Issue while in school - Please advise

Question

Hi guys,
I am a 1st year student at a business school. While visiting my school, I stayed a hotel for a few days. I already checked out, paid, but the receptionist did not give me the receipt and I did not require the receipt. I thought that a policy of the hotel, and everybody does the same thing. Now, after 90 days, my family received a mail require $330 -and it was a 90 day over due payment. They even did not contact me and just sent an letter for my family in foreign country. The problem is that I do not have any proof/evidence that I paid. But the only thing is that I checked out before I left. Just thinking, if I did not pay, how can I check out? The hotel did not keep anything from me. I am not from the US and I do not want to involve in any law suit/police and the recruiting event is coming soon. Please advise what should I do? It is okie if i ignore it? And will I be involve in any serious problem in the furture( just because I have heard that they often sue here?!!!) -K

riverripper · Answer

How did you pay...check, cash, credit card? As long as you didnt pay in cash you should be able to prove you paid.

Kurtenhamer · Answer

Thanks riverripper. Unfortunately, I paid in cash and it was one of the main payment methods in this hotel.

riverripper · Answer

There is a chance that the person at the counter pocketed the money. You probably should contact the hotel. I am sure they went after you at the address they had. Since you have no proof you very well might get stuck paying for it, which sucks.

kryzak · Answer

sorry to hear about the incident!

But riverripper is right, if you don't have a receipt of any kind and you paid cash, it's a "he said, she said" one-on-one situation. It depends on if the hotel would believe you or their front desk clerk. One thing you may be able to do is to research the hotel's checkout policy. Does it say that guests must pay when they check out? Or does it have an option of "bill me later"? If it's the former, then you have a stronger case against the clerk who may have pocketed your money, saying that there is no way that the clerk would let you check out without paying. If it's the latter, then you will be at the mercy of the hotel. I would still call the hotel up to plead my case with the manager, and see what he/she says. Good luck with this issue, and definitely remember, no matter in what country, ALWAYS get a receipt if you pay by cash!

Kurtenhamer · Answer

Yeah. it's bad now! The regular policy is that I have to pay all debt before checking out. There is "no bill me later." Do you believe that they let me not pay after 90 days. They did not keep anything from me, which meant I already finished the check-out process. What do you guys think? Will they sue because of $330 here?

kryzak · Answer

I don't think they'll sue (this is in the US, right?). They will probably put a collection agency on you and probably report it to your credit history somehow.

$330 is not enough for suing. At most small-claims court.

I would call the hotel and claim that there is no way you would have checked out without paying, and that this must be a mistake. See what they say then. Most people are reasonable.

riverripper · Answer

They wont sue you but this definitely could come back to haunt you if you ignore it. Especially since you are a foreigner. I wouldnt want to mess with anything like that, you never know what it will do to a visa situation down the road.

helpslip · Answer

Right,
It should also be added that if the debt goes to collection you are likely to deal with some very unpleasant people who will prove most unwilling to listen to your reasonable explanation of what happened. At which point the now large bill will seem like a small fee to get the collection folks off you back.

gmatclb · Answer

Yup.

I was looking for a roommate to rent out a room in my apartment and found a cool guy. My landlord ran a credit check on him and he failed.

Turns out, he bought a timeshare and couldn't pay the monthly/yearly fee, so he just stopped paying hoping they would just take his name off. Nobody called him about it and now his credit is screwed.

aaudetat · Answer

AAu's Tried-And-True Method of Not Getting Screwed

1. Start with a phone call. Be sure you get someone who can actually do something. Front desk manager won't do it.

2. Assuming you get nowhere, send a letter. Letter should go to someone with clout.

3. Assuming you get nowhere, send a second letter. This one gets CCed to the Better Business Bureau.

4. Watch the issue be miraculously resolved.

Also:

DO NOT WAIT. You can lose some rights if you don't do things quickly.

$300 is not worth screwing over your credit. It really isn't. If the above doesn't work, you may also be able to negotiate with the hotel.

And BTW -- in issues of collection, it's not some special small claims court they take you to. There's a special process for such debts, and if the company chooses to pursue the issue, you can get a judgement slapped on you. This can lead to them actually freezing your bank accounts, plus a super-dark mark on your credit that will stay there for a long time. Getting such a judgement actually costs the company about $500, so most of the time, you're safe. However, a financial counselor I know told me that he is increasingly seeing judgements for smaller amounts. I don't know if this is BS or not, but why risk it?

Issue while in school - Please advise

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