Snowboxx claiming false damages and keeping deposit

Mildreds_Earrings

Hello, my daughter returned from Avoriaz with her friends from a skiing holiday booked with Snowboxx.

When she returned, Snowboxx or the resort in Avoriaz (hard to tell which) deducted €600 from her card claiming damages to the chalet door. When she denied the damage and asked for her money back, Snowboxx sent her the attached photo and said this was caused by her holiday party.

The holiday party deny all knowledge and said there is no way they left the door like that. If my daughter or her friends caused any damage, they would reluctantly accept the fee but they wholeheartedly deny causing the damage and they have all said the door wasn't damaged or left like that when they left (photo attached) 

Snowboxx and the French residence are refusing to back down. Please advise where we stand and what further action we can take, if any. 

PS. Wish we read the Trust Pilot reviews for Snowboxx and this French Resort. They clearly have form for taking deposits 😕

heatherw_01

Honestly there isn't much you can do tbh, as far as I know. Someone can correct me if I am wrong.

Unless your daughter & friends had seen it was like that and reported it or saw it when they left and pointed it out, I am not sure what can be done as the damage is bad.
It is a case of 2 sides but 1 has photo evidence.

zagfles

You say it was a "deposit" but then say they charged her card, did she pay or pre-authorise a deposit amount? Or did they just charge the card she'd used to pay? If the latter she should be able to get a chargeback from the bank. But if she paid/pre-authorised a deposit amount then probably not. I've had the occasional accomodation booking where they've wanted a payment/pre-authorisation of a deposit amount, and they inspect the accomodation at the end and return it if no damage.

But if it was just a normal booking where she paid by card, they can't just charge the card for additional charges unless there's something in the booking T&Cs which says they can (and there usually isn't). 

Of course that's a different matter to liability to pay. But check the travel insurance, most have a liability section and things like this would normally be covered

thegreenone

Without being rude to your daughter and her friends - would they have been physically capable of causing such damage?  To my untrained eye, it looks as though the door has been forced with some pressure.

There's no number visible in the photo, so it the actual door to the chalet your daughter and friends were in?  Have a good internet search to see if anyone else has had this situation with Snowboxx.

Is the photo date-stamped?

Mildreds_Earrings

Thanks for all your replies. I'll ask them how they paid etc and report back. 

@thegreenone our daughter is 9 stone wet through and so are her mates. No way have they caused this damage and if they did, they would have accepted the deduction without telling me owt, believe me!