Complaint Review: Hotels Etc (Lee & Keith Monen) & Crystal Braun

ABOUT THE RIPOFF REPORT BELOW:

Ripoff Report would like to let readers know that Ripoff Report emailed this customer so the member business could make things right with them. When a business joins the Corporate Advocacy Program, Ripoff Report emails everyone from the past so the member business can make things right with them. Of course, everything within reason. In order to confirm that the complaints were resolved, Ripoff Report is copied on all responses so we can insure that the member business did right by their customer. Ripoff Report has always had a uniform policy to not remove Reports. Ripoff Report is a permanent record. The record is now set straight.

STATEMENT FROM HOTELS ETC:

Company has since changed owners and not provides superior customer service and 100% customer satisfaction to ensure every member of our program is a happy member.

NOW TO THE ORIGINAL REPORT THAT WAS FILED

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Hotels Etc. kept generating emails to my address and for a long time I was just trashing them. Finally after a while I took a look at one of the letters. My mother and I take several trips each year so we decided to try it out. They were running a special on there lifetime membership. It normamly cost 189.00 but for a shor time it was on special for $ 99.00. It came with some other free (what a joke) things too. I called and talked with Lee Monen about the club and told her I was not sure it was right for us. She said that we could take it out and look over all of the materials, that there was a 30 day return policy on the club.I put the cost of the club on my American Express card, I figured it would be easy to get the credit put back on the card. I looked over the information that she sent and I could not find any thing that we would use. The car rentals they quoated UP TO 25 % off......the best I could find was 3 to 5 % and that was pushing it. They said 50% on the Hotels and then they named some of the large chains making you think that it was ANY of those Hotels........it was not. It was ONLY a SELECT FEW HERE and THERE. The way it is presented on the inter net and in the information that they send out makes you think other wise. It is down right decieving. My mother and I joined on May 12th, 2004. It took a good week or more for us to get the information from her. We decided it was not right for us and I called her back on June 2nd and told her we did not wish to remain a member of the club. I WAS WELL WITH IN THE 30 DAYS. She told me as soon as she recieved the packet back from us that she would put the credit back on my American Express card. I sent it return register reciept (I have the card with Lees signature on it) so she could not say that she did not get it back. I have called and left them messages and they refuse to call me back. I have Called and talked with Lee Monen directly on 4 seperate occasions sence I sent the packet back to her. I keep asking her when she is going to credit my account. I first time she was down right nasty and told me that these things take time. Well, it sure did not take any time for her to charge the fee to my card. The next time she just seemed put off that I was bothering her and said that she would look into it.....Fat chance of that one happening. Each time I manage to get hold of her I probably have 15 failed attempts in between to her answering machine. The 3rd time she acted suprised that it had not been done yet and she promised that she would get it straight. It was then that I informed her that I put in a complaint with American Express and that they were starting an investigation into the matter, her response to that was "Oh it's taken care of then so I dont have to do any thing" and she was going to hang up. I got her to stop and I told her that she still had to put the credit on the account, she said that she would look into it again. Finally I talked with her for a forth time and she told me that she would call he book keeper and find out why it has not been credited to the account. She took my name and my number down (Like she did not already have it) and she promised that she would call me back before the end of the day. Guess I Don't really need to tell you she did not call me back by the end of the day. Personally, I tink I have a better chance of seeing pigs fly than hearing her call me on the phone. The more I have tried to get reach her the more angry I have become over the situation. Especially now that I see they have done this before under the name Hotelsetc.com and also under their other name Capital Choice Consumers Credit (and many others too). How is it they can get away with doing this over and over. I do not under stand why the government can not stop people like this, why are they not in jail if they have done this so many time to other people? So for now I waite while my credit card company does its investigating and see what they decide. I can only hope they go after them. Catherine Vienna, Virginia
U.S.A.