[jjbirch]

went away this weekend to a christing in wolverhampton this weekend got up there went to the church first at 4 then back to the hotel at 6ish all ready booked my room, anyway hotel was full and this is what i got, i have a 3year old kid too and i thought i bath was bad as you can see in the first pic there is some and sealent left in the bath and its gone hard, had a big row with the manger and all he said i allready swiped my card went i come in so iwas going to be charged, i was soo pissed then he said he would knock a tenner off lol, anyway i left in a huff and i i payed the bill, now i going to write a bad letter to the company and need help to write one out, it was a ramada chain hotel here the pics first one is the bath with the sealent in

[SoYank]

And I thought I had problems with Travelodge. Is that the window or shower curtain and what the hell is on it?

[jjbirch]

first one is the bath with sealant on it

[Carrera RSR]

Not sure if there is any info on here

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/

I used this site when I had issues with a parking ticket from a private firm and this site provided advice and standard letters to send to the company.

As for Ramada, if the manager of the hotel didn't offer too much help then you need to find out the contact info for customer relations at a head office and send your letter there stating your issues clearly. Then include an outcome you would be happy for eg. refund, another free night of your choice etc.

[zltm089]

try tripadvisor.com

[beemerbird]

jj - I'd go along with the advice of carrerarsr.

All I would say is in order to be taken seriously I would make sure your spelling and grammar are first rate. Yes, I know it may be a pain but it's a fact of life unfortunately. Stick to the absolute facts and be as brief as possible but still provide enough information.

I would also leave yourself with a 'trump card' initially, possibly the photos. Do the pics have a time and date on them from the camera? See what initial response you receive from them before hitting them with the evidence. Good luck.

[RagingKileak]

See below.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that during my recent stay at your XXLOCATIONXX hotel on XXDATEXX I was very dissapointed to find several areas of concern.

I have enclosed copies of several photographs taken upon checking into my room, each with details of the offending aspect shown therein written on the back.

Upon inspection, you will find that these photos contain evidence of a blatant lack of care or concern for customer satisfaction from the staff in this establishment which I trust should be subject to the same high standards as any of the hotels which bear the esteemed Ramada brand.

Aside from the spilt sealant, apparent 'glory hole' in the ceiling and strange orange marks which were most unsatisfactory, worse was to come in the form of XXINSERTMANAGERNAMEXX who I believe is the current manager of your XXINSERTLOCATIONXX hotel.

Upon raising my concerns to XXINSERTMANAGERNAMEXX I was told that as I had already been charged for the room, there was little he could do. I was then offerred Ten Pounds compensation and left feeling both cheated, and dissapointed.

I believe this room was far from the minimum standard I expect from any hotel chain, let alone one of your size and reputation.

To this end, I would like to request that you seek to resolve this matter by providing me with a full refund, or a complimentary rate at one of your OTHER hotels, unless you can provide me with reassurance that your XXINSERTLOCATIONXX hotel has been brought up to a minimum standard of cleanliness and customer satisfaction.

I look forward to hearing from you with regards to this matter, which is of deep concern to me as a regular and loyal customer.

Kind Regards

JJ Bizzle.

Matt

[beemerbird]

Good letter Matt however you have to be careful that by immediately enclosing the photos and 'demands' for what you expect by way of compensation you can create the situation of them offering less in return. By this I mean akin to selling a car for example. You start off with an asking price but know in your mind how far you're prepared to 'come down' to your accepted price. The company could use the same physchology in this situation.

As yet jj doesn't know what they're prepared to offer based on a letter alone detailing the sub-standard condition of the room and the poor customer service. I'm in no doubts that they will have a standard and set procedure for such complaints and it is impersonal to them so they can 'afford' to play a waiting game.

[xenon]

Originally Posted by RagingKileak

the esteemed Ramada brand.

Well you learn something new every day. I thought they were all shit.

[RagingKileak]

Originally Posted by beemerbird

Good letter Matt however you have to be careful that by immediately enclosing the photos and 'demands' for what you expect by way of compensation you can create the situation of them offering less in return. By this I mean akin to selling a car for example. You start off with an asking price but know in your mind how far you're prepared to 'come down' to your accepted price. The company could use the same physchology in this situation.

As yet jj doesn't know what they're prepared to offer based on a letter alone detailing the sub-standard condition of the room and the poor customer service. I'm in no doubts that they will have a standard and set procedure for such complaints and it is impersonal to them so they can 'afford' to play a waiting game.

