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May 21 |
D4 Berkeley Hotel refuses to honour charity voucherTagged Under : Berkeley Hotel, charity voucher, D4Posted in Sian's Stuff by Sian |
I wouldn’t normally use this blog to complain about something but I feel very strongly about this.
Recently Whatswhat.ie became involved in the Q102 online auction for Focus Ireland and both parties did a fantastic job for charity. As well as advertising the auction for them throughout Whatswhat.ie for free we also offered €1000 worth of advertising to be bid for – all proceeds going to Focus Ireland.
Whilst listening in to the auction I placed a bid for a 2 night stay for 2 people including dinner in the Mohammed Ali suite at the D4 Berkeley Hotel. I thought that would be handy for when I’m going up to see Michael Buble in September with my friend. I won with my bid. The voucher is copied below.
I got the voucher through in the post and rang to book the 2 nights – 24th and 25th September. The conversation with the reservations guy went more or less like this:-
Me: Hi, I have a voucher and I’d like to use it to book 24th and 25th September
Berkeley Hotel: You can’t use a voucher for those dates
Me: It mentions dates on the voucher that it’s not valid for but doesn’t mention September
Berkeley Hotel: Let me check (put on hold)
Berkeley Hotel: Sorry, the suites are fully booked then
Me: Ok, how about a normal room then?
Berkeley Hotel: Let me check (put on hold)
Berkeley Hotel: No sorry, all rooms are fully booked
Me: All of them? How about any of the other D4 hotels?
Berkeley Hotel: They are all fully booked too
Me: Ok, will you put me on a list in case of cancellations?
Berkeley Hotel: Yes, although there is one on the list before you already so would go to them first
Me: That’s fine
After this conversation I started thinking it didn’t sound right to me so 2 friends and myself have phoned and checked since then on availability for those nights and each time we got quotes for available rooms in all 3 hotels by the stadium and no mention of the Michael Buble concert.
I telephoned the lady who signed the voucher this morning and she said that those dates weren’t available for vouchers. When I pointed out that those dates weren’t mentioned as not valid but others were, plus that the reservations guy had blatantly lied to me about rooms not being available she said she would get a manager to call me back.
I waited 5 hours but no call back so decided to call again and ask for a manager. I was put through to the front house manager. I was told not to include his name in this blog as he would bring a lawsuit down on me – nice! So let’s call him MC. MC said that on no account could I use the voucher for those days. I pointed out those dates aren’t included as not valid on the voucher and it says depends on availability. MC admitted that there are rooms available but I could only have them if I paid €219 per person which is the special rate for the Michael Buble concert – which he said he didn’t think I could afford!! Nice again – he doesn’t know what I paid for that bid!! I said it was awful that they didn’t keep to their promise on the voucher and I would be writing a blog about it and letting everyone I knew on Twitter and Facebook know about it too. MC said to write away. When I asked for his name, which I have, he said I could not use it and spouted off a lot about democracy and freedom of speech – no idea why. I don’t know the law in that respect so not mentioning his name anyhow. Sounded to me like he’s had to deal with this type of thing before and judging by his immediately hostile attitude I’m not surprised.
As I mentioned Whatswhat.ie also offered advertising worth €1000 to the Focus Ireland auction. Now we could sell those spots maybe and get €1000 but we aren’t going to go back down on our word of what we offered. That’s just not right.
I was willing to accept a normal room instead of a suite but even that wasn’t accepted.
I’m not the type of person to be needing a room for two for 2 nights in Dublin normally and as they have to be taken before the end of December 2010 I’m not sure I’ll be using them. Then again how do I know there isn’t another event on that means my voucher isn’t valid – even though the only dates specified on the voucher are 11th of July and 4th to 10th August 2010 – see below.
I am glad that Focus Ireland got some proceeds from this but I am disgusted with the attitude at the D4 Berkeley and MC.
Sian
UPDATE: I have heard from the D4 Berkeley Hotel by email and I have just spoken to Genevieve who I spoke to regarding the voucher originally. They are very apologetic for the way this has been handled and have offered me a suite for the two nights of the Michael Buble concert plus dinner (which was all with the voucher) and wine (which wasn’t).
Sian
Totally disgusting!!!! You should call Focus Ireland and let them know too. Definitely not a place to stay or to deal with!
Disgraceful attitude from the hotel. So basically they don’t want to give up any rooms they think they may get full whack for. fair enough but they SHOULD have indicated ALL dates that were invalid for the vouchers. They should honor this. Their mistake not yours. hmmm i wonder if the National Consumer agency could advise you Sian?
Also sounds like the staff need to do a course in public relations! (cheek of him suggesting you couldn’t afford to pay normal price!)
