Recently, on a trip to Temecula California to bury my wifes mother, we experienced a level of customer service so poor I felt compelled to let as many people know about it as is humanly possible. Our adventure began at the Hampton Inn on Jefferson Street in Temecula California. Please note that the facilities were actually very nice and the front desk personnel were well trained (Karen and Nadia were phenomenal). Chris, in the sales department also did a great job. That said, the target of this complaint is the properties General Manager, Nadine Steddom.

On January 1st, 2011 my Mother-in-Law passed away peacefully in her sleep. Mom was a community leader and a mover and shaker within the city of Temecula, California. A great many people attended her services and an even greater number her reception/Celebration of Life afterwards.

After Mom died, my wife and I flew directly from Atlanta, Georgia to Ontario, California driving on to Temecula. Over the next few days we arranged Mom's funeral services, which also included reserving rooms for incoming family. I was in charge of that task as I am the one who schedules all my wife's job related travel out of Atlanta. My wife is a Hilton Honors Gold level member who travels for her work about one out of every three weeks and, to this point, she has always had good experiences at Hilton hotels.

Not knowing what hotels there were in Temecula I jumped on line and did a quick search. I immediately found the Hampton Inn and called to see if we could secure a price break of some sort because I had a feeling we might be needing more than just a few rooms. I spoke with Chris in the sales department and he was great. He offered a fair discount and I told him I would call as soon as I had an exact number of rooms needed.

On Thursday, January 6th, my wife and I came to the hotel with a list of names so we could pre-register our guests and arrange payment (we paid for all their rooms). Karen helped with check-in and was a joy to work with. Because we wanted to pay for the rooms before our guests checked in, Karen had to leave the front desk area to ask Miss Steddom (I assume) what the process was for charging our credit card before our guests arrived. Miss Steddom (again, I assume) explained the process to Karen and she began checking people in and charging our credit card (Miss Steddom, if it was her, never left her office to come to the front desk). It was going to take a while so Karen said she would send receipts to me via email. We also made sure to inform Karen that our guest list was somewhat fluid and there might be additions for Thursday and Friday.

The credit card we gave Karen was my Mother-in-Law's credit card. It was a Wells Fargo Visa card with a $25, 500.00 credit limit. Not having a lot of experience with the law as it applies to a family members death and because my wife had power of attorney AND was a signee on Mom's Wells Fargo bank account we figured we could use her credit card to handle most of the expenses relating to her funeral (keeping it all organized and buying a little time to settle the estate). Latter that morning, I began receiving confirmations via email that the rooms were paid for.

On Friday morning, January 7th, one of our guests told us that another couple had arrived at the hotel but that they weren't able to check in. I was a little puzzled and immediately called the hotel thinking I had screwed up by not including their name on the list of Friday check-ins. I think I again spoke with Karen who told me there was a problem with the credit card and she needed to transfer me to the manager (once again Karen was very pleasant).

We had used the credit card to pay for a number of expenses the day before (obituary, catering, rooms, etc.). When we tried to use it at the funeral home Thursday night to pay those fees, however, the charges were rejected. My wife spoke with a credit card representative who explained that regardless of her power of attorney and signing privileges on Mom's bank account the credit card was now cancelled. Not being able to use the card wasn't really a big deal. We had other forms of payment and immediately settled with the funeral home. Neither of us were sure if the charges posted earlier in the day would be honored but figured if there was a problem we could take care of them as they came up just like we had with the mortuary.

Upon being transferred to Miss Steddon I started to explain what had happened. Because we were in the process of getting ready for Mom's services I knew I needed to keep things short so I planned on giving her the para-phrased version of the story (and offer another form of payment). I was no more than a sentence into the conversation when Miss Steddon abruptly cut me off. In an extremely condescending manner I was told she knew the whole story, didn't have time to hear it again, and could I get to the part about how she was going to get paid. I was stunned! Every gesture of good will generated by the Hampton Inn staff was dismantled in less than 15 seconds and it was done by the properties General Manager, Nadine Steddom.

Because I knew immediately what kind of person I was dealing with I started dishing out the same level of insolence, cutting her off more than a few times in an equally condescending and rude tone. I asked (abruptly) if I could give her another credit card over the phone but was told I could only do it in person. I told her I would not be in until after the services and the reception but I would be in. That was the end of the call.

After hanging up, one of Moms sisters informed me that, earlier in the morning, Miss Steddom had a run in of some sort with another of our family members regarding payment for the rooms and that discussion hadn't been a positive one. I am not 100% clear on what, if anything, actually took place or was said between my our guests and Miss Steddon but I will be calling everyone involved to find out exactly what happened so I can post it later.

Later that evening, after burying my wifes mother, I arrived at the hotel to pay the bill. The front desk clerk, Nadine, like Karen before her, was sensational. She was aware of the issue and even apologized, inferring that Miss Steddon's behavior wasn't all that shocking (she didn't actually say those words but a deaf and blind man could read between the lines). Guess what happened next? Miss Steddon had told Nadine that all the charges previously rung up could remain on my Mother-in-Laws credit card. I only had to take care of the two rooms that hadn't already been paid for. I guess because the credit card company had approved the charges in the first place they were going to honor them. Isn't that amazing? A new level of poor customer service was achieved, BY THE GENERAL MANAGER, after I had already spent more than $1, 000.00 at her hotel. All over two rooms. And, she wasn't smart enough, professional enough, and brave enough to call me and apologize for her behavior (I would have welcomed her call and that would have been that).

The next morning I sent an email to Hiltons complaint department detailing our experience and telling them what steps needed to be followed to rectify the situation. Apparently Hilton has a policy that allows the property in question to try to resolve guest complaints. Thats real sweet but under no circumstances am I going to allow Miss Steddom to handle her own complaint. This woman brought my wife to tears on the day she was burying her mother. Her actions will not be swept under the carpet because Hiltons complaint department is too lazy and stupid to address the problem in the manner I requested.

Until this situation is resolved I would recommend that anyone and everyone avoid this hotel like the plague.