Legal advice sought guys... Do you think I will get my money back?

[AliGage]

I can almost hear how the first line of that letter is intended to be said. Lol you've got there attention!

 

[Deleted member 1779]

Well its now been two weeks since that fateful night (I travelled up on the 11th of April and today is the 26th April)

And I am pleased to say that I have settled the matter with Travelodge.

Here's the breakdown:

1) A telephone apology and email apology from customer services.
2) Refund of the £33 for the cost of the room on my credit card bill.
3) Reimbursed for my fuel costs for that night.
4) Reimbursed for my 2 x toll charges on the M6 @ £5.50 each way.
5) Loss of a days wages paid.
6) Some vouchers for a future stay.
7) Promise of an investigation into why things went so badly wrong.

So overall I think this is a success. Although obviously I would never have wanted to have had this happen to me.

I am pleased to say that Travelodge "Did all they could do" to make things right so I am happy to print / publish this.

I had quite a long telephone call - at least half an hour - with a guy from customer services. He was conciliatory and apologetic. He had done his background checks prior to calling and my story obviously checked out. As I said to him on the telephone I was not trying to "Milk the compo" and he agreed very readily. I said all I want is my out of pocket expense plus a good will gesture. So its with a positive thumbs up that I think I was fair and reasonable with them and they were fair and reasonable with me.

Any take away messages? I am now still going to be VERY cautious with any late night travel. This may mean that I will use local guest houses rather than TL if I intend to set off at 10pm again. But for times where sleep is not critcal and mix ups can be corrected in the light of day I will continue to use TL but will call ahead each time. I know thats no guarantee of a room BUT its better to try to secure a room.

I want to say thank you to those who gave great advice on this post.

I also hope my post helps other people.

But I also hope it is a fair reflection of the events that night, my initial anger, the comms with TL and of course the end result.

 

[Andy Allen]

glad you got it sorted Richard, makes a change for a large company to cough up for there mistakes without to much hassle..

 

[CJ]

Glad it's sorted.

Prefer Premium Inns anyway.

 

[John Benton]

It's good that a company can stand up and admit they are wrong, I could have imagined this running on for months. I must say well done to Travelodge for doing the right thing.

 

[Rookery]

I agree, thumbs up to TL for sorting it fairly quickly and not putting you through the mill. The TL's Ive stayed in while working away have always seemed dull & dreary so I too prefer Premier Inns. They usually have a decent pub/restaurant next door.

 

[kilty55]

good result richard, not many people/companies nowadays stand up and admit they were wrong

 

[Dan]

Nice one. Good to hear they've looked into it a bit. Wonder what their policy is around bookings that caused that though. I bet they just do assume you're not coming and sell the rooms again when so late, but the call you first received should have been quickly spread around the staff on duty or something. I'm guessing somebody other than the lass who called you booked the other guys in your room.

Nice result though.

Apparently the british are the least likely to complain and ask for compensation for lost money and time out of all the countries in the EU. Same in restaurants with food that comes out cold or wrong, we're the least likely to send it back to the kitchen. That's an old fact but I bet we're still the same. We just don't complain enough to firms, and whine too much to mates about it.

You've done them a favour there as they outcome has been a good one, but if they hadn't sorted it out, they could have lost a few customers.
So well done you for helping them really.

 

[Deleted member 1779]

Yes exactly. I think what helped is that THEY CALLED ME and not the other way round.

Plus I kept an accurate log of what was going wrong (names times places)

And finally I think they realised that they had let me down badly. Driving about at 3am is nobodys idea of fun.

£100 of vouchers to them is of course quite a cheap thing because it doesnt COST them £100 to do it.

But as I said - Hey they did the right thing.

Now all I have to do is decided where to go for my holidays !! (Nooottt)

 

[John Benton]

Manchester is nice this time of year, plenty of hotel rooms available apparently.

Nah Manchesters never nice!!!!!!!