Another travelodge-smoking 'fine'

[Delboymonkey]

Hi , I have just received the same letter and telling me I should pay £150 ,here is our situation , we stayed in the traveloge on city road London,on 21st December for two nights , the first night we went to show and after drinks never got back to our room until 3am but the key card never worked and after about 4 new cards and 45 mins later they moved us to another room ,so not best pleased as service and attitude was terrible , as it was late never checked room and put do not desturb sign on , then it was up shower and out in the morning ( me and my mate stayed I am a smoker but he hates smoking so never smoked in room ,so then we were out all day and not returned to our room until about 10pm , after about 30 mins in room decided to pop out for half hour to get some food and few cans to drink in hotel room , that gave me the oppertunity to have a fag outside , so then on returning went to room ,then within ten minutes we had a bang at the door ,it was ga security guard and the person at the desk , I wouldn't of said he was the manager as he never spoke , the security guard said we have to leave and pay £150 fine , we argued we didn't but he became very aggressive and stormed in to the corner of the room to say there was ash on the window seal, which there was a small amount but seemed pretty funny as he knew exactly where it was , he then gave us our marching orders and ten mins to pack and leave ,we sat there and talked and I said no were not leaving , we will wait for the police to get involved as they had no proof and we never did smoke.

 

Then the security guard turned up ,and was very aggressive trying to push us out ,but I did not want the trouble ,so was just gonna call the police myself when the security guard said ,I'm calling them now and he's my mate , so I said let's pack up and go as didn't want to end up getting arrested , when down stairs we went to front desk where the security guard and supposed manager was , I said we would leave but we wanted both your names and he had a security badge on, as I started to copy his details he quickly ripped it off his arm and was very aggressive to us and then got on his phone and said he's calling the police which he said was his mate , so we decided to leave quick as something was not right , my mate confronted the manager and said he wanted the CCTV to be looked at and why he would not let his badge be shown but the security guard got aggressive so I just said let's go

 

Something I also forgot to say is when they first confronted us ,they said we had been in all night smoking and had complaints ,to which we were only in the room ten minutes but they did not have any of it ,would not even let us talk , it was just get out ,

 

The CCTV cameras would show we were not in our room ,

 

The reason why I have not complained yet ,is because if I did not get the fine today I was gonna write a letter after 28 days because we believed they were after money from us as were asking for £150 cash ,

 

The whole thing does not add up , so we were then left to go to car which was the other side of London have short sleep and then drive back to Somerset at 5am in the morning ruining our whole trip

 

Now I am not going to pay the money and something needs to be done , I feel cheated and this should not happen , I would like to know if it was a single girl they would have done the same ,

 

I wish to complain and will take them to court ,but never done anything like this before , so any help how I go about this will help.

I have ten days to reply to the crs letter which I will do , but I also wish to sue travelodge for all the hassle and inconvenience .

 

Any help appreciated

 

Thankyou

[BankFodder]

This is an amazing nightmare story.

 

Have you lost any money? You paid for your room in advance I suppose. Did you do this with a card?

[Delboymonkey]

No I have not lost any money , just the night stay they cannot charge my card I think , I went straight to the bank and informed them ,let's hope I can get it resolved ,but I think travelodge are selling rooms in London for £9 which it was and trying to claw back money other ways , but think the security guard was after money and would not want this to happen to anyone else

[Delboymonkey]

Sorry it was £28 for two nights bargain I thought

[LaughingGirl]

No I have not lost any money , just the night stay they cannot charge my card I think , I went straight to the bank and informed them ,let's hope I can get it resolved ,but I think travelodge are selling rooms in London for £9 which it was and trying to claw back money other ways , but think the security guard was after money and would not want this to happen to anyone else

 

Just to clarify, the security guard and other staff member were trying to get you to hand £150 in cash directly to them? They weren't saying you would get a demand through the post for the money?

[BankFodder]

Keep an eye on your card. We have reported from the Citizens Advice Bureau that they are receiving quite a few complaints about Travelodge - although maybe not as dramatic as your experience - and apparently some clients are finding that their cards have been charged the £150 some days later.

If you have instructed your bank not to pay, you need to do this in writing and do it now. Do not do it over the phone.

 

Do you want to do anything about it?

[Delboymonkey]

We we asked to pay £150 , then refused then they said you can pay on card then we refused was asked to leave , I hope the card does not get £150,taken out as only a small amount in there ,it's very worrying as we have twins aged two which I look after and my partner only works 6 hours a day , I really don't like the way travel lodge can mess with people's life's like this ,

 

I know I have to reply to letter which I will copy most of this letter ,but I wish tovstart proceedings against them before they do me ,so any help would be much appricited

 

Many thanks

[BankFodder]

Well as I said, write to your bank and instruct them that you wish to block any payments to Travelodge. The have taken the £28 so I suppose that they have your card details. Check your statement and see who it is has taken the payment - it may not be in the name of Travelodge. Inform your bank that you want to block them too.

 

I think that you should write out a full statement of what has happened and send it to Travelodge as a complaint. Your statement should include descriptions of any staff and everything which was said.

