Paying for a holiday with PayPal

super7

Seen holiday accommodation that looks like a bargain but the company only accept payment via PayPal. If I use this method funded by my credit card am I still protected? I'm suspicious because I may pay for the accommodation, turn up and it doesn't exist. I know I can claim through PayPal but only if the seller has funds.

Should I give it a miss?

Peeky

Short answer is no. The credit card transcation is between the issuer and paypal.

lisyloo

I would be suspicious.
A direct bank transfer would be cheaper for them, so it doesn't make sense to only accept paypal.

I have paid for stuff before by direct bank transfer where there was a really good deal, but it IS a risk.
I paid for some hotel vouchers and voucher company went out of business.
We were lucky because hotel honoured ours, but lots of people lost out.

Is there anything really, really special about this accomodation, or could you find an alternative?

Have you found any reviews on say tripadvisor? or other sites? checked google for scams reported?

It's a risk, there would have to be soemthing special about it for me to take it.

RobertoMoir

From what I've seen of paypal, you'd have to be barking mad to use it when you didn't have to. And my definition of "have to" isn't "get a good deal from company X", it's more along the lines of "I need it and company X are the only people in the world who do it". Oh, "and without it people will die".

Yes I am being serious.

jaydeeuk1

Deffo give it a miss. Paypal won't be interested either if its a scam, and not ebay related.

super7

Cheers, Just thought Credit Card may offer protection.

Just confirmed my suspicions. Accommodation is a a resort we return to every year and so we know most apartments available and the prices. Pictures on their website didn't ring true. The prices are competitive but it was the mega cheap car hire that rang alarm bells (25% of the going rate). Only being able to use PayPal and having to pay upfront just confirms it.

Already booked elsewhere.

Anybody going to Puerto Pollensa might want to swerve puertopollensa4all.com

The company trail leads to a office block in Coventry and a residential house in Berlin.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

I'm puzzled. According to their website they accept credit and debit cards, admittedly at a premium.
http://www.puertopollensa4all.com/payment.html

RobertoMoir

super7 wrote: »

Cheers, Just thought Credit Card may offer protection.

If you look at some of the ebay threads, people have tried credit card when they've had problems to be told that the CC company won't help because the transaction they "protect" is the initial one between you and paypal, which goes through correctly. What happens to your money after that, they say, is between you, paypal & the person you're buying from.

newpass12

Please avoid this site at all costs, i booked and payed for the accomodation having checked them out on companies house and tried to do some research online about them but at the time nothing bad came up.

Unfortunately to my cost it is a scam and there is another site called Santaponsa4all.com to watch out for as well. They are based in Germany and have redirected the phone to be answered in Spain. I spoke to Trading Standards about this, not that it made a bit of difference. They said they can't do a thing which annoys me more than the money i've lost, in that there will be others i'm sure who will be taken in by this.