Did an Embassy Suites valet take her Saab for a joyride?

Remember the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, where a valet takes a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT out for a joyride? Brandi Mahoney claims it happened to her when she stayed at the Embassy Suites Portland – Downtown in Portland, Ore., recently.

How does she know someone took her car — a 2006 Saab convertible — for a spin? Her on-board navigation system told her.

When I parked the car, I looked at the dashboard program and it said .5 miles to your destination. We went upstairs to change for dinner. We came back down to leave. They brought my car around and we got in.

The GPS now read 20 miles past your destination. I valet parked my car again and asked the attendant to be careful and explained what had happened.

He immediately started yelling at me that nothing was wrong and his drivers wouldn’t do that.

Mahoney spoke with someone at the front desk, who assured her the situation would be taken care of.

The next day I picked up my car just before check out. I immediately saw that the dashboard now read 194.5 miles past destination! I was shocked!

Do people really do this? I mean, other than on Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? I called the valet manager over. She took a piece of paper and took down my name and number.

I had to rush off to a wedding rehearsal at this point. I tried to call and file a police report but the officer said I couldn’t and I needed to contact the manager and the corporate office.

I called the hotel to see what was going on. The manager on duty said that I needed to talk to a different manager who was out. I asked for the general manager’s voicemail and he said there was not a general manager.

Mahoney says her car hasn’t been the same since her stay at the Embassy Suites. It makes a clicking noise and the brakes squeak as well. She reached a hotel manager by phone, who promised to send her a claim form.

He said if a team member took the car, they would notice them being gone for three hours. I asked if there were any cameras in the garage. He said no. How are they going to even find who did it then? I was told if anyone really did take it, they again would notice them being gone.

My husband said I should let it go because it is causing me so much stress but I just can’t. I feel that everyone is giving me the runaround when I have proof. I also took a picture of the dashboard and still have my mileage log at work. What should I do or can I do? Should I let it go? Valet parking was definitely not worth the $28.

I contacted Hilton, which owns Embassy Suites, on Mahoney’s behalf. It replied to her immediately and said it would investigate. Yesterday, she received the hotel chain’s answer.

The manager of the Hilton said that they found no evidence that my car was taken. They said they interviewed the valets that worked that day. I asked what had been done besides interviewing them. He said an audit (done by the valet worker) showed my car to be in the garage from 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.

He also stated that there was only one valet worker there for the late night shift. I asked that besides the one hour my car was supposedly there and the interviews if there was anything else done. No.

I know for a fact — 100 percent sure — that my car was taken. I have my mileage record from work as well as the picture that it was driven past the destination.

He said in order for them to process the request, I have to “list my demands” as to what I want as well as any damage to the car. I am not sure what to even put. I will find out tomorrow if there is damage. I guess what is frustrating me is that I know for a fact it happened and because they have no cameras and interviewed employees, they are in the clear.

Damages to cars inflicted by valet services are some the most difficult to mediate, because it’s hard to prove someone from the hotel or valet company was responsible.

David Trumble, a spokesman for Hilton, said the hotel’s general manager is still in negotiations with Mahoney, and that he expected a resolution soon.

“I don’t think they have any conclusive proof that the car was taken on a joyride,” he added.

But if Mahoney didn’t drive the car another 194 miles, then who did? And who gets stuck with the repair bill?

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  • Steve

    @DeVon: “It doesn’t seem like she even looked at the odometer on her car.” Actually, if you read Brandi’s clarifications, she did indeed look at the odometer because she records her mileage since her employer reimburses her.

  • Troy Gorda

    Did anyone notice that the audit shows she parked at 11:30pm and left at 12:30am and she claims that they returned and went upstairs to change for dinner.

    A. Who goes to dinner at 12:30 am with a wedding rehearsal the next day?

    B. Lets say that our late night early morning dinner lasts for an hour and half, back at the hotel at 2:00am. Check out I’m assuming is 10:00 or 11:00am, even 12:00. She returns the car at 2 or 2:30am and someone then takes a 3 and 1/2 hour joy ride (194 miles is roughly 3 1/2 hours)? Its doable but VERY risky and the person doing it would have to be pretty darn sure that the owner wasn’t leaving in the morning.

    I don’t know what happened but the facts as reported don’t seem to quite add up. Brandi if you are reading this I’m not accussing you of being a liar, I’m wondering if their “audit”, times, and investigation had the correct information? I also wonder if the valet parking garage is actually owned by Embassy Suites or is a private garage contracted by the hotel.

  • Steve

    @Troy Gorda: the audit does confuse things, but I have a couple of comments. The first is that this “audit” doesn’t really tell us anything either way. Of course the employee is going to say the car was in the garage.

