Festiva Travel Festiva Hospitality Group Fraudulent Late Charges and Interest on Unknown Special Assessment Asheville, North Carolina

Festiva added late charges and interest to a payment for a Special Assessment (SA). The first I knew of the SA or payment schedule was an overdue notice received on December 13, 2010.

Upon contacting Festiva, I was informed that the notice of SA and payment due were mailed and, since the notices had not been returned as undeliverable, the late charge and interest would not be removed. When I pointed out that I had not received either the SA notice or the payment due notice, they stated that heir policy is not to remove the charges.

Upon escalating to a supervisor, Scott, I was told that the charges would not be removed and that the issue would not be escalated further.

Festiva has not been able to provide proof that I received the notices prior to the late notice, but still won't refund the late charges and interest. I say refund because the notice I did receive said that the account would be turned over to collections and incur additional charges if not paid by December 15, 2010, so I paid the balance to prevent incurring further charges.

My contract with Festiva says that notices have to be delivered in person or by registered or certified mail to be considered delivered. Festiva did not deliver using these means. While the USPS is pretty good, they are not perfect. The USPS even states that they do not guarantee delivery on anything except register, certified, or Priority mail.

While the dollar amount is relatively trivial in the grand scheme of things, the principle is not trivial. Festiva has blotted my perfect payment record and damaged my reputation. I fully intend to pursue this issue until the fraudulent charges are refunded and letters sent to the three major credit reporting agencies stating that Festiva errored in assessing these charges.