I have a complain regarding the cancellation of my booking at this hotel where I failed to receive my refund of approximately RM500 credited back to my credit card. I find their reservation personnels very unhelpful. Here are the details of the incident. I made a booking for two nights stay at the deluxe room in the hotel on the 13th and 14th of june 2008. All is well and good for that, as I received a confirmation receipt in my e-mail after that.

However, on the 10th of June I had to cancel my booking due to unforeseen circumstances. Note that I canceled my bookings more than 48 hours before arrival date which is the requirement to be eligible for the refund. In the process of canceling my booking, to my dismay, I found out on the internet that the date of my arrival is the 12th of June instead of the 13th of June. Not thinking too much about it, I proceeded with my cancellation without any doubt that the cancellation will be handled appropriately by the hotel.

It is stated in the booking terms and conditions that "Refund - Kindly be advised any refund due shall be credited to your credit card statement within thirty (30) days from the date of submitting the documents for processing." On the 11th Of July 2008, I called up the hotel to inquire about the supposed refund to my credit card after finding out that my money have not been credited at all.

I spoke to the reservation department personnel who asked if I received an e-mail confirming my cancellation. I told her I did not and proceeded to tell her the details above and also the fact that I was unaware that I am supposed to receive that sort of e-mail because on the website itself, it simply stated that my cancellation transaction was completed. For goodness sake, that was supposed to be my first time staying at The Gardens and frankly, this is a very unpleasant incident to go through for an (almost) first timer and potential regular.

She went on to apologize and say she is unable to do anything. I understood the situation she was in but the one thing I was (and still am) very unhappy about was the way she made this whole thing sound like a prank or fraud from me. She did not even bother to express even some concern over this matter and was more keen in hanging up and ending the conversation.

As a customer, I had to practically "persuade" her to follow up on this matter. Finally, she agreed to do something about the whole thing which is to get the IT department to trace the booking and cancellation and that she will get back to me on Tuesday, 15th July 2008.

I waited for that particular phone call but it never came. I had to call up to check on the tracings. The treatment I got during that phone call, gave me an impression that she was avoiding me or this incident is of no big deal to her. She told me she was busy and that she will call me back. I strongly do not think this is a very smart way of dealing with a disappointed and angered customer.

She called me back anyway just to tell me that they did not find any cancellation by me and apologized. Did she offer me any proof? No. Did she tell me who the next best person I can consult about this? No. I had to ask her and she gave me the phone number of their director's personal assistant.

I am getting very frustrated and tired of this and I hope this matter will be handled and given sufficient attention to get it resolved. But I do not know where to go from here. I have been sending emails to the hotel regarding this matter but I haven't got a good explanation as to why my booking transaction did not go through when it was clearly stated that it had been completed and why when I was doing the cancellation, the only arrival date in my record is the 12th of june 2008 instead of the 13th june 2008.

The only proof they spared me with are emails from the IT department simply typed out that they were unable to trace any cancellations.