    Second, I wonder if instead of 12:30am they meant 12:30pm. Clearly, the car should have been in the garage for more than one hour, total. It sounds to me like 11:30pm might be the time they returned from dinner. If I’m interpreting the story correctly, the 194 miles was put on the car sometime after dinner.

    As for what to ask for, at a bare minimum I’d expect the valet charges to be refunded! I would probably also ask for my stay to be refunded as well. Having your car essentially stolen is so far beyond the line where unacceptable begins that IMHO it warrants big compensation. I would also want whoever did it to be fired/arrested, but you probably won’t have any luck getting either of those things to happen.

  • Steve

    Oh yeah…I forgot to add that assuming this was the garage connected to/recommended by the hotel (even if it’s technically operated by someone else), I would absolutely not let any question of responsibility dissuade me from going after the hotel for this.

  • Brandi

    Update: first to the comments above, the “Audit” is what they valet performs. They go into the garage and mark down if all the cars are there. It took them an hour that night to complete it from 11:30 pm to 12:30 am. So the valet stated when he checked, my car was in the garage. Which I think is weird if there was only one valet working that night how does he perform this check a block away??? Weird… Anyway, I Hope that clears a few things up.

    I thought I would clear a couple other things up.

    I arrived in Portland at 5pm. Valeted my car with my daughter. We checked in and went upstairs. I found out that I was driving to dinner. I went down and got my car at 7pm. This is when I found wires pulled loose. We went to dinner across the bridge and came back (20 miles total). This is when my dashboard read 20 miles past destination. I valeted again. When the valet went to take my car I asked if they could be careful because they pulled wires out last time. That is when he was rude. It was 9pm at this point. They asked if I would need my car again and I said no, I was done driving for the night (I know, big mistake).

    The next morning I around 11 am I asked for my car. They brought it around with another convertible that had been broken into (so I felt lucky at this point). I loaded my daughter in her carseat and settled in. I noticed the extra miles right away 194.5. They had taken it on 175 joyride (since 20 of that was to dinner and back). This may not seem like a nice car to some people, but it is to me and I had babied it for the month I had owned it. I was in shock that this had happened. Even more so that they wouldn’t let me fill out a report and instead took my info down. I called the Portland police (from the rehearsal dinner) and was told there was nothing that could be done). I tried multiple time to get a hold of someone at the hotel. That is when I contacted Christopher. Due to his involvement, they faxed me a report form.

    I hadn’t known there were no cameras. I wish there were so that the person who did this would get into trouble.

    Anyway, I am lucky. I took my car into the dealership this morning and they said I put the wires back correctly. There was no major damage. They said a couple things should be greased to get rid of the noise but it wasn’t necessary (it would be a few hundred so I’m not doing it) and I need a flush ($90). There’s no way to know what caused it even though they certified it a month ago and I am fine with that. Again, I feel lucky. I wrote the hotel manager stating they really should invest in cameras. Maybe that would deter employees from handing car keys over to other people. They said they will reimburse the valet parking fee of $28. I will update if they do anything else. Thanks everyone for your input.

  • Brandi

    One more update. Thank you Christopher Elliott for your assistance. As soon as you got involved, things started moving. In addition to not charging the $228 valet fee, they are sending me a $75 check for mileage reimbursement and a one night stay free. They are also going to look into their security. I hope this means cameras in their parking garage. Thanks for helping this issue get resolved.

  • FL Traveler

    No question in my mind someone used your car.

  • Sammy

    Here in Vegas about a month ago, a story broke about someone who parked her SUV at the airport Valet parking, came back and they couldn’t find her car. It was no where on the lot. A month later she gets a call from the police, they found her car. The valet didn’t check the ID and gave it to someone else who then proceeded to drive it for a month before being caught and stealing everything inside! And the valet is trying to weasel their way out of paying for their mistake.

  • Eric

    I have a simple way to prevent this from happening.

    I read about a similar story a few years back. I have a Mustang convertible, so I created a simple little form for recording the mileage at drop-off and pick-up. I make the valet sign-off on the mileage at drop-off and then I check the mileage at pick-up and sign off on the mileage when the car is returned to me. Once the mileage is confirmed and all looks good, the valet can keep the form.

    I’m amazed something like this isn’t S.O.P. at higher end hotels.

  • Seth

    This definitely does happen. It did to me. My best friend and I were staying at Treasure Island in Vegas. I had filled my car up right before checking into the hotel. When I did that, I reset the tripdometer (as i always do). We were sure I did it because we had made joke about it and both saw it reset.

    When we went to get the car the next day, it read over 100 miles! There wasn’t any damage … it was a weird feeling however. I couldn’t blame though. I had a little two seat convertible sportscar and it was a blast to drive!

  • http://www.singleparenttravel.net John Frenaye

    http://www.consumertraveler.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29759

    A post in the Consumer Traveler Forums about a GPS getting “confused” and requiring a reboot and a firmware update

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