Really bad experience with housetrip

Cpu2007

Hello everyone

I hope someone can give me some advice on this problem.

Basically I booked an apartment through housetrip and have been in touch with the owner through their messaging system(asking them about the facilities that they have at their property)

I went on holiday, got to the location of the apartment around 10 pm as scheduled, called the owner several times but didn't get any reply.
I was with a family and there were kids and teenagers, we kept calling the owner for 30 minutes and a person picked up the phone saying that they will call me back after a few minutes after speaking to the owner. After 10 minutes I didn't receive any call so I called back but they never picked up the phone.
So I decided to call housetrip emergency line who tried to contact them with no success and made us waiting for 3 hours at night with the whole family.

Long story short, the agent from housetrip told us that he'll find us an accommodation for the night; I explained him that I am with family so I need the place to be decent and suitable for family;
However, after an hour of search and calls back and forth, we were given an address and we went there, the place was filthy,it was a hostel, no windows broken fans.
This caused us a lot of distress, my mother's got ill as well and I couldn't call them anymore because I used 3 phones to call them and they all ran out of credit after the many calls I made.
So the day after (which was basically after a few hours) I bought a new local simcard,called them and complained about the situation,to which they were not sympathetic at all.
I've asked them what they are trying to do solve this situation and they replied that they are trying to find an alternative apartment and will be in touch with me after an hour.

After a couple of hours, not having heard from them, I call back and they couldn't find anything; I told them that we can't stay there because of the place situation and it's not suitable for family and that if we don't checkout by 12, they will ask us to pay again. Their reply was to go to a cafe area and wait there while they keep searching.

Not only they didn't help us but on top of that they made the situation worse and told us that if they find something, we will have to pay out of our pocked if they place is more expensive.

We decided not to get any help from them and tried to find a place our self.
A couple of places available for the same day check in were going to cost us around 3k for the duration of the stay!; a local person managed to give us a place for 2k whch was still way over our budget (the original price that we paid for the apartment was £900)

So at the end, we missed a few days of our holidays because we didn't have a place to live in, we spent extra money to travel here and there, we had to pay a lot extra for the accommodation, my mother's been ill for a couple of days and expenses got higher as a result of living in a different location.

Is it there anything that I can about this situation?

Thank you

pogofish

Cpu2007 - Be very wary of of people claiming to be company reps and posting against the rules - and do not give them any info that may identify you to them whatsoever!

And Ryan - there is an agreed protocol for companies posting here, which you clearly agreed to on signup. You need to contact MSE for approval before posting anything.

In the meantime, do not be surprised if everyone assumes the worst - because you have behaved exactly like many scammers before you!

Voyager2002

Cpu2007 wrote: »

Hello everyone

I hope someone can give me some advice on this problem.

Basically I booked an apartment through housetrip and have been in touch with the owner through their messaging system(asking them about the facilities that they have at their property)

I went on holiday, got to the location of the apartment around 10 pm as scheduled, called the owner several times but didn't get any reply.
I was with a family and there were kids and teenagers, we kept calling the owner for 30 minutes and a person picked up the phone saying that they will call me back after a few minutes after speaking to the owner. After 10 minutes I didn't receive any call so I called back but they never picked up the phone.
So I decided to call housetrip emergency line who tried to contact them with no success and made us waiting for 3 hours at night with the whole family.

Long story short, the agent from housetrip told us that he'll find us an accommodation for the night; I explained him that I am with family so I need the place to be decent and suitable for family;
However, after an hour of search and calls back and forth, we were given an address and we went there, the place was filthy,it was a hostel, no windows broken fans.
This caused us a lot of distress, my mother's got ill as well and I couldn't call them anymore because I used 3 phones to call them and they all ran out of credit after the many calls I made.
So the day after (which was basically after a few hours) I bought a new local simcard,called them and complained about the situation,to which they were not sympathetic at all.
I've asked them what they are trying to do solve this situation and they replied that they are trying to find an alternative apartment and will be in touch with me after an hour.

After a couple of hours, not having heard from them, I call back and they couldn't find anything; I told them that we can't stay there because of the place situation and it's not suitable for family and that if we don't checkout by 12, they will ask us to pay again. Their reply was to go to a cafe area and wait there while they keep searching.

Not only they didn't help us but on top of that they made the situation worse and told us that if they find something, we will have to pay out of our pocked if they place is more expensive.

We decided not to get any help from them and tried to find a place our self.
A couple of places available for the same day check in were going to cost us around 3k for the duration of the stay!; a local person managed to give us a place for 2k whch was still way over our budget (the original price that we paid for the apartment was £900)

So at the end, we missed a few days of our holidays because we didn't have a place to live in, we spent extra money to travel here and there, we had to pay a lot extra for the accommodation, my mother's been ill for a couple of days and expenses got higher as a result of living in a different location.

Is it there anything that I can about this situation?

Thank you

I do hope you kept all the receipts from your extra expenses...

I suggest you send Housetrip a polite letter explaining that you entered into a contract with them in good faith paying for accommodation; that they failed to complete their side of the bargain since they were unable to provide the accommodation that they had promised nor an acceptable alternative; therefore you were forced to make arrangements for yourselves and would they kindly reimburse your additional expenditure, along with the consequential losses that you suffered.

If that fails, you can always use the courts...

Magnolia

I would use the press or watchdog!!!

NiftyDigits

pogofish wrote: »

Cpu2007 - Be very wary of of people claiming to be company reps and posting against the rules - and do not give them any info that may identify you to them whatsoever!

And Ryan - there is an agreed protocol for companies posting here, which you clearly agreed to on signup. You need to contact MSE for approval before posting anything.

In the meantime, do not be surprised if everyone assumes the worst - because you have behaved exactly like many scammers before you!

