booking.com

lbear

Three weeks ago i went on a hen weekend to liverpool and booked an apartment to stay in through booking.com (with the payment to be made on arrival). When i arrived in liverpool i was told that the company were currently in the process of switching bank accounts and so their card machine didnt work so we paid cash to stay for two nights. The apartments turned out to be a dump and when i complained to the owners i got nowhere. I phoned booking.com who contacted the owners and attempted to sort something out and after alot of phone calls the manager at booking.com and I agreed that as we were on a hen weekend and this was eating into our time in liverpool we would stay where we were and he would persue a refund when i returned home. We went out that night and the apartment was broken into, we called the police and all agreed it was unsafe to stay there so had to find hotels to stay in (more money!!!). The manager made no attempt to help us or find out if we were ok, just left us to it. Since i've been home, booking.com have attempted to contact the company and keep being told the managers are unavailable and have today told me that they were told the manager has swine flu and wont be available for the next two weeks. I've asked booking.com where i stand re getting my money back and though they agree the apartment wasnt fit to stay in and i SHOULD get my money back, they will only mediate between me and the apartment owner and not directly refund me as they are "just an third party advertisement website with no responsibility for the actual booking". Personally I think that seeing as i made the booking with them and trusted that they would only provide reputable hotels/rooms on their site, some responsibility lies with them. Am i right? If only as a gesture of good customer service. I wouldnt have booked those apartments had they not been on booking.com...... getting my money back from the owners seems impossible now as he seems to be hiding... Any advice gratefully received!!!....................

Firefox1975

there's is a lot of surplus wording in that post. I got tired reading it.

Can you make it more concise for us to read? i.e what exactly was said/promised.

Forget the fact you were on a hen do and where you were etc. That is irrelevant.

andyrules

They booked an apartment through booking.com.

• paid cash
• apartment a dump
• attempted unsuccessfully to sort at time, booking.com agreed to pursue refund retrospectively
• apartment broken into, police agreed unsafe, checked into and paid for hotel
• no assistance from manager (unclear which one)
• owners not responding to pursuit of refund
• booking.com say they won't refund only assist as 3rd party
• where does op stand?

That simple enough?

op, do you have address of the owner and have you tried to contact them yourself? Personally, I don't buy the flu thing, there must be someone left to manage!

lbear

thanks andyrules, that pretty much sums it up! I agree re the swine flu thing, sounded like another excuse to me...the managers have not made any attempt to resolve this during the past three weeks so feels like they are not really bothered. I've called consumer direct today and they said same as you, contact them myself in writing and if that gets nowhere i may need to try the small claims court.
part of me is more annoyed with booking.com, i assumed they had some sort of procedure to weed out dodgy hotels or some sort of agreement/contract that would mean the hotel had to refund if booking.com agreed i should be refunded (which they have). i guess its a lesson learned....never assume.........!!