# Charged twice for hotel room!



## Maggs065 (26 Jan 2012)

I stayed at a hotel last weekend arriving Saturday 21st and left Sunday 22nd. The cost of the room was €179. I paid with my laser card.

On checking my statement online a few days ago, I noticed three transactions relating to my hotel stay.

1. 21st debit card - €100
2. 22nd debit card - €79
3. 22nd Hotel in question - €179

When I arrived at the hotel they took my card and I entered my pin - this is apparently pre-authorisation for €100. On checking out I again entered my card details to complete.

The hotel have told me that they only charged me €179 and that the other 2 charges (€100 & €79) would take 2 weeks to clear. They also advised me not to use my laser card again for such transactions.

I'm very annoyed as I'm down €358 and the hotel has basically said it's not their fault, but it's the fault of the credit card company they use and the bank for taking so long to clear debit card.

Am I overreacting - is this a normal procedure?

Thanks,
Maggs


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## Jo1708 (26 Jan 2012)

I have had similar experiences with hotel's pre-authorisations at check-in.  For some reason, it can take up to 10 working days for the pre-authorisation to clear on the card (it also happens with credit cards).  It doesn't make sense to me that the hotel can't just cancel the pre-authorisation immediately on receiving full payment.


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## 44brendan (26 Jan 2012)

I don't understand! Are they refusing to refund you the 179 overcharged?


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## Maggs065 (26 Jan 2012)

44brendan said:


> I don't understand! Are they refusing to refund you the 179 overcharged?


 
No - I'm getting the €179 back in 2 weeks time, when the bank clears the transactions. But I'm down that amount of money till then. So not very happy about it.


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## ClubMan (26 Jan 2012)

Maggs065 said:


> No - I'm getting the €179 back in 2 weeks time, when the bank clears the transactions. But I'm down that amount of money till then. So not very happy about it.





Maggs065 said:


> Am I overreacting ... ?


In my opinion you are. What are you looking for - 3 weeks' interest on €179 from them or something? You may be down €179 but you could use your credit card in the meantime if stuck since you are getting this back real soon now.


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## Maggs065 (26 Jan 2012)

ClubMan said:


> In my opinion you are. What are you looking for - 3 weeks' interest on €179 from them or something? You may be down €179 but you could use your credit card in the meantime if stuck since you are getting this back real soon now.


 
What if I didn't have the funds in my account to pay double the price and I was forced to use my overdraft. Do you think that is acceptable? 

Also it's a bit flippant of you to say use my credit card - how do you know that I have one?

No I don't want 3 weeks interest! I want my money back. The hotel quoted me a price of €179 and I was charged €358. 

At the very least they could have informed me of the situation at check-in and I wouldn't have had to make 3 phone calls to them to get to the bottom of it.

It's called customer service Clubman and the least I would have expected from a 5*hotel.


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## callybags (26 Jan 2012)

As far as i am aware you cannot "pre-authorise" a laser card in the same way as you would a credit card.

They took the cash from your account- twice.

I would be demanding an immediate bank transfer back to your account for the €179.

Write them a formal letter stating your demand, eplaining what happened and copy it to whatever hotel federation or body they belong to. (you should be able to get this off their website.)


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## ClubMan (26 Jan 2012)

Maggs065 said:


> What if I didn't have the funds in my account to pay double the price and I was forced to use my overdraft. Do you think that is acceptable?


No - but mistakes happen.


> Also it's a bit flippant of you to say use my credit card - how do you know that I have one?


I misread the original post and assumed that this was a _CC _transaction.


> No I don't want 3 weeks interest! I want my money back. The hotel quoted me a price of €179 and I was charged €358.


You're getting your €179 back aren't you?


> It's called customer service Clubman and the least I would have expected from a 5*hotel.


Make a formal complaint to them about it so.