To be fair, it doesn't take much research to confirm that Mr Levitt is who he claims to be.
So whilst the posting is against the rules, I don't think that you should block the OP from seeking a resolution with HouseTrip in the first instance.

Only if they fail to agree on a resolution, should it advance to the court sytem/publicity.

So let's give HT a chance to rectify the situation.

Cpu2007

Thank you everyone for your replies.
I have already filed a complaint, all I am looking for is any further advice that I can use to make my case strong.

Now I understand that if it doesn't go well then I can take it to court as well.

I will keep you guys updated.

In the meantime, I will keep reading this thread so if you have any advice to give, please do so.

Thank you

pogofish

NiftyDigits wrote: »

So let's give HT a chance to rectify the situation.

Let's see them get accredited to post here - then resolve the situation.

Its not a particularly onerous task to get company approval for posting and its no more than any firm with a reasonable approach to customer service should do - and it will take him out of cowboy territory in the process.

NiftyDigits

pogofish wrote: »

Let's see them get accredited to post here - then resolve the situation.

Its not a particularly onerous task to get company approval for posting and its no more than any firm with a reasonable approach to customer service should do - and it will take him out of cowboy territory in the process.

In this case, I don't concur. The OP would like a resolution as soon as possible.
In the time that it takes to get permission, the OP could get increasingly frustrated.
Take the GoldCar thread as an example. Page upon page of negative reviews before a rep made an appearance. Too little, too late.

It's good that Ryan has made an appearance, together with a point of contact. It's also easy to check he is who he says he is.
So, whilst the rules are there for a reason, his post is reasonable.
Your objection is not helping the OP in any way.
Don't object for the sake of it.
Object if you see something against the spirit of the forum.

Attempting to make contact with the customer in order to find resolution is commendable and certainly makes good business sense.

All you have succeeded in doing is to remove a legitimate point of contact for the OP.

How does that help the OP or anyone else seeking resolution?

Cowboy? At least, he put his name and email address in the public domain. Is that how a 'Cowboy' firm would act?

Please don't try to justify your overly paranoid behaviour with baseless accusations.

You simply over-reacted.

Cpu2007

Hello again,just an update on the situation.

I sent them a letter explaining the situation and what happened;I've received a reply stating that they are under no obligation about issues that are raised between guest and owner (so if the owner decides to cancel the booking, housetrip isn't responsible); in addition they also added that they found me a "suitable" temporary accommodation and that they tried to find me an alternative accommodation for the next day.

Their reply was simply full of false statements as it differs from how I think events have occurred; so, this time, I replied back with details about the cost I had to incur, their approach to this matter, issues caused etc.

It has been more than 10 days but no reply.
How should I proceed?

Thank you

InsideInsurance

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I suggest you send Housetrip a polite letter explaining that you entered into a contract with them in good faith paying for accommodation; that they failed to complete their side of the bargain since they were unable to provide the accommodation that they had promised nor an acceptable alternative; therefore you were forced to make arrangements for yourselves and would they kindly reimburse your additional expenditure, along with the consequential losses that you suffered.

Never looked at the site in question but the first thing I would actually do is check that you do indeed contract with HouseTrip.

I know with a holiday cottage website I used a few years ago whilst all discussions etc occur via the site and payment is made too the actual contract is between you and the other party/ cottage owner not the website.

It sounds like the same may be here in which case its the original property provider that a case may be had against unless you can argue the website is their agent and thus jointly liable with them.

A quick look on this site, assume its the same one, the terms state:

please note that the Site is merely a platform that enables Hosts to create listings of their properties available for rental transactions and for Users to find out about such listed properties and for Guests and Hosts to connect and conclude rental transactions, and consequently HouseTrip is not itself a party to any rental transaction and disclaims all liability arising from or related to any such transactions to the fullest extent permitted by law.

It goes on to repeat this several other ways later in the same section of the abridged booking terms.

There is also:

6. Cancellations by Hosts

6.1 Hosts should not cancel bookings as Hosts enter into a binding contract with Guests to supply the requested accommodation when they confirm a booking. If a Host has no choice but to cancel, they must contact HouseTrip as soon as possible and the Host Cancellation Policy will apply. Hosts should ensure they are familiar with the Host Cancellation Policy as it will apply to all and any cancellation initiated by the Host and carries consequences for the Host and their listings and accounts.

6.2 We will assist the Guest by attempting to arrange suitable alternative accommodation including, for example, by putting the Guest in contact with another Host and/or by providing details of alternative listings, but in each and every case, We make no undertaking and shall not be under any obligation in such respect. As a Guest, You acknowledge and agree that your payment (or applicable part thereof) shall be applied in relation to any confirmed alternative booking request/accommodation, in accordance with these Terms. In the event no such alternative accommodation is or can be located and/or You do not accept the suitable alternative listed property offered by the Host or by a new Host, Your payment will be refunded to You but no further payments or refunds will be made.

You could get someone legally trained to review the terms properly but as a layman the terms do support their point that the party you need to pursue is the original Host. On the basis that this is presumably international then it may or may not be a simple thing to do. It wont be so bad if its inside the EU

Cpu2007

yes I have read their terms and conditions and they clearly state not to be responsible for cancellations caused by hosts.

The problem is that this behaviour sounds to me like "going to a restaurant and when it comes to pay, run away".
In practice, they are intermediate between the guest and host; I'm pretty sure they charge the host if everything goes well and take a percentage of the amount that is paid to the host but when it comes to protect the guest or host, what exactly are they doing?

In my situation, not only they haven't done anything but made the situation worse(as explained in my opening post).

I guess, contacting them is pointless, suing the host it's not something I can afford or go through(host is in part of the EU).

Is it possible to file a complaint against housetrip using financial ombudsman or I the court is the more appropriate approach?

Thank you