I posted this on a comment months ago in another subreddit, then today I remembered I had not posted this here yet and then I remembered even more months ago I promised someone in a comment I would post the story here so yeah here we go.
The cast will be Me: the bored person writing this post, SON: the dude calling, the son of the account owner and Mr. Smoker: the man that actually stayed at the hotel.
It was a mildly busy afternoon, that means I didn’t have back to back calls but there was no more than 5 minutes between calls, usually between one and two minutes.
I received a call and answered with my usual tone.
Me: Thank you for calling [Hotel Company], My name is WoodenHandMagician. How can I help you today?
SON: Hey, my name is [NAME] but I’m calling about an issue my dad, Mr. Smoker, had in one of our properties.
Me: Ok I can help you with that. Can you verify Mr. Smoker’s account details?
SON: Yes, his account is [ACCOUNT].
I proceeded to verify all of his account details and once the security check had passed I proceeded with whatever the guy on the phone needed me to do.
Me: Ok so what’s the problem?
SON: Yeah, my dad got charged a smoking fee for supposedly smoking in the room but he would never do that.
Me: I see, what was the hotel reasoning for charging him?
SON: He says his room reeked of cigarette smoke when he got in and still smelled when he got out the next day.
-Red flag 1/2: No way housekeeping would miss a thing like that.-
Me: *Distrustful* Mhm… I see… Did he inform the hotel staff his room smelled like smoke?
SON: No he didn’t.
-Red flag 2/2: Why would you not say something? You would probably get some kind of compensation, and if you are not the kind of people to go looking for money or points the staff would at least move you to a clean room.-
Me: Oooook… Well there is no way for me to refund anything, I just don’t have that power, much less something like a fine or penalty charge and specially one for as much as $250 USD, BUT I can open a case in your dad’s account. This case will be left as evidence of this call and it will be escalated to the appropriate department that has the authority to decide things like that. They will get back in touch with your father as soon as possible to the email we have on file, is that ok with you?
SON: Is there really nothing you can do?
Me: Sadly that’s the case.
SON: Well that sucks but sure, go ahead with the case and we will wait for a response.
Me: Perfect just give me five minutes.
I opened the case, gave the caller his case number and the call ended with SON mildly disappointed but not angry or upset, and that was pretty much all I could ask for. I received another call some time after that and I forgot about this for a couple of days.
Later that week I was bored in between calls (it was late in the evening and the call rate had slowed down quite a bit) and I remembered that call, so I decided to check on the case to see what had went down.
Obviously he never got a refund, but the case updates had me laughing a “No fucking way” kind of laugh.
Turns out that at check-out he noticed the 250 dollar fine he was being charged. Politely at first he asked for for that to be dismissed to the front desk lady. She told Mr. Smoker that he would have to pay that as there was more than one sign of smoking in the room, the smell was the most obvious one but there were cigarette ashes and such in the room too.
Mr. Smoker then told the front desk lady the same thing his son told me “THE ROOM ALREADY SMELLED LIKE THAT WHEN I GOT HERE” and front desk promptly shut him down telling him that housekeeping did not report smoke in the room before he got in but a strong smell when they cleaned his room so it was obviously him as there was no way to miss such a strong smell the first time. (I think other guests complained about the smell too but I might be making that up, don’t quote me on that)
Mr. Smoker then proceeds to insist the charge had to be dropped for some more minutes. Once he noticed he would not get what he wanted he threw his money at the front desk lady’s face yelling it was “THE BEST DAMN CIGARETTE I’VE EVER HAD” and similar things, insulting the staff and the hotel and being an angry jerk in general.
The updates did not specify what happened next but his account was still standing so he was not banned or anything like that. I’m not sure if SON knew what actually happened or the dad lied to him too and told him those lies but at least he was a cool dude.
submitted by /u/WoodenHandMagician
[link] [comments]
