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Hyatt Place/House Elevator Debacle


dwise

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4 hours ago, GenHeavierHandz said:

This is why I take the stairs.

Until the elevator broke the only stair access set off an alarm and if you took stairs down you couldn't enter the lobby and it took you directly outside.

 

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On 2/22/2022 at 9:02 PM, SWINfan said:


Do not be afraid to file a claim with your credit card company!

If there were indeed 18 people on the elevator, were they ALL with "your party" paid with your credit card? 
How many were kids and how many were adults? 
Did the hotel ask everyone to get on a scale to ensure the weight limit was exceeded? 
Were specific signs posted restricting the # of people and the weight limit?
Ask for maintenance records of said elevator.  Find out how has their maintenance contract and call them.
Can they with 100% certainty prove that the elevator did not break for another reason?  Parts do break?   (I used to work for a sports facility that had an elevator and there were times it got stuck with just a couple of  people on it)
Why did it take an hour and a half to get it opened?  Was no one at the hotel familiar with how to open an elevator when stuck between floors?  There typically is a key that can open the door.  People can get off at that point, even if they need help if too high (3-4" between floors, for example).
Ask what their policy is for such situations in writing?  What's the responsibility of hotel maintenance?  Where does it state there can charge the customer?  Or are they making it up?
How many people did they charge?   Do they charge the first people on the elevator or only the ones that piled in to "exceed the weight limit"?  How do they know who was who?  
How can the first people on be held accountable for others piling in?
If this is a problem, why do they not provide someone at the elevator entrance to control the # of people?  
If the damage were that much, why were police not called?  

I'm no attorney, but these are questions I'd be asking in a very confident manner.  I suspect that Hyatt Corporate will remove the charges, but if they don't tell them in no uncertain terms they can deal with your bank that issued the credit card.

First off, let me say I hope that original poster indeed gets his money back IF his party was indeed first ones on. 
 

With that said, I must be going to wrong hotels. 
I’ve NEVER been to one that front desk weighs in people. 
I’ve NEVER been to a hotel that had some one who had a job of just standing at elevator to ensure it’s properly loaded(mostly common sense) 
EVERY elevator I’ve been in has signs posted of weight limits. 

I’m sure cameras are used and if it shows proper usage non stop UNTIL it was possibly overloaded, I’d say they’d have a solid case of saying with 100% certainty that elevator was in good working condition. 
 

Id say generally police are not involved in manners like this, more so fire department. But elevator service calls can be expensive. 
 

Lastly, glad everyone got out safe and Heres to hoping  @dwise  doesn’t have to fit the bill for this. Me personally, if I were on said elevator and people kept trying to pile in, I’d respectfully let them know it’s at load capacity or get off and wait for next ride. 

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33 minutes ago, 1prouddad said:

First off, let me say I hope that original poster indeed gets his money back IF his party was indeed first ones on. 
 

With that said, I must be going to wrong hotels. 
I’ve NEVER been to one that front desk weighs in people. 
I’ve NEVER been to a hotel that had some one who had a job of just standing at elevator to ensure it’s properly loaded(mostly common sense) 
EVERY elevator I’ve been in has signs posted of weight limits. 

I’m sure cameras are used and if it shows proper usage non stop UNTIL it was possibly overloaded, I’d say they’d have a solid case of saying with 100% certainty that elevator was in good working condition. 
 

Id say generally police are not involved in manners like this, more so fire department. But elevator service calls can be expensive. 
 

Lastly, glad everyone got out safe and Heres to hoping  @dwise  doesn’t have to fit the bill for this. Me personally, if I were on said elevator and people kept trying to pile in, I’d respectfully let them know it’s at load capacity or get off and wait for next ride. 

What good does posted weight limits do unless someone on site enforces them? Should they get one of those Carny weight guessers on the cheap?

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12 hours ago, 1prouddad said:

First off, let me say I hope that original poster indeed gets his money back IF his party was indeed first ones on. 
 

With that said, I must be going to wrong hotels. 
I’ve NEVER been to one that front desk weighs in people. 
I’ve NEVER been to a hotel that had some one who had a job of just standing at elevator to ensure it’s properly loaded(mostly common sense) 
EVERY elevator I’ve been in has signs posted of weight limits. 

I’m sure cameras are used and if it shows proper usage non stop UNTIL it was possibly overloaded, I’d say they’d have a solid case of saying with 100% certainty that elevator was in good working condition. 
 

Id say generally police are not involved in manners like this, more so fire department. But elevator service calls can be expensive. 
 

Lastly, glad everyone got out safe and Heres to hoping  @dwise  doesn’t have to fit the bill for this. Me personally, if I were on said elevator and people kept trying to pile in, I’d respectfully let them know it’s at load capacity or get off and wait for next ride. 

 

Thanks for that input.  I think you missed the point.  The reason for all of your "NEVERS" is because they don't exist.  

