What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Arizona
My question involves a consumer law issue in the State of: Arizona
Recently my family stayed at a well known budget hotel chain, as they were the only hotel rooms available over our weekend trip. We were woken up to water flooding in our room. I received a phone call from my mother whom was staying in a room directly behind use and she had informed me that her room was flooded as well as the persons room next to hers. She had a representative with the hotel with her and she wanted to see how bad our room was. I informed them that I had small children still asleep but they could come look at the damage. Upon entering our room the sound of the door immediately woke up my entire family, the lights turned and we could assess the damage the carpets were saturated as well as my 14 year old daughters iPhone 5 which she had left on the floor to charge. The hotel rep looked around to see if she could find a leak and didn't find anything she quickly eliminated anything coming from our sink toilet or bathroom area. I then confronted her with the issue of my daughters cell phone at which time she said put it in the sun that should dry it out. I then informed her that it was a $550 dollar phone and that her hotel was responsible for the damages at which point she started to shift blame to our toilet may have over flowed or something in our room that caused the problem after already ruling this out. She had yet to check the room to our left as was about to see the damages there but had said it was possible for the water to be coming from that room. With so much water in our room we couldn't stay at the hotel any longer so we ready our children checked out and proceed to a relatives house. Before leaving we demanded to speak to a manager and we were informed he was on vacation and wouldn't be in until late that night or the following monday. We again informed the representative about the damage to our property and she replied "well most people have insurance on there phones so that should take care of it." I let her know that the damage was not caused by our fault and we do not have insurance on our phones and that ultimately they would be responsible to the replacement. I took the managers information and called the corporate off to file a complaint. Later that day the rep from the hotel called and informed us that they would be discounting our stay 50% on one of the rooms and that should cover the damages to the phone. I informed her that, that wasn't good enough that phone was worth more then $50 and I would need to speak to the manager whom again wasn't available. We tried contacting him several times throughout the day until we were told he wouldn't be in until monday. My mom signed the checkout papers and we left.
We didn't hear back from anyone all day Monday which was a holiday so that was semi understandable. We finally hear back form The Manager whom is also the owner that stated that he would not accept responsibility for the damage to our iPhone and would not be taking care of the damages. He then went on to tell me that he had a professional Plumber and Professional Carpet cleaner come and assess that damage and they determined the damage was caused by an over flowing tub in our room and he had charged our Credit Card for both those bills and the nights loss for not being able to rent the rooms. Mind you I have a 4 and a 3 year daughter which were also in the room with me at the time and a Tub full of water would be a huge problem. I was floored I know that the bath tub hadn't been on all night as I was up twice to use the restroom and would have noticed. I explained to him that this was not true and asked him to provide that documentation that was provided to him by these "Professionals" so that I can see where our room was the cause. He said he would not provide any such information and that the only information he would provide was the information where he charged my CC without my authorization or with out informing he was going to do so first. I had the contact information for the carpet cleaning company as I have family that lives in town and they saw the truck working on the rooms. The owner stated he did clean the carpets in the rooms but didn't give any diagnosis on where the water came from his direct quote was "I just cleaned the carpets that all I did."
Ok with that huge story out of the way my question is where do I go from here? I know I can take this man to small claims court. But I feel violated and am wondering if there is any criminal actions involved here? He charged our CC without telling he was going to do and accused my family of something we didn't do.
Any help anyone could provide would be helpful. Thank you ahead of time.
My question involves a consumer law issue in the State of: Arizona
Recently my family stayed at a well known budget hotel chain, as they were the only hotel rooms available over our weekend trip. We were woken up to water flooding in our room. I received a phone call from my mother whom was staying in a room directly behind use and she had informed me that her room was flooded as well as the persons room next to hers. She had a representative with the hotel with her and she wanted to see how bad our room was. I informed them that I had small children still asleep but they could come look at the damage. Upon entering our room the sound of the door immediately woke up my entire family, the lights turned and we could assess the damage the carpets were saturated as well as my 14 year old daughters iPhone 5 which she had left on the floor to charge. The hotel rep looked around to see if she could find a leak and didn't find anything she quickly eliminated anything coming from our sink toilet or bathroom area. I then confronted her with the issue of my daughters cell phone at which time she said put it in the sun that should dry it out. I then informed her that it was a $550 dollar phone and that her hotel was responsible for the damages at which point she started to shift blame to our toilet may have over flowed or something in our room that caused the problem after already ruling this out. She had yet to check the room to our left as was about to see the damages there but had said it was possible for the water to be coming from that room. With so much water in our room we couldn't stay at the hotel any longer so we ready our children checked out and proceed to a relatives house. Before leaving we demanded to speak to a manager and we were informed he was on vacation and wouldn't be in until late that night or the following monday. We again informed the representative about the damage to our property and she replied "well most people have insurance on there phones so that should take care of it." I let her know that the damage was not caused by our fault and we do not have insurance on our phones and that ultimately they would be responsible to the replacement. I took the managers information and called the corporate off to file a complaint. Later that day the rep from the hotel called and informed us that they would be discounting our stay 50% on one of the rooms and that should cover the damages to the phone. I informed her that, that wasn't good enough that phone was worth more then $50 and I would need to speak to the manager whom again wasn't available. We tried contacting him several times throughout the day until we were told he wouldn't be in until monday. My mom signed the checkout papers and we left.
We didn't hear back from anyone all day Monday which was a holiday so that was semi understandable. We finally hear back form The Manager whom is also the owner that stated that he would not accept responsibility for the damage to our iPhone and would not be taking care of the damages. He then went on to tell me that he had a professional Plumber and Professional Carpet cleaner come and assess that damage and they determined the damage was caused by an over flowing tub in our room and he had charged our Credit Card for both those bills and the nights loss for not being able to rent the rooms. Mind you I have a 4 and a 3 year daughter which were also in the room with me at the time and a Tub full of water would be a huge problem. I was floored I know that the bath tub hadn't been on all night as I was up twice to use the restroom and would have noticed. I explained to him that this was not true and asked him to provide that documentation that was provided to him by these "Professionals" so that I can see where our room was the cause. He said he would not provide any such information and that the only information he would provide was the information where he charged my CC without my authorization or with out informing he was going to do so first. I had the contact information for the carpet cleaning company as I have family that lives in town and they saw the truck working on the rooms. The owner stated he did clean the carpets in the rooms but didn't give any diagnosis on where the water came from his direct quote was "I just cleaned the carpets that all I did."
Ok with that huge story out of the way my question is where do I go from here? I know I can take this man to small claims court. But I feel violated and am wondering if there is any criminal actions involved here? He charged our CC without telling he was going to do and accused my family of something we didn't do.
Any help anyone could provide would be helpful. Thank you ahead of time.