I was surprised enough that you were having trouble having the voucher honoured, I’m dumbfounded at the way you were spoken to .. The Berkeley obviously doesn’t appreciate the power of Twitter! I hope there’s a strongly worded letter (at the very least) going above that guys head.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sian Phillips, Chari Olmedo. Chari Olmedo said: RT @whatswhat_sian: Very annoyed so wrote a blog about it – D4 Berkeley Hotel refuses to honour Charity voucher http://bit.ly/bxNJhN [...]
I’ve let Focus Ireland know although it’s nothing to do with them. They accepted the vouchers in good faith. I thought they should be aware though
Yes, I’ll be writing to the manager. I presume it’s ok to use MC’s name then!!
This is a total disgrace
The voucher clerly has not excluded the dates you required. For some one in the Service industry to speak to a customer in such a rude manner is also very very unacceptable.
Perhaps after this blog MC will truely learn what the Power of Free Speach really means.
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When in Dublin overnight, I will choose to stay elsewhere
First stop, http://www.consumerassociation.ie and then Joe Duffy! Shame on the Berkeley – you should read the small print, honour the voucher and do something decent for charity why don’t you!!
That is just awful. To be treated like that is just way out of order. I have worked in Customer Service and would NEVER treat anyone like that. And its not just one person seems the whole set up is to blame.
You need to continue to let people know what this company is like – I certainly would not consider booking with them after hearing your story.
Dont let it go – fight it all the way.
Disgraceful! D4 Hotels should be ashamed of themselves – apparently profiteering from concert goers is more important than taking care of the person who donated to a charity. A real own goal D4 Hotels – I’m afraid I won’t be using you either.
Ive no doubt the adverse publicity from this blog post and related Twitter posts hast cost the D4 a lot more than the revenue the will get from the room
Ralph
Thanks for posting and spreading the word about D4 Berkeley Hotel for all to avoid. What utter assholes!!!
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D4 hotels are the Ryanair of hotels in fairness. They advertise rooms for €20 and yet you could spend a week on their website and not manage to find one. You may be better off elsewhere.
I can now see that Ruairi. But that wasn’t the point. The point is that I was lied to, plus the charity voucher not accepted even though the dates not mentioned as not valid and finally the complete rudeness of MC on the phone
That’s the pits! I’ll be posting a link to this on my FB page and making sure anyone I know planning an overnighter in Dublin, doesn’t stay here. Doesn’t help that I support Focus Ireland and feel very disappointed for them, that a so called ‘sponsor’ creaming free advertising and hoping for a good image by ‘sponsoring’ the event are actually a crowd of schisters!
Disgraceful behaviour by such a well known Irish Hotel. We have used this hotel numerous time but won’t again. This sort of behaviour will have cost them dearly across the board. Don’t businesses think of that. I hope this so called Manager gets sent on a Customer Relations course! Sad state of affairs.
I certainIy will not use this hotel after your experience.
It is shocking how they have treated you, they really have no idea of theower osocial media!
You should tweet this to Conor Pope I’m sure he’d be interested in it & might even discuss it on his slot on today fm too.
Lets get the power of twitter behind this to create as much fuss as possible!
Maybe then D4 Hotels might take notice & think about changing their policies, or at the very least train their employees in how to communicate appropriately with customers.
Phone joe duffy
those lads have never changed
http://patphelan.net/d4hotelsie-and-cubic-telecom-extend-warm-welcome-to-dallas-3/
Jesus with all the money lost in the last few weeks with the volcanoe, you’d think the lads in the Berkley and D4 Hotels would have more cop on – I know it was a voucher and all but surely they realised bad press means less bookings. Their customer service is disgraceful and I personally won’t be making any more bookings with them. Posting this to my facebook as well!
Just ring Joe Duffy and problem solved
sorry now but i just stummbled across this and thought that I would have my 2 cent worth.
I work in the hotel industry and am the point of contact for charity prizes since i work in the sales team.
I fully understand that the hotel do not want recieve the voucher as this is a peak date for the hotel and as a result of the recession they dont have many dates that they can yield high rates.
However, as we do on all our vouchers they should have put that it was subject to availability!! which would have covered them.
Still though they should have politely sxplained this to you and handled the situation alot better.
Wow! Firstly the lies, and then the cheek to assume that you couldn’t afford the price for the room. Completely agree with SKavanagh’s post above.
Great to see somebody not taking the usual rubbish and actually doing something about it and achieving a result.
Well done!
Get on to Joe Duffy. And publish the full management staff list for the hotel in question on this blog. That is factual and not actionable. Then let them fight it out as to who spoke to you and who is prepared to speak to Joe.
QED.
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