Campervan Hire refunds from Goboony

Annie_Day

Hi, I am not sure if you can help, but I'm wondering what policies apply to getting a full refund from a campervan hire company? We were due to hire a campervan from Goboony.com - they are like Airbnb for motorhomes - for a specific event. This was the Hardmoors 110 trail race. I was due to be the support team for my husband on the run and we'd hired a campervan through the site from a local person. The race (at the end of May) has since been cancelled. Since this is beyond my control - should I be eligible for a full refund or not? It's  a deposit of £168 paid on a credit card. 

Aylesbury_Duck

The campervan hire is independent from the trail race, so the cancellation of the latter, whilst beyond your control, doesn't have anything to do with the hire company.

You need to check your terms of hire.  You may be able to cancel and forfeit your deposit, but if the van is still available for hire, you're not entitled to a full refund and any credit card action will fail accordingly.

Life__Goes__On

Aylesbury_Duck said:

The campervan hire is independent from the trail race, so the cancellation of the latter, whilst beyond your control, doesn't have anything to do with the hire company.

You need to check your terms of hire.  You may be able to cancel and forfeit your deposit, but if the van is still available for hire, you're not entitled to a full refund and any credit card action will fail accordingly.

If the company deals just in camper vans would they legally be able to open for collection under current rules?  (I'm just wondering)
But who knows the rules at the end of May.

Aylesbury_Duck

That sort of thing seems to be a grey area.  I suppose they could make collection available in a safe manner and as far as I know there are no absolute laws prohibiting them operating safely under current restrictions.

Annie_Day

Life__Goes__On said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

The campervan hire is independent from the trail race, so the cancellation of the latter, whilst beyond your control, doesn't have anything to do with the hire company.

You need to check your terms of hire.  You may be able to cancel and forfeit your deposit, but if the van is still available for hire, you're not entitled to a full refund and any credit card action will fail accordingly.

If the company deals just in camper vans would they legally be able to open for collection under current rules?  (I'm just wondering)
But who knows the rules at the end of May.

Thanks guys. I don't think they would be allowed to let someone come to another person's house to collect something which doesn't belong to them.

 I can see where you're coming from regarding the relationship between the trail race and the hire of the van. However, as another example, I was due to attend a meeting in Cambridge earlier in March, and it was cancelled. After a couple of attempts I got a full refund on the prebooked train tickets I bought. Wondering if this falls into the same category?

So far, I have gone through the normal cancellation process to get some of the money back - we get 75% back by that route (£70.50) and they keep 25% of the deposit. I have then written to them, to see where I can get. Just was wondering if there were any clearer guidelines under the present circumstances.

Life__Goes__On

I don't know what you are entitled too,  so not going to offer any opinion on this

But what I can say as you paid on a credit card, claim the missing money from them Section 75
You have a legal right for a S75 claim and they can't refuses it,   but they can refuse to pay.
If they refuse either you can take it the financial ombudsman who will decide.

The S75 route  is free so the only cost is your time.

Aylesbury_Duck

Annie_Day said:

Life__Goes__On said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

The campervan hire is independent from the trail race, so the cancellation of the latter, whilst beyond your control, doesn't have anything to do with the hire company.

You need to check your terms of hire.  You may be able to cancel and forfeit your deposit, but if the van is still available for hire, you're not entitled to a full refund and any credit card action will fail accordingly.

If the company deals just in camper vans would they legally be able to open for collection under current rules?  (I'm just wondering)
But who knows the rules at the end of May.

Thanks guys. I don't think they would be allowed to let someone come to another person's house to collect something which doesn't belong to them.

 I can see where you're coming from regarding the relationship between the trail race and the hire of the van. However, as another example, I was due to attend a meeting in Cambridge earlier in March, and it was cancelled. After a couple of attempts I got a full refund on the prebooked train tickets I bought. Wondering if this falls into the same category?

So far, I have gone through the normal cancellation process to get some of the money back - we get 75% back by that route (£70.50) and they keep 25% of the deposit. I have then written to them, to see where I can get. Just was wondering if there were any clearer guidelines under the present circumstances.

I think the section 75 advice is sound.

As to your example, it's not really a question of categories.  You didn't get a refund on your train tickets because the meeting was cancelled.  You got it because it was either a refundable unused ticket, the service didn't run or simply that they refunded out of goodwill.