Customer Service

So maybe there is hope for customer service in America after all... I finally won my battle with Holiday Inn... Yes they are sending me a refund-- Can I get a WAHOO??-- After a month long battle with them finally they have seen the light. I had booked rooms for Amandas graduation wayyyy back in October before I knew the exact date or who would be attending because even then they were selling out fast down in Blacksburg. On my confirmation email it clearly said that I had to cancel by April 16-- being the organized person I rarely am I made the call on April 11th once I knew that I had made a grave mistake in thinking graduation would be a daytime event or that anyone other than our immediate family would be as excited about that monumental day as I was. But somewhere in the conversation and the trying to adjust dates and room numbers the very polite young man seemed to forget to hit the ENTER button and never actually made a cancellation.... fast forward to Graduation ... we drove through rain, tornado's and truck traffic only to find out that Holiday Inn knew nothing of our cancellations... so the quandary do we run wildly through the hotel and mess up rooms we have no intention of setting foot in just to get our moneys worth or do we try desperately to work within the system???? I think if I had more down time I would have smeared lipstick on the mirror and spilled coffee on the bed just so I would feel better... but I didn't have time so I started calling 1-800 holiday inn, and sending off "I am a pissed off customer" emails every chance I got.
Long story short... I guess eventually I used the magic words (whatever they may be) and my check is in the mail--- did I mention that Holiday Inn has not outsourced their customer service to India?? nope they put me through good ole American hell from Colorado or somewhere out west.... Score one for the customer---