Greek Hotel Scam / Refusing Refund

Jay_23

Hello there,

was wondering if anyone had any advice on best way forward?

The TL:DR is took a chance on a new hotel in Halkadiki turns out it wasn't fully built outside, the hotel itself had faulty wiring that meant power wasn't steady, and the AC's didn't work and shut off (in heatwave).
Staff acknowledged they didn't work in multiple rooms, after several hours and rooms we had to leave for another place as it was last room and late.
Owner refuses to refund and lies, is via booking.com and they have offered only < quarter of the value.
Have pictures of faulty fuse box and partner and staff witness to it all.

So far am doing:
-Chargeback via the bank
-Report to local police
-Review it to warn others

Is there anything else I can do?
Anyone successfully had a listing taken down from booking.com?
The place has faulty electronics, surely a risk, any inspections that can be initiated?

My partner is Polish, I'm from UK, there was a small claims court covering EU disputes, is that still a thing we could use? 

Thanks.

NoodleDoodleMan

The Greek Tourism Office in London perhaps ?

Tel. 020 7495 9300

tightauldgit

What exactly is your claim and loss? 

Did you get what you paid for?
Were there facilities closed that you expected to be open? 
Did you leave and stay somewhere else?

If you stayed for the whole stay and got more or less what you expected then i'd think 25% might be reasonable. It all depends 

If the issue is about safety then there must be some formal way to escalate a complaint to the police or local council or local licensing authority but that probably won't entitle you to any refund 

[Deleted User]

The OP said they left for another hotel. No need to be nasty to them when you didn't read what they wrote!

sheramber

Did you have to pay for the other hotel or was it covered by your payment to Booking.com?

What amount are you claiming a chargeback for and on what grounds?

tightauldgit

[Deleted User] said:

The OP said they left for another hotel. No need to be nasty to them when you didn't read what they wrote!

Was that addressed to me? There was nothing "nasty" about what I wrote - I'm trying to get specifics of what they are claiming and what they specifically want to happen next so I/we can provide them better advice. 

When someone asks 'what else can i do?' the answer really depends on what they want to achieve.  

Jay_23

Hi there folks. Thanks for your questions! So...


'What exactly is your claim and loss? 
-Full refund, paid 125 euro

Did you get what you paid for?
-No, did not stay there after 2nd room had same faults, problem with hotel wiring.
Were there facilities closed that you expected to be open? 
-advertised AC did not work, outdoor area was unfinished. 
Did you leave and stay somewhere else?'
-Yes.

Did you have to pay for the other hotel or was it covered by your payment to Booking.com?
-We had no time and was last room: so just made a new booking on partners account
What amount are you claiming a chargeback for and on what grounds?
- Full amount, 125 euro, on grounds of services not received. 

NoodleDoodleMan

For clarity - your outlay was 125 Euros for one room - but how many nights ?

tightauldgit

Jay_23 said:

Hi there folks. Thanks for your questions! So...


'What exactly is your claim and loss? 
-Full refund, paid 125 euro

Did you get what you paid for?
-No, did not stay there after 2nd room had same faults, problem with hotel wiring.
Were there facilities closed that you expected to be open? 
-advertised AC did not work, outdoor area was unfinished. 
Did you leave and stay somewhere else?'
-Yes.

Did you have to pay for the other hotel or was it covered by your payment to Booking.com?
-We had no time and was last room: so just made a new booking on partners account
What amount are you claiming a chargeback for and on what grounds?
- Full amount, 125 euro, on grounds of services not received. 

Always a bit of a tricky one not least of all because it's somewhat subjective to say what constitutes unliveable - one person's unliveable is another person's alright. Hard to say really if the lack of AC would constitute grounds for a full refund. The safety issues more serious but presumably it was signed off by a some local inspectorate as safe to have guests so might be difficult to prove anything.

Having said that the fact the owner has offered you anything kind of suggests that they accept there was a problem. 

The bigger issue of course is that booking.com will say you need to pursue the hotel as they are just a middle-man and that would mean pursuing a claim in Greece which may not be worth it for £80 quid. 

A chargeback certainly sounds worth a try. Beyond that probably a report to booking.com and whatever local greek authority certifies hotels as safe and a bad review?

CKhalvashi

tightauldgit said:

Jay_23 said:

Hi there folks. Thanks for your questions! So...


'What exactly is your claim and loss? 
-Full refund, paid 125 euro

Did you get what you paid for?
-No, did not stay there after 2nd room had same faults, problem with hotel wiring.
Were there facilities closed that you expected to be open? 
-advertised AC did not work, outdoor area was unfinished. 
Did you leave and stay somewhere else?'
-Yes.

Did you have to pay for the other hotel or was it covered by your payment to Booking.com?
-We had no time and was last room: so just made a new booking on partners account
What amount are you claiming a chargeback for and on what grounds?
- Full amount, 125 euro, on grounds of services not received. 

Always a bit of a tricky one not least of all because it's somewhat subjective to say what constitutes unliveable - one person's unliveable is another person's alright. Hard to say really if the lack of AC would constitute grounds for a full refund. The safety issues more serious but presumably it was signed off by a some local inspectorate as safe to have guests so might be difficult to prove anything.

Having said that the fact the owner has offered you anything kind of suggests that they accept there was a problem. 

The bigger issue of course is that booking.com will say you need to pursue the hotel as they are just a middle-man and that would mean pursuing a claim in Greece which may not be worth it for £80 quid. 

A chargeback certainly sounds worth a try. Beyond that probably a report to booking.com and whatever local greek authority certifies hotels as safe and a bad review?

I agree that it's probably worth a chargeback claim, as long as there is a defect in the contract/

If this was a non-refundable room with little promises made in terms of facilities, OP may struggle. If working AC was promised, this will likely result in a breach of contract. For a refund in these conditions a contractual breach will be necessary to show.

We've been lucky enough to stay in many cheap places where owners have gone above  and beyond expectations (I can't think of a place we've booked in recent times where we wouldn't go/haven't gone back), but sadly some hotels aren't like this.