Comments on: Charged for a movie I never watched

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:47:07 +0000

A particular hotel in which I was a regular, the hotel manager described to us during their “happy hour” that there are a variety of factors that can determine whether or not he would issue a refund.

Being a member of the hotel’s reward program helps in your favor. Also, the “type” of movie rented also plays into the equation. Even though the name of the movie is not on the bill, the price of an adult movie is typically higher than standard Hollywood fare and people don’t want that line item to be on a bill — especially if the receipt is needed for reimbursement.

Not saying this is the case here, but if it was an adult movie, that is why you may see the resistance. Because “no one” ever watches those types of movies, yet it seems to be a profitable money-maker for all involved.

By: Barry Graham

Barry Graham — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 05:09:06 +0000

I’ve never had an issue getting something like this removed from my bill. I suggest that asking to speak to security probably wasn’t a great idea, and perhaps they were rather confrontational when they approached the hotel, which may have made things worse? Best always to be nice and happy when dealing with service people (actually with anyone!)

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 03:24:30 +0000

The housekeeping staff could have done it.

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:05:55 +0000

Great that Elliott was able to get a refund. If not, you can also do a charge back with the credit card company. Call up your cc company and tell them that you did not authorise the charge and push them to do a charge back. Is then on the hotel to prove that you authorised the charge.

By: Carver

Carver — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 07:56:06 +0000

Curiously

I’ve never had a problem with a hotel removing erroneous charges whether mini-bar or movies.

By: Judy

Judy — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 16:26:30 +0000

This happened to me once. I went to the front desk showed them my receipt from the dinner I had ate, which meant I was not in my room watching a movie. They apologized for the inconvience to me, then took the movie off my bill.

By: Miss Liliane

Miss Liliane — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 14:18:45 +0000

I’ve had this happen once as well. We were on our honeymoon in TX, and once when we checked our in-room bill channel, it had someone else’s name on it. We didn’t think much about it until we went to check out and the bill was littered with movie & video game rentals. They removed two of the movies right away since they were only watched for less than 5 minutes, but they didn’t want to remove the others. Finally we got loud and they took them off to keep from having the other guests here about the problems. I assume that they literally had some wires crossed upstairs. Seriously, who plays Mario Kart for 10 hours while on their honeymoon. :-p