Stone Soup Inn — Hotel in Indianapolis

I made a reservation on 10/24/16 to stay at this property from 5/25/17-5/29/17 through their website which mentions under their policies that reservations made during “special events” will not be refunded. It also mentions that any refund not during a “special event” will be subjected to a 15% “administration fee”. Unfortunately, the site did not list the property's special event dates. I payed by credit card the sum of $406.58 which was 50% of the total price of $813.15. I received an email confirmation which low and behold then, included the special event dates. After making the reservation and submitting a 50% deposit.

I was forced to cancel the reservation and called the property on 12/12/20 and spoke to a gentleman who told me that the deposit was 100% non refundable because it was during a special event period. I told him that I was calling almost five months before my arrival and that the reservation website does not list “special event” dates, and only on the confirmation email which I had received. I was told to call in the afternoon and speak to the supervisor which I did and he told me that he had to talk to the owner to grant a refund and that he would call me back the morning of 12/13/20. I never received that call. I then called again and spoke to a woman who told me that the supervisor was not even work that day and that she would contact the owner to grant a refund. She left me a voicemail message in the afternoon of that day saying that she had spoken to the owner and that the owner would be calling me in a few days.

I received a voicemail message from the owner on 12/14/16 stating that there would be no refund because it was a special event and that was their policy.

The owner obviously has set up those policies to insure that her business makes money on any attempted refunded deposits and could care less about guests.

Total lack on the owner's part to make any attempt to work with me as a customer in making things right by making an exception to their policies, first, because as I have stated their special event dates were not properly listed on their website, second, because I attempted to cancel the reservation almost five months before my arrival date which would give the property ample time to rebook the room that I had reserved.

I would recommend that anyone looking to stay at this property find somewhere else to stay unless you don't mind losing a 50% deposit because your travel plans have changed during their unnamed “special event dates” or you travel dates don't fall with in those dates and then be subjected to a 15% “administration fee”. I am working with my credit card company to resolve this matter and recover my deposit. I have also contacted the Better Business Bureau and have filed a complaint. I will post an update to this posting when it...

I didn't even make it in the door. I booked a room about a month in advance of an event with the assumption that a Bed and Breakfast would have better customer service and hospitality than a big hotel chain. I was tipped off otherwise right off the bat when I was put on hold twice for five minutes each time and the call was disconnected by the front desk. On my third attempt I got through and booked a room. I double checked on the refund policy when booking because I was paying for the stay in full (almost $150 per night) and was told reservations cancelled outside of 7 days would be refunded in full. I ended up having to cancel because the Morrissey show we were attending was also cancelled. When I received the confirmation email from the inn, the amount was about $20 less than what I'd originally paid. I read through the cancellation policy on the email which to me read that a 15% service charge was assessed for cancellations made within a week of the reservation date.

I called the inn to see why I was charged the service fee, explained what the original receptionist told me and was immediately told, "OUR people would NEVER," no apologies for the misunderstanding or confusion etc, just immediate implications that I was making what she told me up. I was getting nowhere with the person on the phone so I left a comment on their facebook page explaining why I was disappointed in their customer service and instead of contacting me or apologizing online, they deleted the post and blocked me from making another or sending them a message.

If you look at their facebook page (like I did) don't be fooled by all the positive reviews. The reason they're all positive is that they just remove the negative ones. It's too bad, the inn looks gorgeous and I would have loved to stay there, but based on the non-existent levels of hospitality I won't go back and recommend against it to anyone else. If they're that rude before you even get in the door I can't imagine what they're like once you're already there and they don't have to issue you a refund at all. Also, read the policies on their webpage, not what they send you in the email. For whatever reason they have different policies listed on their web page than what's...

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