TripAdvisor couple fined £100 by hotel for bad review

Blobbenstein

Blobbenstein

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Trading standards are investigating after a couple who stayed at a hotel claimed to have been “fined” £100 by a hotel which they described as a “rotten stinking hovel” on TripAdvisor.

Tony and Jan Jenkinson, from Whitehaven in Cumbria, posted a review on the website after staying at the Broadway Hotel in Blackpool.

However, the couple later found that £100 charged to their credit card, which the BBC reported was the result of a hotel policy in the case of “bad” reviews.
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TripAdvisor couple fined £100 by hotel for bad review | UK news | The Guardian
 
I've seen a number similar reports where a business retaliates for a bad review. It's almost a trend now. The latest one I remember was Southwest airlines who booted a customer off a plane for Tweeting negative comments.
 
It is not illegal to write a review however a merchant cannot complete a transaction using a debit/credit card unlawfully. The credit card company or issuing bank has to reimburse the cardholder and report the merchant to Visa or Mastercard.

This happened to me over a year ago where a US company decided to debit my Visa card as Macy's had credited my card, further to a complaint that I had made. I immediately informed my credit card company who gave me a full refund.
 
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The terms and conditions for this bad review fine weren't obvious, so I guess that the hotel considered it just a way to make money....
 
This was on the news last night.

Apparently the Broadway charges £32.00 per room/per night.

No idea what the going rate is in Blackpool but in Brighton it's over £100.

I got the impression that the Broadway has this 'no bad reviews' policy to stop tight-asses slagging it off when they learn you don't get a Rolls Royce service for Mondeo money.
 
Clueless Git said:
I got the impression that the Broadway has this 'no bad reviews' policy to stop tight-asses slagging it off when they learn you don't get a Rolls Royce service for Mondeo money.
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but it's in the small print...not much a deterrent.
 
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