Travel

Marriott Screwed Maureen

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I am pissed off at the Marriott Renaissance Orlando. Their Error caused Maureen Tarpey $400+ in fees, a month of fighting to receive a piddly amount of money back and countless hours of worry and stress. They refused to refund that for her and her credit card company is not any better. Maureen did our family a selfless kindhearted favor. She took 3 days out of work to care for Eva while we were at IZEAFest. Now she is out $400.00. It is sick how credit card companies can hit you with insane fees on a mistake made by a major corporation and that once the error is fixed they still keep the money they charged in fees that never should have been charged in the first place. Oh but she did get a $100 gift card to stay in a Marriott hotel. How’s that for an added kick in the junk? Pathetic.

I am donating the money from a $100 review that I am doing through SocialSpark and I am offering the chance for 6 people to get blog reviews for the low price of $50 each to raise the $400 that Maureen was screwed out of. Only 6 spots open. Send me a message if you are interested. I’m getting her this money back.

I’ve also set up a Chip in Widget to help raise money for Maureen to cover these fees. It wasn’t fair and I am hoping that the good karma that Maureen put out by helping us comes back to her in the form of help with her fees. If you can donate anything then great. Every donation gets a tweet mention. Just leave a comment with your twitter name. Thanks.

24 thoughts on “Marriott Screwed Maureen”

  1. Pingback: Tweets that mention Marriott Screwed Maureen | Everyday Pictures... Every... Day - BenSpark.com -- Topsy.com

  2. Drew- what a wonderful way to help out your friend. While I only got to spend a few short days with Maureen, she is truly a sweetheart and definitely not deserving of the kind of treatment she received. I’d love to offer some guest posts and reviews in addition to help Maureen cover the fees. I’ll shoot you an email.

    1. Dina,
      Thank you. Any help you can think of to make this work and help Maureen would be great. I can’t sit idly by while this happens and I’m sure I went off half cocked over it but too bad sometimes you just have to act.

      1. I think your reaction was completely appropriate, and I still can’t believe the bank AND the Marriott refuse to acknowledge their error. Actually that’s not true- I’ve had horrible customer service before regarding overdrafts and unfair policies, so I almost expect it now.

        1. Dina,

          Just trying to help a friend and by the looks of it We did pretty well. I have room for one more spot and then if someone kicks in an additional $5 we should be all set.

    1. Christine,
      I’m not trying to get anything extra, just what is fair. A mistake was made that caused a chain of events that in turn made Maureen’s credit all screwed up and her life stressed, I think it is shameful the runaround that she got over the course of this debacle and hope that we can help her recover what was taken from her through the Credit Card company and the Ren. Thank you for adding to the conversation on this, please pass along the link to help people e able to help with Chip In.

      1. I know you aren’t trying to get anything extra from them – I just think it’s awful what happened. It’s terrible that it spiraled out like this. 🙁

        I’ve reposted on Facebook and Stumbled. Hopefully that will bring in some extra people.

        1. Oops Sorry, I didn’t mean to say it like that. My bad. Thanks for helping to get the word out about this. Maybe it will help fix some policies at the Ren. Fixing credit card policies well that is beyond help. Credit Card companies are now charging more than Loan sharks. It is criminal what they get away with.

    1. Andrea,
      Not really helpful. Apparently they would only take care of the charges that happened because of the overdraft of from being charged for the room and not however for the chain reaction and compounding of fees from the credit card company. The credit card company is also to blame but I don’t know which one it is.

      1. I still think it would be worthwhile to write to the regional/corporate headquarters outlining the events and their results. I would hope that someone with a “big picture” view would recognize how appropriate it would be to make Maureen whole. No matter that someone higher up may need to authorize a rebate.

        I can understand the credit card company. The fees incurred were due to Marriott’s error. Would it be nice if the credit card company said “Good customer all these years, let’s see what we can do to help (ie, split the fees, call Marriot)”? Yes. But their customer service probably isn’t built that way. It’s easy for them to just point back to the company that made the error.

        Reporting Marriott to the Better Business Bureau and looking into small claims court are other options as well.
        .-= Look at what Andrea wrote blog ..Business Card Image Collection =-.

        1. Thanks Andrea,
          I will pass along those options to Maureen, actually she’ll probably read them.

          But I do have to also really blame the credit card companies for being able to charge those exorbitant fees. There is no good reason for something like that. And there is no recourse for the consumer.

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  6. I really appreciate everyone’s support and advice! This has been just an awful experience, but I have to say that it makes me feel a lot better knowing that there are people like you all in the world:) I can’t get over how kind everyone is being…Marriott needs to take notes!!

    Dina-it was a pleasure meeting you in Orlando. You are such a generous person and I know Drew, Allison, & Eva think the world of you:) Thank you:)

    Christine-it is ridiculous. I work in retail and I understand how the economy is making businesses suffer. That being said, if we make a mistake, we fix it. They told me over and over that all fees and charges would be handled but they tied up my funds for a month and then suddenly recanted. It doesn’t invoke a lot of faith in their customer service.

    Andrea-The Twitter guy passed off my issue to the Renaissance management. The new guy contacted my credit card company (Bank of America) who sided with him saying that the charges were money I used, so I really didn’t lose anything. I can’t get them to understand that the issue is that the “money” that was used was not only because of their error and never would have appeared had they not charged me in the first place…but that it was “used” to cover the fees and charges to my checking account that they were at fault for. They tied up my funds for a month, telling me that I would be reimbursed but that didn’t happen. Bottom line…2 against 1 and they hold the purse strings. My letters to the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney General Department of Fraud have been written and will be going out tomorrow.

    Drew & Allison-I can’t say enough…you are the best and I couldn’t ask for better friends. I’m so touched by your generosity and by your tenacity! Thank you for always being there:)
    .-= Look at what Mo wrote blog ..motarpey: thinks @BenSpark & @Alsparky could & should write a series of books on "How to be Truly Selfless Friends!" =-.

    1. Mo,
      As I have said so many times int he past, you are family. We think the world of you and would do anything for you. This whole fubar situation is completely unfair and I hope the right people finally sit up and take notice.

    1. Hi Buck,
      We have to connect soon, how are things going? I hope that big things are in the works man. We did get what we needed. We raised $300 for Maureen and I’m kicking in $100 from my eye-fi review that I’ll be posting later today. No worries on Being a Johnny come lately. If you’d like to write a post about the situation than that is cool. Any light we can shed on it is great.

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