As a 60th birthday gift my husband organised a holiday for our family to New York, booking three rooms at the Westhouse Hotel in February this year.
The trip was fantastic, but we were left with a nasty taste in the mouth when the hotel slapped us with a $500 (£380)smoking penalty at checkout.
We do not smoke, and I am upset by the accusation and the charge.
I’ve tried to phone and email the hotel to dispute the penalty, to no response.
I don’t want this overshadowing the memories of my birthday trip. What can I do?
T. M., Durham.
Burned: A New York hotel hit a couple with a $500 penalty for smoking, despite the fact they don’t smoke
When you checked out of the hotel, your husband paid the bill for all three rooms.
But it was only as you were waiting for an Uber to the airport that you managed to read through the printout and discovered the nasty penalty. It’s safe to say, smoke was coming out of your ears when you saw it.
You immediately spoke to a member of staff who suggested the hairdryer may have caused the room’s smoke sensor to record a false positive.
They said they could collect graph recordings from the sensor to show when smoke was detected, and would email this to you. You were incensed but hopeful the hotel would do the right thing.
The graph you received showed a red line, suggesting smoke was detected in your room on the day of your big night out to celebrate your birthday. You had a restaurant booked and tickets for the musical Little Shop Of Horrors.
You told me you were indeed in the room at the time indicated and were using a hairdryer as well as hairspray and perfume in preparation for the evening.
Your husband was also spraying aftershave. You believe these activities must have been behind the rogue reading.
You messaged and rang the hotel several times, yet emails went unanswered and voicemails ignored. You then contacted the US Better Business Bureau, which helps resolve consumer disputes. They contacted the hotel, but radio silence ensued and so the bureau closed the case.
When looking through your paperwork, I spotted that you’d booked the hotel through reservations giant Booking.com.
It occurred to me that it would not be pleased one of its customers was being blanked by a partner hotel. I asked if it would throw its weight behind your request for a refund and it agreed to investigate.
I’m sorry to say, despite its best efforts over several weeks, it was no more successful than you at extracting a refund for the smoking penalty.
I then attempted to make the request myself. I asked the hotel whether its smoke sensor could be guaranteed to be 100 per cent accurate. I wasn’t surprised to also get the silent treatment.
Despite the hotel’s smokescreen, I am glad to report your story has a happy ending –Booking.com stepped in with a goodwill gesture of £380.
You were happy with this result, and I praise Booking.com for its pragmatic response. No plaudits, however, for Westhouse Hotel.
But it turns out you are not alone when it comes to being burnt by its smoking penalty. Just as I was writing up your case, you sent me a screenshot of a review on the website Trustpilot from another customer of the hotel.
The reviewer stated: ‘I’ve never smoked a day in my life, and this hotel’s wonderful installed sensor picked up something to do with smoking. I was surprised to see a $500 fee on my bill. We’ll see if they do the right thing and resolve this…’
I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Designer shoes went missing in the post
In April, I returned two pairs of Amina Muaddi designer shoes to Selfridges via DPD. They were worth a total of £2,050.
Selfridges claims to have only received one pair, even though I packed both in the same box. I asked for evidence and it sent me a photo of a large cabinet that had nothing to do with me.
I have asked not only for photos from Selfridges and DPD but for parcel weights and scans that would confirm my suspicions that the shoes were removed in transit. None have been forthcoming. Please help.
A. B., Oldham, Gtr Manchester.
The missing luxury shoes and cabinet mystery, and the handling of your claim, is worthy of a Cinderella pantomime.
When you got nowhere with Selfridges or DPD, you hoped your bank, Tesco, would be your fairy godmother.
You raised a chargeback via your Tesco Bank credit card – a voluntary arrangement lenders have for customers who wish to dispute a transaction that has gone wrong.
Unfortunately, the bank said the dispute would not be accepted as you could not prove what you had placed inside the box.
You wish you had taken a photo of the package before it ended up in DPD’s hands – something I strongly urge anyone returning goods to do. But you didn’t because DPD’s courier snapped one at the time – but the firm failed to provide it when you requested a copy.
You were particularly aggrieved as you had ordered the shoes for your wedding. The issue emerged just hours before you headed down the aisle and it weighed heavily on your mind.
Being £1,025 out of pocket added to your woes, as well as feeling miffed over Selfridges’ claim that you had returned a mystery cabinet that you had never seen.
I felt you had been unfairly treated by Selfridges as, under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, the retailer is responsible if a returned item goes missing.
My first step was to contact the department store, and I am pleased to say my magic
wand-waving worked almost immediately. Selfridges quickly investigated and gave no explanation or excuse for dragging its heels over your refund, but it swiftly repaid the full £1,025 – and added a £100 gift card as a goodwill gesture.
You were delighted, telling me: ‘After months of being ignored and pushed around, it’s such a relief to finally have a resolution.’
- Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@dailymail.co.uk ¿ include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.
