On November 23, 2012, during a stay at a Universal Vacation Club location, Villa Del Arco, my cousin and I were subject to assault, battery, duress, and harassment by Universal Vacation Club employees.
Our families were guests at Villa Del Arco from November 16-23rd. I arrived several days after my family on November 19th. On November 22nd my aunt and mother received a bill for charges associated with the room. Numerous charges on the bill were inaccurate, inflated, and occurred during time periods prior to the November 16th arrival. Among these charges were several breakfasts that were included in our stay. My aunt and mother spent hours going over the disputed bill with the front desk attendants. My mother and aunt informed me that the front desk was being completely uncooperative and while they did remove many of the false charges, they simply refused to remove others, even where no bill could be produced. The bill dropped several hundred dollars after the false charges were removed, however there were still many in dispute. The front desk told my aunt that she would have to take it up with the credit card company.
Neither my cousins, nor I, were a party of any of these discussions. Our names were not associated with the reservation. At approximately 12:30 pm on November 23, 2012, my cousin and I asked for a taxi to take us to our international flight. We had left sufficient time to taxi and make our flight without issue. However, when we asked for the taxi, we were told with much hostility, by the manager, Eduardo, that we could not leave the premises until the primary person on the room signed for the charges. I calmly informed him that neither of us was that person and that we needed to catch a flight. He once again with great anger told me that we would not be given a taxi and that he needed the primary person to sign for the credit card he had on file. This exchange went on for some time, with me explaining that I was not that person and that I was now in danger of running late for my flight.
Finally, after getting nowhere, my cousin and I said we would walk to get a taxi. We left the front door and got to the gate where we were told that we would not be allowed to leave without first paying. Once again, I explained that they had a credit card on file, that it should be used, and that we were going to miss our flight. As we continued to try and leave the gate, we were subjected to assault and battery as the man at the gate physically grabbed the bags in our hand and began to try to drag us back into the hotel. I yelled at the man to stop touching us that this was illegal, that I was an attorney and he was assaulting us and had now harmfully and offensively touched both myself and my cousin. Still, he refused and a screaming match and tug-of-war ensued. My cousin was visibly upset and trembling as was I. I continued to explain that we needed to catch our flight.
After much struggle at the gate, I finally marched back up to the hotel and demanded that they stop holding us hostage and allow us to catch our flight. The manager admitted that he had a credit card on file for the person named on the room, but that he knew that she was going to attempt to dispute many of the charges.
In the end, I was forced to put the charges on my credit card despite not being in the country when many occurred and them having an accurate card on file. Exhausted, assaulted, battered, and harassed, we were finally able to leave the premise in a taxi and barely catch our flight.
Upon return to the states I learned from my aunt that she had in fact signed for the charges and been told that everything was taken care of! When she checked out with Jorge at the front desk, he asked if she preferred to leave the incidental charges on the card on file and she said yes. She signed the bill and also signed on behalf of her sister, Sylvia, since she had already left, which my aunt let him know. He asked her to write on a piece of paper that Sylvia had left, which she did. She said to him, "Are we good then?" He replied, "Yes" and my other cousin and her left.
We travel for business and pleasure frequently and it is common practice to leave charges on the card on file even if the person whose name the reservation or credit card is in has left. If there were any issues with this, she should have been notified at the time I checked out.
I’ve never experienced worst customer service. I’ve never been physically attacked by an employee of a company. I’m planning to file litigation and I am demanding the following: (i) A formal written apology to myself and my cousin, (ii) immediate resignation of the supervisor who ordered the assault and battery, and (iii) a return of all funds charged to my account.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.