Holiday security/damage deposit

pops_and_mags

Hello all, I'm wondering if anyone can help please, on an issue I am having with a holiday park owner who has taken more than what we agreed as the pre-authorisation security/damage deposit for something that we did not do.

My Husband and I booked a 3 night stay at a lodge (in the UK) and were asked to supply a card on arrival so they could hold a £100 security deposit in case of any damages. Foolishly I used my bank card instead of my credit card (won't do that again). We had a really nice stay until I got an email on the day that we returned home to say they believed we had swapped their hoover for another one, of the same make but a different size, which was "full of sand and had a mouldy filter", and have therefore deducted £150 from my account. We did not do this as a) it would have meant we knew what hoovers they used and would have purposefully taken a hoover with us, or b) we used at least 3 1/2 hours of our 3 day break to travel home and back to get the hoover, which is none nonsensical. We are therefore taking the necessary action to clear our names and get the money back (small claims route) however my query is, are they entitled to have taken more than what I agreed as the security deposit without discussing/requesting this from me first? Surely they should only be able to hold the £100 that we agreed? The T's & C's that I signed did not say that they could do this and it feels very wrong that they could basically deduct whatever amount they chose from my account. I also feel £150 is not proportionate to what they have said has happened, i.e. surely the filter could have just been cleaned or changed but they have charged us as if they need a new hoover! I am preparing for our court hearing (they are not interested in settling) and I would like to add these points to our case. Any advice on this gratefully received!

sheramber

They claimmthe hoover was swopped for a different size. ( I wonder how many of thier ghuests tke a hoover on nholiday with htem?)

Cleaning the filter wouldn'tchange it back to the original size

born_again

In terms of the security deposit, they can charge whatever it costs to fix the issue.
£100 is simply the amount they auth against your card.

Aylesbury_Duck

I don't think the amount will change the court outcome, whether it's £100 or £150.  I presume you're claiming the £150, and the court will simply decide on the balance of probabilities whether you are owed the money back or not.

Grumpy_chap

pops_and_mags said:

Hello all, I'm wondering if anyone can help please, on an issue I am having with a holiday park owner who has taken more than what we agreed as the pre-authorisation security/damage deposit for something that we did not do.

My Husband and I booked a 3 night stay at a lodge (in the UK) and were asked to supply a card on arrival so they could hold a £100 security deposit in case of any damages. Foolishly I used my bank card instead of my credit card (won't do that again). We had a really nice stay until I got an email on the day that we returned home to say they believed we had swapped their hoover for another one, of the same make but a different size, which was "full of sand and had a mouldy filter", and have therefore deducted £150 from my account. We did not do this as a) it would have meant we knew what hoovers they used and would have purposefully taken a hoover with us, or b) we used at least 3 1/2 hours of our 3 day break to travel home and back to get the hoover, which is none nonsensical. We are therefore taking the necessary action to clear our names and get the money back (small claims route) however my query is, are they entitled to have taken more than what I agreed as the security deposit without discussing/requesting this from me first? Surely they should only be able to hold the £100 that we agreed? The T's & C's that I signed did not say that they could do this and it feels very wrong that they could basically deduct whatever amount they chose from my account. I also feel £150 is not proportionate to what they have said has happened, i.e. surely the filter could have just been cleaned or changed but they have charged us as if they need a new hoover! I am preparing for our court hearing (they are not interested in settling) and I would like to add these points to our case. Any advice on this gratefully received!

That is truly bizarre!

I think what you are saying is that you went to a self-catering holiday lodge in which there was a vacuum cleaner available.
That was a brand X model BIG vacuum cleaner.
It is now claimed that when you vacated the lodge, you took the brand X model BIG vacuum cleaner with you, but left a brand X model SMALL vacuum cleaner that you either conveniently had in the car (pre-meditated vacuum cleaner exchange), or conveniently had one at home which you popped back to collect (opportunistic vacuum cleaner exchange).