You will need to get a corroborating statement from your friend too. Does he want to take action as well?

 

It seems to me that you can sue for breach of contract and claim the refund of any expenses plus a reasonable figure for your loss of enjoyment.

 

You will need to write down how the incident has affected you - your friend too.

No point in doing this just on your own. You could start a court action as joint claimants.

 

You should propose a figure to Travelodge in compensation. Does £400 each do it for you?? plus any expenses you have suffered.

 

Give them a week to respond. If they don't (when they don't) reply positively, send them a 7 days LBA and then sue. Don't bother to make these threats if you don't want to go through with it. You will only lose credibility.

[stu007]

Hi Delboy

 

This is a disgraceful attitude of Travelodge employees.

 

1. The Security Guard and the Travelodge Employee arrived at your room and the security guard not the travelodge employee demaned that you leave and pay £150 fine for smoking in the room. When you tried to reason with them due to the previous nights room change due to travelodges keycards not working the security guard stormed over to the corner of the room and stated there was ash on the window seal. The security guard was extermely threatening in his manner and demanded we leave immediatly and gave us 10 minutes to pack all this done in front of a Travelodge Employee then left.

* Why was the Security Guard dealing with this issue and not the Travelodge Employee from the begining is this Travelodge Policy?

* Is it Travelodge Policy for your Security Guards to be agressive and threatening towards your customers?

 

2. When the Security Guard returned his manner this time was more threatening as he started to physically man handle your party from the room for no reason and tried to reason with him but when we informed him that we would call the police the security guard proceeded to threaten your party again by stating he would call the police and they were mates.

* Why did your Security Guard for no reason start to physically man handle our party from the room?

* Why is your Security Guard threatening customers by implying they are mates with the police?

 

3. At the front desk you informed the security guard and the travelodge employee that your party was leaving and demanded both the security guards and the travelodges employees names. This was immediatly followed with the security guard once again being threatening towards your party proceeding to rip his id badge from his arm to stop you writing his name down and got his phone out and once again threatened your party and stated that he was calling the police and it was his mate. As you were about to leave your party proceeded to ask the manager for the cctv footage to be reviewed and asked the travelodge employee why they were hiding there name badge and once again this security guard stepped in and was even more aggressive towards your party so your party left the travelodge.

* Is it Travelodge Policy for its Employees and Security Guards to refuse to give customers there name by either hiding the name badge as the Travelodge Employee did or the Security Guard riping the id badge from his arm and threatening customers.

 

You also want copies of the following:

* Smoking Policy.

* CCTV Footage for the duration of your stay.

* Copies of your room change due to the keycards mailfunctioning.

* copies of the Cleaning Rota for the room you were staying in.

* Copy of Travelodges Cleaning Policy (showing the windows seals in this).

* copies with the date and time of the last customers to leave the room.

* Require the full name and company the Security Guard on the day works for.

* Require the full Name of the Travelodge Employee on that day.

* Copies of all complaint made against your room during your stay.

Edited January 12, 2012 by stu007

[Delboymonkey]

Well thankyou stu 007 , I have just written a 7 page letter , and I think you must have witnessed it aswell , because you have worded it bang on , which I'm not the greatest, the thing that I found funny is the supposed manager or employ never said a word to us , it was this massive bouncer that never stopped shouting , I'm a mellow person and just denied it all , but it was tho he wanted us to react to his actions , he knew we had been drinking , but that's why I did not want to get involved in any hassle because we would always be the ones liable that started it all , I think he was surprised that two blokes never gave him a massive argument and started shouting at him , you see these situations all the time , and I know it's not irrelevant but the reason I was in London as it was the same date my wife died of cancer 3 years ago , so was sad and didn't feel that great , but couldn't handle the fight ,

 

Anyway I'm going to take this as far as I can , and stu thanks there's many points to ask for at the end , I've written a letter to the bank saying to stop payments to travelodge , so I will have to see how it goes , but I'm not going to back down , I think more should have tried to sue them just to see what happens ,but I'm gonna try ,I'm just worried about how much it will cost as I have not alot of money !! But hey let's fight for it ! Iminnocent and deserve travelodge appoligise

 

I will post any replies and hope it will help others as I have read loads of stories travelodge doing this ,but not in the way we were treated

 

Thanks again

[BankFodder]

It sounds as if you have handled it very well.

Stu's style of describing it is excellent and you should take a lead from that.

 

If you don't mind me saying, 7 pages is far too long. On the basis of what has been discussed here, it shouldn't take more than 2 pages.

Go through your letter and start taking out any emotional stuff or explanatory stuff.

Get it down to a plain statement of the facts.

 

If you follow Stu's style of presentation you will get down to a relevant 2 pages very easily.

 

When it comes to doing your claim, we can help you to get it right on this forum.

 

Make sure that you really are prepared to go to court. Don't forget that they will be denying almost everything - except for the fact tht you apparently smoked in the room.

It seems clear cut to you, but they will have a different version to tell.

[Javaid1708]

0115 8532898

 

Landline number for UKCRS cheaper than calling the extortionate 0871 number!!