I dont see anyone else sticking their neck out to help the lad - half the time I think people on here are worried that any efforts by them to help someone else will make them somehow liable, mind you, not surprising given the general tone here lately. Its only an example, I wouldnt want him to copy and paste it but its clear from the first post that spelling, abbreviation, and generally getting the point across will be difficult.

I usually find that I get my own way with a letter or two like this, I like to call it giving 'The Man' an Eloquent Shafting.

I can only see a couple of things happening in this case anyway, firstly as far as I know the Hotel/Chain has no real obligation to do anything, so if, as a whole, they dont give a toss - then it wont matter what is said in the letter. On the other hand, if they do, they will have a set of standard practices for sorting out anyway - so it would be fair to say, you can delete any of the proposed 'compensation' packages and opt for a sort of 'What are you going to do about it' stance.

As for the 'Esteemed' brand - thats just buttering the arse before you slip in the massive dildo of retribution really. With one hand giveth....

Matt

[beemerbird]

Lol - call it my age, call it due to years of working within the legal system but in my experience the approach I described is based on experience.

Think people have been generally helpful but you can't go wading in without being in full possession of the facts - rule no. 1. For me it's certainly not a case about being liable lol. jj has to make his own decision and take the course of action he feels best.

The hotel chain does have an obligation based on what trading standards would expect a customer to receive based on the companies terms and conditions and the fact that a member of the public has paid for and has every legal right to expect a certain standard of service inclusive of the condition of the room.

Your decision jj.

[Bangthemidget]

Just harass them that you will be putting these pictures in a local news.... I bet they will come to you with some $$$$$

[RagingKileak]

Hmm, interesting one this, and could lead to a constructive debate for the first time in a while.

I would ask why withold so called trump cards such as pictures etc? I totally agree that perhaps it is common for a certain amount of letter writing back and forth to take place before legal matters are sorted (lord knows, I could probably take the bar now with the amount of legal cases I have fought recently) but I think this is such a trivial thing that its better to show your hand right away, and try to overpower the dimwit who will inevitably be respoding to you.

The problem with solicitors, and those who are in ANY WAY connected to a legal process is that they INSIST on taking the absolute maximum of time possible about everything. The law NEVER makes itself clear in matters such as this one and so the only way that JJ can deal with it is to communicate clearly and concisely about the following..

What was wrong
What was done
Why it wasnt good enough
What he expects to be done about it

To write a flakey letter which basically says 'Your hotel was poor for the following reasons, I have pictures to prove it but I have not sent them, and I expect you to do something about it' seems folly to me. Why?

Because it will lead to the Hotel returning a letter which says 'Were really sorry, what about these pics then? And what do you expect us to do about it... or here is 25% voucher or whatever'

There is (in my humble opinion) ZERO chance that anyone with ANY legal weight/clout whatsoever will see this first letter, no matter what it says or how strongly its worded.

You may remember a recent legal case I had in which I described some bollards being erected by a neighbour on land over which he had no right to block access.

£1200 later and my solicitor had achieved nothing. She had written to the council previously asking for them to declare their 'point of view' on the piece of land. They declined to comment.... ONE strong letter from me personally later - and I had a piece of documentation which stated this land was registered in 1945 as an untended highway, thus rendering it freely accessible by all and meaning that the removal of the bollards was enforcible by the Highways department. A week later and a letter was served by Highways, two more weeks later and the bollards we gone. My solicitor has been asked to 'rework' the bill....

My only point is this - The legal system in this country is intricate, unclear, and in my experience so far, largely based on complete nonsense. This is far from a legal scenario at this moment in time anyway, and its just a matter between one unsatisfied customer and a large corporation.

JJ probably doesnt want the hassle of writing one letter, let alone a complex series of letters in which he gradually reveals the full horror of this particular Ramada!!!

Matt

[xenon]

^ I agree. I'd send the letter, pictures and all and see what they say. If they offer you a refund or a free room somewhere then great, if not let it lie. Life's too short. It certainly isn't a dispute worthy of any legal recourse - what was the room? £60?

Solicitors. Pah!

[E902717]

Originally Posted by xenon

^ I agree. I'd send the letter, pictures and all and see what they say. If they offer you a refund or a free room somewhere then great, if not let it lie. Life's too short. It certainly isn't a dispute worthy of any legal recourse - what was the room? £60?

