Harrah's Casino - New Orleans Bait and Switch - Complaint on complimentary airfare offer New Orleans Louisiana
On Thursday, June 17, 2004 I opened my mailbox to find a letter from Harrah's Casino of New Orleans, LA. Inside this letter were some coupons for complimentary lodging, discounts on the Besh Steakhouse, Earl Turner tickets, and aquarium tickets. On the coupon page, there is room for six coupons but two of the spaces were used as "filler" with no real offers on them. The letter attached was signed by John Payne, Senior Vice President and General Manager and stated;
..."All this excitement is the perfect reason to take a trip south and have some summertime fun! So pack your bags and take advantage of this special getaway offer. Not only are we giving you compliemtary airfare to New Orleans, you'll enjoy fabulous hotel accomodations at one of our luxurious downtown partner hotels located just steps from Harrah's, the historic French Quarter and a number of award-winning restaurants such as Emeril's, K-Paul's and Restaurant August. Harrah's Casino and the Big Easy are a sure-bet, winning pair, so place your bets today!"...
This was the entire second paragraph on the letter. There were no other requirements listed.
My wife called that very day to reserve a room and make flight arrangements but upon calling, she was told that there had been a mistake and that they would be giving us $100 off our airfare if we stayed two days or $150 off if we stayed three days. She asked to speak to someone in management but got voice mail. She left a message but nobody ever responded. She called back and was put through transfer after transfer after transfer. Once ending up in their call-off line and once in a "full" mailbox.
Finally, after four days, she spoke to the administrative assistant for the President of Marketing who was very nice but also said she wasn't able to help. She emailed some "important" people and we promptly received a call. The end result was just "too bad". We said it but we didn't mean it. Please come down anyway... this is a very good discount... blah blah blah.
We are Diamond Card players and are treated quite well in other places but this is our second major issue with Harrah's New Orleans.
I just wonder if its legal for them to send mailings that say one thing then they change their mind and withdraw the offer? I would like to know how many other people received this offer and were they told the same thing?
Michael
Hammond, Indiana
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Tim
Valparaiso,Indiana,
U.S.A.
This is probably legal - If this was illegal in a criminal sense it would probably fall under fraud.
#2Consumer Comment
Sun, June 27, 2004
I'm not qualified to be handing out legal advice, but I don't really consider this to be "advice," so, the answer to your question is yes. This is perfectly legal.
If this was illegal in a criminal sense it would probably fall under fraud. This would require a level of criminal intent that isn't apparent from your account. They were negligent at most. Also, no money changes hands until the actual price and terms are known. You'd need one hell of a prosecutor to pull off this case.
If this were illegal in a civil sense it would fall under contract law since the only potential damages are economic. Most, if not all states do not consider advertisements to be actual "offers" unless they are quite definite in their terms. The circular that they sent you would never make the cut. As such, what they sent you, in the eyes of the law, is an "invitation to offer."
No contractual relationship is created until you call and "offer" to take them up on their deal, and they accept your offer by taking your reservation. Until that point, you have no damages and no case.
It doesn't seem very fair, but keep in mind that much of the law is desingned in a way that benefits the economy as a whole at the expense of the individual consumer. This is a situation where liability should not attach.
First, the consumer has no real damages to compensate. Second, the criminal liability that could attach to this activity would greatly increase the legal expenses of many companies, thus driving up prices of goods across the board. Third, the civil liability that could attach would expose companies to so much liability that they may opt not to engage in certain enterprises that are socially and economically beneficial.
Is this kind of activity morally acceptable? Probably not in many cases. But false advertisement is better confronted through consumer forums than legal liability.