As a general rule, I know enough not to use the telephone in my hotel room. But at the Villa del Palmar in Puerto Vallarta the phone in the lobby uses only phone cards they sell at a ridiculous price.
And I didn’t want to use a pay phone out on the (very noisy) street. The phone in my hotel room blocked the use of any credit cards, but permitted the use of a toll-free number for calling the States.
Being wary, I was smart enough to ask, “How much?”
“It’s $5 a minute,” the front desk told me. For that, I thought (silly me), I can make a one-minute call and have them call me back.
Yeah, right!
The Amex bill? $39.91.
So I called “Call LD,” and sure enough: The hotel “forgot” to mention the $15 connection charge, and the five-minute minimum billing. (That would add up to, lo and behold, $40! For a one-minute call.)
With barely a blink, the telephone customer service rep at Call LD promised to post a $15.96 credit to my account. The hotel? Three different “managers” at the Villa del Palmar said they couldn’t be responsible for the “outside company” that handled phone calls, even though they blocked every other phone calling method, they lied about the rate, and they take a hefty commission from Call LD. (And they refused to provide contact info for their home office.)
So I end up paying $23.98. Less the $5 in “legitimate” phone charges I agreed (reluctantly) to pay, I figure I learned an $18.98 lesson.
Still a colossal rip-off – especially since I was smart enough to ask first (and get lied to), and I knew calling from the room was a bad idea. But not worth spending any more time or effort to pursue it.
Maybe next time I’ll try Skype.
