Holiday cancelled by vendor but no refund

Yambo99

Hello. 
So I had a holiday booked to visit the isle is skye with unique cottages at the end of April (all booked well before the lock down).
Now the company I've booked from which I paid up front with, have said it's cancelled and the only options I have is move it to another date this year that matches the price I paid, or pay more for another week or lose the booking and lose the money.
Due to prior commitments I can't move it to another date that matches the price and I can't really afford to pick another week as it shoots up by 200-300 pound more depending on the week.

I've enquired about a refund but they said no I'd lose it. 
I didn't have travel insurance as I was only moving in the country.
Is there any way I can get a refund if I needed? I know companies are struggling but it was cancelled due to no fault of mine and at this rate I'll be losing the money.
Any help would be great thanks.

Tildaplum

Clearly this is happening to a lot of people and I think everyone is just working through it so I would not rush and accept the vouchers, new dates etc if it does not suit your circumstances

the first stage is to check the terms and conditions of the company you booked the Cottage through - I suspect they will say that they are only acting as your agent

this means in effect that they passed the booking on to the cottage owner when you first booked and are passing the message back to you that is now cancelled

you probably therefore don't have any claim against them although as I say it is a grey area and some people are saying that agent should be responsible so do a bit of research in this area

otherwise of course it is the Cottage owner that should be refunding you - they cannot simply take your money and then tell you that the Cottage is cancelled and keep the money

if it was me I would find out who they are and contact them direct - the agent should tell you their contact details

if they refuse to refund you then your recourse is by the small claims court against the cottage owner - probably not now of course as everything is closed down but take your time and then issue a summons in the small claims court it is very easy to do.

However as I say I would definitely keep an eye on what happens as things progress because most people book their cottages holidays etc through travel agents, Cottage agents etc and it may well be they will be found responsible as well - others on here may have more information on this

wiseonesomeofthetime

Would a chargeback via your bank be worth looking into?

MallyGirl

I have moved this to the Coronavirus travel section

Life__Goes__On

Yambo
Which method did you use for payment?

Yambo99

I used my credit card in the end. Luckily theyve said they could step in to try get it back.