Have been let down with Accommodation - Do I have a right to Compensation

bigtired24

Dear All,

I am hopping mad - I booked a private rental 2 bedroomed apartment in Tenerife over Xmas/New Year. I booked my flights and paid £100 deposit for the accommodation on 31st August with the balance being paid 20th November.

I have now been let down - I had an e-mail on 3rd November from the owner/agent saying

"Hello Justin, I have taken over the 14 x new apartment now and have found that the apartment you were assigned is not a 2 bedroom but a 1 bedroom. The floor are is big as I was told the % ratio and it was deemed a 2 bed, but in fact a 1 bed. The living room will have a sofa bed and "Z" mattress sofa bed. IS this OK for the children? (I can't get another 2 bed). The rate for the 1 bed is £350 / week x 2 wk = £700, so if this is acceptable then the balance due is £600 and not £700.

If this is not acceptable then I will refund your deposit paid. If acceptable then you will receive apartment keys, etc later this month and balance will be due. The apartment No. is A408 on fourth floor and great views to Puerto Colon, etc. Please let me know soonest so we can move forward.

I apologise for this change but outwith my control and now several other bookings for this expected 2 bed, now 1 bed are affected also."

I replied the same day saying

"This is a completely unacceptable state of affairs. Can you source me a two bedroomed apartment elsewhere? I expect you to put this right for me even if you have to source this accommodation from another lettings agent and at no extra cost to myself.
Can you please come up with some options. The accommodation you currently offer is not acceptable. Equally refunding my deposit and in effect walking away may suit you but not me. For the avoidance of any doubt litigation will follow if you do not put this right.

I am more than happy to chat about this regarding options for alternative accommodation and am willing to be flexible. My telephone number is...."

Suffice it to say I did not get an e-mail or a telephone call. I was also panicking because accommodation was now scarce in Tenerife and I had booked non-refundable flights of circa £2000. I spent the rest of that week (hours) surfing the internet and calling agents and finally secured accommodation on 7th November in another resort for £1000, some £200 more than the accommodation I had booked and had now been let down.

I demanded my £100 deposit and the additional £200 I had incurred due to the owner/agents incompetence. I have had the deposit back but have been told in effect to 'whistle' for the £200!

I have kept all the correspondence and have even copied his internet pages because he still has the accommodation advertised as a 2 bedroomed apartment.

Do I have any grounds for compensation? I want my additional £200 plus some damages because we have had to sacrifice our chosen resort and I had to spend a lot of time resolving the accommodation issue including taking a day and a half off work because I couldn't do the research and ring Spain from work. I guess I want something for the aggravation!

Any advice gratefully appreciated.

Thanks

Justin

spiro

Suggest you try your travel insurance.

Leigh-Anne_60

spiro wrote: »

Suggest you try your travel insurance.

Can you point me in the direction of any travel policy that will cover these events?? I dont think so?

hollydays

did they send you a contract?
#How did you find them?#
I think a little charm would have worked better first

BernadetteN

You probably aren't going to like my response, but just from reading the quotations from the agent's email and your email, I'd say that the agent has been most polite and comes across as trying to make better a bad situation and is being reasonable in offering you a full refund, however you come across as needing to use a bit more tact and I would have been quite put out to receive your response worded in such a manner, to the point that I'd find it difficult to reply politely to. I think you should concentrate on having a good holiday and not on trying to win some money for your inconvenience. Sorry but I hate compensation culture. I could have sympathised with you at first - we ourselves turned up in Marbella last year ot find our hotel closed and XL rep knowing nothing and we were told by the caretaker to find another hotel around the corner where we stayed instead which which in the end turned out fine and we didn't complain about as it was similar standard to the closed hotel and we just wanted to enjoy the holiday instead of dwell on what could have been - but your repsonse has rather colouredmy opinions. Why don't you send a more conciliatory email and try again to ask for any possibility of a little "extra" for the incovenience of having to book new accommodation?

TomsMom

I have to agree with Bernadette.

It sounds as though the new agent has just taken on these apartments and discovered an error brought about by the previous agent. He seems to be trying his best to sort things out for you regarding this apartment and has said he can't get a 2 bedroomed one. He's apologised and explained it's outside of his control.

Yet you go in with all guns blazing demanding action. You didn't even ask politely for his help.

Can you source me a two bedroomed apartment elsewhere? I expect you to put this right for me even if you have to source this accommodation from another lettings agent and at no extra cost to myself.

That would have come across much nicer if you'd said "Would it be possible for you to source me a two bedroomed apartment elsewhere please? I have booked non-refundable flights costing £2,000 and you can appreciate I don't want to lose this money."

Equally refunding my deposit and in effect walking away may suit you but not me. For the avoidance of any doubt litigation will follow if you do not put this right.

Very confrontational. No wonder you didn't get a reply or a phone call.

I am more than happy to chat about this regarding options for alternative accommodation

You don't sound it.

I think you've put this agent's back up Justin, I would consider e-mailing again apologising for the tone of your e-mail which was sent in haste without thinking things through and now realise that the mix-up wasn't his fault, then ask if there's any way he can help.

bigtired24

It's a fair point except...

I initiated contact with him because I had mislaid the paperwork and wondered when I needed to pay the balance. It was only then that he came clean with his error.

His only solution was for us to all sleep in one room on put you ups or he would refund my deposit. No offer to put things right.

I quite rightly in my opinion made him know my feelings on the matter and offered flexibility and that he should ring me to discuss.

He simply ignored this and all I got was radio silence.

In the meantime I could not hang around waiting for him given I had bought the flights and my alternative accommodation options were rapidly diminishing. Remember this is November and my holiday is 20th Dec thru 3rd Jan.

Can't you see that he left me high and dry and therefore 'pretty pleases' were not the order of the day? I don't really care why he made a mistake - I should not be a party to his problem or a victim because of it surely?

hollydays

you haven't said how you found the site

bigtired24

search engine - nothing more complicated - I was looking for a specific location

poet123

Imo the tone of your email would have been more suited to a second email,one sent after the agent had either refused to answer, or answered brusquely, a politely worded first contact email. The old adage "softly softly catchee monkey" is true. I have taken several different firms to court,but only after all reasonable, and polite, avenues have been explored.

TomsMom

bigtired24 wrote: »

Can't you see that he left me high and dry and therefore 'pretty pleases' were not the order of the day? I don't really care why he made a mistake - I should not be a party to his problem or a victim because of it surely?

I wouldn't call it pretty pleases, rather politely responding to his explanation of the problem and asking for help in a difficult situation. Then if he was disinterested/couldn't care less/offhand/rude by all means give as good as you get. But was it this guy who made the mistake? From your first post he has written

I have taken over the 14 x new apartment now and have found that the apartment you were assigned is not a 2 bedroom but a 1 bedroom. The floor are is big as I was told the % ratio and it was deemed a 2 bed, but in fact a 1 bed.

That sounds to me like this wasn't the guy who you booked with originally, he didn't assign the apartment to you, more like he is someone who has recently taken on the apartment and taken over all bookings previously made by someone else. Therefore he didn't actually make a mistake but was pointing our the previous agent's mistake to you so your annoyance seems to be directed towards the wrong person.