LONG STORY INCOMING, you were warned. :P
Four years ago someone bought him a Gift Certificate. He immediately lost it which usually means he's shit out of luck, but we cut him some slack so long as he could prove the people who got it for him actually bought one, which he did.
So he makes the reservation, in our most popular room, two nights, on our busiest weekend of the year.
The night of, he calls, says he can't make it, says his wife is in the E.R.
Typically we say 'tough shit' (we have a 72 hour cancellation policy) but we aren't heartless, so we let him off and ate the two nights.
Next year he calls back, says he wants to use the certificate, books two nights, most popular room, busiest weekend of the year.
He calls the night of, says his wife is in the ER, can't make it. Again, we feel bad so we let him off.
NEXT YEAR. He calls, says he wants to use the certificate, two nights, most popular room, busiest weekend of the year. THE SON OF A BITCH CALLS THE NIGHT OF, SAYS HIS WIFE IS IN THE ER, HE CAN'T MAKE IT!!!!
Being way more understanding then we should, we let him off but make it very clear that THERE WILL BE NO MORE LAST MINUTE CANCELLATIONS. We don't care if his house is on fire, if he cancels, he lost the certificate.
"No problem." he says, "I'll just go ahead and cash it in the for the amount. You can send me a check."
No, sorry, we don't do that.
"But you have too."
No, no I'm afraid we don't.
We argued, and eventually fought for the better part of an hour before he said he was contacting his lawyer and we would be hearing from him.
Well two years later (man I guess this has been going on for more than four years) he emails us, tells us he has this gift certificate, and he would like to use it on our most popular room for the busiest weekend. Now he's either senile or thinks we are and won't remember him.
We gave him our toll free number, told him to call us, we can talk it over.
That was last week. We haven't heard back from him.