Some visitors really know how to live it up in Vegas. While most tourists come to the desert and go drinking, gambling, maybe take in a show before getting a little raunchy and visiting the strip clubs. Then there are those travelers who really know how to do up Vegas: like blacking out drunk and allegedly spending $29k at a strip club.The LV Sun reports:
A conventioneer from Massachusetts is challenging a $29,512 bill for a night of entertainment and drinks at [Club Paradise strip club] . . . James Hackett of Andover, Mass., filed a lawsuit [James Hackett v. C P Food & Beverage, Inc. (A-09-595953-C)] Friday in Las Vegas against the owner of the Club Paradise Gentlemen's Club and American Express Co., disputing the amount that was billed to his American Express card last Oct. 12.
According to the Complaint, Mr. Hackett checked into Hilton and went drinking in the hotel bar (he apparently likes vodka martinis). (LV Sun). What happened next:
While watching the [Red Sox] game, someone handed him his wallet and said Hackett had dropped it, Hackett's suit says. Nothing was missing from the wallet, but Hackett noticed his driver's license and American Express card had been switched from their usual positions . . . [Mr. Hackett then] left for the hotel lobby and apparently blacked out there and can't remember anything else that may have happened that night.
He called his wife the next morning and told her about the dropped wallet incident and had her check with his credit card companies to ensure there were no unauthorized charges, the lawsuit says.
No problems with his credit cards were immediately detected. But after returningNice! Way to cover with the wife. He "lost" his wallet, "doesn't remember" visiting a strip club and doesn't know why services with six strippers would have been purchased. Either this guy really knows how to party or people should be wary of using a credit card at Club Paradise.
to Massachusetts, Hackett said he learned of a series of charges to his American
Express card by Club Paradise between 2:55 a.m. and 8:54 a.m. on Oct. 12.
These totaled $29,512 -- about $4,000 for a bar tab and more than
$25,000 for "unexplained services" involving six entertainers at the club . . . Hackett said in his lawsuit he has no recollection of visiting Club Paradise . . .
So how did Club Paradise respond? According to the Complaint "after he challenged the charges, Club Paradise provided him with documents purportedly signed by Hackett in connection with the charges."
What do you think readers? I want to believe in Club Paradise. Not because I'm rooting for the bilking of a tourist (that's pretty much guaranteed everywhere in this town), but because that would mean Mr. Hackett is the man to party with in Vegas and is desperately trying to keep that fact from his wife. [Thanks to CB for the tip]
This sounds way too much like Gov. Mark Sanford's trip to Argentina - "Honey, I went on a hiking trip, can you check the news to see if someone falsely claimed I was in Argentina visiting my mistress?".
ReplyDeleteDo I suspect that Club Paradise made charges to the guy's AMEX that he didn't make? Yes.
Do I believe that every one of those charges was made up and that the guy didn't visit Club Paradise? No.
There have been recent stories on a Las Vegas Weekly blog detailing strip clubs adding thousands of dollars in charges to someone's credit card by having them sign multiple charge slips for the same amount telling them 'sorry, we messed up the first one' - and someone that's drunk and about to pass out (if the guy actually was this way) would probably do it no problem.
Was there a tiger and a rooster in his hotel room when he woke up? If so, I know what happened.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I believe the tourist in this story 100%, but Strip-clubs and casinos in this town are really shady. It took me six months to reverse a $250 charge that some pool cocktail waitress at the Hard Rock forged in my name. When I finally went down there and had their accounting department pull up my legitimate $80 tab, and compare the signature with the separate contested receipt, they had no choice but to admit their "mistake."
ReplyDeleteSpearmint Rhino did the same exact thing to me, too.
Suffice it to say, I pay for almost everything with cash nowadays...not worth the headache.
always pay with cash in Vegas
ReplyDeleteWe need more pictures like the one in this post.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised he didn't allege someone slipped him a roofie. As other posts have alluded, this guy should have recouped his loss like the guys in Hangover. All it takes is a heater at the blackjack table.
It could have been worse for this guy. He could have been shaken down by the club's bouncers for an exhorbitant amount of money, then refuse to pay it and end up in a ditch with a broken neck. Oh wait, that only happens at the Crazy Horse Too...
ReplyDeleteI won't go back to that club. Two girls tried to rip my friend and I off by tricking us into the VIP lounge where they make you buy a $250 bottle of whatever.
