I apologize if this is not the proper place to post this question. I just joined this forum, and I am not a part of any other message board, so I hope it's ok if I post this here. I'm wondering if someone can give me their advice.
About a month ago, fiance and I booked a couples massage at a local spa. On the day of our appointment, we were both feeling sick, and fiance actually had a fever. I probably could have gone and sucked it up, but fiance was in no shape to go anywhere.
I called the spa 6 hours before our appointment to cancel. The receptionist was extremely rude, saying I needed to cancel 24 hours in advance. (24 hours ago was Christmas day, and I couldn't predict illness).
Anyway, I told her we were both ill, apologized and asked to re-schedule. However, she said that I couldn't cancel and that my credit card would be charged the full amount of the session. I said ok, and hung up.
I'm a sneaky one though, and I used an expired credit card to hold the appointment. I always do this, as I don't want them to charge anything before the actual appointment. So clearly since the card was expired to begin with, the charge from the spa didn't go through.
Anyway, fast forward to today where I received a nasty voicemail from the owner of the spa saying because the charge was declined she is having a collections agency come after me for the $180. She does not have my address, or my home phone number, just my cell phone which cannot be traced to an address.
What would you do? Call back and say I'm not paying and to leave me alone? Pay the amount? Or ignore the message. I have never been there before, so they have none of my information on file.
I know it was kind of sketchy cancelling last minute, but I called as soon as I woke up. Plus, the way I see it, the spa should be much more sensitive to H1N1 issues. They should not punish people for staying home when they are ill, nor should they promote people with fevers coming into their spa and potentially infecting their staff and other clients.
Sorry for the novel. I hope someone can help.