Hotel Bill..........cacked me self

[BJL]

Checking out of the Hotel Tri Vecci in Bologna after 3 nights the reception asked me for 173,328 euros.
When I got up off the floor in my very best Italian I said 'what the f... is that'

My heart rate went to about 200 bpm.

Apparently some bod in the next room had been there for 3 months and hit the mini bar quite hard. The computer had got the rooms mixed up.

In the underground car park I sat in the QP, started it up (loudly) and all was well with the world again.

You see, even in a crisis Maserati comes to the rescue............................................................

 

[CatmanV2]

Glurk! That makes even my expenses look quite tame!

C

 

[Felonious Crud]

I hope he's good for it...

 

[Guest 1678]

Mini-bar my eye. That sound like a serious amount of watching the "Frankie Vaughan" on the hotel TV!

Damon

 

[2b1ask1]

I'd suggest he's had a good few visits to employ the services of the hotel 'spa' too....

 

[2b1ask1]

That's not far short of € 2k per day.....

 

[TridentTested]

It sounds like the hotel equivalent of the old David Niven restaurant bill trick.

When he was penniless he used to go to a restaurant with an accomplice, sit on different tables and not acknowledge each other. One would have the full menu and the other would have a cup of tea. They would swap bills and the one with the full tummy would settle the cup of tea bill and leave first. Then the other would make a big fuss about being handed the wrong bill.

Maybe this EUR €172,328 geezer pulled the same trick and settled your three-night bill and did a runner

 

[Parisien]

Typical Italian job..........


P

 

[BJL]

I don't think he did but you might be right. For that kind of bill I thought I would have at least heard a bit of what he was upto
I know Italian beauties can be high maintenance!...................

 

[Parisien]

.........wasn't Berlusconi by any chance....


P

 

[hodroyd]

String of hookers at your expense, that's taking a right liberty mate...!!!

 

[Orcadian]

Years ago we stayed in a 'B&B' in Florence, 3 nights: 779,600 lira, got home and discovered exactly the same amount had been 'taken' form my card again by somebody in Milan the next day. fought and got the money back, only for them to try the same trick again 8 months later!

 

[Marti]

Off to Venice next month......best not be THAT expensive!!!

 

[hodroyd]

Happened to me once in Lagos, Amex card was copied and a large bill came in, lucky I was not actually in the country at the time. Fortunately I got the money back from Amex, but it took quite a while..!!

 

[BennyD]

I stayed in Cancun a few years back and apparently paid for someone's Christmas a couple of weeks later. Fortunately, Barclaycard sorted it. It happened again in Florida. C'est la viz.

 

[Parisien]

Happened us too, well known restaurant in Barcelona.....10 years ago.....card cloned and used to buy antiques and stuff all around Europe, card company coughed up

P

 

[fcz360]

Me too but well before chip and pin, it was a texaco garage by Heathrow, dropped the hire car off flew to Toronto, landed went to bed and 3 hours later got a call from the Met - 18 cloned cards were issued in that time. I actually remember the cashier putting my card under the counter, and through a swipe thing.

 

[dem maser]

Fraud......disgusting

 

[Guest 1678]

We had a lovely spate of cloned cards in Berkshire about 6/7 years ago. Local chaps in the Shell garage had a reader attached to the legitimate machine. So one swipe - 2 reads of the card. Very clever.

Had an Amex card cloned in Sep 2012. By all accounts all the details were taken from Companies House for home address, DOB etc and my Amex card was buying very expensive meals in Kensington. It had a better standard of living than me. The thieving so and so's even phoned my mobile - again, all the details are so available to try and get my PIN. They had an automated system to capture the telephone key pad impulses. I provided a false number. It is getting very sophisticated. The card companies seem to be a step behind. I did get a refund and profuse apologies.

As they said on Hill Street Blues - be careful out there.

Damon

 

[TridentTested]

We had a lovely spate of cloned cards in Berkshire about 6/7 years ago. Local chaps in the Shell garage had a reader attached to the legitimate machine. So one swipe - 2 reads of the card. Very clever.

Garages are notorious for it.

My brother had one of his cards cloned recently and they tell you chip-and-pin can't be cloned. The bank quickly refunded the stolen money. As he hadn't used that card anywhere else he knew exactly which garage it was, he reported it to the cops and they told him that garage is always doing it.

Because of his experience I had started paying garages in cash - until I bought a QP that needs £100+ on a fill!