Reservation Counter review: scam 105

This same issue happened with me! As soon as I didn't get a confirmation within "5-10 minutes" a red flag went up and I started doing some digging and found this site. I wasn't able to dispute the charge with my credit card company because the charge had not technically posted yet. Fortunately, I was able to cancel by pretending to book a new reservation through the prompt system. Once I got a hold of a live representative I demanded that I talk to either a supervisor or a LIVE customer service rep. He transferred me to a customer service rep and I was able to cancel, although like everyone else I am not sure if I will actually be refunded.

I attempted to book a room at a Comfort Inn in Cedar City, UT. I entered the date and type of room I wanted and a message popped up that said there was no availability for that date and I should select another date. I was not sent a confirmation or any other correspondence via email. I then was able to book the room via Priceline. When I arrived at the hotel the following evening, I was surprised to learn that 2 rooms had been booked in my name. The hotel told me that, 'tho the company name was something else, the reservation was actually made through Expedia (I do not know if this is true) and that I should contact Expedia directly. Once in my room (well, ONE of my rooms), I called customer service at Expedia. The young woman was very polite and tried to be helpful but she could not find a record of my having reserved the room through Expedia. I had, indeed, booked through them about a week earlier and there was a record of that booking, just not the one in Cedar City. At that point we thought that a charge would not appear on my credit card because there was no record of the reservation. Within a few days I rec'd an email from Expedia inquiring about my customer service experience and asking what they could do to resolve my problem. I filled out everything, explained my dilemma and submitted it. I've heard nothing further from them. Today I rec'd my credit card bill and there are 2 charges on it for the room in Cedar City. I called the number on the credit card bill that is associated with TSP Reservation Counter and it is impossible to speak with a real person. None of the options (press 1 for this, press 2 for that) address my problem. Unless someone else can suggest a solution, I think I'll be stuck with the extra charge. I doubt that TSP is associated with Expedia, as I've used Expedia several times in the past with no problems. I guess this is a case of 'you live, you learn' and I've certainly learned to never use TSP in the future. All you folks out there-----BEWARE!

All the comments are true the phone system and their web site is rigged. The only way to talk to them is call the number that they sell on otherwise you can't get in. They are on facebook as Reservation Counter and I have been trying to get my refund by contacting them there. Attached is the letter I have sent them.
reply@travelnow.com
Subject: RE: Itinerary - Aug 3, 2012 - (Itin# [protected])
Dear Sirs,
When I made my reservation I had every confidence that the hotel room that you reserved in my name was a comfortable safe environment. However it was a room that had been flooded and was reeking of mold. The smell was overwhelming and my wife and I was in the room no more than five minutes before our eyes and sinuses and lungs were burning. I know that you wouldn't expect us to put our health at risk by staying in that unsafe environment, therefore we immediately went to the front desk to get a different room. The front desk told us they had nothing else, so I told them we had to leave. The front desk refused to check us out or give a receipt. I am disputing the 1st day charge. We went to the Holiday Inn and paid double the rates, but the room and stay was a good living safe environment.
I expect to receive the first night charges to be refunded as you refunded the second nights charges. Also as I explained on the phone to your rep that my wife is disabled with small cell lung cancer and needs a healthy environment. Also I am disabled from Heart disease and COPD and I to need a healthy environment. We can provide legal proof of our disabilities and expect that you will understand why we had to leave that very unhealthy environment.
Please refund to my Master Card the first night charges.

Regards Gary Joyce

I wish I had seen this review site before I called [protected]. Definitely found this hotel reservation number to be misleading in their bookings. 1) Danny claimed that I was booking directly with Ascot Suites Ascend Collection; 2) The email confirmation was Travelscape.com; 3) The email confirmation of four King Suites with sofa bed was not the rooms booked with Ascot Suites when I checked-in and was told by the front desk that the booking was done through Expedia; 4) The room price was $10.00 more per night than what Ascot Suites charges per room; 5) My major complaint was that two of the four rooms had one king bed only...no sofa bed; 6). When I called [protected] about the room size reservation problem, I was told it was the hotel's mistake and Expedia could not do anything about it. The front desk said that Expedia sold the rooms incorrectly. 7) There was no customer service from Expedia to resolve the room type...their excuse "It is the hotel's problem."
Ascot Suites gave me some customer satisfaction. They gave me a King Suite/with a sofa bed and for the other king bed room, they gave me a $24.00 credit.

I work for a hotel and I wish I knew how to get them to NEVER ever impersonate my business again. I am nasty rude and I tell every person that works for them my feelings on their company and I cannot for the life of me get them to leave us alone. They screw over sooo many guests and its not always someone who is forgiving and they often blame their troubles on us.

