Hyderabad: A video of a valet driver of Hotel The Park, Somajiguda, damaging a Skoda Rapid car that its owner had given for parking, is making the rounds on social media.
The owner visited the hotel in June. The video shows how the driver hit the car against a wall, damaging the front portion. The owner has been asking the hotel to pay for the damage, but an ugly spat ensued and the hotel now accuses the car owner of theft.
CCTV footage from the hotel shows the car being damaged by a valet driver of The Park, Somajiguda hotel.
Receipt given by the hotel assuring the car owner to trust the loyalty of the hotel.
The car owner, who does not want to be identified, said in a post on a social platform: ‘On 13th June, the valet driver at The Park hotel crashed my car, Skoda Rapid with registration (no. TS01ED 3322) into a wall. I personally visited the site and saw the water radiator was leaking from the hood. Mr Sathyanarayana (Security Manager), confirmed it was the mistake of valet driver and hotel will take the responsibility. When I asked for a written consent letter or mail from the hotel regarding the same, he assured me that you can trust the loyalty of the hotel. The management gave me a valet ticket for my vehicle and gave me another vehicle (Honda City) as a replacement for my car.”
He further narrated, “Later, I was called to the hotel saying that there is a meeting with the finance manager but left unattended (sic). I met the duty manager, who was told a different story; the security manager has told him that I was demanding for a new car for the old one, which was false. In fact, I wanted my car to be repaired from an authorised Skoda service centre, & 2, I am not going to claim the insurance for the valet driver’s carelessness.”
He went on to say that after five days he had to call in a tow vehicle himself as his requests, emails and calls to reach the hotel management proved futile. He hasn’t filed a FIR at the police station. On July 13, he was told by the security manager that he could take legal action against the hotel if he wanted. The security manager also threatened that a case of theft would be filed against the car owner regarding the car that was given to him as a replacement for his damaged car.
This correspondent made several calls to the hotel management and the response was always “the general manager is not available.” The reception placed the call on hold for a long time and then disconnected the call. Calls made to several officials of the hotel went unattended.
