My wife and I went to the resort on Friday, January 21, 2011. We got dinner at the grill which is attached to the resort. I woke up on Saturday to find out that there was a separate charge made on my debit card for $96.79. I went to the front desk and asked what could be done about this, explaining that I am a student on a limited budget and that the charge put me in a bad spot, especially given that we were there for my wife's birthday and I intended to foot the bills. The woman at the desk was nice enough, but basically said that nothing could be done about it because it was the weekend, and nobody from accounting would be in until Monday. I reluctantly accepted this as it made sense. All the banks are closed, what could be done?
Upon checking out the following day, I spoke again to the same woman and she guaranteed that she would hand deliver my information to Mary in accounting, and that she would call me Monday and resolve the situation. On Monday, I received no call, no email, no nothing. At 3:30 PM, I called them and got transferred to Mary in accounting. She informed me that she/they "lost my information." I respond, "Well, what has been done to remedy the erroneous charges on my account?" She began to scramble because clearly, nothing had been done. It was clear that no account of my difficulties had been passed along, and I was left to explain the issue once again. She told me nothing I haven't already heard or could have assumed, further demonstrating that she had not been told anything about the charge, etc. I expressed to her that I am frustrated and disappointed that nothing has been done, and added that I didn't need to be called first for them to do something about this, and here it is, 3:30 PM on Monday, but nothing has changed with my account, and there is little time left in the afternoon to address this.
She then offered to call the bank and see what can be done. She called me a few minutes later and informed me that the bank has "released the charges." I checked my account via my mobile device and saw that there was a deposit to my account in the same amount as the erroneous charge. I called her back and stated that this will do, though I don't understand why they can't just remove the first charge. The following morning, I woke up, checked my finances, and saw that the counter-deposit was gone - the erroneous charge was still there, and now my account has overdrafted. I called back and requested to speak to the food and beverage manager, Peter **. He said he will look into it, was apologetic and nice on the phone. But when he got back to me, he stated that the charges have been removed (they had not yet come off the account), and that any overdraft charge was not related to their error (which, according to my bank, it was their charge that caused the overdraft).
Next, I attempted to reach the general manager, John **. I had to call three times to get a callback, and essentially informed his assistant that I was very close to writing this complaint, and that perhaps it was in his best interest to contact me. He finally called me on Friday, January 28, 2011. He apologized for the difficulty and was gracious in his voicemail, but at that point it was empty fluff, and he did not address any question of whether or not they owe me for overdraft fees.
In conclusion, this establishment demonstrated poor customer service. I have never had a pending charge on my account for the better part of a week, and never experienced such a lack of concern and response from a business. In multiple interactions with Mary and Peter **, they would infer that the hang-up was my bank or that they couldn't see how any overdraft fees could be related to their error. If there was in fact any issue with my bank, it is still the resort's responsibility: they screwed it up, and they should fix it. It is of no benefit to them to tell the customer that it is their bank, as it just seems like deferring the blame. Secondly, they were in denial that my overdraft charges were related to their error.
It was as if I was trying to swindle them. I didn't even pursue this with them because my bank took care of it when I had to go in to make a deposit, because it would have been withheld for more than a week due to the overdraft. Fortunately, they listened, worked with me, and resolved my account on site. The erroneous pending charge finally dropped from my account on January 27, nearly a week after it was made. The bottom line is: they had terrible customer service and a lack of understanding of the customer's situation, and inappropriate deferral of responsibility causing much headache and fiscal weariness and worry.
