‘It ruined my experience’: A woman alleges she was charged over $1,000 for a massage at Sandals Resort (updated) - The Daily Dot

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A woman says she is using TikTok as a last resort after she was “scammed” by a Sandals resort and had to pay way more for a couple’s massage than she had anticipated.

Alex Robinson (@alexx_robinson) says that when she stayed at a Sandals resort with her husband, they booked a couples massage for $340. During their stay, they only had one massage. Robinson then shows a screenshot of the banking statement attached to her husband’s card, showing they had been charged for the massage twice. Another $680 was reportedly charged to Robinson’s card as that was the card on file — “Now we’re paying for four couples massages, enough for eight people,” she says.

Robison says the charges couldn’t be reversed at the resort. The employees reportedly suggested they call customer service.

According to Robinson, she’s been disputing the charges for five months. She claims she tried to work it out with her credit card company but “Sandals lied and said the charges were for the cost of the stay” and not the over-charge for the massages.

@alexx_robinson How my @Sandals Resorts vacation ended in thousands of dollars of unauthorized charges #lawyertiktok #sandalsresorts #fraudulent ♬ original sound – Alex Robinson

Since being posted on May 11, the video received over 363,000 views and over 27,000 likes. The comments section rallied behind Robinson, with many people saying they canceled their stay at the resort and others urging Sandals to refund the creator.

“Thank you for posting because I was going to book with @Sandals Resorts. Not anymore,” one comment said. The creator responded, saying, “It ruined my whole experience bc all that time I spent relaxing is being reversed with all this damn stress.”

Another person said, “I was going to go next month, I just cancelled my booking. We are a party of 8, so we are all changing hotels.”

The Daily Dot reached out to the creator for comment via TikTok comment and Sandals resort via their media contact.

Update 11:22pm CT, May 15: In a statement to the Daily Dot, a spokesperson from Sandals Resort said the following:

“Thank you for the opportunity to respond and correct the story Mrs. Robinson shared via TikTok, as she had already received a refund at the time of her posting. Customer service is the foundation of our resort experience, and we will always act in the best interest of our guests.
Following please find a timeline of the events:

• Mrs. Robinson and her partner, Mr. Lee stayed at Sandals Montego Bay in December 2021. While already on resort, instead of contacting the spa, Mr. Lee booked two couples massage treatments through our online portal on his credit card, totaling $680 ($340 per treatment).
• On December 28, the couple enjoyed the treatment however due to a system issue, the online charge was not recognized at the spa and an additional $680 charge was placed on Mrs. Robinson’s credit card, which was the card held on the room for incidentals.
• When the couple realized they had been charged twice upon returning home, Mr. Lee contacted us on January 18, 2022 and we immediately began the process to refund $680 on his card, which was completed on February 1.
• On March 11, although the couple had already received a refund on Mr. Lee’s card, Mrs. Robinson filed a dispute with her credit card; the credit card company ruled in favor of Sandals Resorts on March 28.
• On May 2, Mr. Lee contacted us again to inform us that he intended for the massage to be a gift for his partner and wanted to pay for it himself and asked us to issue the credit on Mrs. Robinson’s card instead. We were happy to make this change on his behalf, which was completed on May 4.
• Upon reviewing the case further, we noticed the couple only used one of the two booked massages and never cancelled the second booking. Although spa treatments are only eligible for refund if cancelled before 24 hours of the service, we extended an additional refund of $340 for the inconvenience of the duplicate charge, as well as 5000 Sandals Select points.

We were surprised to see this addressed on social media as we already corrected the issue, but are confident the charges have been resolved, despite her post.”

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*First Published: May 14, 2022, 2:12 pm CDT

Moises Mendez II


Moises Mendez II is a recent graduate from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. He is a freelance journalist based in New York City writing about everything from music to LGBTQ issues.