 

The point is if the hotel is going to randomly start adding charges without telling people, they can absolutely be challenged for not doing more to prevent it.  I'll leave it at that because.... we'll just because.

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11 hours ago, SWINfan said:

 

Thanks for that input.  I think you missed the point.  The reason for all of your "NEVERS" is because they don't exist.  

 

The point is if the hotel is going to randomly start adding charges without telling people, they can absolutely be challenged for not doing more to prevent it.  I'll leave it at that because.... we'll just because.

I  didn’t  miss the point at all. There is a reason why the hotels now adays require credit cards. Once you register and sign, is it not basically a contract? And with any negligence, card holder can be billed if I’m not mistaken. Not saying it is right, but it is what it is. Such as common sense also says to not smoke in “non smoking” rooms. If card holder neglects that, hotel can then bill them for bringing in cleaning crew to “ozone” the room(damages). 
When I check into hotel, I check my room over to ensure no damages are present and if so, I report it immediately to protect myself from those additional charges that hotels like to add. Just my 2 cents 

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Just now, 1prouddad said:

I  didn’t  miss the point at all. There is a reason why the hotels now adays require credit cards. Once you register and sign, is it not basically a contract? And with any negligence, card holder can be billed if I’m not mistaken. Not saying it is right, but it is what it is. Such as common sense also says to not smoke in “non smoking” rooms. If card holder neglects that, hotel can then bill them for bringing in cleaning crew to “ozone” the room(damages). 
When I check into hotel, I check my room over to ensure no damages are present and if so, I report it immediately to protect myself from those additional charges that hotels like to add. Just my 2 cents 

How would you prove negligence in this case unless all persons on that elevator were under the charged account? And how would they be responsible for accurately measuring weight? This just wouldn't stand up in a legal setting, if it progressed to that point.

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27 minutes ago, greco165 said:

How would you prove negligence in this case unless all persons on that elevator were under the charged account? And how would they be responsible for accurately measuring weight? This just wouldn't stand up in a legal setting, if it progressed to that point.

 

Exactly, its apples to oranges.  Who hasn't been on an elevator at some point where an extra person or 2 crowded on at the last second?    It happens and if you're in the back, you have zero control.  It's an uncomfortable feeling.  

 

And also there is no way to guarantee that the reason it got stuck is because of the weight.  It COULD have been something else.  And NO, not all elevator maintenance is always on schedule.  

 

The lack of the ability of the hotel to prove who caused the problem and if that was 100% sure why it got stuck makes this very fuzzy.  Do we know how many on the elevator were adults vs. young kids?  Are 2 adults, 4 teens and 12 6-8 yr olds different than 18 adults?  It's not quite so black and white.  To take everyone's room # and just add a charge is a gross overreaction of Mgt.  If this were a case of them looking at the camera footage and doing so to the last few people while piled in, maybe there is an argument.  But that's not how the OP reported it and I'll take that word as far as the basis for this argument.   

 

The other question is how many people got charged?  How many $300 charges does management get to add?  What was the repair bill?  Was there one?  In my experience a facility like that will have a service contract that covers visits 24/7. Did that provider come out and bill separately?  My guess is a technician that comes out wouldn't been the person to determine that charge if it's outside their contract, so the hotel likely didn't even have a bill yet, if there even was one.

 

This sounds more like a hotel manager that got ticked off and decided to act on his/her own.  Which generally won't hold up. especially if you make enough noise with Corporate.  

 

Not so simple as giving them a CC #.  This isn't the same as raiding the mini bar.   There may be more to the story. but we don't have it and can only go by what's given here.

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27 minutes ago, greco165 said:

How would you prove negligence in this case unless all persons on that elevator were under the charged account? And how would they be responsible for accurately measuring weight? This just wouldn't stand up in a legal setting, if it progressed to that point.

 

4 minutes ago, SWINfan said:

 

Exactly, its apples to oranges.  Who hasn't been on an elevator at some point where an extra person or 2 crowded on at the last second?    It happens and if you're in the back, you have zero control.  It's an uncomfortable feeling.  

 

And also there is no way to guarantee that the reason it got stuck is because of the weight.  It COULD have been something else.  And NO, not all elevator maintenance is always on schedule.  

 

The lack of the ability of the hotel to prove who caused the problem and if that was 100% sure why it got stuck makes this very fuzzy.  Do we know how many on the elevator were adults vs. young kids?  Are 2 adults, 4 teens and 12 6-8 yr olds different than 18 adults?  It's not quite so black and white.  To take everyone's room # and just add a charge is a gross overreaction of Mgt.  If this were a case of them looking at the camera footage and doing so to the last few people while piled in, maybe there is an argument.  But that's not how the OP reported it and I'll take that word as far as the basis for this argument.   

