Silent Auction villa dilemma

TravelWithPoints

I recently won a silent auction for a 1 weeks stay in an overseas villa which is valid for a year from date of auction. However, when requesting dates for availability there are only about 6 weeks available in the next 48 weeks. Am I able to back out of this having already paid given the limited availability? 

The company are now offering alternative villa's in same area for dates requested but one villa has additional costs and the other is a no go as it only accomodates 4 people (original was up to 8). Am I obliged to accept the alternative? 

Paid for on a Credit Card, not sure if Sections 75 would help me given such limited dates and change offered from the original villa. Any advice on this?

eskbanker

Was there anything in the terms that suggested (or even promised) higher availability?

S75 would only come into play if there's a breach of contract or misrepresentation, but may not apply here anyway, depending on who you paid.

sheramber

Did the prize details stste'subject to availability."?

Was it the villa company that ran the auction or was it a third party?

TravelWithPoints

eskbanker said:

Was there anything in the terms that suggested (or even promised) higher availability?

S75 would only come into play if there's a breach of contract or misrepresentation, but may not apply here anyway, depending on who you paid.

The company running the auction seem to be have properties they deal with regularly for their auctions unfortunately the terms were on the booklet I handed in with the bid (naively it didn't occur to me at the time to read that thoroughly into availability). I think the only misrepresentation looks to be the pictures they used in original brochure do not match with subsequent pictures they sent through of the property the next day. Would that count?

Appreciate the response. 

eskbanker

TravelWithPoints said:
I think the only misrepresentation looks to be the pictures they used in original brochure do not match with subsequent pictures they sent through of the property the next day. Would that count?

Unlikely IMHO, it's the strict legal sense of the term that applies:

What is misrepresentation in contract law?

A misrepresentation is a statement in a contract that

• provides misleading information which
• influences one party
• to enter into a contract
• that they would not otherwise have agreed to
• as a result of which they suffer loss.

https://harperjames.co.uk/article/contracts-misrepresentation/ - note that these are linked by 'and' not 'or', i.e. all need to apply.

However, as above, s75 may be completely irrelevant anyway unless you paid the villa owner directly.