Deposit not Returned After Cancellation

[GreenTea]

I made a cash reservation at St. Kitts. I do not recall them telling me on the booking page that a deposit was required but noticed a charge of nearly $500 on my card a few days later. I decided to use DC points for the reservation instead and later cancelled the cash reservation. They never refunded the deposit!

I will have Chase fix it. But I seriously nearly missed the charge in the first place. Would have been easy to cancel and never notice I’d paid for the first night anyway.

 

[bazzap]

I made a cash reservation at St. Kitts. I do not recall them telling me on the booking page that a deposit was required but noticed a charge of nearly $500 on my card a few days later. I decided to use DC points for the reservation instead and later cancelled the cash reservation. They never refunded the deposit!

I will have Chase fix it. But I seriously nearly missed the charge in the first place. Would have been easy to cancel and never notice I’d paid for the first night anyway.

The only times I have ever had to make any payment at the time of booking a Marriott hotel or MVC resort were when I was choosing an Advance Purchase / Prepaid rate to take advantage of a discounted deal. I knew these to be non refundable.
I don’t recall ever paying a deposit for a booking with them.

 

[Mr. Vker]

They do take refundable deposits on many rates. The language will say "In order to secure this rate, we will need a deposit of...." But, still have a refundable cancellation. The issue here is to know the difference-was the deposit refundable??? A call to Marriott is needed.

Going to Chase without all of the info is not best IMHO. Do you know if it was refundable? Did you cancel in time? If so, talk to Marriott. Refunds can take a couple of weeks. Check your original reservation. I am sure the deposit and terms were disclosed.

 

[DeniseM]

Did you go back to the webpage and review the terms?

 

[davidvel]

I made a cash reservation at St. Kitts. I do not recall them telling me on the booking page that a deposit was required but noticed a charge of nearly $500 on my card a few days later. I decided to use DC points for the reservation instead and later cancelled the cash reservation. They never refunded the deposit!

I will have Chase fix it. But I seriously nearly missed the charge in the first place. Would have been easy to cancel and never notice I’d paid for the first night anyway.

Not trying to be harsh, but the pertinent inquiry is not whether you recall if the rate was non refundable, or any of the other terms. It's what the terms were.

Marriott only has to disclose the terms at the time of booking. Comouter errors can happen, but if they took money upfront I'd be shocked if this wasn't disclosed when you booked.

 

[VacationForever]

Were you making a reservation for non-refundable rate?

 

[GreenTea]

No, it was fully cancellable. They just did not say upfront that a deposit was required. I have the cancellation notice and the booking notice giving a date next spring to cancel by...7 days before arrival I believe.

 

[bazzap]

No, it was fully cancellable. They just did not say upfront that a deposit was required. I have the cancellation notice and the booking notice giving a date next spring to cancel by...7 days before arrival I believe.

As you say, if the terms say you can cancel and you do within the specified time you should receive a refund within a reasonable time without having to chase it up.

 

[DeniseM]

Did you go back and look at the terms?

 

[dioxide45]

Your first remedy should be to contact Marriott or the property to get this corrected. You should only contact your credit card company after you have exhausted all other options to correct the problem.

 

[GreenTea]

Did you go back and look at the terms?

yes. cancel date is far in the future

 

[DeniseM]

I meant did you go back and look for info about the deposit?

 

[GreenTea]

I meant did you go back and look for info about the deposit?

I can't see the Marriott screen any longer. The printed email says "Credit Card Deposit visa." It wasn't charged until 2 weeks after I made the reservation. I have never had a Marriott charge a deposit before, but I certainly think the refund would have generated when I cancelled. I'm sure it will get resolved but I don't like the effort needed on my part to make it happen.

 

[DeniseM]

What I mean is can you go back to the website where you made the reservation and look at the rental terms - not the actual reservation that you made. Perhaps pretend to make another reservation and go through the steps.

 

[GreenTea]

I just pulled up the resort and the rates when displayed do say Deposit Required. When I click through to select a rate it does not say anything about a deposit. Just the cancel 7 days prior. When I click through to read the terms it does say deposit required. Says I can cancel with no penalty up to 7 days prior to check in. After that point I forfeit the deposit.

 

[DeniseM]

Thank you for clarifying - that is really odd.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Thanks for posting

 

[Ty1on]

Stupid question here, but has it been 3-5 business days since you cancelled? CC refunds take a while to show up......

 

[GreenTea]

A few weeks

 

[urfriend]

I made a cash reservation at St. Kitts. I do not recall them telling me on the booking page that a deposit was required but noticed a charge of nearly $500 on my card a few days later. I decided to use DC points for the reservation instead and later cancelled the cash reservation. They never refunded the deposit!

I will have Chase fix it. But I seriously nearly missed the charge in the first place. Would have been easy to cancel and never notice I’d paid for the first night anyway.

You can contact the resort directly and explain what happened to see if they will refund the charge.

 

[GreenTea]

The deposit will be refunded. Apparently an international refund takes longer.

 

[GreenTea]

This can be deleted, moderator, if you want. The problem is correcting itself.

 

[DeniseM]

I think it's helpful info - thanks for posting.

 

[GreenTea]

The money has been returned, just shortly after making the calls. Thank you all.

 

[davidvel]

To help others in the future, and those asking "how could this happen?," here is what is says under rate details link:
Rate Details
Leisure rate, deposit required

Holding Your Reservation

• We will need a credit card prepayment to reserve your room.
  
  To ensure that you receive this special rate, we will charge your credit card a prepayment of 372.26 USD when you make your reservation.

Cancelling Your Reservation

• You may cancel your reservation for no charge until November 28, 2017

Also, at the payment screen it specifies this:

HOWEVER, this did not show up when I logged in! (But it still was in the rate details popup!) So if you are logged in with a CC on file, you must view the rate details screen to see that they will charge your CC upfront. Marriott should fix this discrepancy, as it could be seen as deceptive.