Hilton. It's a brand that you might respect. I did until tonight. Unfortunately at some point in my life I signed up for the Hilton Honors Club.
I've hung up on them every time they have called but this time I listened. I am planning a trip to Hawaii and they called me, oddly enough, while I was on their website looking for vacations (never registered). They sold my wife and I a trip based on a 2 bedroom hotel stay in their "luxurious Grand Vacations Suites at Hawaiian Hilton Village". It was at least a thousand dollars cheaper than anything we saw in exchange for their time share presentation.
They charged us $399 and told us over the phone, and on recording, that it was refundable if they did not deliver exactly what they promised.
A few minutes later they sent us an email with a completely different offer. 3 bedrooms—much more expensive. We called them and "Hilton Honors" proceeded to tell us that they could not offer the 2 bedroom that they sold us. We need to wait for 3 days to see if they could do it. We told them we wanted to cancel, that they needed to offer us what they sold us. They said they didn't have to, they had the right to figure it out for "3 days". They said absolutely not, that the offer was non-refundable. "You agreed, and now you're refusing to let us to offer it to you even though we might be able to solve this over the next 3 days."
I'm not sure what the magic of the 3 days is, but it must relieve them of some legal obligation. We did not agree.
I said, "You offered it to us tonight. We paid for it tonight. It's illegal to sell us something you cannot offer tonight. We want it all refunded immediately. You have it all on your recording."
"I can listen to the recording but it's not refundable. Let me talk to my supervisor".
Five minutes on hold went by.
Supervisor comes on the phone and starts babbling, blah, blah, blah. Must be some mistake, he assured us. The salesperson made an honest mistake. However, he assured us, he would not refund our deposit. "It's not refundable, " he said.
I told him I knew it was all on telephone recording and that we would complain to Visa and dispute the fee. I thought that might mean something, though I can't imagine it does. After all, the recordings belong to them, and it's only $399. What's the difference to Hilton or any court on the land? To me, it's a significant portion of my mortgage payment, but to Hilton—what's the difference.
He said he would refund the fee (yet to be seen, can't believe it will happen). I know Hilton will not refund the fee and I will need to dispute it, but for the moment I have a little hope that I won't have to go throught that all.
Hilton is hard up. I immediately canceled my "hiltons honors" account, as did my wife. We wil never stay at Hilton again (nor any of its subsidiaries). Only 2 customers are saying this, so it simply does not matter in the grand scheme of things. But if you read this, consider this: Hilton is hard up and will do absolutely anything for cash. They will fleece you as part of company policy. That's called "Hilton Honors".
Sound familiar for a Hilton?
P.S. I'm 50. When I was young, this type of thing did not happen. Not sure what happened to this country. Hilton does not care and will never once read this, nor respond to it. It's too small. They don't care that I canceled my account. Ultimately it's a whisper in the wind. To me, the first business that delivers actual customer service again will succeed beyond measure. It sure as hell ain't Hilton.
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