Solicitors. Pah!

+1

I wouldn't stop until i got my money back! mention trading standards and that normally sorts the problem out, not sure it will be that easy on a company the size of Ramada though.

like Matt said though they will have set procedures for complaints and i wouldn't be surprised if a free night token is sent out.

[RagingKileak]

As Conan would say...

Crush my enemies,
See them driven before me,
Hear the lamentations of the women.

Matt

[beemerbird]

So glad I'm not a solicitor so keep 'em coming.

Paul - read post 8........unless Matt's had a sex change of course!

[E902717]

Originally Posted by beemerbird

So glad I'm not a solicitor so keep 'em coming.

Paul - read post 8........unless Matt's had a sex change of course!

sorry Helen my bad

[E902717]

Why does the law society prohibit sex between lawyers and their clients?
To prevent clients from being billed twice for essentially the same service.

What is the difference between a tick and a lawyer?
A tick falls off of you when you die.

A lawyer died and arrived at the pearly gates. To his dismay, there were thousands of people ahead of him in line to see St. Peter. To his surprise, St. Peter left his desk at the gate and came down the long line to where the lawyer was, and greeted him warmly. Then St. Peter and one of his assistants took the lawyer by the hands and guided him up to the front of the line, and into a comfortable chair by his desk. The lawyer said, "I don't mind all this attention, but what makes me so special?" St. Peter replied, "Well, I've added up all the hours for which you billed your clients, and by my calculation you must be about 193 years old!"



A man walks into the village post office one day to see a local man, middle-aged and balding standing at the counter methodically placing "Love-heart" stamps on bright pink envelopes with hearts and kisses all over them. He then takes out a perfume bottle and starts spraying scent all over them.

His curiosity getting the better of him, he goes up to the balding man and asks him what he is doing. The man says, "I'm sending out one thousand Valentine cards signed, 'Guess who?'"

"But why?" asks the man.

"I'm the local divorce solicitor," the man replies.

[jjbirch]

just had a browse and loved what everyone has said thankyou RagingKileak for your letter it is what i am looking for, and of course beemerbird about my trump cards, like you say i will keep them back, end of the day i needed help about a letter and i thought i would just get the motorworld treatment lol, and needed help about writing one as i never was good in school lol

[jwbmw]

Threatening bad publicity is always a great trick. Find out the most senior person in the company (the published accounts often are good for this) and e-mail them the pictures. One can often decipher / guess the e-mail addresses from others on the company web site. I and others I know have had success this way . I once got £5k off a car this way and a friend got a full refund on his Sainsbury's home delivery by e-mailing the marketing director.

Address is Ramada Jarvis Hotels, Castle House, Desborough Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP11 2PR, United Kingdom

Founder was john jarvis so try john.jarvis@ramadajarvis.co.uk or johnjarvis or jjarvis.

Update - chief exec is steve hebborn who might be a better bet.

[NFS]

FAO [insert name]
Director of Customer Service [or similar]
Ramada Hotels
Etc...

Dear Mr [insert name],

Ramada Hotel, Wolverhampton - [insert date] - [insert booking reference]

I recently visited the [insert hotel name] in connection with the above booking.

Having checked into the hotel, I was very disapointed to find that the room I was offered was both dirty and maintained to an extremely poor standard.

I enclose photographs of the room illustrating the problems I encountered, which include:

1. Lumps of hardened sealant in the bath
2. Filthy bed linen
3. Cobwebs
4. Holes in ceiling with exposed insulation and duct.

I immediately complained to the duty manager [insert name]. Unfortunately, he was quite unhelpful, refusing to either:

a. Offer an alternative room
b. Cancel my booking and refund my credit card

Instead the manager offered to discount the room by £10, which I felt was quite insulting. My intention was never to negotiate a better room rate, simply to stay in a room that had been adequately maintained.

To avoid further disruption for myself and my family I decided to make alternative arrangements by booking into another hotel.

Ramada Hotels have failed to offer a reasonable level of customer service in terms of the quality of the room and the actions of the duty manager. This is simply unacceptable.

Please acknowledge this complaint and arrange for my credit card to be refunded in full. I also await your apology for the needless disruption that I have experienced as a result of this issue.

Yours sincerely,

[insert name]