My family and I enjoyed a lovely winter vacation in Ruidoso by staying in one of the town's many cabins. In fact, we enjoyed it so much, we wanted to stay an additional night in one of our favorite mountain towns. Unfortunately, our cabin was already rented, so we booked a room (in person) at the Motel 6, several days prior to the date we would actually be needing it. When I went inside the lobby to make the reservation, there were about 5 people ahead of me, 3 of which did not have a reservation for that evening and they had room availability and were given rooms. At the time of booking, the young lady at the counter gave me a printout of the confirmation of my room reservation. At the bottom of the printed confirmation, printed from Motel 6's own printer, listed the cancellation policy. It states that if you have a change in circumstances, to please call by 6:00 p.m. on the day of the reservation in order to avoid charges.

Unfortunately, my husband and infant ended up getting really sick for the remainder of our stay and we had to cut our trip short. So, I called the number listed on the printout that the employee gave me and told them I was going to have to cancel. This was at 1:00 p.m. And the paper stated to call before 6:00 p.m.

When the phone was picked up an older gentleman picked up and when I explained the situation, he stated he was going to have to charge me for the night. When I questioned him about the policy that was printed on the confirmation sheet and given to me by their own staff, he denied such a paper existed and stated that there was a 24-hour cancellation policy. I asked if I could come by there on our way out of town and show him the print out in order to avoid charges due to my circumstances and the verbiage on their own forms. I am an honest, law abiding person and if it were past 6:00 p.m., or if it stated there was a 24 hour cancellation policy, I would gladly have accepted the charges and paid in full.

When I asked him if I could show it to him, the man hung up on me. On our way out of town, we stopped by the Motel 6. When I entered the lobby, there was an older man and woman working the counter. The man was assisting another customer, so the lady asked if she could help me. When I started explaining the situation to her and showed her the confirmation print out I had, the old geezer told me that it was him that I had spoken to, grabbed the paper, and tried once again to tell me I was wrong. When he couldn't find the "notice for 24 hour cancellation" and read what I had been telling them all along, they finally agreed to not charge me for the night. However, at this point, they told me that since it was the holiday week, they were doing me a favor since they had been booked the whole week. I told them I had been in several days before and watched them give away rooms, so that argument didn't hold true. They told me though that for future reference, that there was a 24 hour cancellation, to which I suggested they should change the wording on the confirmation sheets they give out to potential guests. The lady got in on it at this point and tried to tell me as well that the confirmation and policy were something not listed on the paper I had received when previously booking.

As I said, I don't mind paying for something if I do not meet the terms of an agreement. To be hung up on, to have to come in and prove the document that I had, and then be told again that I was wrong when I had the sheet sitting in front of them was an awful experience.

I love Ruidoso, but I can think of a multitude of other places that you should give your business to and you will have a much more pleasant experience. These people are rude and have no idea what the verbiage on their own policies say.

The rude behavior he exhibited to me on the phone, and the rude behavior he exhibited to me