Thanks Repspace for providing a scam forum.

This is my experience - my Comfort Inn East Albuquerque Review. In all the years I have been travelling across country this was the absolute worst, scammiest, most unprofessional experience I have ever had with any property operated under the Choice Hotels brand.

When I tried to check into my room the woman at the counter ran my debit card and claimed it did not go through. So I provided her another one and she completed the transaction and gave me the room key.

I found the property to be pretty shabby for a Choice Hotel property. It looked like the rooms hadn't been upgraded since the 60s. Crappy shower head, low water pressure. Concave looking beds.

The next morning I checked out at the front desk and went on my way. Two days later I discover that the general manager "Eugene Rudolph" charged my debit card - the one the clerk claimed was declined - for two different additional rooms.

When I called to see what had happened the phone was answered by "Flo". Flo sounded bored to death by my call ( or this happens all the time ) and told me she would pass my message on to Eugene Rudolph or Gene as she called him but that I wouldn't hear anything back until the following week because he was traveling.

I told her I needed the charges reversed immediately and she said Gene Rudolph handled all the billing personally and nothing could be done. When asked if Eugene had a cell phone she told me no, there was no way to reach him. Total bullshit. I don't know or care what the relationship is between "Flo" or Flow or however you spell this disinterested drone's name and her boss, but she was overly protective in a situation where they should have been concerned about jacking a customer for bogus bookings.

The next day, a third charge appeared on my card for yet another room.

I called back Flo and told her that unless I could reach Eugene Rudolph I would have to call in a complaint to corporate for Choice Hotels. She was again completely (yawn) disinterested. Choice Hotels East must have affirmative action for idiots.

I called in the complaint to Choice Hotels and they seemed very concerned. They retrieved the bookings and showed all the separate rooms billed, one of them for three days.

Though they said they repeatedly tried to contact the property, they were unable to reach the general manager by phone. They told me that it was against their policy not to have a General Manager ( who is likely also the owner ) available at all times in case of an emergency.  After days of calls trying to sort this out, and having my debit card shut off because Wells Fargo viewed it as fraud on the part of Comfort Inn East, the issue is still unresolved.

Don't stay at this property. You run the risk of having fake charges applied to your card and if you do this tool Eugene Rudolph will be totally non responsive, so you can count on days and weeks of dealing with your bank and Choice Hotels corporate and still have nothing resolved.

Choice Hotels corporate could have stepped up as well and offered some kind of future discount rather than lose a repeat customer for life.

Epic fail all the way around, but mostly for Eugene ( Gene ) Rudolph and his jerk-clerk Flo. F minus.

Choice Hotels has doubled down on the pathetic handling of what should have been an easily resolved complaint.

As I said in my Comfort Inn East Albuquerque Review general manager Eugene Rudolph and his sidekick Flo were completely non-responsive and seemingly unconcerned about posting bogus charges for four nights in rooms that were never occupied.

Choice Hotels Customer Care Director Dean Tarasenko sent me a fine form letter that read:

"...our records show the hotel has acknowledged your concerns. While we are sorry that you found their efforts to be unsatisfactory, we must consider the hotel's response to be final."

Hey Dean Tarasenko, that would be great if the hotel actually RESPONDED. You definitely have a handle on the issues and the complaint.

Eugene Rudolph and Co already made your brand look pathetic and stupid. Now you just upped the ante by inserting data into a form letter and firing it off like that fixes everything.

Next step. Choice Hotel VP of Customer Care.

Dear xcountrytraveler.....I have almost the same exact situation with the same people.  On May 5th my husband and I traveled to the Albuquerque area and booked a room at the Comfort Inn East Albuquerque.  The girl at the counter told me my credit card was declined and we were too tired to argue so I pulled out my debit card. My credit card was charged twice and debit card once and when  I tried to resolve it "Flo" was rude and apathetic.She even "accidently" hung up on me the first time. The first 800 number I called even called Flo and she had the audacity to tell them we stayed two nights instead of one.  Not only that Mr. Rudolph can't seem to call us when he says he will and can't remember our names when he has called or emailed.  He also called us at appr. 10:30pm thinking our message was a personal message. I have filed a dispute with my credit card company, Choice hotels, the Better Business Bureau and may have to pursue this with the New Mexico Attorney General.  I fear the first entity to resolve this will probably be my credit card company however this hotel and their corrupt staff can't be allowed to get away with this.  My  initial stay was on May 5, 2012 and the charges were made the 5th, 6th and 7th.  I "googled" the hotel and Mr. Eugene Rudolph and was shocked to find that you had been scammed as well.  If you need testimony to help resolve your issue I would be MORE than happy to help and I hope that I can use what you wrote in this forum to aid me in justice as well.  

I wondered if this was happening to anyone else. The way it was handled and the way "Flo" seemed so disinterested made it seem like it was something happening all the time.

I finally got fed up after the form letter from Dean Tarasenko and ran it up as high as I could by contacting the office of the Vice President of Customer Care at Choice Hotels. I left a voicemail and received a call back from a woman in VP's office saying they were extremely concerned and were working with the property manager ( Eugene Rudolph ) to try and get everything resolved.

I received a phone call from Eugue Rudolph after they must have torn him a new one and he said he was doing everything he could to sort out the mess and promised to refund everything including the night I actually stayed.

So far that promise has not been kept, not a big surprise when the chargebacks that WERE issued by Gene Rudolph were done piecemeal and in partial amounts that almost made it seem like he was trying to make it more complicated to unravel.  At first I felt a little sorry for Eugene as he tried to put it all off on "Flo", but could not explain why he didn't follow up to any of my calls or faxes or the complaints from corproate. Now I feel totally justified with everything I thought from the beginning. I really wonder if this Comfort Inn East scam is a way to boost the books while hoping people won't notice they've been double, triple or quadruple billed.

Here is the information I used to get a response: Mark_Weiner @ ChoiceHotels.com . His direct phone number is 301 592 5000

Please keep me posted on your own results seeking a response and resolution.