Intown Suites, Burnsville, MN - unable to make payment arrangements after hours - terrible stay experience

# 29 for September 26, 2003

Complaints.com received the following on September 25, 2003:

From:

RE: Intown Suites, Burnsville, MN - unable to make payment arrangements after hours - terrible stay experience

As a construction worker, I travel state to state to work on different projects. Between September 11-25, my brother and I stayed at the Intown Suites in Burnsville, MN, and had a most miserable two weeks, filled with bogus rules and regulation, office hours set to make it inconvenient for guests, and whimiscal charges and circumstances designed to cheat people out of their deposits. We checked in on a Wednesday, paid our rent and a $100 cash deposit. We were told our rooms would be cleaned on Tuesdays. Later in the week we were told we could not have our 2nd floor window open nor the curtains, that was against the rules. The following Tuesday, our rooms had not been cleaned. After complaining to the manager, he said most of their maids had quit and they were shorthanded, but he would try to get the room services tomorrow. By Saturday, the room had not been cleaned. Again, we went to the manager to complain. Another guest in the office said his room had not been cleaned in three weeks. Finally, Saturday a maid came to clean the room. Oh, by the way, this chain does not supply toilet tissue, soap, garbage bags, and for the two of us in a two bed room, they supplied only two towels and only one wash cloth for a whole week. Extra towels or linens imposed extra charges. Their office is only open from 11am to 7pm. When our job hours changed to 12 hours a day, they refused to work with us to pay the rent after hours. Could we put it in an envelope and drop it in the mail slot? No, against the rules. Could we leave it with the onsite manager after hours? No, against the rules. We finally decided to move. We were told if we wanted our $100 cash deposit immediately, we must be at the property between 11am and noon - no exceptions. Otherwise, it would be mailed to us in 3 to 4 weeks. Upon showing up to get our deposit (losing an hours work at $38 per hour), I was charged $7.50 for a "stained" towel and washcloth!

There were no "stains" on the towles other than normal residue after a week's use. I have the towels as proof. The manager said it was her judgement that the towels were stained beyond further use - B.S. We asked to go into the towel room where the "clean" towels were stored and look at some of those. No, against the rules. Did she want us to go take the towels and wash them ourselves? No, can't take them off the property. This property is full of people who live paycheck to paycheck, little education, and spanish people who speak little english and do not understand how they are being taken advantage of. Most of them do not want to cause trouble, or don't know how if they felt they were being ripped off. I have filed a complaint with the BBB, and sent an e-mail to the Tom Martino national radio program. I would file against them in small claims court, but I have already moved on to another job in another state. Someone needs to ask some serious questions of the the management practices of this national chain and expose their preying on the less-informed, in my experience and opinion. I cannot find the address of of the main office of the chain, or anyone to complain to, but here is the address of the offending property. Intown Suites

2705 West County Road 42

Burnsville, MN 55306

952-890-1575

Thank you

Hershel Brannen

Liberty, Texas 77575

Comment On This

I can confirm everything that Hershel is saying, and I'm in and InTown Suite in Columbia, SC. The following is my experience that I submitted to the Better Business Bureau: On October 2nd my girlfriend came into the main office to put some money down on my rent and let them know I would be in later to pay the rent but couldn't make it before 1:00. She was told by Jon (the person at the desk) that there would be no late charge. I came in at 2:45 to pay my rent and when he tried to charge me for a late fee, I reminded him of what he told my girlfriend and he took off the late charge. I paid my bill in full and have the receipt showing my balance due as zero with no late fee on the bill. The next day (today 10-3-08) I receive a call from Lisa at the front desk telling me I still owe a $25.00 late fee. I explained everything that I previously wrote in here to her. She said it doesn't matter I paid after 1:00 so I still owe a late fee. I went down and showed her my bill with no late fee or balance due, she said Jon had no authority to take off the late fee so corporate added it back on. My stance is that Jon represents InTown Suites and as such he should not have promised to the consumer something he had no authority to promise. Furthermore, if I paid my bill in full with no late fee it seems an unscrupulous business practice to come to me after the fact and add one on. Jon should never have had the ability to remove a late fee on the system if he wasn't authorized to do it. Thank you.