Beware of “damage deposits”
On June 26 we checked into a Quality Inn in Hinton, Alberta. We were told that there was a $100 damage deposit.
A couple of days later I went online. The damage deposit had not been returned. I phoned the hotel and told them I had been in room 312. The woman who answered said that someone else had been in that room for the entire month of June. That was a lie.
I phoned later and spoke to a man. He said that he was unable to return the deposit. He suggested that I go all the way back to Hinton to get the $100. He said the protocol for getting a deposit back was to ask for it when I checked out. Then they would go to the room while I waited. If there was no damage, I would get my money back.
That was another stupid lie.
I phoned the same number on several subsequent days. That number no longer worked.
I am assuming they are simply hoping that people will not go online to see if their damage deposit was returned. That’s called THEFT.
Contacted Quality Inn head office
The Quality Inn head office‘s phone was too busy and I could not contact them that way. A couple weeks ago I emailed them to explain the problem. They have not replied.
Police department would not help
I phoned the RCMP office in Hinton. I was told that damage deposits are a civil matter. I could not convince the girl that this was theft.
Social media and Quality Inn
I’ve come to the conclusion that the only way to get my $100 back is to resort to embarrassing them on social media. There were lots of negative reviews about the Quality Inn in Hinton when I went to tripadvisor.ca and expedia.ca.
I decided that I’ll get my point of view out on a few more online places.
