Powercut during self catering cottage stay

clarkey1000

So myself and 9 others booked a self catering place to stay at last weekend with a hot tub.

We arrived 4pm on Friday and the electric went off at about 6pm. It remained off until 1am had 7 hours on before going off again until 4pm on the Saturday.

We were unable to cook on the hob or in the oven or use the hot tub as they needed electricity

The owners brought us loads of candles and also a gas camping stove on the Saturday but by that point we'd already gone out for lunch as we hadn't been able to cook the food we'd wanted to eat Friday night and subsequently sat lunch

We were going to contact them ands ask for a bit of money back to cover the unexpected meal out and the lack of hot tub but then I saw this in the terms and conditions document.

12) WEATHER CONDITIONS/ACTS OF GOD: The owner is not responsible for any weather condition or acts of God or nature that may happen and no refunds will be made. Further, the owner shall not forfeit the rental amount if you cannot get to, or stay in, the property due to any weather conditions or acts of God or nature. Travel insurance is strongly recommended.

Does this mean I can't ask them for anything back or does that not cover power line failures (it wasn't just our property affected)

Any thoughts appreciated. Thank you

forgotmyname

They were not responsible for the power cut so totally out of their hands.

Try your insurance?

Hintza

Sounds like they did as much as they could.

You obviously never saw the early 70's!!!

Generali

Surely it depends on the reason for the power cut.

If it was a fault with the cottage, you should definitely get a refund, if a sub station got hit by a meteor you should not. If the power was off for power company maintenance? Maybbes. I can't see that as being an Act of God by any normal definition.

ThumbRemote

I disagree with the above answers. It doesn't matter if it was out of their hands or not; they are the business owner, they are the ones you contracted to provide something, and as such they are the ones who take the hit when it's not provided.

If they are running a business, they should have a business contract with the electricity company which specifies what happens if the power is off. If they don't, that's their own problem not yours.

Presumably the hot tub was a significant factor in booking the accommodation. If so I'd be pushing for a good percentage of the cost to be refunded.

clarkey1000

Thanks everyone for the responses.

The power cut was causes by a broken transformer on a power line nearby - it affected maybe a dozen properties.

I was thinking along the lines of ThumbRemote that the business should be able to claim back from the electric company for any losses incurred however I'm not sure if they would be entitled to anything.

In the Ofgem Guaranteed Standards document it says this:

EGS 2 – Supply restoration during normal weather (Regulation 5)
If your electricity supply fails during normal weather conditions because of a problem on our distribution system, we will work hard to get the power back on as quickly as possible. However, if it takes us more than 18-hours from the time we are made aware of the loss of supply, we will pay you £54 if you are a domestic customer and £108 if you are a business customer. We will pay another £27 for each additional 12-hours you are without supply.
The Standard requires you to make a valid claim within three months of the date the supply is restored.

The power was not off for long enough though I don't think as it was off for around 7 hours on the Friday night and 8 hours on the Saturday.

My travel Insurance has an excess of £100 so I'm not sure it's going to be worth it. We paid £1400 for the weekend and can't imagine we'd get much back over the £100. I need to try and find the documentation as I think it has be efficiently filed somewhere!

Esqui

I'd ask the owners. Write them a letter or email asking if they'd consider a small refund to make up for the problems. Don't lay down any laws or rights, etc, just be nice and tell them how much you enjoyed it otherwise (if you did!).


There's always a chance they might give you something back out of goodwill, even if it's just a free night next year or something