Strip resort sued by customer over charges

Wednesday, Oct. 6, 1999 | 11:44 a.m.

Westburne Industrial Enterprises Ltd. of Alberta, Canada sued the Flamingo Hilton, alleging the hotel had lied to Westburne's employees to elicit their credit card information with the intent of charging lodging and related services that had already been fully paid.

The Clark County District Court said Westburne had paid James & Jeffrey Inc., a Canadian travel agency, the full sum of $75,000 to arrange a company retreat at Las Vegas in February 1998 at the Flamingo Hilton on the Las Vegas Strip.

The agency, which Westburne alleged failed to make full payment, was to have set up a contract and made full payment to the Hilton before Westburne's employees checked in on Feb. 25.

Westburne accused Hilton in the suit of deceptive trade practices, charging Westburne's employees' personal credit cards without their authorization and failing to inform Westburne's employees of its action.

The suit said Hilton had allegedly told each Westburne employee when they checked in that they were required to provide an imprint of their credit card and that the imprint was taken specifically and only for the purpose of charging any "incidental, extra, personal expenses in excess of room charges for convenience sake."

Westburne also alleged Hilton failed to demand and secure payment from James & Jeffrey before Westburne's employees arrived, or to inform Westburne the payment had not been made, the suit said.

The suit said Westburne had to compensate its employees, who had disputed such charges with their credit card issuers, for the charges on their credit cards. Their credit card issuers had rejected all disputes and demanded payment from the Westburne employees, the suit said.

Flamingo Hilton officials could not be reached for comment.