Consumer complaint received 2020-02-28
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: VA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I booked four rooms at the XXXX XXXX XXXX  ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) XXXX  in XXXX XXXX staying XX/XX/XXXX using XXXX. Per the published policy, I was allowed to cancel the reservation with no charge/penalty before XX/XX/XXXX. If I failed to cancel by the deadline I was informed I would be charged for one nights stay ( {$160.00} per room ). I reserved the rooms using my USAA Bank XXXX XXXX Card. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I cancelled the reservation for all four rooms using the XXXX website and received cancellation confirmations via email from XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I noticed I was charged a one night stay for all four rooms. I immediately called the XX/XX/XXXXXXXX to inquire and provided the same information as above. The reservations department at the hotel advised me that the rooms had been booked twice in my name, once through XXXX and once through XXXX, resulting in reserving eight rooms, not four. According to the XXXX XXXX XXXX representative, the XXXX cancellation was processed and no charges resulted, however, four identical XXXX   reservation incurred a one-night charge for a no-show of {$160.00} per room. The hotel explained they would be unable to refund the charges and I would have to contact XXXX to resolve the dispute. 

ISSUE : At no time did I make a reservation using XXXX. I was required to provide names for each room using the Hotels.com reservation system and therefore am 100 % positive I only booked the four rooms. I have contacted the hotel, my bank, and attempted to contact XXXX. The bank requires a XXXX invoice to dispute the charges, however, since I didn't make the charges I have no invoice to provide. Further, I do not have a XXXX account and do not understand how the duplicate reservation occurred outside of a hotel system issue or fraud. I have provided documentation to support everything in this complaint to USAA. 

TIMELINE : On XX/XX/XXXX The XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) informed me they would not be able to authorize a refund and I would need to work through XXXX. I attempted to contact XXXX but found no telephone number for customer service. The only way to contact XXXX with an issue is to provide your account information or confirmation information, neither of which I have because I dont have an account and didnt make a reservation using their site. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted my bank, USAA, to dispute the charges. I provided the background information along with the XXXX XXXX XXXX response and notified them of XXXX 's lack of response. 

On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX sent an email to my primary XXXX account asking whether or not we stayed at the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, to which I responded no by clicking a button at the bottom of the message. Immediately I received a notification stating a representative from XXXX would contact me shortly. To date I have not been contacted. I attempted to login to the XXXX website using the XXXX email address at which they contacted me, however, no account information can be found using my email address. I have a screenshot that shows there is no account associated with my email address, the same email address XXXX used to correspond with me about my cancellation. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, USAA contacted me to request additional information to include XXXX invoices. In response I provided a copy of the reservation I received from XXXX which includes the cancellation policy along with the cancellation confirmation and a narrative response to several questions. However, I was and still am unable to provide a XXXX invoice since I have no account and never booked a hotel using their website. I included screenshots showing no XXXX account exists with my email address. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, USAA informed me the transaction was valid and I was responsible for the charges. Specifically they said : " Without supporting documents associated with these charges from XXXX ( as these are seen as separate from XXXX ) we have no dispute rights and are held to the hotel 's no-show policies. As accounts on websites such as XXXX are not required to make reservations, the confirmations would be needed. If you've since been in contact with XXXX and have obtained more information regarding this transaction, please let us know in a letter and we'd be happy to review it. '' On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted USAA by telephone to speak with a banking representative. I was told to leave a number and someone would contact me to discuss the dispute. 

On XX/XX/XXXX a USAA bank representative returned my call. After discussing the issue, he informed me that XXXX XXXX is tough to dispute charges with as they require extensive documentation. To move forward I would need to get an invoice from the XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX and submit them using the USAA message button on the website. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX and requested invoices for each room. They were emailed to me that same day and uploaded to USAA per instructions. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I was notified by USAA that their initial decision stands, and without new information to support my claim, USAA would be unable to proceed.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation