Scammed via Booking.com - Florida Sunshine Breaks

RLH33

Thank you so much for all of your advice above, it has been really helpful.  

One query I have is who is my contract with?  If it is with Booking com then they have cancelled the booking so essentially it is cancelled, despite what the Florida Sunshine Breaks says.  Can I therefore use this as proof to back up my S.75 claim that the booking is cancelled and that I have not been refunded the money.  Or does the fact I paid FSB direct muddy the waters?  Or can I, based on my suspicions, just raise the S.75 claim regardless?

I have emailed booking com but they have asked me to ring them, I will get in touch but I feel that my best bet for getting the money back is via S.75 not them.

Therefore, depending on the answer above I would appreciate some advice on my proposed next steps ie whether they are correct:

1. I am going to write to the company and state that, if they don't reinstate the booking on booking com within 7 days I will treat the booking as cancelled, that they have misrepresented the booking and breached the contract. (they won't do this as I think Booking com have blocked them as a scam company but it will bring the toing and frying to an end as A_Geordie said.

2. I wait the 7 days then immediately raise a s.75 claim for misrepresentation/breach of contract with Halifax via my credit card using the MSE main website for guidance.  

In terms of misrepresentation, would this be that I booked and paid for the accommodation in good faith and they have misrepresented the booking as it appears it was not actually available to book and the website has disappeared?  Anything else I can add?

It's funny that when I spoke to Halifax they didn't give me any of the information provided above and basically put the onus on me, and all the risk, to resolve this issue!

eskbanker

RLH33 said:

One query I have is who is my contract with?  If it is with Booking com then they have cancelled the booking so essentially it is cancelled, despite what the Florida Sunshine Breaks says.

You'd need to check the order confirmation documentation that was issued but my expectation would be that the contract will be with FSB rather than booking.com.

RLH33 said:

In terms of misrepresentation, would this be that I booked and paid for the accommodation in good faith and they have misrepresented the booking as it appears it was not actually available to book and the website has disappeared?  Anything else I can add?

Personally I'd favour the breach of contract angle rather than misrepresentation - the fact that the website has disappeared after making a booking doesn't in itself mean that anything was misrepresented at the time of booking, and companies collapse all the time without this necessarily signifying that there was anything underhand about accepting bookings prior to that.  The fact that you paid and they didn't honour the booking should suffice, without needing to get into the weeds of exactly how that situation arose.

born_again

RLH33 said:

Thank you so much for all of your advice above, it has been really helpful.  

One query I have is who is my contract with?  If it is with Booking com then they have cancelled the booking so essentially it is cancelled, despite what the Florida Sunshine Breaks says.  Can I therefore use this as proof to back up my S.75 claim that the booking is cancelled and that I have not been refunded the money.  Or does the fact I paid FSB direct muddy the waters?  Or can I, based on my suspicions, just raise the S.75 claim regardless?

I have emailed booking com but they have asked me to ring them, I will get in touch but I feel that my best bet for getting the money back is via S.75 not them.

Therefore, depending on the answer above I would appreciate some advice on my proposed next steps ie whether they are correct:

1. I am going to write to the company and state that, if they don't reinstate the booking on booking com within 7 days I will treat the booking as cancelled, that they have misrepresented the booking and breached the contract. (they won't do this as I think Booking com have blocked them as a scam company but it will bring the toing and frying to an end as A_Geordie said.

2. I wait the 7 days then immediately raise a s.75 claim for misrepresentation/breach of contract with Halifax via my credit card using the MSE main website for guidance.  

In terms of misrepresentation, would this be that I booked and paid for the accommodation in good faith and they have misrepresented the booking as it appears it was not actually available to book and the website has disappeared?  Anything else I can add?

It's funny that when I spoke to Halifax they didn't give me any of the information provided above and basically put the onus on me, and all the risk, to resolve this issue!

Who did you pay, as listed on your statement?
That is where S75 claim is based.
So if it the letting co, then you can not use S75 against Booking.com.

A_Geordie

eskbanker said:

Personally I'd favour the breach of contract angle rather than misrepresentation - the fact that the website has disappeared after making a booking doesn't in itself mean that anything was misrepresented at the time of booking, and companies collapse all the time without this necessarily signifying that there was anything underhand about accepting bookings prior to that.  The fact that you paid and they didn't honour the booking should suffice, without needing to get into the weeds of exactly how that situation arose.

Wanted to highlight the last sentence above, which is somewhat misleading because to be successful in breach of contract you also have to look at causation i.e. whether the seller was the cause of the breach. You can't turn up and say the booking was cancelled and therefore there is a breach, job done. 

By way of example, the seller is claiming that booking.com cancelled the contract suggesting this was not authorised by the seller. They may have a valid argument to suggest they shouldn't be liable because that cancellation was outside of their control and the contract was interfered by a third party, so booking.com should be liable as the causative party to the breach.

At the end of the day, the burden of proof on a breach of contract rests with the claimant whereas in misrepresentation claims, the burden falls on the defendant. So why would the OP want to start with the hardest path to success? The OP can claim misrepresentation as the primary argument and breach of contract in the alternative. There could be many a reason why this may not be a misrepresentation but it is not the OP's job to speculate and/or assist the seller/s75 creditor in helping with their defence. 

eskbanker

A_Geordie said:

eskbanker said:

Personally I'd favour the breach of contract angle rather than misrepresentation - the fact that the website has disappeared after making a booking doesn't in itself mean that anything was misrepresented at the time of booking, and companies collapse all the time without this necessarily signifying that there was anything underhand about accepting bookings prior to that.  The fact that you paid and they didn't honour the booking should suffice, without needing to get into the weeds of exactly how that situation arose.