ReplyDeleteThat club sucks.
Club Paradise has ugly girls. Just go to the Rhino--best T & A in town.
ReplyDelete5:28 PM: you were wise - no matter what a stripper tells you, there's no sex in the Champagne Room.
ReplyDeleteThe criminal defense attorneys know that there is sex in the champagne room. :)
ReplyDeleteFor the right price, those sluts will bang you in the parking lot on the hood of a limo.
ReplyDeleteAnon@ 7:05
ReplyDeleteDo you have to have a limo? What if you can't afford a limo? Is the price the same if it's on the hood of a taxi?
Inquiring (and student-loan burdened) minds want to know...
Just cause she dances go go, don't make her a ho no! In which strip clubs do the dancers fuck anyways?
ReplyDeleteThis is my first time in Vegas and I was celebrating turning 50 last night. My friend wanted to go to a gentlemen's club so they took my to your establishment. We paid the cover sat down and some ladies came over. One asked me if I would like a VIP Dance since it's my birthday. I said sure. She said it would be $1,000 per girl. I offered her $500 and we agreed on $600. From that moment on my birthday turned into a Perfect Hell. The girls kept telling me they needed a couple more dollars for a tip. Then they told me I needed to buy a $300 bottle of wine. They kept coming over and taking my credit cards, bring me shots, and having me sign all sorts of papers. Not even sure what they were or said. Then another girl comes over and asks the girl giving me a lap dance if she could join. She said sure. Then another girl came over and did the same. Before knew it they ringing up all kinds of changes on my assorted credit cards. By the end of the night they must have depleted every one of my cards because they were pissed that they couldn't get anymore money out of me and pretty much told me I better find a way to pay the. Going over all my credit card statements this morning I realized that they took over $7,000 from me. Not only my credit cards but also my Visa Check card which is tied to my checking account. I have called every credit and plan on disputing every transaction except the original $600 and cover fee, I think that's only fair to the first girl. You only hear about things like this happening to all kinds of people but you never really think it is going to happen to you. I am going to try to contact management as soon as they come in and explain my story in hopes that I can get some of my money back, but I'm skeptical. Especially after I read some very discouraging articles on this club being shut down this year for fraudulent activity. If they will not do the right thing I plan on taking this matter as high as I can within reason.
ReplyDeleteAfter speaking with the manager today they are hiding behind the pieces of paper they made me sign while I was very VERY intoxicated. Basically there is nothing he said they can do. So in conclusion I paid $7,950 for 2 hours worth of entertainment.
BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE!!!!!!
This is my first time in Vegas and I was celebrating turning 50 last night. My friend wanted to go to a gentlemen's club so they took my to your establishment. We paid the cover sat down and some ladies came over. One asked me if I would like a VIP Dance since it's my birthday. I said sure. She said it would be $1,000 per girl. I offered her $500 and we agreed on $600. From that moment on my birthday turned into a Perfect Hell. The girls kept telling me they needed a couple more dollars for a tip. Then they told me I needed to buy a $300 bottle of wine. They kept coming over and taking my credit cards, bring me shots, and having me sign all sorts of papers. Not even sure what they were or said. Then another girl comes over and asks the girl giving me a lap dance if she could join. She said sure. Then another girl came over and did the same. Before knew it they ringing up all kinds of changes on my assorted credit cards. By the end of the night they must have depleted every one of my cards because they were pissed that they couldn't get anymore money out of me and pretty much told me I better find a way to pay the. Going over all my credit card statements this morning I realized that they took over $7,000 from me. Not only my credit cards but also my Visa Check card which is tied to my checking account. I have called every credit and plan on disputing every transaction except the original $600 and cover fee, I think that's only fair to the first girl. You only hear about things like this happening to all kinds of people but you never really think it is going to happen to you. I am going to try to contact management as soon as they come in and explain my story in hopes that I can get some of my money back, but I'm skeptical. Especially after I read some very discouraging articles on this club being shut down this year for fraudulent activity. If they will not do the right thing I plan on taking this matter as high as I can within reason.
ReplyDeleteAfter speaking with the manager today they are hiding behind the pieces of paper they made me sign while I was very VERY intoxicated. Basically there is nothing he said they can do. So in conclusion I paid $7,950 for 2 hours worth of entertainment.
BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE!!!!!!