Cloverdale Inn, Cloverdale

We were traveling home to OH from MO and couldn't go another mile. We weren't looking for luxury.. just a clean place & sleep. We stopped at the gas station at the Cloverdale exit. I called Choice Hotels to find out the closest one they had. It was the Econolodge across the street. From there, it looked fairly new. Drove across the street & reality hit. O.K., all we need is basic, so we'll give it a try. Went inside & told the girl who we were. Did we want to use the card on file? No. Needless to say... why I do not know... my husband wanted to pay $40 in cash & charge the rest. At that point, she should have told us it was too late, but took the $40. I asked her why it wasn't on the receipt that I had given her the cash. She said, don't worry it will balance on check-out. I told her, "OK but I'm writing it on here now - & did. We got to the room & could barely close the door. The dead bolt wouldn't work with the door closed all the way, so we had light peaking in aruond the door. We had 2 grandkids & needed 4 towels & only had 3. We survived. It had one of the worse "continental" breakfasts I have ever seen! Got out the laptops & I pulled up my account. The original fee of $50.30 (senior discount) AND an additional $40 charge. What??? I went down to the office & she said she had only charged me $10.39. She called someone & then explained to me that when she pressed the computer to tell it we were there, it automatically put the full amount on our card. THEN when she entered the $10.39 in, it thought it was short $40 & added the additional amount.... don't worry, it will come off tomorrow morning. NOT Next day, I was informed it was "my" bank's fault and it would take a couple of days to come off. So, sorry but you should use a credit card instead of a debit. This has happened before. O.K., if it has... then why not train your staff so it doesn't again?? I called Choice Hotels & got the "The clerk explained what happened and we try to give the hotels an opportunity to make things right before we step in... & they are doing what they can."Here is a case # & call us if it doesn't work out. "What??? They had a $50.39 and a $40 hold on my account AND $40 in cash! That totals over $130 of our money that was wrapped up into this dump of a hotel... and we were LIMPING home with $16 in our pocket and now, no money in the bank!! I transferred $ from our home equity account, but that takes time... and the instant we got home, my husband made a trip to the Credit Unioin. FIVE DAYS later: $50.39 just came off this a.m. with a replacement $10.39 charge. BUT the $40 is still pending and has not come off my account. This is a vacation account w/limited money in it. Had we not been overchaged, we would have limped home with $43 in the bank... instead, had an overdraft fee at the bank for $25. Fortunately, the bank understood & took it off. DO NOT go to this hotel, do not pass go, and keep on driving!