To set the stage, I am the desk clerk at a small hotel, part of a nationwide chain. I have been the desk clerk for almost 12 years now, but this happened a little over a year ago.
I came in early one friday, as we were expecting to be busy thanks to the Truck and Tractor Pull happening at the fairgrounds 2 miles away. SC calls me to book 2 rooms, 2 beds 2 people 2 nights each. Him and his buddies are coming to compete in the pull. Being a friday, we have a 24hr cancellation policy, so I inform SC that once booked we cannot cancel. He says no problem, we definitely need the rooms, and guarantees them with his credit card. Double-checks with me that we can park a truck-and-trailer, because he's hailing his competition truck in. I say yes, of course we have room. He hangs up.
Few hours later, I see a red truck hauling a white truck on a trailer pull into the lot. The white truck had words on the side, we'll call it "Trapped Tramp" because I don't REALLY want to publicly humiliate the guy (I do, but I won't). Anyway, truck pulls in, truck pulls out, truck pulls in next door and parks. 4 guys get out, talk for a moment, and then the driver starts making a call.
My phone rings.
Me: Hello, Mega5 hotel, how may I help you
SC: Yeah, I called earlier and made a reservation for 2 rooms. I'm broke down about 100 miles from you and I don't think I can make it. I don't want to worry about these rooms waiting on me.
Me: I remember these reservations. Not to worry, sir, they are guaranteed. They will be here no matter when you show up.
SC: That's the thing, I don't know if I will be able to make it or not, and I just don't want to have to worry about these rooms.
Me: I understand, and I give you my personal guarantee that these rooms will be here waiting for you even if you don't make it till 6am. These rooms are yours, nobody else can take them.
We do this dance for another 5 minutes, with me staring thru the window at him the whole time. Not once did he ever say cancel, but he was sure hinting about it. Eventually he hangs up, and they all get in the truck and leave.
6 hours later, they still haven't come to check in, and I start getting worried. Maybe that wasn't really him, maybe it was just a coincidence? So I think, lemme see what I can find out about "Trapped Tramp". A brief Google search gives me a forum posting about a truck named "Trapped Tramp", posted by none other that the owner of said truck, the SC. He was also nice enough to post pictures of himself next to the truck. A search of the Tractor Pull association website nets me the results of that nights competition. SC pulled in 2 events, placing 1st and 2nd. Less than 2 miles from our hotel. I bookmark these sites, and wait.
Flash forward to monday, SC calls to complain about his no-show charges. Swears he cancelled, curses at us, calls us thieves and cheats, says he'll have the BBB shut us down, ect. I remind him that he was told at the time he made the reservations he couldn't cancel, by me. That when he called claiming he was broke down he was told we would hold the rooms for him, by me. That when he called he was seen in the parking lot next to ours, BY ME. He gets mad, and hangs up.
An hour later I get a complaint from our corporate offices. SC claims we charged for cancelled blahblahblah. We have 1 week to respond, so I convince my manager to sit on it for a few days, let him stew. 3 days later we get a letter in the mail. SC is trying to get a chargeback thru his bank, claiming fraud. This is when I start grinning like the Joker. I show my manager what I found online, and he starts laughing.
So, we sent identical responses to both our corporate offices, and to his bank:
SC made a reservation on x date and was told he would not be able to cancel. SC entered our parking lot, left, and went next door. SC then called claiming vehicle breakdown, and hinted around that he wanted to cancel. We confirmed that we would hold these rooms for SC all night, all while watching SC pace next to his competition pulling truck "Trapped Tramp" next door. SC never checked in, and was charged a standard guaranteed no-show charge.
If you require proof of our claim that SC was indeed in town, here's the website for the Tractor Pull ASSN:******.com, that shows SC competing in 2 events less than 2 miles from our location. Here's a forum he post in, where someone was kind enough to link a video of his performance during said competition: *****.com.
We hope this is enough to satisfy your inquiry into this matter
Found out later that corporate black-flagged his complaint. He longer has the privilege of complaining about anything at any of the 9 hotel chains our corporate offices own. His bank charged him $200 for filing false fraud complaint. Oh, and this year he was kicked off the pulling circuit for getting "A little too fresh" with on of the competition secretaries.
