Complaint. Private/small chain hotel. Manager not responding.

[LarnaArm]

Any advice appreciated following the shambles that my father’s wake was.

I requested a complaints policy. There isn't one but the manager replied that he deals with complaints.

I have emailed him outlining the poor, disrespectful service and health and safety issues. He has not acknowledged the email.

What do I do?

Hotel is one of three in the group. Companies house shows the directors. There is a LINKEDIN page. There are no other contact details for the group.

Thanks for helping!

The H&S issues you can pass to environmental health at the local authority.

How long ago did you email? What ideally would you want the outcome to be?

Did you pay by credit card or debit card, could you peruse a claim via your bank instead if you didn’t get what you paid for?

If issues are H&S based you could report to the local authority. If there are issues related to food hygiene you could report that to the food standards agency.

If you paid by credit card and the total amount of the bill was between £100 and £30,000 you can ask the credit card provider to refund you. They will then pursue the hotel for reimbursement.

if you want your voice to be heard, options are:

1. message the directors via linkedin
2. write to the CEO of the group or email them
3. tag them on social media with a summary of your complalnt (but keep it factual!
4. leave them a trip advisor or google review
5. report them to a regulator if appropriate- HSE, Environmental Health or Trading Standards

But could this be a grief reaction and were things objectively awful? What do more dispassionate friends or relatives who attended the wake think?

Thanks for your thoughts.

No not a grief reaction, they hadn't even set up the correct room when we all arrived!
Numerous issues, including very poor communication, agreed private bar area closed, no heating ( except for a large hot to the touch, industrial unit in a main thoroughfare)

As far as paying, the invoice is with the undertaker. The invoice is incorrect regarding numbers and a large charge for ‘complimentary’ use of the room. The numbers have been adjusted but not the other charge. The undertaker hasn't settled as yet.

I can't find a CEO name.

The funeral was 18 days ago. I complained in person on the day and followed up with an email.

Still no response from the hotel manager about this.

I have emailed again as a reminder.

I have telephoned to hotel and asked to speak to the manager but he is unavailable and doesn't return my call.

At a loss as to how to resolve this.

If you pay via a 3rd party, i.e. the undertaker I don't think S75 would apply.

If you haven't yet paid, that's a good position because otherwise they've got your money and you have their sympathy. Can you get the undertaker not to settle and to propose a suitable discount to the hotel and settle it that way?

I am sorry for your loss.

Do you live near the hotel? I would get a friend to phone and pretend to book the function room for an event and say that she wants to meet with the manager to discuss prices/numbers etc and instead you meet with them.

There is a site CEOemail.com ( sorry I’m no good at links) it lists most companies CEO and their email address in alphabetical order . Don’t know if it will help you but I use it . It’s usually better to complain to the CEO.

Some helpful ideas, thank you.

The CEO has resigned, back in October, ( Company House) - will they have had to appoint another?

There is a company secretary and two directors listed though, maybe I should try them.

This isn't really about the money, more about ‘lessons learnt’ and change. Other families should not have to go through turning up a close relatives wake and feeling the hotel have forgotten that the event is happening.

No a company doesn’t legally have to have a CEO though most do.

All companies are owned by their shareholders (and the percentage of shares you own determines how much influence you have). The directors are not necessarily the same as the shareholders and their role is to ensure that the company makes decisions in the best interests of the shareholders and that it complies with all its regulatory and statutory obligations.

Assuming this is a private company not a publicly listed one (ie that it a Ltd company not a PLC), there is likely to be at least one director who is a major shareholder (there may also be some professional directors who don’t own any shares such as for example a professional co sec). The financial documents filed at Companies House should tell you who are the shareholders so write to the director with the biggest shareholding and see where it gets you. If there is a CEO, the complaint is likely to find its way there by that route anyway.

Call don't email. Emails are easily ignored.