BTilke

From March 6 to 10, I stayed at the Vienna Intercontinental Hotel while attending a convention. I *thought* I had a good experience there and recommended them on this forum. Well, I revoke the recommendation!<BR>On Monday, I received a letter from my U.S. bank telling me my credit card had been temporarily blocked and to call the fraud department immediately. When I did, I learned that someone at the Intercontinental Hotel had made seven (!!) charges to my account without my knowledge or authorization. The amounts ranged from $80 to about $850, with a total of more than $2500. While my bank's fraud department thought there was something suspicious about the charges and declined them, the end result is that my card had to be canceled. I contacted the hotel manager and she basically shrugged off the matter as a &quot;computer error.&quot; She gave NO explanation as to why this &quot;error&quot; happened seven times over four days, with seven different amounts; nor did she even attempt to explain why no other guest reported a similar problem. <BR>Frankly, I am very dubious about the &quot;computer error&quot; story and will be filing a report with the Vienna police and also complaining to the Austrian and Vienna tourism offices.<BR>And I'm recommending AGAINST the Vienna Intercontinental Hotel!! <BR>(Further note: I called the guest relations department of the Intercontinental Hotel chain to file a complaint and was told &quot;if the hotel says it was a computer error then that's what we accept as the explanation.&quot

tweetexT

Did you inquire what were these charges for?

BTilke

At the time when I spoke to the bank, the fraud rep said they were simply listed as &quot;hotel charges&quot;, whatever that means. Forgot to add, though, that the only time I used the card on the trip was when I checked in--I didn't use it for any meals, services, etc., and it was in my possession at ALL times (except for the brief moment at check-in).

lynlor

This is a terrible experience for you. I hope not all Intercontinental Hotels are like this. It seems that they have a very bad attitute as well as some problem employees.<BR><BR>This makes me want to reconsider ever staying at Intercontinental Hotel again.

Patrick

I'm sorry for this problem, but let's face it. It is not a regular problem with Intercontinental hotels or we would have heard much about it. If anyone knows how a large hotel can do constant hiring without occassionally hiring a &quot;bad egg&quot; who might misuse your credit card info, I'd like to hear about it. Frankly, I think it could happen anywhere. They apparently had a bad employee who took advantage.

icithecat

Thankfully your credit card stood behind you.<BR><BR>I once worked for a credit agency where an employee was dischared for theft.<BR><BR>The corporate attitude was definately to deny, while the employee was quietly fired, rather than to undergo public scrutiny and encourage further claims.<BR><BR>It would seem that corporations encourage employees to 'self terminate' rather than prosecute them under the public eye.<BR><BR>Got to love insurance.

BTilke

Patrick, your point being? What exactly am I supposed to &quot;face&quot;? My complaint was detailed and *specific* to the Vienna hotel. Perhaps they had a bad employee...but what explains the dismissive attitude of the hotel manager? And the lack of concern by the chain's corporate guest relations department? <BR>Yes, any hotel can have a bad employee. But when that employee attempts a CRIMINAL act, the manager should not shrug it off.

bettyk

After we returned from our trip to Europe last year, I received a Mastercard bill for $3.50 for charges from some company in Vienna that I'd never heard of. We were not even in Vienna on the date the so called charges occurred and we would never have charged such a small amount. I contacted the credit card company and they promptly removed the charge. Couldn't imagine how it happened, but just glad it wasn't more money.

ira

Hi<BR> Have you filed a statement with the credit card co. disputing the charges?

BTilke

The charges didn't have to be disputed as the bank's fraud department found something suspicious about them and declined all of them--but then canceled my card after so much attempted fraud (inconvenient, as this is the card I use for business travel). I just had to confirm that in fact I did not make any of those charges. So our bank did an excellent job of catching the attempted fraud. They are also launching an investigation, but I am filing complaints as well. What bothers me as much--if not more--as the attempted fraud itself are the whitewash given by the hotel manager and the disinterest by the Intercontinental corporate guest relations office. Next year, I definitely won't stay at the Intercontinental Vienna and I won't stay at any Intercontinental Hotel after this unless someone else is picking up the tab--they're not going to get a dime of my money!

HowardR

I would say that the Intercontinental ha handled the situation badly. You never mention if they at least apologized. Further, even if it was a computer error, some sort of compensation is not too much to expect.<BR>I agree with your comment to Patrick. (Sorry, Patrick, but yout answer is off base!)

travelchick

Patrick: While I agree that any hotel can hire as you say a &quot;bad egg&quot;, I think that BTilke is absolutley right in the fact that the hotel has shown no concern for his problem. If they had been helpful in trying to work with him, that would be one thing, but to dismiss his problem as a computer error and leave it at that shows no respect for their customers. It would give me pause to stay there in the future.

ron

BTilke, you should be aware that Intercontinental is a brand of Six Continents Hotels; their other brands include Crowne Plaza and the various Holiday Inn brands – 3300 hotels in 100 countries. You may wish to raise your complaint to the Six Continents corporate level and/or extend your boycott to the other brands as well. And then there are the 2100 pubs and restaurants in their retail division...

