Marriot Crystal Palace Resort & Casino, Nassau - overbilling, service concerns

Complaints.com received the following message on January 12, 2001:

From:

RE: marriot

I am just writing to let you know that my problems with Marriot have finally been taken care of after several e-mail complaints. thank- you.

Wendy Hutchinson.

my complaint was posted on December 17.

Here is the original consumer message:

December 17, 2001:

From:

RE: Marriot Crystal Palace Resort & Casino, Nassau - overbilling, service concerns

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing you regarding my stay at Marriot Crystal Palace Resort & Casino from 11-3-01 till 11-10-01 my rate was $165.00 per night buy 3 nights get the 4th free with $100.00 food and beverage credit. so at the front desk during check in everything was pulled up in the computer wrong and they wanted me to sign anyway, I would not sign until the correct fees were on the paper at which point they found it in the computer for $108.00 per night plus f&b credit, great I signed!

I requested a king bed but received 2 queens no big deal I didn't complain.so the next night the storm started so we had to stay in, never received any maid service but charged $3.50 maid gratuity + $7.00 maid service, the following day the hurricane hit, we had no power but charged $10.00 energy surcharge, we had no maid service but were charged $3.50 maid gratuity + $7.00 maid service, our room on the 11th floor was soaked rain coming in through the top of the doorwall, our carpet was sopping wet all the way across the room, no one in the hotel ever did room checks to see if there guests were OK, which they did at the other area hotels, we had no water, had to pay $20.00 for 2 warm lunch meat sandwiches,

the other area hotels called there guests to one area and provided food and beverage for them, we found out 4 days later that our hotel had that available but about only 20 people knew because no one on the hotel staff ever bothered to inform there guests, through out everything (no food/no water/no power) the casino was fully functional.

The power came back on the next morning, but not to stay, it was on and off through out the day, but we were still charged a $10.00 energy surcharge. Our room smelled like some one had dumped dead fish under our beds, the wind was still so bad that we could not open our doorwall for any fresh air, nothing was open in the entire hotel except the one buffet, so here it is day 3 of our vacation were spending most of it at the two neighboring hotels because there cleaner and actually functioning, but were yet again charged $3.50 maid gratuity + $7.00 maid service so we can walk on a soaked, smelly carpet in a room we can hardly breath in because the stench is so awful, we've called the front desk(more than once) to try to at least get some air freshener in our room(never happened).

It is now Wednesday, 4 days into out stay, I can no longer call it a vacation, my best friend is getting married today, the beach at our hotel is filthy (the other beaches are already being taken care of) but we manage to find a small area that doesn't look to bad and all went well, afterwards the reverend was asking about our stay and we told him of all the problems we had been having (we had not even been able to get a managers name when calling the front desk) and he called over a wonderful woman by the name of Rita who was the manager at the Seaside Buffet and she in turn got the day manager Debbie.

Debbie gave us a $100.00 credit on our stay, and a free dinner at the buffet, but we still could not get any air freshener in our room, there were people sleeping in the lobby because the hotel didn't want to open other rooms when they weren't that busy, we kept hearing how they weren't opening any of the restaurants because there weren't enough people since Sept 11, so we've put out allot of money on a hotel that has 5-6 restaurants that we can't eat in, a club that never opened the entire time we were there a beach that was to dirty to go on for several days after the hurricane, a heated pool that wasn't heated, and any complaints that are made keep getting put off to Sept 11! there were front desk people yelling at guests that had questions and complaints.

Our room continued to smell the entire time we were there no matter how many times we asked for something to be done, they would say they were sending someone but no one ever came, but they continued to charge us $10.50 a day for maid service that was unacceptable.I understand that the hurricane caused alot of the problems and they were unavoidable, the problem is, the guests that were staying during that period of time were made to feel like an inconvenience, as I've said before we spent all of our stay in the Bahamas at the two other hotels and there restaurants, because the service, not to mention the quality of that service, was so much better.

so finally our last day arrived- when we try to check out, the computers are down, we are unable to get a print out of our total, and unable to dispute any charges because they don't know what our charges are! I'm then told I have to sign my name to a blank sales slip with my credit card #, I told them I was not comfortable with that but I had no other option and was told nothing would be charged to my card until they sent me a breakdown of my bill, so I went ahead and signed and gave my e-mail address. now I've waited and waited and nothing was e-mailed, now I check my account balance on 11-25-01 and I'm short over $950.00 because they just went ahead and billed with out my consent.

so my husband called Marriot in the Bahamas and they said they would e-mail the breakdown by 11-27-01and of coarse no e-mail has arrived so I am writing you I would like the above charges taken off my bill and I would like a breakdown of what I'm being charged. I would appreciate it very much if you could respond to my letter as soon as possible. thank-you.

Wendy Hutchinson

Email User Our response:

Ms. Hutchinson, Thank you for your Internet message regarding the Nassau Marriott hotel. We have received your information and it has been forwarded to the appropriate Executive Office at the hotel. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience. You should be contacted within 7 to 10 business days.

To Whom It May Concern: I am writing again because it has now been at least 11 business days since my original letter that you were supposed to respond to in 7-10 business days and I'm still waiting to hear something, this really says something about your concern for your guests and their complaints. Monday morning I will begin posting my original letter and your lack of response on as many web sites for Marriot as I can find if I have not received a response by then.

Hoping to here from you soon-

Wendy Hutchinson. Email User

I don't understand why this has to be so difficult, this should be very easy to take care of for such a large business. I was verbally given a price of $108.00 per night and it was also written on my check in slip I still have not been e-mailed a copy of my billing statement as promised and I don't agree to the amount I was charged, by law you cannot raise my price with out my consent, you also should not have charged my account with out my consent- as was agreed at check out - nothing was to be charged until I had been e-mailed a copy of fees. I would like this matter taken care of as soon as possible- again it should be fairly easy to come up with an agreeable bill and refund as necessary.

my experience with marriot to this point has been nothing but disappointing. again please respond soon.

Wendy Hutchinson

Email User