xcapewithus

yvonneem_2

pintofmilk wrote: »

yvonneem, On your voucher there will be a reference number saying something like "booked and payable by XXXXX" - XXXX is the company it was originally booked with but becasue Xcape didn't pay them they don't pay the hotel and your booking is cancelled.

I am afraid the only option you had was to persuade the hotel management to give you the room at the same rate as you bought it from Xcape. Trouble is your voucher wouldn't have stated that figure, only your invoice would have and you probably didnt have that with you.

I understand that that is what happens but it was a little strange that I was told office was closed for 4 days and yet they managed to fax hotel that morning. Perhaps I'm not making myself clear.

Anyway, manager of hotel doubled the price of my stay so I said I'd go try somewhere else. He then changed his mind and charged me what I had already paid so all ended ok I suppose. Just lost the original payment.

Thanks for your reply

Cheshire_Sam

Andrew Grant Austin Miles - Owner of Xcape with Us Ltd - co registration number 4515752
These are his home addresses as recorded on Companies House.
Camino Viejo, De Bunyola, Edif Rotonda Asima, 15, Palma de Mallorca 07009
or
C Costa Y Llobera 11-6 17181, Palma Nova, Calvia, Mallorca

His Accountants are A C Photi & Co, East House, 109 South Worple Way, London, SW14 8TN

GOOD LUCK

tinmachine

hi, i am in palma nova next week and my daughters were ripped off last week by xcapewithus so i will be checking the address out. thanks for the information. i will also be writing to his accountants.

ammer111

Someone definately needs to pay Mr Miles a visit. I found some documents stating 2 charges against a "mortgage" against the business last July. Do you think we've all paid for the Irish conman to live in a luxery house?
I got same reply as dizzyliz (same hotel provider)...I had paid £1000 going in a week's time, paid on debit maestro, have put a charge back request in to HSBC and waiting for response. Anyone who paid by credit card or visa debit can by law request a charge back from their bank...you will get your money back. Anyone like me, who paid by Maestro via the net needs to go into the bank with as much paperwork as possible and quote the Mastercard rules: you are making a claim under Appendix B, section 2: "charge back for maestro debit card for e-commerce transactions where the goods/services were not received. You need to talk to someone as high up as possible as normal staff haven't got a clue regarding charge back. Even at the highest level Natwest and HSBC will probably refuse. In this case you ask them for a "final decision letter" and then pursue a claim to the financial ombudsman (who view credit/debit cards the same). I have several weeks of investigation behind me as had our other summer holiday booked with Freedom Direct (who ceased trading the week before xcapewithus!) I'm obviously jinxed!

tinmachine

Thanks for the information, i also paid with maestro and went into the bank early this week, where i was told i am not entitled to any compensation. I will be going back next week with all the necessary documents and will let you know how i go on. In future i will be paying by credit card to be on the safe side. Thanks again.

redtriumph955i

Hello every one , this is my first time using this site so lets see how it goes

i wonder if anyone out there can help me with a problem i have with regard to claiming back my money from "xcapewithus" now that they have ceased trading.

I booked holiday accommodation with "xcapewithus" for £298 in Portugal, Xcapewithus sent me an e-mail to say that the booking had been confirmed. On 01st May 2009 i received another e-mail from Xcapewithus to say that they had ceased trading and that my holiday accommodation had now not been honoured.

I contacted my travel insurance company, Direct Line, to ask if i was covered under their policy to claim back a full refund, but unfortunately i was not and therefore could not make a claim through them.

I paid for the holiday accommodation with my Halifax Visa Debit card, so i contacted the Halifax Bank to ask if i could claim a full refund through them, as i always thought if by paying via a Visa Debit i would be covered if anything like this happened !!, But Halifax told me that i was not covered and therefore could not make a claim from them ??

I have also contacted Xcapewithus to ask if i could claim back my money from them but they tell me it is very unlikely.

I know £298 might not sound much to some people, and write it off as a bad mistake, but its a lot of money to me and also i don't think any company should be allowed to take your money in this way.

Is it possible for you to give me some advice on how i can try and reclaim my money back ??

Do you know of any one who i can contact to help me with my claim ?

Any help you could give me on this matter would be great.

Thanks a lot for your time

cheers Steve.

Incapuppy

More info here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1659793&highlight=xcape

pintofmilk

A comment has just been added to the sletoh Xcapewithus blog post that I believe is from an ex-employee of the company.

Andrew Miles apparently set up Zero Hotels Ltd in November 2008 to run alongside Xcapewithus. Company has same registered office in the UK as Xcape - the office of accountancy firm A C Photi Ltd. Looks like zero hotels might be the next rip off company to come from Andrew Miles. Avoid at all costs.

If you have any information on failed travel companies and their directors, please post here / send to me via sletoh dot com contact page. I am gathering information on Xcape, Reserveahotelonline, Freedom, Winter Sunshine Travel and any others that you have info on. I believe it's essential that consumers know who is behind a company before paying money to them. The travel industry is too easy a target for crooked directors who have no intention of honouring bookings. It seems to easy for accountants / administrators to wind these businesses up and leave consumers short changed whilst the directors enjoy their ill-gotten gains.

redtriumph955i

rio_67 wrote: »

i just found this forum. i had 2 hotels booked with xcape with us .1st i had paid in full , 2nd the balance was due off on 3rd may(how lucky) i paid with visa debit i went into my bank yesterday ( bank of scotland) they knew nothing about visa debit chargeback didnt think it existed so lucky i had took a newspaper article in i found online. they looked into it they filled in a non fraudulant claim form for me. the money should be in my account within 2 weeks :T they looked back on statements and i had to print of the my booking now it says will not be honoured. good luck to evryone. i have also rebooked with the hotels direct safest option at the moment i think

hi this is what as happened to me, my booking with xcapewithus was made using a visa debit card, and the bank, halifax, say i am not covered for a reclaim from them ? can you please send me a copy of the news paper article you gave to the bank and i will try again for a reclaim.cheers steve

[EMAIL="sjnelson@sky.com"]sjnelson@sky.com[/EMAIL]

apt

There's information on chargeback on the BBC working lunch site. The following from the Guardian might help to persuade Halifax staff to give up their ignorance. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/nov/09/halifax-visa-chargeback-debit-cards