Self catering company refusing to refund after cancellation, please help

[George85]

This one's a bit long, but please bear with me. I am fuming and desperately need help with this!

 

I booked a self catering apartment for six people for the end of July, however after several of my party dropped out I decided to cancel the booking.

 

My boyfriend and I both sent emails to cancel the booking. We knew we would still be liable for 75% of the accommodation fee as per their (rather unreasonable) cancellation policy, as it was only two weeks until we were due to have arrived (unless they manage to re-let the apartment, in which case we would get the full balance back). Still, we thought getting 25% back was better than nothing. We still have email records of our cancellation emails. My boyfriends in particular was very clear and impossible to dispute, and as we'd both had had previous email correspondence with them using the same email addresses, we know they will have received the emails. However, both emails went unanswered. The woman we dealt with is incredibly difficult to get hold of and doesn't seem to like answering emails, so we weren't surprised by this.

 

We continually tried to get her on the phone, and after several days she phoned me back in response to a rather irate voicemail. I explained very clearly that I would like to cancel the booking. She gave me a vague offer of coming over with just my boyfriend and using the money I'd already paid against a one bedroom apartment, so I could get my 25% back and still have a bit of a holiday. I said I would think about it but that my boyfriend had now made other plans and I was unlikely to find someone else to go with. I said that ideally I wanted to re-let and get my money back. She said she would do her best to re-let the place. This conversation took place entirely by phone and there is no written record of this offer or my response to it.

 

After several days (and several unanswered phone calls) I finally got an email with five days to go saying that they hadn't found anyone to replace us, but that they were still trying. By Friday - the day before we would've arrived - I had still heard no definitive final answer. So I phoned her on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to find out if they'd re-let it, all to no avail. Finally on Monday morning I emailed her saying I could only assume they hadn't found anyone to replace us and please could we just have our 25% back.

 

Yesterday she replied, saying that as she had not been able to re-let the apartment she had expected my arrival on Saturday, and that "cancelling 2 days after expected arrival time is considered a no-show and therefore you are liable for 100% of costs", so I wouldn't get my 25% back.

 

She continued: "I offered you a one bedroom apartment as a replacement but you rejected this idea. You did however say that you would still come if we could not find a replacement, which we could not."

 

Firstly, both of those statements are false, and she knows it. Secondly, I should not be the one to have to chase her to find out whether they had successfully re-let it or not. I am not a mind reader. If they couldn't re-let and knew that it was too late to do so they should have contacted me saying 'this is the situation, what would you like to do?' and certainly should not have ignored my phone calls for three days and then claimed that it was ME being unreliable. Either way, the conversation to which she refers as evidence took place by phone, there is no written record of it. There is however a very clear written record of my boyfriend and I emailing to cancel two weeks ago.

 

If anyone can refer me to any legal points which I may be able to send her way I would greatly appreciate it. I would also like to report them to a tourist board as their conduct has been entirely unprofessional and incompetent right from the beginning.

 

Thank you in advance

 

G

[raydetinu]

The problem you have is that you did not confirm you were not going to take advantage of the offer of the one bed apartment and you still wanted to cancel the booking.

You can take them to court and let a judge decide!

[George85]

The problem you have is that you did not confirm you were not going to take advantage of the offer of the one bed apartment and you still wanted to cancel the booking.

You can take them to court and let a judge decide!

 

The only reason I even considered the one bedroom is because it would mean I'd still get my 25% back. The cancellation of the six bed was always definite. A no-show for the one bedroom would mean she still owes me that 25%. She is now making out that I, for some reason, wanted to come over with one other person to stay in a six bed apartment and let her keep £400 of my money. She is literally making things up in a bid to keep my money. Business must be very slow!

 

Regardless, I could only have gone if I'd known for certain that they hadn't been able to re-let the place, as I always said that was what I wanted first and foremost. Not only did they not inform me of this one way or the other, they ignored my efforts to contact them for a full five days. And by doing so they ensured that it would have been a no-show even if their fantasy version of events were accurate. And then they try and sting me for it. I will take them to court if I have to, they are either too unscrupulous or to stupid to be running a business.

[assisted blonde]

well if you nhave written evidence of cacelling take her to court but if you dont and it is a case of she said i said by phone i wouldnt bother.