Yes, this company is without question a big scam from a foreign country. They make false ads make you believe you are reserving with a certain brand name hotel. You cannot call them to change, modify or cancel you reservation, but you can call them to make new reservations. I made a reservation with Holiday Inn in New Jersey, and realized my mistake. They say right on their website: "No Change or Cancellation Fees." When you make a reservation, they send you confirmation that states: No cancellations. My best advice is to call the Hotel and book direct, and then dispute the charge with your credit card company as a "duplicate charge." It is the best way. Otherwise you will fight the "the card holder agreed to our terms and conditions at checkout." Which of course is the BS fine print, that I don't ever remember seeing.

I wanted to stay at Super 8. I did a Google search and clicked on a link for Super 8 that said "no change or cancellation fees". I made the reservation, and then needed to cancel it. I called Super 8 and was told that I didn't make the reservation with them. I found out that the reservation was made with reservationcounter and I tried to cancel with them. They told me there are no cancellation fees, but there were also no refunds. Also they never sent me a confirmation email, told me they weren't super 8, or told me that there were no refunds (until after I called to cancel).

Same exact experience with Hampton inn. Thought I was on the hotel website and calling hotel toll free number. Only after not receiving email conf did I call Hampton 2 days later. Was told by Hampton I was booked through Expedia. Called my credit card company immediately, they told me my charges were from this company, Reservation Counter, and although they were a legitimate business, they had thousands of complaints. With the credit card fraud department's assistance, we contacted reservation counter and after being treated very rudely we were able to get refund (although it has not posted back to my card). Adam at reservation counter said I was not told I was booking through a third party company because I did not ask. I have rebooked directly through Hampton for a 2 night savings of $110. Major scam! Beware!

A NIGHTMARE AVOID AT ALL COSTS! I sure hope that you have checked this site out BEFORE you made your reservation. Reservationcounter.com IS a scam and any attemps to cancell a reservation and get your money back is going to cost you hours and hair loss! I have spent at least 4 accumulated hours (if not more) on the phone from the initial hotel ( sorry, you didn't make your reservation through us) to Expedia ( sorry you made your reservation through reservationcounter.com let me give you their numbers ) which is a complete dead end...robot number pushing and no answeres, and when you do try to speak to a representitive the line disconects you). Oh, and three additional #'S later with the exact same messages and then I called the bank not once but twice . I reported them as fraud to my bank. this is a terrible mess. Plus what is strange is that initially the bank first said this was reservationscounter.com that they saw the charges on. The second time I called the bank they said it was TSP Reservations. So look out! This company is a fraudulant one!

Please do not book your hotel reservation with this company [protected] they are a rip off! They said they had booked me a room with The Hilton Garden in Greenbelt MD and charge my credit card and when I got to the hotel I did not have a room. This company is a scam! I had to call two times to get a credit to my credit card and I am calling American Express tomorrow to let them know I did not stay at the Hilton Garden Hotel on Saturday. To make matters worst the customer service rep lied and said he called the Hilton Garden to see if I stayed their and the Hilton Garden said they did not called. I did call the Hilton Garden from my cell phone while they had me on hold supposedly crediting my credit card. Please spread the word to all your family and friends and tell them not to use this company!

And good luck trying to cancel a reservation with them after it is made. Their phone system is purposefully set up to deter cancellations. They direct you to their website to lookup and cancel your reservation, but their website's reservation lookup feature is the conveniently and suspiciously down. I've been on the phone now for 33 minutes waiting for someone to talk to me about cancellations. I'm going to call the hotel itself to complain and to the credit card company to block my charges with them. Horrible company.

BIG SCAM! I just so happened to not need the reservation I had made through Reservation Counter, so I called the hotel and they gave me the number to Expedia. Since I knew it wasn't made through them, I called the 1-800 number from the website . The only way to actually talk to someone when you call is to 'make a new reservation' before connecting you to a person, it makes sure to let you know if you want they to look up an active account, they can't! BS! They can. When I asked for a physical address to their corporate office they gave me an address to McDonalds. I demanded that they give me every cent back in 24 hour and they said okay. This just happened today so I'll see if they do it.

I had the same experience as described by others. I thought I was calling Hampton Inns for a reservation in Augusta, GA. After making the reservation then needing to cancel it found out that it was made through Expedia! When I finally got through to Expedia they said it had been made through reservationcounter.com and they couldn't cancel it. I called Hilton which said they couldn't cancel the reservation and suggested I call the hotel directly. When I called the Hampton Inn, Augusta, GA they said they couldn't cancel it since it had been billed. When I tried to call [protected] for ReservationCounter (for the 4th time to try to cancel) I could never get through to a person. Then I went to the website. When I entered my reservation information the response was 'We are sorry. Our service is temporary unavailable'. So far I have spent 1 1/2 hours trying to cancel this reservation. When I made the reservation this morning I was told I had until 6pm today to cancel the reservation. So far RESERVATIONCOUNTER.COM has made this impossible. I also called American Express today to cancel the charge. I was told this can't be done until it moves from 'pend' to 'billed' status.

