The Bunkhouse

I wish I could say I received the same lovely customer service from Nancy, but my experience with her was quite the OPPOSITE. I contracted covid and ended up in the ER two days prior to going to the Bunkhouse. As a result, I was advised by my doctor not to go on my trip to Colorado as the altitude and cold would only worsen my recovery and that according to CDC guidelines I needed to self-isolate. My cousin called the Bunkhouse on my behalf to cancel our booking and Nancy explained that their covid policy would give us credits for the unused room. When my cousin explained that we had only put down the deposit and had NOT yet paid the $580 owed to the room Nancy said that she would charge our card on file regardless of the fact that we had NOT yet paid and would NOT be able to retain our reservation. My cousin became upset and argued that this was a bad business practice and would be treated as fraud if the card was charged before hanging up. Unaware of what had transpired I received a call from Nancy on my cellphone – which was the number on record - and was blindsided as she began to chastise me that ‘adults don’t handle things by hanging up on each other.’ I asked her who this was and what had happened. After Nancy explained the call she had with my cousin, she proceeded to tell me we had two options 1) have my card charged and receive credit or 2) be blacklisted from her establishment and others in the area. I told her I will be completing my PhD abroad in Africa for the next three years and that realistically I wouldn’t be able to redeem the credit until I returned in 2025 at the earliest due to my field research season which runs from October to March annually and asked if there were any other options. She said being blacklisted. I told her that wasn’t really an option as no one chooses to be blacklisted and that this felt like a punishment in reaction to what my cousin did. She said it wasn’t and that this was normal policy for travel companies including airlines, hotels, and car rental companies. I told her I had been on the phone with airlines and car rentals companies earlier that day and none had presented the option of either charging my card for an unused service to redeem credit or else blacklist me from their company and others. I further argued that I still perceived the blacklisting option as a punishment for my cousin’s actions which I wasn’t present for. She responded that as he was representing me on the phone, his behavior reflected my own. To make my point I asked if those were the options presented to my cousin before he hung up and she admitted that she had only offered him credit. Therefore, I reiterated that blacklisting only became an option after he threatened fraud and hang up which is why I am perceiving it as a reaction to and punishment for his behavior. She said it was a moot point that I wasn’t welcome to her facility regardless and that I couldn’t be trusted to fulfill a contract for having cancelled last minute.