A Hampton Inn guest at one of the chain’s Dallas hotels claims he was charged $900 for a broken TV set after his stay. The man says he was wrongfully accused of the damage and pointed out what he believed are inconsistencies in hotel management’s story
He also, via a TikTok video he recorded, urged any potential future guests to steer clear of the business.
Creator Dave (@c_dav83) posted about his experience in a trending TikTok posted Friday, that has since garnered over 15,000 views.
Dave starts, “Hey TikTok, let me explain to y’all what’s going on now. So I stayed at this location from June 21st through June 24th of 2023,” pointing to a green screen image of a Google search screenshot of the Hampton Inn & Suites at 1718 N. Cockrell Hill Road.
@c_dave83 #greenscreen #hamptonsuiets #hiltonhotel #hilton #hiltonforthestay #hampton ♬ original sound – C-Dave
Dave claims in his video, “Once I checked out, about a week later, they said I broke a TV. All right, it’s false. Absolutely false, right.”
He then noted, “So, I want y’all to look at this place, do not stay here. Don’t stay here, they will fraudulently charge you for things and they will lie about it. The GM here her name is Ami, A-M-I hope I’m pronouncing it right, Patel, she is a liar. She lies.”
Dave goes on to explain, “So essentially they say I caused this damage to the TV.” The green-screened image transitions to a photo of the TV set, with what appears to be a winding, thin white crack snacking through the LCD.
“There’s no way for me to dispute this, all right. However, when I called about the $900 that I saw, the service desk told me that there was another guest who checked in, right, and about 30 minutes after they checked in they came down and said, ‘Hey, the TV is broken.’ It took them 30 minutes to see this?” he says, pointing to the image again.
“So they just essentially and automatically go back and charge me for this damage. And when I talked to Ami or whatever her name is, I said, send me a photo of the picture, a photo of the TV, and this is what she sent me. Now, remember when I told you that this happened on the 24th, she said that they went out on the 24th and saw the damage. When I asked for a picture of it, she sent me the picture, but when I go and check the metadata timestamp on it, this is when she took the picture.”
Dave then adjusts himself in the video to show yet another green-screen image he superimposed in the video, which indicates that the photograph Ami took was snapped on Friday, July 7th at 4:24 pm, suggesting inconsistencies in the manager’s story.
“Why is 4:24 important? This is exactly 20 minutes after I got off the phone call with her telling me, hey, send me a picture of this damage. Right, she went and took the picture then.”
The video then cuts to a snippet of a message that she sent to Dave where she says that she discovered the TV was broken upon inspecting the room on June 24. But he maintains that the picture was taken around two weeks after he checked out of the hotel.
He then goes on to state that he requested proof of payment for the TV set that necessitated the $900 charged the hotel placed on his credit card: “So I ask for a receipt of her paying $900 for this TV. She goes on to tell me that she cannot send a receipt. Since when can you not send someone a receipt for something that you charged? Make it make sense to me.
“And here’s the funny part,” he added. “When I call she says, ‘I’m harassing her,'” which makes Dave chuckle. “I’m harassing her because I want the refund or the return on my $900 that’s not harassment, miss. So, do better, don’t go to this place y’all. Don’t go to this place.”
The Daily Dot reached out to the Hampton Inn location via phone, only to be hung up when providing details about Dave’s complaint.
In a follow-up clip, Dave posted footage of a phone call he had with hotel management about the “missing” receipt for the $900 charge.
@c_dave83 #greenscreenvideo she refused to give me a receipt of them paying $900 to replace a TV #hilton #hiltonforthestay #hamptoninnandsuites ♬ original sound – C-Dave
A woman can be heard saying on the phone that she does “not want to be recorded,” and Dave continues to ask her if she can “provide documentation” for the $900 she spent to replace the TV set. She goes on to accuse him of being “disrespectful” and “harassing” her. She repeats again that she doesn’t want to talk on the phone any longer if he continues to disrespect her, and that he should contact Hilton support, which he said he already has.
One commented told Dave that there were photos taken immediately after the damage was spotted, and they were unsure as to why the GM of the hotel had sent those pictures.
That person claimed, “There are photos of that damage from just a few minutes after you left, not sure why the GM sent those ones.” Dave welcomed that commenter to send him the pictures via DM.
Another viewer remarked that they ensure they don’t receive any charges after their stays in hotels by always using a prepaid card: “This is why I use a prepaid card for EVERYTHING! Nobody can go into my account no matter what.”
And then there was someone else who suggested that Dave dispute the charge with his financial institution: “You should of file a claim with your bank for fraud.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Dave via TikTok comment for further information.
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Source: https://www.dailydot.com/news/hampton-inn-charges-customer-for-tv/