This is to dispute charges that were made to my Aspire Visa acct by Sheraton Hotel, 2101 Richard Arrington Jr Blvd, Birmingham, AL 35203 Phone: (205) 324-5000.
This is in lieu of the Customer Statement of Disputed Items, as requested by the Customer Service person at (800) 348-8783 due to the multiple reasons for my dispute and refusal to pay for any charges made from the Sheraton in Birmingham, AL. This dispute is filed pursuant to the Special rule for Credit Card Purchases, in the Bank Credit Card agreement as provided to me from Columbus Bank & Trust, Aspire Visa Card, Cardholder Services Dispute Resolution, P.O. Box 1055555, Atlanta, GA 30348-55555 that states:
I am the kind of person who hates to have to complain and I always try to find something good to compliment people on. When traveling on important business, I always try to stay at hotels that I have past experience with as being quality service. When someone does a good job, I always try to make sure that it gets back to their management and I tell them directly. I really appreciated the concern of some of the staff over the events
(1) I was lied to over the phone concerning the business center being free of charge to SPG members including the use of the internet. I specifically called from the Radisson Hotel which was across the street from the Royal Inn motel where I was staying on 5/19 (I have the credit card bill to verify this). I needed to stay somewhere that had private secure internet connections where I could use my credit card to make my airline reservation. I did not want to have to use the Lister Hill Library or the public library where I had been trying to do online research & troubleshooting as a follow-up to another job & to receive my interview itinerary.
I did not want to have to leave the hotel property until I took the airline shuttle or bus shuttle to either Birmingham Airport or Atlanta's Hart's Field International airport since I had been attacked and robbed twice in the downtown Birmingham area within the last year and a half. I typically try to stay at Starwood Preferred Properties when doing business on a tight schedule because the business center and internet were free of charge to SPG* members.
I had just recently been sent email verifiying my account #50108845055 and accumulated points which I had forwarded to another email account since my SPG membership card was stolen from my purse when I was assaulted & robbed in downtown Birmingham, on July 5. I had also looked up properties that were close to Love Field in Dallas, TX due to a contract job I was planning to take in March, but had to cancel due to another robbery. I looked up and forwarded information concerning several travel memberships to my two of my other email accounts due to the theft.
I took a cab to the hotel in the early morning because there were several cars parked outside at the Royal Inn where I was staying & I could not sleep because they were making noise until the early morning. This was on 5/20 and I even called the front desk to complain, but the noise continued. When I arrived at the Sheraton Hotel, I was told that the business center was closed until 7 A.M.in the morning and I was also told that there was no SPG * membership number under the name Vickie Kilgore.
I assured them that I had just recently been sent information via email on my account which I had stored in my other email account. I was told to dial 0 and they could lookup my SPG* membership account # after 8 A.M. I did this while having coffee explaining to Ginger what had happened and she said that she would get back to me.in the meantime I called the SPG membership customer service 800 number to verify my membership and number.
(2) When the person at the 0 number at the Birmingham Sheraton got back to me, I was told that if you don't use your SPG* membership within one year that your account expires and that's what had happened to me. This was another blatant lie because I contacted the SPG* by phone and email and was told that I still had an SPG* membership number and that my account was in good standing.
(3) When I received my bill at my door the morning of 5/21 and although I had called Ginger at the 0 with my membership information their were charges made to my bill for local calls which are supposed to be free to SPG members, I had been double billed and their were two $50.00 unexplained charges as well. When I pointed this out to the front desk person, they again tried to look up my membership information and said that there were three (3) Vickie Kilgores at three (3) different addresses! I again had to supply my SPG membership number taking up time that I did not have.
(4) I had planned to use the business center & internet free to SPG members that morning, but when I accessed it with my room key, I found that there was credit card charge for the internet. The fax did not work properly and the computer itself needed to be plugged in and daisy chained to the other pieces of equipment for proper use.
I again went to the front desk person to point out that I had been told that the internet & business center were both free of charge to SPG preferred members and that even when I tried to use a debit card the equipment had not been properly setup. As I mentioned at the beginning of this dispute, I had only stayed at the Sheraton hoping to be able to take care of all my reservations & business without leaving the property until I took the airport schedule on May 21.
I now had to get a cab to the UAB Lister Library to access the internet, fax & copy services having to leave my luggage at he concierge desk.By this time it was afternoon and by the time I got online to make reservations, I had missed the only flight from Birmingham on Southwest airlines. I did not have authorization for any other method of transportation and therefore had to contact the agency by phone, trying to see if there were other arrangements I could make to fly out of Hartsfield in Atlanta, GA at my own expense. I was unable to arrange anything at a similar expense and had to wait for the company approval.
I took a cab out to the airport in hopes of finding alternate flights, but to no avail. I returned to the Sheraton at about 10:00 P.M. To get my luggage and wait for word from the travel agency or company approval to use my own credit card for another flight. Having seen the cover of the key cover, Something not perfect? Just say so! & I decided to try and take it up with the management.
I was referred to Ms. Loretta Wilson whom I spoke to on 5/22. I explained to her my dissatisfaction and asked her to get authorization for cancel any charges that had been made for my stay.
