Canadian apartment cancellation

bagand96

Normally on Booking.com you provide credit/debit card details at the time of booking and then one of 3 things happens:

1) Payment is taken at the time of booking, processed by Booking.com
2) Payment is taken at a later date but before the stay, again processed by Booking.com - date of payment is made clear
3) Payment is taken at the property, the card details Booking.com take are used to guarantee the reservation and passed to the hotel/host.  When you get to the hotel typically the card is on file, or you can choose to use another card, or cash etc

I've not known booking.com to take bank details at the time of booking? Not even sure how that would work unless they were setting up a direct debit or similar, but that's not how they operate.

Either the accommodation did legitimately cancel and either they or Booking.com have lost your refund somehow.  Or it's a scam. If it turns out you arranged a bank transfer outside of the booking.com payment pages then it might be a scam I'm afraid.

You'll need to get straight the exact chain of events as best you can.  look back over your emails and all communications from booking.com and the host to see if you can get a factual timeline.  First things first - was it a bank transfer or card transaction?  Your bank statement should help here.  If it's a card transaction then your bank should be able to help with a chargeback.  If it was a bank transfer and you think it's a scam then also your bank should be your port of call.

Don't stop with booking.com either.  They have a help page with contact options https://secure.booking.com/help and I also found a dispute form here https://secure.booking.com/dispute_resolution.en-gb.html

Unhappy_Traveller24

bagand96 said:

Normally on Booking.com you provide credit/debit card details at the time of booking and then one of 3 things happens:

1) Payment is taken at the time of booking, processed by Booking.com
2) Payment is taken at a later date but before the stay, again processed by Booking.com - date of payment is made clear
3) Payment is taken at the property, the card details Booking.com take are used to guarantee the reservation and passed to the hotel/host.  When you get to the hotel typically the card is on file, or you can choose to use another card, or cash etc

I've not known booking.com to take bank details at the time of booking? Not even sure how that would work unless they were setting up a direct debit or similar, but that's not how they operate.

Either the accommodation did legitimately cancel and either they or Booking.com have lost your refund somehow.  Or it's a scam. If it turns out you arranged a bank transfer outside of the booking.com payment pages then it might be a scam I'm afraid.

You'll need to get straight the exact chain of events as best you can.  look back over your emails and all communications from booking.com and the host to see if you can get a factual timeline.  First things first - was it a bank transfer or card transaction?  Your bank statement should help here.  If it's a card transaction then your bank should be able to help with a chargeback.  If it was a bank transfer and you think it's a scam then also your bank should be your port of call.

Don't stop with booking.com either.  

Thanks for that
It was definitely number 2) on your list, Payment made at a later date and processed by Booking.com. That is why I received the message from them saying I needed to use a different card when the bank originally flagged the payment up.
I realise that my original recollection of the method of payment was because I sent a screenshot of my bank statement showing the payment, in an email to the accomodation, asking them to confirm that they had received it.
I have used Booking.com a number of times and nothing seemed different with this booking other than payment was not made at the time of the booking. However, my card details were submitted at the time of the booking.
I will use the dispute/resolution link that you have put up and also go to the bank.

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. 

Not as far as I know. I just followed step by step through Booking.com. At what point i entered my card details I can't remember but as I said, it didn't seem any different to any of my previous bookings.

bagand96

Unhappy_Traveller24 said:

Thanks for that
It was definitely number 2) on your list, Payment made at a later date and processed by Booking.com. That is why I received the message from them saying I needed to use a different card when the bank originally flagged the payment up.

If it was a debit card transaction then get on to your bank and request a chargeback. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/visa-mastercard-chargeback/#what

Note there's a 120 day time limit, hopefully you're still within that, get onto the bank today. Note the bank will want to understand what's happened and may request evidence, so again get everything straight in your head and use screenshots from booking.com