Wanted to highlight the last sentence above, which is somewhat misleading because to be successful in breach of contract you also have to look at causation i.e. whether the seller was the cause of the breach. You can't turn up and say the booking was cancelled and therefore there is a breach, job done. 

By way of example, the seller is claiming that booking.com cancelled the contract suggesting this was not authorised by the seller. They may have a valid argument to suggest they shouldn't be liable because that cancellation was outside of their control and the contract was interfered by a third party, so booking.com should be liable as the causative party to the breach.

At the end of the day, the burden of proof on a breach of contract rests with the claimant whereas in misrepresentation claims, the burden falls on the defendant. So why would the OP want to start with the hardest path to success? The OP can claim misrepresentation as the primary argument and breach of contract in the alternative. There could be many a reason why this may not be a misrepresentation but it is not the OP's job to speculate and/or assist the seller/s75 creditor in helping with their defence. 

Yes, fair points - I'd overlooked that there was still debate about whether the seller had actually cancelled so agree that it isn't yet clear that they've caused a breach of contract.

RLH33

Apparently from other forum posts on reddit emails are now bouncing, the website has gone and the phone line has been disabled.

To answer a question above, Florida Sunshine Breaks is who is detailed on my credit card statement so I assume my contract is with them.

I have therefore emailed them to point ou this has been going on over a month now with no progress and I have asked that they either reinstate the booking or give me a full refund within 7 calendar days or I will treat it as misrepresentation and a breach of contract.  Not expecting a response let alone my requirements to be met but I can at least then submit a claim against the credit card under misrepresentation and breach of contract having done all I can.

born_again

RLH33 said:

Apparently from other forum posts on reddit emails are now bouncing, the website has gone and the phone line has been disabled.

To answer a question above, Florida Sunshine Breaks is who is detailed on my credit card statement so I assume my contract is with them.

I have therefore emailed them to point ou this has been going on over a month now with no progress and I have asked that they either reinstate the booking or give me a full refund within 7 calendar days or I will treat it as misrepresentation and a breach of contract.  Not expecting a response let alone my requirements to be met but I can at least then submit a claim against the credit card under misrepresentation and breach of contract having done all I can.

Given they have not cancelled, booking.com did. 
This has got very messy & I think your CC, may just say wait as there is chargeback option. If you could get conclusive proof that they have ceased trading. They could start chargeback now on that basis. 

RLH33

born_again said:

RLH33 said:

Apparently from other forum posts on reddit emails are now bouncing, the website has gone and the phone line has been disabled.

To answer a question above, Florida Sunshine Breaks is who is detailed on my credit card statement so I assume my contract is with them.

I have therefore emailed them to point ou this has been going on over a month now with no progress and I have asked that they either reinstate the booking or give me a full refund within 7 calendar days or I will treat it as misrepresentation and a breach of contract.  Not expecting a response let alone my requirements to be met but I can at least then submit a claim against the credit card under misrepresentation and breach of contract having done all I can.

Given they have not cancelled, booking.com did. 
This has got very messy & I think your CC, may just say wait as there is chargeback option. If you could get conclusive proof that they have ceased trading. They could start chargeback now on that basis. 

Wait for what?  How can you get conclusive proof that a scam company has ceased trading, the website has gone, calls are not connecting and if I don’t receive a response then I’d say that was as much proof as I will ever get.  If it would help and if they don’t respond then I can easily tell them I’m cancelling and when I get no response, go for the s.75 claim.

born_again

RLH33 said:

born_again said:

RLH33 said:

Apparently from other forum posts on reddit emails are now bouncing, the website has gone and the phone line has been disabled.

To answer a question above, Florida Sunshine Breaks is who is detailed on my credit card statement so I assume my contract is with them.

I have therefore emailed them to point ou this has been going on over a month now with no progress and I have asked that they either reinstate the booking or give me a full refund within 7 calendar days or I will treat it as misrepresentation and a breach of contract.  Not expecting a response let alone my requirements to be met but I can at least then submit a claim against the credit card under misrepresentation and breach of contract having done all I can.

Given they have not cancelled, booking.com did. 
This has got very messy & I think your CC, may just say wait as there is chargeback option. If you could get conclusive proof that they have ceased trading. They could start chargeback now on that basis. 

Wait for what?  How can you get conclusive proof that a scam company has ceased trading, the website has gone, calls are not connecting and if I don’t receive a response then I’d say that was as much proof as I will ever get.  If it would help and if they don’t respond then I can easily tell them I’m cancelling and when I get no response, go for the s.75 claim.

Day after booking was for & then chargeback.

CC will want proof of co not trading, Not replying is not enough. or chargeback will fail (only get one chance)

Get this wrong & you stand a chance of not getting money back.

Speak to their team & see what they say. 

RLH33

born_again 

Day after booking was for & then chargeback.

CC will want proof of co not trading, Not replying is not enough. or chargeback will fail (only get one chance)

Get this wrong & you stand a chance of not getting money back.

Speak to their team & see what they say. 

But I’m going to go down the s.75 route as @A_Geordie mentioned.