Hotel fraud

[Chirimoya]

This is complicated but I hope people can advise:

A friend who was staying with me reserved a room for a visiting work colleague at a Santo Domingo hotel last week, using her Visa card as guarantee as requested by the hotel.

When the colleague checked out, he paid the bill in cash (US$300) but the management is charging my friend's card anyway. It seems that the receptionist on duty pocketed the cash payment, and passed on a visa voucher with my friend's visa details with a forged copy of the guest's signature to the accounts department. She had actually left the country before the colleague checked out.

At this stage the impression is that one individual receptionist pocketed the cash dollars and that the hotel management is not in on the scam - because the manager e-mailed her a scanned copy of the voucher with the forged signature. If the manager knew what was going on presumably he wouldn't have entered into e-mail correspondence with her, and just let the transaction go through.

Meanwhile I've advised my friend to block any visa payment to this hotel in her home country if that is possible.

My question is, who can we denounce this to? ASONAHORES? Or would this only be the case if it is systematic fraud by the hotel as opposed to an individual employee, as seems to be the case? What can I do to help?

I'm not sure about posting the name of the hotel here, but wonder about warning future guests. Even if the hotel itself is not to blame it is clear that one employee at least is swindling the guests.

[Robert]

I have a feeling that when the hotel sees the charge back they will start to ask questions. Maybe then they will do their own investigation.

Did the person that paid the US$300 cash get a receipt?

[Chirimoya]

As far as I understand this - my friend has sent me various e-mails and it is all a bit confusing - the guest has a receipt for the cash payment that he made, and the scanned receipt for the VISA payment as well as the signed voucher sent by the manager are forgeries.

Looking at her e-mails again, they may have forged the guest's signature on a Recibo de Cobro stating that payment was made by VISA, as well as on a VISA voucher containing my friend's details, when he signed a cash receipt. He has a copy of the receipt he was actually given, that states that the bill was paid in cash, which he is scanning and sending to the manager, so yes, hopefully questions will be asked.

My friend also says that as long as no charge is made to her card it will be OK. She was asking me to go and speak to them in person just so they see that she has 'local associates' who might be able to take this further in the DR. She and her colleague are easier targets because they are out of the country.

Something similar happened to me on my very first visit to the DR, where all sorts of fictitious room service charges were put onto my account (a steak dinner, a 25-page fax in French and other absurdities) and since then I have never let a hotel swipe my visa card as guarantee. I just say I don't have one.

[Chirimoya]

The plot thickens. This is the reason the manager/accountant entered into correspondence with my friend in the first place:

E-mail from the manager/accountant:

deseo infórmale que tenemos incombeniento con esta tarjeta ya que es la misma que uso otro huésped nuestro quien estuvo una semana antes que el Sr. XXXX y nos esta reclamando el cargo que se le hizo a su tarjeta por el mismo monto que pago el Sr. XXXX, favor de aclarar esto con el Sr. De lo contrario, tendremos que hacer el cargo a la tarjeta de crédito que muestra la solicitud de reserva como garantía.

"I need to let you know that we have a problem with this card which is the same one used by another guest who stayed at the hotel a week before Mr XXXX, please clarify this with the gentleman, otherwise we will have to charge the credit card that was used as a guarantee during reservation".

So it wasn't her credit card details on the voucher with her colleague's forged signature, but another guest's. It's now clear, and should be obvious to the manager, that the receptionist is using other guests' vouchers! How extremely stupid. I suppose some people might miss a small extra charge to their credit card, but sooner rather than later someone would notice and complain, as happened here. It is crazy that they are even approaching her about this in the first place - how would 'Sr. XXXX' have the other guest's CC details?

Luckily 'Sr XXXX' has a copy of his cash receipt, which he is sending to the manager.

The lessons are: 1. ALWAYS KEEP RECEIPTS. 2. Cash payments are as risky as giving hotels your credit card details. 3. The hotel manager is no Sherlock Holmes.

[RonS]

I've had a little bit of experience with credit card use fraud in the DR and each time my credit card company has conducted an investigation and credited my account for the amount that was stolen. Please keep us updated on the hotel's response to this situation and whether or not this employee is properly disciplined. We should all know not to frequent an establishment that tolerates this type of abuse.

[Chirimoya]

Thanks RonS. I've written to her offering to call/visit the manager/accountant and politely inform him that it is obvious exactly who is at fault here, and that if any charge is made to my friend's card and/or the employee isn't dealt with, we will denounce the hotel to ASONAHORES, the DR press, and -er- 'other media frequented by potential clients'.

[Lambada]

And the 'other guest' of a week before ought to be blocking payments on his Visa card and notifying the Security & Fraud Operations Dept. of his bank, if he is reading this.

[Hillbilly]

the manager is also close to being illiterate....in his "native" language...

My oh my...I am glad i do all of my spending in cash--what very little I do!!! HEHEHE

HB

[SosuaJoe]

This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened in a resort in this or any country. Hotels can do the best they can, but if they get a bad employee, or an employee who goes bad, even the best hotel can get caught up in this sort of thing. The difference is in how they deal with it.

Nevertheless, your friend's credit card company will likely give the refund and charge it back to the resort. Furthermore, if this happened to your friend, it likely happened to many guests. Many incidents = many charge-backs to the hotel. You can be sure the hotel administration will hit the roof and want to get to the bottom of this. The receptionist will get caught, because checkouts are tracked by who does them, and cashes are balanced.

I wouldn't sweat it too much.

Joe

[Sdyent]

I have some experience with CC fraud and hotel bookings.

Visa will be very unlikely to eat the fraud charge. Your friend gave the card as a secure payment for the room and did use the room. If the person staying wasn't forced to put down an additional card for incidentals that means the card holder didn't specify via the CC form filled out, to my knowledge all rooms paid by non swipe transactions should have a form to authorize the charge, how the charges were to be settled. Your friend that stayed should have asked the hotel for a zero balance bill that showed the cash payment.
To be honest, the employee can always say they never received cash and since you have no proof the guest gave cash.....the charge is your burden to bare. I would also say it's highly unlikely the employee will face discipline...

Lesson: ALWAYS get a zero balance on your hotel bill.No matter how if it's a 2 star shack or a 5 star resort..

I fought a fraud case with AMEX for a year after my wedding in New Orleans. We paid the planner in certified checks and wires. He got his hands on our CC info. After 3 fraud reps, a Fraud Sr VP and Hurricane Katrina, AMEX made me eat every dime owed...