Was there a check-in inventory and check-out inventory at the lodge?

I was wondering whether chargeback could be an option but a resident expert on that subject has already commented in this thread and not mentioned it so I assume that option is not viable.

DullGreyGuy

pops_and_mags said:

Hello all, I'm wondering if anyone can help please, on an issue I am having with a holiday park owner who has taken more than what we agreed as the pre-authorisation security/damage deposit for something that we did not do.

My Husband and I booked a 3 night stay at a lodge (in the UK) and were asked to supply a card on arrival so they could hold a £100 security deposit in case of any damages. Foolishly I used my bank card instead of my credit card (won't do that again). We had a really nice stay until I got an email on the day that we returned home to say they believed we had swapped their hoover for another one, of the same make but a different size, which was "full of sand and had a mouldy filter", and have therefore deducted £150 from my account. We did not do this as a) it would have meant we knew what hoovers they used and would have purposefully taken a hoover with us, or b) we used at least 3 1/2 hours of our 3 day break to travel home and back to get the hoover, which is none nonsensical. We are therefore taking the necessary action to clear our names and get the money back (small claims route) however my query is, are they entitled to have taken more than what I agreed as the security deposit without discussing/requesting this from me first? Surely they should only be able to hold the £100 that we agreed? The T's & C's that I signed did not say that they could do this and it feels very wrong that they could basically deduct whatever amount they chose from my account. I also feel £150 is not proportionate to what they have said has happened, i.e. surely the filter could have just been cleaned or changed but they have charged us as if they need a new hoover! I am preparing for our court hearing (they are not interested in settling) and I would like to add these points to our case. Any advice on this gratefully received!

The £100 isnt a cap on the liability, it's just a sensible amount based on their experience. If you caused no damage, didnt charge anything to the room then nothing would be charged, bit you emptied of absolutely everything then they'd be charging you a lot more than both £100 or £150. 

They equally haven't implied you knew what make/model of vac they provided... if you had intended to steal there's and leave your broken one it would simply be a happy coincidence if they were the same brand. You could still have done the same if it was a totally different brand.

You haven't provided a copy of the terms but they would normally include that you are liable for damages to the room or items that go missing from the room. They'd have explained that they are keeping the card on file to allow them to charge for such losses and that was the basis on which you gave the details on checkin 

born_again

Grumpy_chap said:

Was there a check-in inventory and check-out inventory at the lodge?

I was wondering whether chargeback could be an option but a resident expert on that subject has already commented in this thread and not mentioned it so I assume that option is not viable.

Sadly no chargeback option

My 1st thought was cleaners will have swapped them round given the state that it was in. OP made no mention if they used it or not?

pops_and_mags

Hi all, thank you for the comments on this. I am surprised that they can charge what they see fit to cover the 'damages' but if that is the case then that satisfies that query for me. We are claiming the full £150 plus court costs as we did not do what they have accused us of, which is basically theft in my mind. We didn't use the hoover during our stay although we did see it when we arrived and we're familiarising ourselves with the property.

They have also said it had sand in it and they don't have any sand on site which is why they know it is not their hoover, however their welcome booklet said that the hot tub can sometimes pull sand through as it is filled from water from a borehole on site. We didn't have that issue but it does goes against what they are saying. They also initially said that all their hoovers are marked with an infrared pen, which is also why they know its not their hoover, but they've not use that 'defence' since so I can only assume they said that to get us to back down. They have confirmed that they do have different sized hoovers in their lodges, but the size that was in our lodge wasn't the right size for that lodge. Inventory wise, they haven't provided any copies of inventories but have just said what their cleaners did (two different cleaners) during their cleaning both prior and post our stay. They also have provided photos of the mouldy hoover with some sand in. What I do find surprising is that they are not proposing to call either of the cleaners as witnesses!

We are so disappointed to be going through this and I just hope that we get the right outcome.