WSJ won't refund erroneous charges

[LisaRex]

Had a great stay at WSJ a few weeks ago. All was well until I opened my folio and realized I'd been charged $5/day for an "adult rollaway." Ah, no problem, a quick call to WSJ will clear it up.

I'm sorry to say that this is not the case. I've been talking to a gentlemen named "Zachariah" for over 2 weeks, via voice mail, and he absolutely refuses to refund this erroneous charge. We were a party of 4 (2 couples) and we were assigned a 2 bdrm loft. We had more room, and more beds, than we needed! At no time did I request a cot, nor was a cot ever in our villa during our stay. I've explained this to him, in escalating degrees of politeness. And, yet, he refuses to budge.

His story? "I talked to (Housekeeping) and they said that you requested a rollaway. When they attempted to deliver it, you refused it, and they gave you an air mattress instead. I have this all documented."

Complete fiction! I don't care what his "documentation" says, I didn't request a rollaway...because I didn't NEED an extra bed. A rollaway was never attempted to be delivered (while we were present anyway). I didn't refuse a rollaway. I didn't accept an air mattress. The only interaction I had with Housekeeping was on Day 2 when we requested an ice bucket (a service for which we tipped $5), and on Day 4 when we ran into the maid who was there for the midweek tidy. We tipped her $10 and asked her to not change the sheets, but change out the towels. We also tipped the maids $20 when we left. So, we're not cheapskates looking for a freebie, nor did we tick off the staff to make them create this charge out of thin air.

So, after attempting to resolve the matter amicably, I've finally had to resort to opening a dispute with American Express. But I'm ticked that I have to go to these lengths to get this error corrected. It's only $35 out of the thousands that we spent on island, but at this point I'm fighting based on principal. I assume it's a simple error where the employee noted the wrong room number, but I'm amazed that they will not correct this error, even though there is plenty of documentation (including a ferry receipt) that proves that I only had 4 people in a 2 bdrm loft (that has 3 beds and 2 pull-out couches).

Geesh!

 

[jerseygirl]

That's unbelievable -- I would be fighting it on principle also.

I stayed at a Westin last weekend and the under-the-door bill included a $6 charge for something from the mini-bar. We had brought our own bottles of Fiji water, so it seemed as if the maid may have just assumed we took one from the mini-bar. I wrote a note about it on bill and dropped it at the front desk on my way out the door -- I didn't even talk to them about it (they were busy and I had a cab to catch). The correct amount hit my credit card.

That a WSJ employee would actually argue with you about this for 2 weeks -- again, unbelievable !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm pretty sure I have the GM's email address somewhere. I'll see if I can find it.

 

[jerseygirl]

I can't find his email address but his name is Mike Ryan and Starwood's email addresses are generally firstname.lastname@starwoodvo.com.

He's on LinkedIn, if you're a member there.

 

[yumdrey]

I would also dispute the cc charge while you argue with GM.
It's not acceptable!

 

[Westin5Star]

In October / November, my wife and I stayed at WSJ. The two of us were billed for 6 round trip transfers (I believe it was about $660). I called WSJ three different times over the next 2 months to have a credit issued. I talked to people, left vms for "accounting" at the resort, and I even spoke to a supervisor. The credit was never issued so I disputed 4 roundtrips with my CC. This seemed to be the only way to get my credit.

I loved my stay again in WSJ but the follow up service on my credit was horrible!

 

[LisaRex]

In October / November, my wife and I stayed at WSJ. The two of us were billed for 6 round trip transfers (I believe it was about $660). I called WSJ three different times over the next 2 months to have a credit issued. I talked to people, left vms for "accounting" at the resort, and I even spoke to a supervisor. The credit was never issued so I disputed 4 roundtrips with my CC. This seemed to be the only way to get my credit.

I loved my stay again in WSJ but the follow up service on my credit was horrible!

Wow. I'm ticked over a measly $35. I can't imagine how ticked I'd be over a $600 error.

 

[Westin5Star]

Wow. I'm ticked over a measly $35. I can't imagine how ticked I'd be over a $600 error.

I am more ticked over the principle of the issue. Additionally, this situation took me almost two hours to deal with (verifying the charges / credits with my personal assistant, contacting the resort 3 times for credit, contacting the credit card company to dispute the charge). I generally make a minimum of $4,000 per hour that I work. In this case, Starwood (WSJ) has cost me over $8,000 for their error and not fixing it.

 

[YYJMSP]

I generally make a minimum of $4,000 per hour that I work..

Do I dare ask what you do???

 

[Westin5Star]

Do I dare ask what you do???

I am an investor (mainly in transaction processing and real estate).

 

[VacationForever]

$8million a year... Not bad at all.

 

[bizaro86]

$8million a year... Not bad at all.

I doubt many 5 star elites work 50 weeks a year...

 

[VacationForever]

I doubt many 5 star elites work 50 weeks a year...

OK, maybe he works 40 weeks, vacation for 12 weeks, which is about my goal... so it is a measly $6.4 Million.

 

[Westin5Star]

Man this is getting personal. I do not work much as I prefer to travel, golf, and spend time with my family. I usually choose to work between 10-20 hours per month just to keep the juices flowing. I have been very blessed financially and honestly I do not need to work anymore if I do not want to.

Back to the topic:
I can say that I would not have had the success in business that I have had if I (or my employees) failed to respond to legitimate customer requests as WSJ has done.

 

[spencersmama]

I am an investor (mainly in transaction processing and real estate).

You must be very good at your job. Congratulations! One of my son's favorite teachers made multi-millions analyzing and investing in the bond markets in the 80's. He retired by 30, played around for a bit, got bored and now teaches business and math. (And loves it.) He told the kids, Las Vegas is where amateurs go to gamble, Wall Street is where professionals gamble. He's probably one of only a few public school teachers that drive a Porsche, though.

 

[Ken555]

So... Isn't it amazing how bad WSJ seems to be at handling these erroneous charges? I wonder how many guests there actually review their portfolio upon checkout, and how many total errors there really are, since we represent just a small percentage of total guests and there is more than one reported problem on TUG.

 

[Bubbasgonefishin]

a few years ago we were at WSJ. The villa we were originally assigned to flooded and they moved us to another villa. About 2 days later we had a message to visit the front desk. They said my credit card was denied. (not an uncommon occurance at my house as I'm not overly finanically blessed).

I called my CC company. yep they received my lump payment. Yep I had a $4000 credit then a hold went through for $3500. Ok... that was the Westin I said but why did you deny it. She said we didn't deny it for the credit.. we denied the SECOND $3500 credit they were holding.

Long story short, there were 7 of us that used the ferry Saturday. They held $3500 on our CC.. THEN they moved us to a new villa and held ANOTHER $3000 and charged us for 7 MORE ferry rides. After a very nice explanation to the desk clerk...wait.. no it didn't happen that way. After minor Southern Dirt Road Hissy Fit... and about 3 hours of trying to get the desk to understand what they did, they removed the second set of ferry charges. That trip wasn't meant to be... I just didn't listen. LOL

We aren't big drinkers and don't eat at the Westin very much. I asked once why they hold such a big amount on the CC. I was told they take the charges the first day (which was our ferry costs) and multiply it by the number of days you stay. Don't know about y'all but we sure don't eat/drink $700 per day at the resort!! I tried to pay for the ferry with cash last year but nope..can't do that. Ah well... live and learn. Won't have that problem this year. To broke to go! lol

 

[LisaRex]

Update: My dispute with AMEX was successful, as I received a $35 credit. What a shame that they have to mar a great stay with their inept bookkeeping. But all's well that ends well.