Canadian apartment cancellation

Unhappy_Traveller24

Hi
We were due to stay for a week in a townhouse in Vancouver on 23 July 2024. This apartment was booked through Booking.com and 36 hours before we were due to fly out the booking was cancelled by the hosts due to 'maintenance work not being completed'. 
We were then promised that we would receive a full refund within 30  days. That date came and went and we were then promised a refund would be dealt with ASAP, which again never happened. 
Booking.com were very hard to contact and messages to their admin went unanswered.  Eventually I managed to contact them on the phone and was told that they would give the property 5 working days to deal with the matter. An email would also be sent to me to explain what else I needed to do. 
No email was received and I can no longer contact Booking.com on the phone number I used.
I paid for the apartment direct by bank payment (I do not have a credit card) and the cost was $2,450 Can (approx £1,500).
Looking for advice as to my next step.
TIA

Hoenir

Unhappy_Traveller24 said:

I paid for the apartment direct by bank payment (I do not have a credit card) and the cost was $2,450 Can (approx £1,500).

Why not through Booking.Com ?  Smells of a scam. 

mr_stripey

yes seems odd if the payment was outside the Booking.com platform. We've seen this with "direct" payments on Airbnb's and whatnot in the past I think?

Unhappy_Traveller24

Hoenir said:

Unhappy_Traveller24 said:

I paid for the apartment direct by bank payment (I do not have a credit card) and the cost was $2,450 Can (approx £1,500).

Why not through Booking.Com ?  Smells of a scam. 

It was through Booking.com but we chose to pay at a later date from when we booked it. In May 2024 a new law was passed in British Columbia outlawing all Airbnb and short term lets. We had already had one apartment cancelled and refunded because of this and we wanted clarification that this apartment would honour the booking before we paid them.
They clarified that they would be able to fulfil the booking and asked for payment about 2 weeks later.

Hoenir

Unhappy_Traveller24 said:

Hoenir said:

Unhappy_Traveller24 said:

I paid for the apartment direct by bank payment (I do not have a credit card) and the cost was $2,450 Can (approx £1,500).

Why not through Booking.Com ?  Smells of a scam. 

It was through Booking.com but we chose to pay at a later date from when we booked it. 

Payment wasn't made through the portal though. The money could have been remitted to anyone's account. Nor would Booking.Com receive their agency cut if payment was made direct.  

Is the Apartment still listed? 

mr_stripey

It is possible to book through booking.com but pay at the property on arrival so not all payments have to be through the portal. Have done this myself but not sure if this is the same situation here? Perhaps that is just hotels etc where you (can) pay on arrival (and presumably having established the accommodation is available to you).

Unhappy_Traveller24

Hoenir said:

Unhappy_Traveller24 said:

Hoenir said:

Unhappy_Traveller24 said:

I paid for the apartment direct by bank payment (I do not have a credit card) and the cost was $2,450 Can (approx £1,500).

Why not through Booking.Com ?  Smells of a scam. 

It was through Booking.com but we chose to pay at a later date from when we booked it. 

Payment wasn't made through the portal though. The money could have been remitted to anyone's account. Nor would Booking.Com receive their agency cut if payment was made direct.  

Is the Apartment still listed? 

Just had a look and can't see the appartment listed at present.

Unhappy_Traveller24

mr_stripey said:

It is possible to book through booking.com but pay at the property on arrival so not all payments have to be through the portal. Have done this myself but not sure if this is the same situation here? Perhaps that is just hotels etc where you (can) pay on arrival (and presumably having established the accommodation is available to you).

Just remembered exactly how payment was made in this case. As stated, we didn't pay at time of booking until we clarified matters. We did however leave the bank card details and I am sure that was all done through the portal.
About 2 weeks later I received a text around midnight says my bank had reported a suspicious transaction. I checked the payment and it was for the accomodation so I authorised the bank to clear it.
Booking.com also sent a message at the same time saying that an invalid credit card had been used and I needed to add a new credit card to make the payment. They then had this message on my booking on their site until my telephone conversation clarified the position. 
To my mind I was dealing through Booking.com all the time especially as they notified me that there was a problem with my bank flagging up the original request for payment.

