.

I wil give an update as soon as I have it. Needless to say the return call I was tol dto expect did not materialise.

Your bank will have a fraud department, ring the bank ask to be put straight through to them and explain what happened. They’ll be best to advise you and most likely will raise a case and deal with it for you.

Good luck with your complaint, it should be a straight forward refund x

What a nightmare. Hope you get a refund soon.

In many countries, Germany and the USA included - as those are where people in this thread report problems - visa/MasterCard branded debit cards aren’t a big thing. Either cards are credit cards, or they are local branding, or they are rare. The uk is very unusual in debit cards with visa branding being more common than credit cards. Germany is used to cash deposits, and geldcarte, and therefore what happened to the op would be expected by the locals. Or they would use s credit card.

As the poster who pre-booked and got charged on another thread is finding, hotels assume all cards are credit cards. People who travel on their own bookings know this. It should be better known.

Got an email from the hotel - not the return call I was promised - telling me they are looking into it and will call me today.

I have called numerous times - emailed numerous times - I'm drafting a letter of complaint to the ceo that a kind mumsnetter was able to provide me with.

That should read a kind mumsnetter was able to provide me with ceo contact details

Thank you all so much for all your help so far - my anxiety would be through the roof now if it weren't for you all