Ravenwood Castle

We take the cleanliness of our accommodations extremely seriouslyWe have never had a bed bug infestation at Ravenwood Castle, and take significant preventative measures to ensure that we never do We also take the satisfaction of our guests extremely seriously, and do everything in our power to resolve guest concerns when they ariseUnfortunately, in rare cases we have guests who attempt to take advantage of this, and fabricate claims or concerns in order to seek free servicesSadly, that is the case with this complaint The complaining party arrived Friday evening for one of our event weekendsSaturday morning they came to the Front Desk and claimed to have found a bed bugOur Housekeeping Supervisor and Innkeeper immediately inspected the guest’s cottage in their presenceAlthough we found no evidence of bedbugs whatsoever, we immediately informed the guest that we would be bringing in a third party licensed professional to double check and put all of our minds at easeIn the meantime, we offered to treat all of the guest’s laundry as an abundance of caution While the laundry was being run, the guests indicated that they would be checking out, and demanded a full refundWe informed them that there was an inspector on the way, and that we would be able to resolve the issue shortly so they could continue enjoying the eventThe guests indicated that they still wished to leave, at which point we offered a refund of their second night as a measure of good will The guests returned several minutes later and again demanded a full refund, this time threatening to speak to all of our other event guests and ruin their weekends if we didn’t issue a refund immediatelyWhen informed that we would be able to give them a better answer shortly as the inspector was nearly on site, the guests hurried and departed the property That licensed professional was on site within minutes of the guests’ departure, and within an hour of the original concern being raised He completed a thorough inspection of the entire cottage, and found no evidence of bedbugs or any other bugsThe inspector also verified that the photo provided by the guest was of a common black beetleAccording to the inspector the two other bed bugs that guest claims to have found were in fact a partial wing and a partial shell – neither from a bed bug – which appeared to have been brought in on the bottom of someone’s shoe A copy of the inspector’s report was provided to guest by email the same day, two days prior to this complaint being filedThe inspector’s findings have subsequently been confirmed by the Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of State Fire MarshalRegardless, guest has continued to knowingly make statements in an effort to blackmail and bully Ravenwood Castle into issuing a refundThat dishonesty, combined with the threats made on site and the guest’s pattern of harassment of both us and our third party entertainment providers lead us to the inescapable conclusion that their goal is and always has been an attempt to procure free services

Attached please find the Fire Marshall's report, please let me know, if you can't open it and I will fax a copy.We appreciate the Revdex.com's assistance in trying to resolve the disputeHowever, we have come to an impasse, and we are not willing to provide any further refunds, or discounts to the consumerWhen he brought this to our attention, we refunded $349.94, which is the second night's stay as a gesture of goodwill as a means of resolving this disputeThis is outside our policy, and we made a one time adjustment for this consumer in the hopes that it would resolve the dispute once and for all

I am rejecting this response because:1. The owner claims we left within an hour of complaining. We made the complaint at roughly 7:15 AM (well before the 8:00 AM breakfast). We left at 10:45 AM. After 3.5 hours there was still no licensed inspector on site.2. The 2 hotel employees who immediately checked our room both admitted that neither of them have taken any formal bed bug training. I know this because they lamented that the one Ravenwood employee who has attended bed bug training was not working that day.3. If the pest inspector arrived 15 minutes after we left, that means he arrived at 11:00 AM. The official report shows that he finished the inspection at 11:30 AM. Considering he also needed to park his car, walk to our exact room, and fill out his paperwork, it is reasonable to estimate his actual inspection time was 15 to 20 minutes. I do not believe 20 minutes is adequate time for a thorough inspection of 2 bedrooms and a living room. 4. The biggest problem at hand here is that we found one living bed bug. We snapped a quick picture of it and flushed it down the toilet. This picture was not taken close enough and apparently some opinions differ on whether it was a beetle or a bed bug. Our 6 person party had 2 social workers who have been trained in bed bug treatment to work with their clients. They were both absolutely certain that we found a bed bug in our room. I can upload the picture that we took if it will help this case.5. I am deeply offended by these claims that we were just looking to obtain free services. If this were just a scheme to receive free services, wouldn't we have completed more of the weekend event rather than only experience 4 hours Friday night? My friends and I were incredibly excited for this weekend event. We reserved everything months ahead of time and spent multiple nights preparing props and costumes. We were incredibly saddened that it was ruined by this event. We have taken to filing claims with the BBB and posting our thoughts on social media because our claims have not been resolved to our satisfaction.Personally I thought that we should inform our fellow hotel guests that there was a possible bed bug infestation so they could check their rooms and make their own decision, but ultimately I chose discretion and decided not to further disrupt the event. As I have previously mentioned, my wife and another member of our group have both had extensive bed bug training and work to help clients with bed bug infestations. They both take bed bugs very seriously. Hopefully the bed bug that we found was the only one on Ravenwood's campus, but we could not be certain of that at the time.