Chicago_Heather

BTilke, in light of the dismissive attitude of the IC in Vienna and at corporate, what you should do (not to cause you more work) is forward a link from this thread to IC's sales and marketing executive. While Patrick is dead-on about not being able to avoid the odd bad egg when hiring, the hotel should have been more interested in what is occuring with fraud and its guests.<BR><BR>Sorry for your headaches but hope you enjoyed Vienna.

Patrick

OK, I've reread the post, and guess I still don't get it. So they said it was a &quot;computer&quot; error instead of giving you the name and address of the employee who abused the card? Yes, it was inconvenient, but I'm not sure why you insist that they get to the bottom of it even if doing such a thing is possible. Since it has been credited, I don't see it as a big deal. If they refused to credit it at all it would be a different matter. What real difference does it make if they say it was a computer error or if they tell you John Smith in accounting did it intentionally?<BR><BR>If I get a bad carton of milk at the grocery and they refund my money, yes it was inconvenient, but I accept that things happen. But I don't need to stand there and argue with a manager and make him tell me specifically who was responsible for it, and how many other people it happened to. Frankly, the source of blame is not an issue with me, unless they would absolutely insist that the carton of milk had never been bad. Think about it. I think your case is similar. Why are you obsessed with their naming the exact source of the problem? It's over. Or am I missing something else here?

marktynernyc

I had a similar experience at the restaurant Neu Wein in Vienna (additonal charges of about $1000). I wrote the Tourism board who contacted the police and the restaurant. The restaurant said they had problems with their terminal that night - which is possible I suppose. The restaurant also contacted me personally, apologized and offered a complimentry meal the next time I was in Vienna. <BR><BR>All I can say is - squeak loudly.

Patrick

I also failed to speak to the issue of the hotel seemingly not being concerned with the &quot;fraud&quot; going on at their hotel. Since there is no evidence that this is a recurring problem or that it has ever happened to anyone else, it is quite possible first of all that it is a computer problem (but let's not forget that most computer problems are really a result of human error). Perhaps they have found out the source. Perhaps they have found out that someone did do it intentionally. Perhaps they even know who did it and have fired the culprit. But I'm not sure why it is your business exactly how they are handling what is clearly an internal problem, so long as they haven't made a big stink and refused to accept that it was an error. Do you think a company would really want to publicly admit (so you or someone else could post here for example) that &quot;Yes, we hired an employee who illegally charged your account seven times&quot;. They very well may feel that such a statement could have a more negative effect than just admitting that a problem occurred and it has been taken care of, which they have done.

Andre

BTilke,<BR><BR>Thanks for the heads up on the Interconti - will avoid the place on my future trips to Vienna, even though I enjoyed staying there in the past.<BR><BR>Patrick: I agree with you to a certain degree. The hotel shouldn't have to offer a detailed explanation of what exactly happened - who cares anyway? However BTilke was significantly inconvenienced by this &quot;computer error&quot; - having to switch CC numbers is not a pleasant thing, especially if you're on a trip, have used the card to guarantee hotel reservations, there are automatic monthly charges routed to it or you've saved the number in your profile on web sites you use often. The least the Interconti could do is to offer a voucher for a free night or 2. A classy thing would be to refund all or part of BTilke's stay (of course for that they would need her new CC number ;-)).<BR><BR>Let's assume the grocery store you refered to sold you fruit with insects living in it, which then colonize your kitchen, requiring you to call the exterminator. Would you still be happy if the store just refunded you the cost of the fruit?<BR><BR>Just my 2 cents.<BR><BR>Andre

CoachBoy

I've had only good experiences with the IC Wien. And regarding the IC chain, last year I stayed at the IC Rome (delaville). I arranged for a car to pick us up at the airport, however since we missed our connection at CDG we needed the car about 3 hours later. The concierge billed us twice for the car, as we weren't able to inform them in time and the car had already been dispatched to the airport. <BR><BR>Upon return to the states, I contacted IC and they couldn't have been nicer. Two weeks later I got a refund in the mail.<BR><BR>Another time I had construction next to my room. They refunded my entire stay (including food and parking!!!).<BR><BR>Coachboy

CalgirlSusan

I'm not sure why you are so harsh in your judgement of the hotel. Andre, you say that you have enjoyed staying there, but now will avoid it. Why? Is it just because one person had a billing problem? <BR><BR>If I stopped going to all the restaurants where I found mistakes on my bill, I'd have few choices of where to eat. I don't think it would make me feel any better if the restaurant told me that the waiter had purposely added to the bill. I would prefer they just said it was a mistake and correct it. Telling me that it was done on purpose would make me less likely to return to the restaurant, not more likely.<BR><BR>You seem to say that if they admit that they purposely billed you for those extra charges then you would feel better about going back. I wouldn't.