(5) She did so and assured me that she had manager approval to reverse both the phone charges, room stay & taxes and that the (2) $50.00 charges were only authorizations to cover miscellaneous expenses, but my credit card company said that they were charges made to my account! She assured me that they would be removed from my credit card as well and that they would contact the credit card company. I was told that it would take from 3 to 10 days which is not typical and asked them to expedite it since I might have to use my credit card for travel since the above free business center fiasco has caused me to miss my flight.
I headed to the Holiday Inn at the airport to stay Friday & Saturday, May 21 & 22 hoping to get my travel arrangements to my contract employment rescheduled, but due to the weekend I ended up staying at the Days Inn on Sunday, May 23.
(6) I called my credit card company on Monday, May 24 hoping that the charges had been reversed so that I could make my on flight arrangements not wanting to miss this contract job opportunity, only to find that they had not been reversed and that the (2)$50.00 authorizations had been made as charges and there had been no corrections made concerning the local telephone call charges that were supposed to be free to SPG preferred guest members.
I had never had such terrible service and lack of integrity from Starwood Properties before! What I thought was the smart and speedy way to get to a new job quickly and with the least amount of stress had turned into a very expense hold-up. I was appalled at the misinformation and blatant lies I had been told by the hotel staff and then contradicting information from the SPG customer service people.
(7) I again went into speak to Ms. Loretta Wilson about this and she had the 0 number customer service person Ginger there to assure me that the phone charges had been subtracted. I explained to them that this was keeping me from getting to a contract job appointment and had cost me taxi's, additional hotel stays, etc. And that I needed this resolved since I would probably be using my own credit card to travel.
Ginger again repeated the lie about the expiration of a SPG club membership if not used during a year and I assured her that I would love to provide her with proof of my documented mailed point activity and other advertisements I had packed away and emails that had been recently received concerning my account with my account number on it. I was told by the Starwood people that unless your points were used within a year that they were forfeited, but I called to check for information on properties in the Love Field area of Dallas in March and they verified my account number at that time.
Ms. Wilson again assured me that all charges would be removed from my credit card. I tried to be polite, but the total lack of customer service and missing a job opportunity was more than enough to count as a not perfect more like nightmare stay for which I should not be charged.
I stayed at the Radisson that evening, May 23 and the service was great, food excellent and the people were so honest and helpful I could not help, but notice the glaring difference it made in my health and attitude.
(8) I again called the Sheraton to arrange another meeting to get this taken care of with their manager since the charges had still not been removed. Mr. Steve Pyros, accounting manager, was in attendance at this meeting and I again tried to stress the cost and extreme detriment it was to my travel arrangements to a new contract opportunity which I have now had to delay for three weeks at $45.00/hr.!
I was told that again the credit card company had been called and charges cancelled, but I told them that Aspire Visa card had not verified this and that I had sent for a dispute form. I explained the cost of additional motel stays, taxis not to mention that I could already be working and should have been able to make the SouthWest flight on 5/21 had it not been for the business center & SPG membership fiasco! I tried to express to them that I had never had such terrible and unethical service out of Starwood properties anywhere having stayed at the Sheraton, St. Regis & Westin resort, conference and business centers many times over the years.
Mr. Pyros then made the additional offer of a free night stay that evening if this would help my attitude, although I just wanted my money back as they had agreed the two meetings prior to this meeting. I again affirmed that I expected any charges from them to canceled and that I would accept the free evening, but that those charges had to be removed from my credit card since I needed it to travel to my contract employment!
(9) I got checked in and decided to try their restaurant and this is the final blow! The food was terrible and the fresh squeezed orange juice I ordered tasted like poison! I tried not to make a big deal and complain until the other table of customers left, but when I tried to have the female in charge taste it to verify what I was talking about, she declined? I could only finish about half and at least the bread was palatable. I headed by my room only to find my self in the bathroom nauseated most the evening. The next day I noticed little blood blisters on the back of my neck, back and stomach, which continued to get worse during the week. Needless to say I would have been better off just canceling and returning to my mothers for the duration of this sickness caused by the food that obviously had something wrong with it!
(10) Last but not least, after returning to my sisters in Birmingham due to the food poisoning, I searched my luggage to find two medications missing! Since I cannot prove this other than from bills I have from the purchase, I now have additional out-of-pocket expenses from this!
It is now June 15 and although one charge for $183.26 was credited to my account on May 28 another charge for $180.26 has still not been cleared. I am still suffering from the strange rash and blood blisters that broke out on my neck back and stomach after having eaten at their restaurant. I am therefore submitting a formal dispute with my credit card company, with Starwood Properties and to the management at Sheraton Birmingham, because I do not intend to pay for any charges to my account from the Birmingham Sheraton due to the inconvenience, additional expenses, weeks of missed work and physical distress caused by the definitely less than perfect stay that was to be one night and flight out!
I hope to have this resolved quickly and expediently, but not only management at the Birmingham property, but also at the Starwood properties management level! I am hoping that I will hear from you soon in response to this nightmare from the management level at Starwood properties and my account will be cleared of all charges.
Sincerely,
Vickie
Cc: Starwood Properties, Customer Service, Birmingham Sheraton, Aspire Visa card Dispute Department
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