We take the cleanliness of our accommodations extremely
seriously. We have never had a bed bug infestation at Ravenwood Castle, and
take significant preventative measures to ensure that we never do.
We also take the satisfaction of our guests extremely seriously,
and do everything in our power...

to resolve guest concerns when they arise. Unfortunately,
in rare cases we have guests who attempt to take advantage of this, and
fabricate claims or concerns in order to seek free services. Sadly, that is the
case with this complaint.
The complaining party arrived Friday evening for one of our
event weekends. Saturday morning they came to the Front Desk and claimed to
have found a bed bug. Our Housekeeping Supervisor and Innkeeper immediately inspected
the guest’s cottage in their presence. Although we found no evidence of bedbugs
whatsoever, we immediately informed the guest that we would be bringing in a third
party licensed professional to double check and put all of our minds at ease. In
the meantime, we offered to treat all of the guest’s laundry as an abundance of
caution.
While the laundry was being run, the guests indicated that
they would be checking out, and demanded a full refund. We informed them that
there was an inspector on the way, and that we would be able to resolve the
issue shortly so they could continue enjoying the event. The guests indicated
that they still wished to leave, at which point we offered a refund of their
second night as a measure of good will.
The guests returned several minutes later and again demanded
a full refund, this time threatening to speak to all of our other event guests
and ruin their weekends if we didn’t issue a refund immediately. When informed
that we would be able to give them a better answer shortly as the inspector was
nearly on site, the guests hurried and departed the property.
That licensed professional was on site within 15 minutes of
the guests’ departure, and within an hour of the original concern being raised.
He completed a thorough inspection of the entire cottage, and found no evidence
of bedbugs or any other bugs. The inspector also verified that the photo provided
by the guest was of a common black beetle. According to the inspector the two
other bed bugs that guest claims to have found were in fact a partial wing and
a partial shell – neither from a bed bug – which appeared to have been brought
in on the bottom of someone’s shoe.
A copy of the inspector’s report was provided to guest by email
the same day, two days prior to this complaint being filed. The inspector’s
findings have subsequently been confirmed by the Ohio Department of Commerce,
Division of State Fire Marshal. Regardless, guest has continued to knowingly
make false statements in an effort to blackmail and bully Ravenwood Castle into
issuing a refund. That dishonesty, combined with the threats made on site and
the guest’s pattern of harassment of both us and our third party entertainment
providers lead us to the inescapable conclusion that their goal is and always
has been an attempt to procure free services.

I am rejecting this response because:1. The owner claims we left within an hour of complaining. We made the complaint at roughly 7:15 AM (well before the 8:00 AM breakfast). We left at 10:45 AM. After 3.5 hours there was still no licensed inspector on site.2. The 2 hotel employees who immediately checked our room both admitted that neither of them have taken any formal bed bug training. I know this because they lamented that the one Ravenwood employee who has attended bed bug training was not working that day.3. If the pest inspector arrived 15 minutes after we left, that means he arrived at 11:00 AM. The official report shows that he finished the inspection at 11:30 AM. Considering he also needed to park his car, walk to our exact room, and fill out his paperwork, it is reasonable to estimate his actual inspection time was 15 to 20 minutes. I do not believe 20 minutes is adequate time for a thorough inspection of 2 bedrooms and a living room. 4. The biggest problem at hand here is that we found one living bed bug. We snapped a quick picture of it and flushed it down the toilet. This picture was not taken close enough and apparently some opinions differ on whether it was a beetle or a bed bug. Our 6 person party had 2 social workers who have been trained in bed bug treatment to work with their clients. They were both absolutely certain that we found a bed bug in our room. I can upload the picture that we took if it will help this case.5. I am deeply offended by these claims that we were just looking to obtain free services. If this were just a scheme to receive free services, wouldn't we have completed more of the weekend event rather than only experience 4 hours Friday night? My friends and I were incredibly excited for this weekend event. We reserved everything months ahead of time and spent multiple nights preparing props and costumes. We were incredibly saddened that it was ruined by this event. We have taken to filing claims with the Revdex.com and posting our thoughts on social media because our claims have not been resolved to our satisfaction.Personally I thought that we should inform our fellow hotel guests that there was a possible bed bug infestation so they could check their rooms and make their own decision, but ultimately I chose discretion and decided not to further disrupt the event. As I have previously mentioned, my wife and another member of our group have both had extensive bed bug training and work to help clients with bed bug infestations. They both take bed bugs very seriously. Hopefully the bed bug that we found was the only one on Ravenwood's campus, but we could not be certain of that at the time.

I am rejecting this response because I also believe we have come to an impasse. I still feel as though Ravenwood should issue a full refund after the trouble we have been through. I find the gesture of goodwill of a partial refund to be insufficient given the presence of a bed bug in our bed.

Attached please find the Fire Marshall's report, please let me know, if you can't open it and I will fax a copy.We appreciate the Revdex.com's assistance in trying to resolve the dispute. However, we have come to an impasse, and we are not willing to provide any further refunds, or discounts to the consumer. When he brought this to our attention, we refunded $349.94, which is the second night's stay as a gesture of goodwill as a means of resolving this dispute. This is outside our policy, and we made a one time adjustment for this consumer in the hopes that it would resolve the dispute once and for all.