Theft

From the moment they step through the door your bookings become guests, and their experiences determine whether they ever come back.
J00ls
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Theft

Post by J00ls »

For the first time in 5 years a 'guest' has stolen a set of towels and matching bath mat. Guess I should count myself lucky! So what would you do? Email and ask for the return of the stolen items? Report a theft to Police? Take it on the chin?
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PW in Polemi
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Post by PW in Polemi »

Firstly, are you absolutely certain the towels etc haven't been misplaced? (A friend thought bed linen had been taken, but it turned out her OH hadn't checked the room thoroughly.)

Secondly, if you've answered yes to the above, then did you take a damages deposit?

You could always email an invoice for the cost of the towels and mat, very much along the lines of what hotels do when guests take the bathrobes....
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J00ls
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Post by J00ls »

Thanks for your reply. Yes, they are 'missing'. No, I don't take a deposit.
This is the email I am thinking of sending:

I hope you all enjoyed your stay and that the wedding went smoothly.

Since your departure I am missing a set of beige towels (bath sheet and hand towel) and matching beige bath mat. Please would you check with the other guests and kindly arrange for the return of the missing items.

I would be grateful for a response and when the missing items are located I will be happy to supply the address for their return.

This is the fifth year of The Stable operating as a self-catering cottage and in all that time this is the only occasion I have had to ask for anything to be returned.

I expect a response within 7 days and should that not happen then I will have no option other than to pursue the matter through official channels.


What do you all think?
Today's going to be a great day!
Marks
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Post by Marks »

J00ls wrote:This is the fifth year of The Stable operating as a self-catering cottage and in all that time this is the only occasion I have had to ask for anything to be returned.

I expect a response within 7 days and should that not happen then I will have no option other than to pursue the matter through official channels.

No.

The first bit is fine, just wait a while to see what the response is before getting heavy.
Some guests just need a sympathetic pat. On the head. With a hammer.
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

In fairness, although in this case it's perhaps unlikely, things do get packed by mistake, especially when someone packs to go home who wasn't the original packer. It happens a lot, you'd be surprised!

I had a recent guest who packed several of my new DVDS, still in their packaging. She'd assumed they were her son's and it wasn't until they got home that he saw them and said they weren't his! They were returned but my cleaner didn't notice them gone and of course I had no idea!
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

Personally I would probably take a softer line initially and pretend that they have clearly made an unintentional error:

I hope you all enjoyed your stay and that the wedding went smoothly.

Since your departure I have noticed that a set of beige towels (bath sheet, hand towel and bath mat) is missing and I assume these items were removed in error. Please would you check with the other guests and help arrange for their return.

Once they have been tracked down please let me know and I will be happy to supply the address for their return. Your early response will be appreciated.
J00ls
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Post by J00ls »

Many thanks all!
I have softened my initial email and will update when/if i hear anything.
Today's going to be a great day!
arkvilla
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Post by arkvilla »

Moral of the story..... always take a security deposit :)
kg1
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Post by kg1 »

arkvilla wrote:Moral of the story..... always take a security deposit :)
+1
newtimber
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Post by newtimber »

arkvilla wrote:Moral of the story..... always take a security deposit :)
The cost of taking and returning a security deposit is not zero - unless you count your time for free and you don't accept credit cards and your bank doesn't charge anything.

If this is the first time in 5 years that this has happened, then the cost of taking the security deposit for all those bookings (say 150 security deposits taken and returned) is going to be more than a set of towels...
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

Yes I'm with you on that one newtimber. J00ls, owners always have a split opinion at this point, between those that take deposits and those that don't, but there are pros and cons for both sides.
Pamski
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Post by Pamski »

I also agree that the towels and bathmat were probably packed by someone who thought that they had to supply their own stuff and who hadn't done the initial packing and was being helpful. If they were seriously in the business of 'nicking' things then I expect there would have been other items of more value than a set of soggy towels. Very, very irritating though as an owner as they probably match other ones and fit the décor in the bathroom.
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Mouse
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Post by Mouse »

Are we saying that someone really thought the bathmat was not supplied by the owner?

I find that hard to believe. More likely they thought they could get away with it because of the large numbers in the group.

I think the tone for the email is now right though...don't go in too hard as that is likely to put them on the defensive.
Let's hope they come clean!

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Dusty
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Post by Dusty »

I agree that taking a softer approach with the first step is definitely the way to go, but I am perplexed as to why newtimber says its costs to return security deposits. To return by cheque or bank transfer is free and takes 5 minutes. I suppose that if you were handling returns across currencies then costs could be incurred and we don't take credit cards, so maybe there are costs associated with that, but otherwise its fairly straightforward I think, or am I missing something?
newtimber
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Post by newtimber »

Dusty wrote:I agree that taking a softer approach with the first step is definitely the way to go, but I am perplexed as to why newtimber says its costs to return security deposits. To return by cheque or bank transfer is free and takes 5 minutes.
To return by cheque is not necessarily free. We get charged 75p per cheque for our business account. And how do you get it back to the guest without purchasing a stamp, envelope, paper to write a letter to go with it, maybe driving to the letterbox?

Yes the bank transfer is free - provided your customer is UK based otherwise you have foreign transaction charges to pay - and takes 5 minutes (Probably more than this actually, as not only do you have to log-in etc but you have to make absolutely sure that the details are correct and then you have to wait for the security phone calls when you set up your new Payee.) But it depends on how many bookings you have. As I said, if you have 30 bookings a year (lots of us have more than that if they do short breaks) and each takes 5 minutes that's an hour and a half every year just dealing with security deposits. Then there will be problems and disagreements if you deduct anything and you'll have to take time to deal with these and it's not something that's very enjoyable and you'll get a bad review. (There weren't any towels when I arrived, the bathmat was missing...) So you add another half an hour dealing with this.
How much do you charge your time out at?
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