 

The other question is how many people got charged?  How many $300 charges does management get to add?  What was the repair bill?  Was there one?  In my experience a facility like that will have a service contract that covers visits 24/7. Did that provider come out and bill separately?  My guess is a technician that comes out wouldn't been the person to determine that charge if it's outside their contract, so the hotel likely didn't even have a bill yet, if there even was one.

 

This sounds more like a hotel manager that got ticked off and decided to act on his/her own.  Which generally won't hold up. especially if you make enough noise with Corporate.  

 

Not so simple as giving them a CC #.  This isn't the same as raiding the mini bar.   There may be more to the story. but we don't have it and can only go by what's given here.

Exactly. Lots of variables. 
 

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Here is the latest from the GM after Hyatt Corporate opened a case. I called corporate and told them I wasn’t satisfied with this response and they will continue to review. In the meantime, I called my cc company to have the charges reversed and they won’t do that and stated that the hotel is allowed to charge me for incidentals. I asked them if that was allowable even though I wasn’t at fault and they said they don’t dive into it that deep. The saga continues…

73889C21-7D53-4422-A8B6-3477CD9796C4.jpeg

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38 minutes ago, dwise said:

Here is the latest from the GM after Hyatt Corporate opened a case. I called corporate and told them I wasn’t satisfied with this response and they will continue to review. In the meantime, I called my cc company to have the charges reversed and they won’t do that and stated that the hotel is allowed to charge me for incidentals. I asked them if that was allowable even though I wasn’t at fault and they said they don’t dive into it that deep. The saga continues…

73889C21-7D53-4422-A8B6-3477CD9796C4.jpeg

This is such a BS corporate response. They don’t pay the Fire Department to come out. If they want to control how many get on the elevator they should hire someone to take people up and down. 

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I am not a lawyer.

 

Ok so this begs the question....

Were you or any of your party maliciously damaging the elevator? Was any of your party jumping on or in the elevator?

 

I sincerely hope the answer is no, however if you or part of your party were involved in any way then I say yes you are liable for the charges.

 

Here's where it gets to be a tough spot, if you or your party were not involved in any way then how does anyone fight this? The CC company won't back you up and getting a lawyer would be too expensive for a $300 charge. Would this fall under small claims court? If so would it be worth a trip back to Indy just to fight a $300 charge? Or would you even have to go to Indy? I would request a copy of the video before proceeding.

 

Good luck.

Edited by Ahawkeye
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2 hours ago, Ahawkeye said:

I am not a lawyer.

 

Ok so this begs the question....

Were you or any of your party maliciously damaging the elevator? Was any of your party jumping on or in the elevator?

 

I sincerely hope the answer is no, however if you or part of your party were involved in any way then I say yes you are liable for the charges.

 

Here's where it gets to be a tough spot, if you or your party were not involved in any way then how does anyone fight this? The CC company won't back you up and getting a lawyer would be too expensive for a $300 charge. Would this fall under small claims court? If so would it be worth a trip back to Indy just to fight a $300 charge? Or would you even have to go to Indy? I would request a copy of the video before proceeding.

 

Good luck.

The answer to both of your questions is no and I did ask for a still shot of the inside of the elevator when the doors closed and then I would point out my party. I doubt I get a response to that.

Edited by dwise
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57 minutes ago, dwise said:

The answer to both of your questions is now and I did ask for a still shot of the inside of the elevator when the doors closed and then I would point out my party. I doubt I get a response to that.

 

I wonder whether you ever authorized them to make additional charges against your card beyond the room charge. It may be somewhere in the fine print, but maybe you could ask for that information/documentation.

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On 2/28/2022 at 2:30 PM, dwise said:

The answer to both of your questions is no and I did ask for a still shot of the inside of the elevator when the doors closed and then I would point out my party. I doubt I get a response to that.


Definitely ask what specifically he saw in the video that points to you or your party doing anything wrong.  Were your people doing any of the jumping?  Does he even know which people in the elevator were in your party?  

I'd demand he give you specific reasoning as to what you/your party did to justify the charges.  If he can't/won't provide it, keep being a pest, especially to corporate. Again, it sounds to me as if he decided to unilaterally charge everyone on the elevator.  

I would re-emphasize that you were among the first to get on and you were stuck twice, by the people piling in and then by the elevator.  Keep pressing for him to provide proof that the charges are legit to your account.

Also, I would start working on reviews for the hotel, that will allow you to detail the story.  Yelp, Google, their Corporate Site, especially if available.  Corporate will not want to keep dealing with this.

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54 minutes ago, dwise said:

Corporate ended up having a lengthy conversation with the GM and I have been told that my $300 will be refunded.

Great news.  The correct parties who caused the overload should probably pay something.  But if they can't prove someone in your group was directly involved in creating the problem then it shouldn't be you.  That's like punishing a whole team/class when you have the ability to pin point the exact part of the group which cause of the issue.

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