Villa Plus refusing refund - could anyone please advise where we go next?

db3333

sheramber said:

The water in the pool smelled stagnant.

But usable as the owner’s family were using it.

If you saw the house they lived in, you'd know that doesn't mean much!

db3333

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Is the £700 offer still on the table, or has that gone?

I think your FIL has a choice.  Accept the £700 if it's still on offer, or try small claims court.  What he'll have to do is calculate what a reasonable claim would be.  12/14ths of the villa cost would be the obvious amount to claim for.

I'm not sure. He's willing to go to small claims so I guess that's the next step.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Hoenir

db3333 said:

 She told us several times that nobody else would be using it.

Was their property though. Wasn't sublet. They obviously weren't bothered by the water in the pool either. 

eskbanker

Aylesbury_Duck said:

As I understand it (others may know more), your father-in-law has 120 days from the start of the booking to make a section 75 claim on his credit card.  He's timed out if he hasn't spoken to them before now.  

The 120 day limit applies to chargeback, not section 75, but the latter won't be viable either if paying an agent rather than the actual supplier.

elsien

I do think you need to clarify with him what it means to say ABTA didn’t  seem interested, and how far through the different processes as he got.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

eskbanker said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

As I understand it (others may know more), your father-in-law has 120 days from the start of the booking to make a section 75 claim on his credit card.  He's timed out if he hasn't spoken to them before now.  

The 120 day limit applies to chargeback, not section 75, but the latter won't be viable either if paying an agent rather than the actual supplier.

Can't tell if they are a booking agent or not?

All products on https://www.villaplus.com/ are not an offer by us but an invitation for you to make an offer to us and our partners / 3rd party suppliers. We reserve the right to return your deposit and decline to issue a booking confirmation at our absolute discretion. If we are unable to accept your booking or there is any reason why we are unable to process your booking we shall return your payment immediately.

OP if they are like booking.com and just put two people together and the contract for the Villa lies with a 3rd party then that's who you have to chase for any claim and governing law may not be the UK (or rather E&W).

If the contract for the booking is with Villa Plus then they are a UK company. 

Best way to get an answer to this is to ask VillaPlus (unless you have, apologies if I missed this in the thread). 

If the contract is with VillaPlus you may wish to look at loss of enjoyment:

https://www.dekachambers.com/2020/06/09/general-damages-in-holiday-claims-a-recap/

Long read by covers the topic in detail. 

born_again

Pretty sure ABTA are only ever going to cover if company goes bust & they will then get involved in getting people home & sorting refunds for anyone not being able to travel.

Unless they paid by card, then they cheapskate & tell them to contact bank, forgetting that travel co's pay them for just such cases, but ABTA feel it OK to not pay out & keep the money (rant over)

db3333

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

eskbanker said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

As I understand it (others may know more), your father-in-law has 120 days from the start of the booking to make a section 75 claim on his credit card.  He's timed out if he hasn't spoken to them before now.  

The 120 day limit applies to chargeback, not section 75, but the latter won't be viable either if paying an agent rather than the actual supplier.

Can't tell if they are a booking agent or not?

All products on https://www.villaplus.com/ are not an offer by us but an invitation for you to make an offer to us and our partners / 3rd party suppliers. We reserve the right to return your deposit and decline to issue a booking confirmation at our absolute discretion. If we are unable to accept your booking or there is any reason why we are unable to process your booking we shall return your payment immediately.

OP if they are like booking.com and just put two people together and the contract for the Villa lies with a 3rd party then that's who you have to chase for any claim and governing law may not be the UK (or rather E&W).

If the contract for the booking is with Villa Plus then they are a UK company. 

Best way to get an answer to this is to ask VillaPlus (unless you have, apologies if I missed this in the thread). 

If the contract is with VillaPlus you may wish to look at loss of enjoyment:

https://www.dekachambers.com/2020/06/09/general-damages-in-holiday-claims-a-recap/

Long read by covers the topic in detail. 

Thank you for this. VillaPlus were the company we had the cotract with, we (naively) didn't realise they didn't actually own the villas themselves! That's who the payment was made to.

They're not like Booking.com, as I believe you pay the hotel separately when booking through them?

In all the documents they sent us before travel, they were worded, for example;

"Villa Plus do not provide any food, drink or cleaning materials as standard across our accommodations."

"We know how important it is to stay connected whilst you are away which is why we provide WiFi in the vast majority of our villas."

They gave us a full list of instructions, manuals, key safe code etc, there was no contact at all with the owner like we've had before with sites like VRBO.

We're going to contact the credit card company as the next step and see if we are able to make a section 75  claim. Then it'll be small claims by the look of it.