Pay close attention to your credit cards after a trip
Question: In January 2014, I booked a hotel through Expedia for a ski trip my family planned for that February. We booked a three-night stay at the Hotel M Mount Pocono.
I later found a different hotel closer to the ski resort, so I canceled the reservation well in advance of the trip. I didn’t think about it afterwards, because the hotel employee I spoke with said it was acceptable to cancel.
A year later, when I was finally getting caught up with my filing, I noticed that the hotel charged my credit card $97 in January 2014, several days after I canceled my stay. I called the hotel directly, but received only cryptic responses. I was told that a supervisor was not available, and the hotel was “in transition.” The front desk took my information and said someone would contact me. That did not occur. Can you provide me counsel?
— Liliam Rodriguez
Answer: The Hotel M’s cancellation policy is clear and simple: Cancellations must be made at least 48 hours before your arrival date, or you will be charged for one night. Rodriguez canceled weeks ahead of time, so she was in the clear. Getting a refund for that erroneous billing, however, would a lengthy and tricky business, since so much time had elapsed since the $97 charge hit her Visa.
I first asked Expedia to look into Rodriguez’s complaint. The company’s records showed that Rodriguez had never contacted it to cancel the reservation or question the hotel’s charge. Expedia confirmed that Rodriguez wasn’t liable for a cancellation fee: Her booking was not prepaid, and Expedia didn’t alter the hotel’s cancellation policy or add one of its own.
Expedia’s customer service department then told Rodriguez that the hotel indicated it had never charged her. Rodriguez countered with a copy of her credit card statement showing the Hotel M charge. Expedia took that back to the hotel, but after another two weeks, Expedia informed her that the hotel was “unable to explain the lack of response,” advised her to turn to her bank for help — and closed the case.
“This is an unfortunate experience and not typical,” says Expedia representative Tarran Street, adding that Expedia has “escalated the issue internally to make sure it does not happen again.”
Since Expedia didn’t submit the charge, Street explained, it was not able to refund Rodriguez. The company did extend her a credit of $100 towards a future booking as a gesture of goodwill.
Consumers have solid protections under the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) against unauthorized charges, charges for services you didn’t receive and other billing errors. But the FCBA’s safeguards run on a strict timeline. In order to preserve your rights, you must lodge a written dispute over the billing error within 60 days from the date the first bill was mailed to you. In turn, the creditor has to acknowledge your dispute within 30 days, and resolve it within two billing cycles. Some card issuers may assist with older disputes on a case-by-case basis, but they’re under no legal obligation to do so.
The charge on Rodriguez’s Visa was 18 months old when I sent her complaint to Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo opened an investigation, even though Rodriguez’s legal rights under the FCBA had long since expired. Had she notified the bank within the 60-day limit, her liability for the charge on her Wells Fargo credit card would have been zero, according to Wells Fargo representative Natalie Brown.
“Its built-in protection features ensure that cardholders won’t be held responsible for any unauthorized transactions, as long as they're reported promptly,” says Brown.
During the back and forth with Expedia and Wells Fargo, I also attempted to contact the hotel several times. I finally got a call back from manager Syed Ud-Daulla. He said the charge on Rodriguez’s statement didn’t make any sense, since it didn’t match the date of her cancellation or the date of her stay. And the hotel didn’t even have that credit card number in her booking.
“The card that was charged was not the one we had on her reservation,” says Ud-Daulla, suggesting that perhaps someone had used Rodriguez’s card fraudulently for that charge.
Ud-Daulla attempted to check the hotel’s billing records from January 2014, but ultimately was unable to access the details of the charge. He agreed to send Rodriguez a check for $97 to reimburse her for that old charge.
How can you avoid trouble?
• Cancel through your booking agency. Reservations usually need to be canceled by the travel agency that made them. The big travel sites may be able to help if there’s an issue with your cancellation.
• Keep an eye on your credit card statements, before and after your trip. From basic billing mistakes by travel suppliers to outright fraud like card skimming, travel brings plenty of opportunities for your credit card to get worked over. You can sign up for activity alerts for every transaction with some credit cards.
• Follow up promptly with your bank and travel providers. Many banks have zero-liability provisions for wrong charges, in addition to FCBA protections. And both banks and booking sites have clout with travel suppliers, which can help in a dispute.
Do you have a travel consumer issue you'd like Traveler's Aide to pursue? Email Linda Burbank at usattravelersaide@gmail.com. Your question may be used in a future column.