We had a contract with a hotel to provide shuttle service for the wedding party and guests for our wedding. We had a block of rooms where 26 people booked. The contract says "the hotel will provide a shuttle for any guests". We signed the contract in August 2011, with a woman who no longer works there. We worked with her replacement, who agreed to provide 3 scheduled trips to the venue, and 2 back to the hotel after the wedding.
Day of wedding, the manager calls my wife to let he know that the shuttle will not be provided. He "does not like the contract, especially since it was signed by a woman who no longer works there." Some of the wedding party went to the front desk, and tried to talk to the manager after he hung up on my wife.
We ended up getting a smokey mini-van for the groomsmen and the bridesmaids and bride. No other guests were given a ride, and had to last minute find transportation to the venue. The driver of the mini van, who picked us up in the shuttle later that night, told us the manager knew of the contract, but the shuttle needed new tires and he didn't feel that he needed to fix it.
We tried to get the $400 back that we paid the hotel, simply because they failed to provide a shuttle service as was stated in the contract. He refuses, saying they did nothing wrong. Any advice, as I'm trying not to take it further (small claims court), but this guy is being ridiculous. The sales manager has tried to talk to him, but he refuses to acknowledge that they broke the contract. We called corporate, but since the hotel is independently operated, they can't do anything. Any advice?

I had a somewhat similiar situation with a dentist not fulfilling the agreement we made. I was lucky enough to find an attorney that would simply make 1 phone call for free. He invested 5 min into that call and made the entire situation go away. The dentist refunded my $$$ that same day and all was well.

Is there an attorney in the family or friend of the family? ---have them call to the mgr and it will likely work. If not, maybe you will find a good attorney that will make that quick call for you like I did.

If not, I would sue them for sure. Sounds like it should be an easy win. I would add punative damages if I had to sue them too. This certainly changed the mood of the wedding.

(I got that from all the daytime judge shows my wife DVR's and I have to watch in the evenings..LOL)

Good Luck!

The manager is an idiot. You have a contract with the hotel, not the former employee. He must honor it or make it right.

Do any of your local news stations have customer advocates that expose bad businesses? I'd think they'd love this one. Slam dunk!

I'm no lawyer (thank God), but this spells it out for me in a nutshell. You contracted with the BUSINESS--as long as the person who signed it had the authority to do so at that time, it doesn't matter if they are no longer there. Quite frankly, since they butchered your wedding as well, you should go for more than just getting the contract money back--a wedding's a pretty big deal to be messing with, especially when you have signed documents for services to be rendered. That's my non-professional opinion, anyway. The failure to provide shuttle service should be cut-n-dry, at the least.

You say you called corporate so that tells me it was a branded hotel, yes? Curious to know the brand if you're willing to share. Most hotels are independently owned just like most McDonalds are - meaning they're franchised. That said, the franchise agreement and license to use the name is highly dependent upon customer satisfaction as well - ask me how I know after reading literally hundreds of these agreements.

Did you see or happen to get a management company name or were your conversations solely with the GM?

If you want some help, PM me the details of which hotel and where and I very well may be able to put you in contact with someone other than the GM (unless his name was Mr. Patel) that will likely be interested in hearing your story.

Regardless, based on what you're saying here, you had a contract with the hotel / business where the terms were not honored. The event has passed, so specific performance is ruled out as an option, but there could be reimbursements and other collateral damages that occurred.

It was a Comfort Inn and Suites. Corpo said they couldn't do anything because it was privately owned. The owner was who we dealt with day of. The Gm is who sent us a letter who said he "investigated" and found nothing wrong. The contract says "provide shuttle service for any guests.". My wife has tried to talk to Gm twice, and he's hung up on her twice. The sales manager, who we worked everything out with, agrees that we are right, but he can't do anything about it. My guess is I'll have to take it to small claims, which I will. I have no problem sticking it to someone who tries to F with my wife or my money.

If you have a copy of the contact that states the terms of the agreement that includes "providing shuttle service for said event", then the hotel is in breech of contract since they failed to provide such services for the said date. Using the minivan as a substitute did not fulfill the contract, since you would not have signed the contract knowing that your shuttle would be a minivan would you?

It is spurious which employee signed the contract, that person acted as a principal of the entity (the hotel) and it is the owner's responsibility to train them to act in the best interest of the hotel.

Take them to small claims now. Have as many folks present to verify what occurred as well as have all paperwork together. Don't be bullied by the owner. It should take a judge less than 15 minutes to see what happened and rule in your favor.

Hey man I'll be sure to hit you up if I need legal advice!

I would also like to suggest you post on reddit.com

There are lots of lawyers on there and it is far more active than T4R.

Thanks for all the info guys. I pretty much expected that I'd have to go to small claims. Just tried to avoid it, but the GM is being a d*** and every time we try to work something out, he just hangs up on us. Oh well, maybe we'll end up getting more out of it. Good news is one of the bridemaid's dad is a lawyer, and my wife grew up next door to them, and he is more than happy to help us out.

X2 on the credit card chargeback if that's an option. Then the hotel can take YOU to court if they feel they have been slighted, and are able to back up their claim in front of a judge. Much easier/faster than taking them to court.