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## Maggs065 (26 Jan 2012)

callybags said:


> As far as i am aware you cannot "pre-authorise" a laser card in the same way as you would a credit card.
> 
> They took the cash from your account- twice.
> 
> ...


 
Thanks for the info callybags - I'll certainly look into it.


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## Maggs065 (26 Jan 2012)

ClubMan said:


> No - but mistakes happen.


 
But the point is Clubman, apparently this is not a mistake - this is normal procedure with laser cards (or so the hotel informed me).

Are you being deliberately provocative?


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## 44brendan (26 Jan 2012)

In your initial post you asked were you over-reacting. If you get back an intimation that you are over reacting, why ask the question? 
The standard requirement for a hotel is that a guest presents a Credit Card for pre-approval. You presented a Laser Card which is not suitable for the purpose and the full amount was deducted. Th eHotel were incorrect in deducting the payment twice & it does seem a little unusual that they would delay 2 weeks in refunding you. 
I'm sure that if you brought this matter to the attention of the management you would get your apology.
I think your last posting and accusation was also an overreaction


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## Ann1 (26 Jan 2012)

I think this mistake is happening because when people pre-authorise or pay by debit card the hotel/car hire etc./staff select debit on their machine. You can ask them to select credit on the machine and your transaction will be protected in the same way it is when using a credit card. Just recently I had to go into verbal battle with a member of staff in a car hire company who selected debit on the machine because I was paying with a debit card. When I asked her to  select credit before putting the transaction through she told me that I didn't know what I was talking about...lol


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## Maggs065 (26 Jan 2012)

Ann1 said:


> I think this mistake is happening because when people pre-authorise or pay by debit card the hotel/car hire etc./staff select debit on their machine. You can ask them to select credit on the machine and your transaction will be protected in the same way it is when using a credit card. Just recently I had to go into verbal battle with a member of staff in a car hire company who selected debit on the machine because I was paying with a debit card. When I asked her to select credit before putting the transaction through she told me that I didn't know what I was talking about...lol


 
That makes sense Ann - thanks for the non-patronising reply!


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## allie12 (26 Jan 2012)

Is it a laser or a visa debit card? This has happened to me, and it is not that the hotel have charged you twice- they put a pre-auth (or hold) on the funds and then it takes the bank approx 10 days to clear it back. 

I understand the frustration, as you in the meantime have no access to the funds until they clear. I would always ask the hotel to hold the deposit (only) at time of booking on my card and pay cash on arrival.


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## Maggs065 (26 Jan 2012)

Hi Allie,

It's a laser card. I booked the room with my CC over the phone, but since I use CC so rarely when it came to check in I couldn't remember the number! Hence why I used laser.
I feel more knowledgeable on the process now. Thanks.


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## MugsGame (26 Jan 2012)

Ann1 said:


> I think this mistake is happening because when people pre-authorise or pay by debit card the hotel/car hire etc./staff select debit on their machine. You can ask them to select credit on the machine and your transaction will be protected in the same way it is when using a credit card. Just recently I had to go into verbal battle with a member of staff in a car hire company who selected debit on the machine because I was paying with a debit card. When I asked her to  select credit before putting the transaction through she told me that I didn't know what I was talking about...lol



I agree with the member of staff. 

In this instance, the hotel don't have the OP's extra money and the OP hasn't been charged twice.

Pre-auths on credit and debit cards are treated exactly the same way, they reduce the available balance. On credit cards this pending transaction just reduces your available credit limit, and the transaction doesn't appear on your bill until settled. Whereas with debit cards the pending transaction reduces the available balance on your current account until either settled or expired, preventing you withdrawing money you still have. 

What should happen is that the hotel either reverse the pre-authorisation if they aren't going to settle it, or use the pre-authorisation to settle the amount owed, and not submit a separate transaction on the card for the full amount. But many merchant systems aren't setup to handle this properly. Or even if they are, their staff aren't trained to follow the correct process. Which is not to try and force debit cards through as if they were credit cards!


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