Hen Party Cottage refund.

rachaelbrown1988

Hi

I am after a little bit of help please, we are due to go on a hen do in a holiday cottage in York for the weekend on 17.04.20, 12 of us have paid the full amount. When all of the pubs shut down i emailed the company we booked through asking if ours was still going ahead and they said yes and if lock down occurred a full refund would be provided which i have on an email. 

When lock down did happen I emailed asking for a refund as a lot of my friends were out of a job and needed the money back which the company said we could have on 17.03.20. Since then they have now said no re-funds are being given only a 2 year deal to re-book the weekend. I went to citizens advise and went through everything with them and they agreed we were entitled to a full refund. The company is still arguing saying that travel Law have advised that they can only offer a 2year postponed date option? could this be confirmed please? This company also told me that the cottage owner had already been paid our money in advance and when looking through my final paperwork i had the owners phone number which i contacted her and she told me she certainly did not have my money and would not receive it just before we arrived. The company are still refusing me a re-fund but is this right as I am already wary on what they are telling me. 

Thanks 

Aylesbury_Duck

You are entitled to a refund but have a read through countless threads on here and you'll see you may struggle to get it, certainly any time soon.  The company you booked through may simply not have the money on hand to be able to refund everyone.

How did you pay?  Please say credit card...

rachaelbrown1988

Hi, Yes that is what basically they are saying they do not have the money to refund but the week before they had told me the cottage owner had the money which she did not so I just find they are lying, one of the people told me it was a small family business then on the phone the management told me they had just had to close down a 40sq foot office so i don't no what to believe from them. 
No i paid by bank transfer. 

Aylesbury_Duck

rachaelbrown1988 said:

Hi, Yes that is what basically they are saying they do not have the money to refund but the week before they had told me the cottage owner had the money which she did not so I just find they are lying, one of the people told me it was a small family business then on the phone the management told me they had just had to close down a 40sq foot office so i don't no what to believe from them. 
No i paid by bank transfer. 

A 40 sq ft office is a small room.  What's the name of this "agency" you've booked through?  It's starting to sound like it's a bloke in his spare room.

Bank transfer.  Oh dear.  I'm afraid that shuts off one potential claim route for you.  In future, always pay at least some of the amount on a credit card.  That way you get section 75 protection which could have proved useful in instances like this.

If they continue to refuse a refund, send a letter before action and look to court action.

rachaelbrown1988

It's called Celebration cottages. I don't have a credit card but think i will now look into one for future! I have been to citizens advice and they give you a link to send a letter but the celebration cottages are claiming they have not 'Cancelled' and therefore the letter is not applicable. The say they have been to travel law and they advised that they are in their rights to only re-book the cottage and not refund but again i don't know what to believe from them. I have contacted Travel Law but they say they only advise agents / airlines. 

mattyprice4004

I would say this is one of the situations where you'll catch more flies with honey - keep friendly with all the staff, but also keep making a polite nuisance of yourself.
You have no credit card protection, so you need to be 'nicey nicey'; if you've been shouting at them they'll likely do nothing to help. 

rachaelbrown1988

The company is being awkward, they told me they would only book in a new date which the girl gave me a load of dates between Sep - October so we all decided on a date which nearly all of us could make and I asked them to book it in and they wouldn't do that either so its just really annoying me now this company however they have all of our money! so is it looking likely however letters I write I will not get a refund? 

Aylesbury_Duck

Possibly, possibly not.  Again, they may not have the money to refund you.  You seem to have two options.  Work with them to find a date that suits all parties, or send them a LBA and commence court action if they don't respond.

lincroft1710

Even if you started legal action to recover your money, it would be months before there was a hearing

Lucy202010

Hi there, I am in exactly the same position with celebration cottages! Have you heard anything about a refund? What did you decide to do? 

Lizzieb25

Hi, we are in the same position 27 of us @ £300 each, we all paid £80 deposit and the hen is in August.  There is no way we can sleep such a number of different households in the same house as we cant social distance.  They said we had to pay in full and then if the Government say we cant go then we can move the date.  That would mean paying £5940 via bank transfer as they don't accept credit cards and risk losing the lot if they go bump or we still cant go ahead next time.  Therefore we have all lost our £80 deposit and I would advise anyone from using this company in the future under this current Covid situation.  There is more people who are in the same situation on google reviews.