Mysterious bill

Mysterious bill

I would like to have your readers share an experience I just had with my credit card a few weeks ago.

When I checked my latest account, I noticed with surprise that a five-star hotel in Jakarta, where I once spent a night (and paid for it with my credit card), later on had claimed an unidentified charge which was then deducted from my account without any permission, signature or notion from my side.

After I contacted the hotel manager, I was told that this charge was obviously made due to an error, as I had been suspected of having taken a hotel bathrobe with me without paying for it. Only after my request did it turn out that obviously I was charged instead of some other guest who stayed next to my room. The charge was made based on what they call a "signature on file."

Is it not strange, if not illegal, that a hotel (or whomever) is able to claim payments without letting the customer know, after he already paid and left? What would have happened if I had not found out coincidentally about this mysterious event?

The manager explained to me that this is the usual practice, as hotels often become victims of clients who wish to carry some "souvenir" along. However, to me it seems that this practice is going much too far, especially if it hits other customers who do not have any connection to the case in question, due to a badly organized (or was it on purpose, in order to get the bathrobe money back, without caring from whom) cashier management?

WERNER WASMUTH

Bandung, West Java