Yes, complete scam. I had an emergency call from my sister that she needed a hotel room (tragic personal issues). I was on top of a mountain with almost no cell service but a text did come through. I dropped all my gear and travel 15 miles to get enough single to get to the internet. I book through these thieves for a hotel in NC, it booked her into a hotel in AR leaving her in a bad place which I didn't find out about for hours. I had to repeat the process and call the hotel directly. I called this rip off outfit to get a refund and ended up in the phone que from hell. I finally called sales and got someone to look at it. They said, well since it happened yesterday there's nothing we can do. And basically a FO from from them. This guys are thieves and scam artists. Avoid them at all costs (well, the cost will be yours if you use them). I wish I knew where I could file a police complaint on these fraudsters.

RESERVATIONCOUNTER.COM is a SCAM.. same story as above. Misrepresentation. Overcharged me on the rate.. No cancellation policy. Can't speak to anyone about anything. They take your money and you can't do anything about it.

Call your credit card company and dispute the charges.

Same as above. Avoid this company like the plague. I wish I had checked here before finalizing my reservation. I thought I was dealing directly with the hotel.

ReservationCounter is INDEED a scam! I booked a Daytona Beach hotel online, got an itinerary#, and was told I would receive a confirmation within 2-4 hours (AFTER they took my credit card. When I did not get a confirmation 12 hours later, I called their "customer service" number, gave them my itnerary and name, but was told they could not locate my itinerary. I was passed along to three other phone numbers, got the same runaround. They indicated they "partnered" with Expedia. So I called Expedia directly, they investigated and told me it was an internet scam. Fortunately I called my creditcard company, canceled my card before they hit me with more charges, but they did attempt to run a $1 transaction through..a test run? Beware of these people. I have filed a report with the FBI Internet fraud division. It really pissed me off!

Totally similar problem. I googled the phone number for a hotel in Houston (Club Quarters). Called the number and the phone operator gave me every indication she was from the hotel. I booked and gave my card for the room and was charged immediately. That was sure a surprise! When I called the *actual* hotel number to inquire, they told me it was booked through Expedia, which made me feel kind of like a crazy person. Fortunately, my reservation *is* in their system and appears to be legit. It doesn't seem that Reservation Counter is a take-your-money-and-run type scam, but they do seem to sneakily usurp hotel bookings so that they can collect the commisisons.

I want to thank everyone who posted here. I almost went through with a reservation at reservation.com. The site quoted a reservation of 59 bucks per night for the hotel we wanted. After reading the complaints here I searched and found the hotel phone number and called them directly. I was able to get the reservation for $54 per night. I will never use so called "reservation services" for anything ever again. Thanks again everyone!

My husband and I believed we were speaking directly to Comfort Inn Bellingham, we arrived to find that we had been charged a $12.52 service fee and the parking package we asked for was not available through the company only from the hotel directly. We were then asked to pay an additional $66 for the parking.
On speaking with the manager we were advised that this is an on-going scam by this company.
Call the hotel directly and ensure you're speaking with a member of the hotel staff, otherwise, beware.
Thank you to Brant and Sara of the Comfort Inn for taking care of us, you were both great.

My complaint is the same. When I called [protected], I believed I was dealing with Embassy Suites reservation center to make a hotel reservation. I asked for the corporate rate of $109, but was told they only had three rooms left at $139. When I checked in at Comfort Inn, I was told the reservation was through

Expedia, I said no, I made the reservation thru Emabssy Suites. When my expense came through I was charged with a $21.00 tax, plus room rate of $139 instead of the $109 I should have been charged. Ripoff!

I just had a run in, they told me they were a part of the Hyatt and that I would get points for my stay, for a good price they told me I got a king bed, river view and balcony, when I called the hotel to double check they told me I had a room with 2 double beds and no river view and no points...when I called back and was put on hold for 45 minutes the supervisor told me I would have to pay extra for a king and river view...will NEVER book with them again...I feel bad for anyone who doesn't read these before booking with Reservationcounter.com

I totally agree with opinion on reservationcounter.com. I thought i was making a reservation with Baymont INN reservation center and then later found out after I had complaints that it was Expedia. The rate I was quoted was $10 more than hotel would have charged and then she told me I wouldnt have to pay any extra for my late check out but in the end I end up paying for 2 full nights when I was only at the hotel for 24 hours. I feel like the reservation counter will tell you whatever it takes to make a sell. I will never make a reservation through them again.

Reservation Counter is a scam. They claim to represent hotels that they have no connection to. For example the Bar Harbor Inn. They have Google ads that make it look like they are the Bar Harbor Inn and they do not represent us. They are making fraudulent claims about their affiliation with us. Do not book with them. If you want to stay at the Bar Harbor Inn then book directly on our website www.barharborinn.com.