Credit Card Dispute

ejlmcdonald

I'm about to dispute a charge on my Clarity MasterCard taken for an apartment by Booking.com. I would appreciate any comments, esp on the legal side.

Mse question

This dispute has arisen from booking an apartment in Montenegro in June this year. I used Booking.com because they are the agency that offers free cancellations on many of their rooms and I knew numbers might change.

I booked a 2 bed apartment on Monday 15th Feb then my brother said he and his family would come too so three days later on Thursday 18th February, I cancelled the booking as we would need something larger.

I did this in the belief that the cancelation would be free as their terms were, “If cancelled or modified up to 14 days before date of arrival 30% of the total price of the reservation will be charged”

The cancelation confirmation said that I would be charged 194 Euros. I was shocked and wrote to Booking.com to complain.

The story then changed. It was not a cancelation charge at all but a non-refundable deposit of 30% taken on the day I booked, 15th Feb.

Looking at the information I could see before booking, the words deposit and non-refundable were nowhere to be seen. The only reference to 30% was in a pop-up box saying:

Pre-payment: 30% of the total amount maybe charged anytime after booking.

I feel that this statement does not fairly represent a non-refundable deposit of 30% taken on the day of booking. A pre-payment could be against damages, a cleaning fee, a pre-authorisation of the credit card, many things, a non-refundable deposit is quite clear and certainly does not merit the use of "maybe'.

The apartment policy says cash only, no credit cards, so the fee was levied by Booking.com. They did not tell me they were going to take it and they did not tell me when they had.

Surely this is abuse of my credit card?

sheramber

I did this in the belief that the cancelation would be free as their terms were, “If cancelled or modified up to 14 days before date of arrival 30% of the total price of the reservation will be charged”

So if you cancel or modify the booking between the day book and the 14 th day before your holiday starts you will be charged 30% of the total charge.

This will be a charge made by the apartment owners.

grumbler

sheramber wrote: »

... “If cancelled or modified up to 14 days before date of arrival 30% of the total price of the reservation will be charged”

So if you cancel or modify the booking between the day book and the 14 th day before your holiday starts you will be charged 30% of the total charge.

Your "so" implies some logical connection between the first and the second paragraphs, but I don't see any.

@OP: there is a Credit Cards board here.
What do MBNA say?

bengal-stripe

ejlmcdonald wrote: »

I did this in the belief that the cancelation would be free as their terms were, “If cancelled or modified up to 14 days before date of arrival 30% of the total price of the reservation will be charged”

"up to 14 days before date of arrival" means more than 14 days. If you cancel from the booking date to 14 or more days before arrival, you become liable to 30%.

If you cancel less than 14 days, then other conditions apply, (presumably the entire balance becomes due).

grumbler

bengal-stripe wrote: »

"up to 14 days before date of arrival" means more than 14 days.

Possibly, but it's a very convoluted interpretation - or a deliberately misleading way of saying this.

In English "up to 14" means 1-14 (days before the date of arrival).
I.e.
1 day before arrival
2 days before arrival
...
14 days before arrival

ejlmcdonald

Hi guys,
That's just it really, the language is ambiguous when it doesn't need to be.
In the confirmation email it gave a very clear illustration of cancellation fees but it's too late by then. Why not be clear upfront? I imagine it cuts conversion.

PeacefulWaters

When you state it said “If cancelled or modified up to 14 days before date of arrival 30% of the total price of the reservation will be charged" did you forget to read the next sentence?

That says "if cancelled or modified later on or in case of no show the total price of the reservation shall be charged".

The two sentences combined tell me it's either 30% now or 100% later. Nowhere does it imply no cancellation charges.

My view is that you don't have a case.

ejlmcdonald

Thanks PW, but they've already said they made an error, it should not have called a cancelation charge, so that interpretation is moot.

What they say now is that it is a non-refundable deposit.

eskbanker

Surely the point is that as soon as the booking has been made you've irrevocably committed to paying at least 30% of the value, i.e. it doesn't really make any material difference whether it's labelled as a cancellation charge or a non-refundable deposit as they effectively equate to the same thing? In other words, either way round you'd have been obliged to pay at least €194, whatever it's to be called....

ejlmcdonald

Yes Eskbanker, conceptually you are right, but they can't defend a cancelation fee charged 3 days before I cancelled.

eskbanker

I can see they haven't handled it very well but ultimately had the right to charge you the €194 one way or another and so, to go back to your original post, you don't have any grounds on which to dispute the charge via your card company....