Hoenir

Unhappy_Traveller24 said:

mr_stripey said:

It is possible to book through booking.com but pay at the property on arrival so not all payments have to be through the portal. Have done this myself but not sure if this is the same situation here? Perhaps that is just hotels etc where you (can) pay on arrival (and presumably having established the accommodation is available to you).

Just remembered exactly how payment was made in this case. As stated, we didn't pay at time of booking until we clarified matters. We did however leave the bank card details and I am sure that was all done through the portal.
About 2 weeks later I received a text around midnight says my bank had reported a suspicious transaction. I checked the payment and it was for the accomodation so I authorised the bank to clear it.
Booking.com also sent a message at the same time saying that an invalid credit card had been used and I needed to add a new credit card to make the payment. They then had this message on my booking on their site until my telephone conversation clarified the position. 
To my mind I was dealing through Booking.com all the time especially as they notified me that there was a problem with my bank flagging up the original request for payment.

? 

In your original post you said

" I paid for the apartment direct by bank payment (I do not have a credit card)". 

Did you provide your bank card detail directly to the accomodation provider ?  Hence why your bank flagged the transaction. 

Unhappy_Traveller24

Hoenir said:

Unhappy_Traveller24 said:

mr_stripey said:

It is possible to book through booking.com but pay at the property on arrival so not all payments have to be through the portal. Have done this myself but not sure if this is the same situation here? Perhaps that is just hotels etc where you (can) pay on arrival (and presumably having established the accommodation is available to you).

Just remembered exactly how payment was made in this case. As stated, we didn't pay at time of booking until we clarified matters. We did however leave the bank card details and I am sure that was all done through the portal.
About 2 weeks later I received a text around midnight says my bank had reported a suspicious transaction. I checked the payment and it was for the accomodation so I authorised the bank to clear it.
Booking.com also sent a message at the same time saying that an invalid credit card had been used and I needed to add a new credit card to make the payment. They then had this message on my booking on their site until my telephone conversation clarified the position. 
To my mind I was dealing through Booking.com all the time especially as they notified me that there was a problem with my bank flagging up the original request for payment.

? 

In your original post you said

" I paid for the apartment direct by bank payment (I do not have a credit card)". 

Did you provide your bank card detail directly to the accomodation provider ?  Hence why your bank flagged the transaction. 

Sorry for the confusion, it was only after my original post that I remembered how payment was exactly made in this case.
I must have given the bank details at the time of the original booking because the only other contact I had with the property, upto the time payment was made, was to clarify if they could fulfil the booking or not and to amend the time we would be picking the keys up.
The communications were through the Booking.com portal on their 'contact the property - send an email' section. 
There was no direct contact with the accomodation other than through the portal.
Over 4 months down the line it is difficult to remember each exact step of the transaction but it seemed no different to the first apartment we booked (also through Booking.com) and had received a full refund within days of the booking being cancelled. 

Unhappy_Traveller24

Unhappy_Traveller24 said:

Hoenir said:

Unhappy_Traveller24 said:

Hoenir said:

Unhappy_Traveller24 said:

I paid for the apartment direct by bank payment (I do not have a credit card) and the cost was $2,450 Can (approx £1,500).

Why not through Booking.Com ?  Smells of a scam. 

It was through Booking.com but we chose to pay at a later date from when we booked it. 

Payment wasn't made through the portal though. The money could have been remitted to anyone's account. Nor would Booking.Com receive their agency cut if payment was made direct.  

Is the Apartment still listed? 

Just had a look and can't see the appartment listed at present.

Hoenir said:

Unhappy_Traveller24 said:

Hoenir said:

Unhappy_Traveller24 said:

I paid for the apartment direct by bank payment (I do not have a credit card) and the cost was $2,450 Can (approx £1,500).

Why not through Booking.Com ?  Smells of a scam. 

It was through Booking.com but we chose to pay at a later date from when we booked it. 

Payment wasn't made through the portal though. The money could have been remitted to anyone's account. Nor would Booking.Com receive their agency cut if payment was made direct.  

Is the Apartment still listed? 

Just delved a bit deeper to try to book through our original booking and it states 'We're sorry, but this property isn't taking reservations on our site right now'