I love karma!
I came in early one friday, as we were expecting to be busy thanks to the Truck and Tractor Pull happening at the fairgrounds 2 miles away. SC calls me to book 2 rooms, 2 beds 2 people 2 nights each. Him and his buddies are coming to compete in the pull. Being a friday, we have a 24hr cancellation policy, so I inform SC that once booked we cannot cancel. He says no problem, we definitely need the rooms, and guarantees them with his credit card. Double-checks with me that we can park a truck-and-trailer, because he's hailing his competition truck in. I say yes, of course we have room. He hangs up.
Few hours later, I see a red truck hauling a white truck on a trailer pull into the lot. The white truck had words on the side, we'll call it "Trapped Tramp" because I don't REALLY want to publicly humiliate the guy (I do, but I won't). Anyway, truck pulls in, truck pulls out, truck pulls in next door and parks. 4 guys get out, talk for a moment, and then the driver starts making a call.
My phone rings.
Me: Hello, Mega5 hotel, how may I help you
SC: Yeah, I called earlier and made a reservation for 2 rooms. I'm broke down about 100 miles from you and I don't think I can make it. I don't want to worry about these rooms waiting on me.
Me: I remember these reservations. Not to worry, sir, they are guaranteed. They will be here no matter when you show up.
SC: That's the thing, I don't know if I will be able to make it or not, and I just don't want to have to worry about these rooms.
Me: I understand, and I give you my personal guarantee that these rooms will be here waiting for you even if you don't make it till 6am. These rooms are yours, nobody else can take them.
We do this dance for another 5 minutes, with me staring thru the window at him the whole time. Not once did he ever say cancel, but he was sure hinting about it. Eventually he hangs up, and they all get in the truck and leave.
6 hours later, they still haven't come to check in, and I start getting worried. Maybe that wasn't really him, maybe it was just a coincidence? So I think, lemme see what I can find out about "Trapped Tramp". A brief Google search gives me a forum posting about a truck named "Trapped Tramp", posted by none other that the owner of said truck, the SC. He was also nice enough to post pictures of himself next to the truck. A search of the Tractor Pull association website nets me the results of that nights competition. SC pulled in 2 events, placing 1st and 2nd. Less than 2 miles from our hotel. I bookmark these sites, and wait.
Flash forward to monday, SC calls to complain about his no-show charges. Swears he cancelled, curses at us, calls us thieves and cheats, says he'll have the BBB shut us down, ect. I remind him that he was told at the time he made the reservations he couldn't cancel, by me. That when he called claiming he was broke down he was told we would hold the rooms for him, by me. That when he called he was seen in the parking lot next to ours, BY ME. He gets mad, and hangs up.
An hour later I get a complaint from our corporate offices. SC claims we charged for cancelled blahblahblah. We have 1 week to respond, so I convince my manager to sit on it for a few days, let him stew. 3 days later we get a letter in the mail. SC is trying to get a chargeback thru his bank, claiming fraud. This is when I start grinning like the Joker. I show my manager what I found online, and he starts laughing.
So, we sent identical responses to both our corporate offices, and to his bank:
SC made a reservation on x date and was told he would not be able to cancel. SC entered our parking lot, left, and went next door. SC then called claiming vehicle breakdown, and hinted around that he wanted to cancel. We confirmed that we would hold these rooms for SC all night, all while watching SC pace next to his competition pulling truck "Trapped Tramp" next door. SC never checked in, and was charged a standard guaranteed no-show charge.
If you require proof of our claim that SC was indeed in town, here's the website for the Tractor Pull ASSN:******.com, that shows SC competing in 2 events less than 2 miles from our location. Here's a forum he post in, where someone was kind enough to link a video of his performance during said competition: *****.com.
We hope this is enough to satisfy your inquiry into this matter
Found out later that corporate black-flagged his complaint. He longer has the privilege of complaining about anything at any of the 9 hotel chains our corporate offices own. His bank charged him $200 for filing false fraud complaint. Oh, and this year he was kicked off the pulling circuit for getting "A little too fresh" with on of the competition secretaries.
I love karma!
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