Beware Palazzo customer service

Think twice before purchasing a gift card from the Palazzo or the Venetian. It may turn out to be worthless, as our story shows, as was the office of the concierge in resolving the problem.

On a November trip to Vegas, my sister and I purchased a $100 gift card from the Palazzo as a surprise gift for our parents, who would be staying there in January. They were delighted with the card and planned to treat themselves to ';Phantom'; tickets, which they would never have spent their own money on (our parents are 81 and 87 years old, on a fixed income, and plan carefully for their trips). When they presented the card to the box office, it was declined! Now this is a GIFT CARD, not a CREDIT CARD. We paid $100 and got a card that presumably was WORTH $100. Our shocked and embarrassed parents ended up paying out-of-pocket for the tickets.

For the next 48 hours, we tried to resolve the problem with J==,a concierge supervisor who theoretically should have had the authority to make it right in a timely manner. The explanation we were given was something like ';the bank back East has to authorize the funds before the card can be accepted.'; She was waiting for a call from ';Tony';, the banker. Excuse me? Our business was transacted with the Palazzo, not with some ';back East'; bank. We had a problem, which is one of the primary reasons why a concierge office exists: to resolve guest problems.

Our parents checked out as scheduled on Thursday, still without a resolution, and moved to Bally%26#39;s for one more night. Thursday evening, J=== left a voicemail on our mother%26#39;s cell phone, advising her that the funds would be available on Saturday and they could use the card then. On Saturday? On SATURDAY?? By Saturday, they%26#39;d be home. This is the Palazzo%26#39;s idea of resolving the problem? How about adding an equivalent amount to their cards as hotel credit, available immediately? How about trading their evidently worthless card for a nice, crisp $100 bill so that they could get on with their vacation and enjoy the gift as it was intended?

Today, Friday, THREE DAYS after the problem first arose, my mother was contacted by A=== , a supposedly more senior concierge supervisor who did, in fact, make that offer: give us back the card, we%26#39;ll give you $100 cash. The problem was that our parents were no longer at the Palazzo and were told they had to return there, go inside to the concierge desk and do the transaction. Too bad this couldn%26#39;t have been done when it mattered, instead of 72 hours after the fact when they were on their way out of town. In addition, my mother was told that A=== took the money out of her own pocket to buy the card back. We%26#39;re stunned. Is this a luxury hotel or a Motel 6? I%26#39;d love to know what Robert Goldstein, Prez and COO of the Palazzo would say about the so-called ';customer service'; at his place.

This isn%26#39;t a money issue; it%26#39;s a customer service issue. Our parents were jerked around, left hanging, and basically ignored for three days without resolution. J=== spoke to my sister and me once and thereafter, dodged our calls with voicemail and excuses (';She%26#39;s in a meeting';, ';She%26#39;s out to lunch.';) The final resolution is a joke: we get our money back. Too late to enjoy it, too late to do anything except drive back to San Diego. Our elderly parents worried over this for three days, but no compensation of any kind was ever offered. Getting our money back is hardly compensation; it%26#39;s OUR money.

We%26#39;re thoroughly appalled and disgusted by the unprofessional way that this was handled and feel that other visitors should be aware that, should they encounter a problem at the Palazzo, the office of the concierge is ill-equipped to resolve it. Perhaps more training is required so that the level of service rises to that of the Wynn.

Beware Palazzo customer service

Looking at their website it looks like it is a Discover Gift Card branded by the Palazzo. I am wondering if there was some sort of problem with the card being bought before Sands Corp going bankrupt?

Beware Palazzo customer service

You probably should have put all this into a letter to the Palazzo management although that most likely wouldnt have done anything other then make you feel better. But believe me when I say we all get it. Customer service is already bad and with the down swing in the economy I can only imagine it will be getting worse.

I%26#39;m so sorry for the ordeal your parents went through (I don%26#39;t suppose they ever got to see Phantom?).

Anyway, what%26#39;s funny is I JUST got an e-mail from MGM with an unusual offer - buy a $250 gift card, get one hotel night comped, but a $500 gift card, get 2 nights comped - I was about to post this on another thread but now this Palazzo problem makes me hesitate to recommend the MGM deal to anyone - you just never know.

Sorry that this happened to you, but it sounds like you were dealing with the wrong people. The whole concierge department is usually pretty low on the totem pole. They%26#39;re not good for much beyond routine matters. You needed to be dealing with a higher level of management than that in order to get this resolved. I would have asked to speak to the hotel manager on duty.

Basically, this was a relatively new program that Sands entered into with a corporate partner and it sounds like there were some problems with it. It doesn%26#39;t sound like it operates like a standard store gift card that we%26#39;re all used to. I agree they should have offered you a little something for your trouble beyond the refund.

Have been in the Customer Service industry for over 30 years, I can tell you that $100 is a small price to pay to keep customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. Shame on them.

';I%26#39;d love to know what Robert Goldstein, Prez and COO of the Palazzo would say about the so-called ';customer service'; at his place. ';

What did he say when you contacted him?

I will say that customer service at The V/P is usually superb, if there was a problem and you express your discontent you will receive an answer.

Sorry to hear about your experience. I%26#39;m booked in a Concierge room at Palazzo and have been dealing with one of the concierge supervisors (her name starts with a J, wonder if it%26#39;s the same person) and she has been wonderful and quick to respond. Sounds like the giftcards are a pain and not worth the trouble.

Jaylynn (or Jaylo or something like that) is the person we tried to deal with when she wasn%26#39;t ducking our calls. Very polite, totally incompetent . Hope everything works out for you because it%26#39;s really a beautiful property with lovely suites. As long as no problems arise, I%26#39;m sure everything will be great, but if something should come up....waste no time with the concierges, go higher up asap.

The moral of the story is never get a gift card. Buy a greeting card and stick a Franklin in it.

It seem gift cards were invented to substitute for lending somebody your credit card.

No doubt the issuers of gift cards know that a decent percentage of the cards are never used, lost, or expire, so a profit potential is built in.

Personally, if the concierge did not fix the problem in five minutes, I would have gone to the hotel manager immediately. We all get strung along by a variety of hassles and ripoffs, get very noisy quickly.

One of the posters on this thread, said Sands went bankrupt. Thats news to me.

The explanation we were given was something like ';the bank back East has to authorize the funds before the card can be accepted.';

The V/P should not sell these things if this is happening.

I wonder how many other people have had this problem with these cards?