Aparthotel - apartment repossed

danielscott13 · 23 April 2018 at 3:47PM

Hi,

First time poster here.

My Fiance has booked an apartment in Liverpool for her hen do, the 30% deposit has been paid (via Credit Card) and she has been keeping up to date with reviews etc. Recently she has noticed a massive increase in negative reviews and horror-stories of people's experience with the company. The majority of people are saying that they never stay in the apartment they have booked (several different reasons given) and that they are taken to other accomodation that is just not suitable/adequate. We have also noticed that it appears the apartment she is meant to be staying in has actually been reposssed and sold at auction. I have contacted the company who sold the apartment who confirmed the repossession and whilst they couldn't say what the apartment was called, they confirmed it was from the same company and the address matches. They also confirmed the company is still trading.

We have tried contacting the company for days to find out what is going on with no answer. I have also contacted the credit card company who are unable to do anything at present. Does anybody know what our rights are in this situation? I have noticed the below quote in their booking T&Cs "*company name* reserves the right to refuse, alter or cancel a booking, even after the receipt of final payment. In addition, the business is relieved of all liability should the reserved accommodation not be available due to circumstances beyond our control. In such an instance, alternative arrangements will be made in similar accommodation or a full refund will be offered. However, no refund or liability will apply to a situation where a client is requested to vacate, or leaves of their own accord prior to the expiration of the booking."

Sorry about such a long post! Hope somebody can help us. I was unsure if I was allowed to mention the name of the company etc so I've not bothered.

Thanks,
Daniel

MothballsWallet · 23 April 2018 at 4:16PM

What's the company name?

danielscott13 · 23 April 2018 at 4:17PM

Thanks for your response.

They're called 'Off the Wall'.

MothballsWallet · 23 April 2018 at 8:19PM

Hmm, I've not heard of them - the only apartment company I know of and have used in Liverpool is called L3 Living.

Why won't the credit card company do anything at the moment?

danielscott13 · 24 April 2018 at 8:24AM

After doing a little more research, it appears that there is a man called Rob Ware behind the company and he has previous form for this sort of thing. He seems to have had numerous companied that do this and then disappear. The link below is all about him and while not the most reliable of sources, it adds to our worry that it's all fraudulent. Also, be prepared for some colourful language in the link!

pubchat.co.uk/rob-ware-owner-ware-apart-hotel-liverpool

The credit card company don't feel like they should do anything because if the company is still trading, there is still the likelihood that we will get some sort of accomodation as per the T&Cs we 'agreed to' when paying the deposit. I'm going to call them again later today with the further info we have found.

ThumbRemote · 24 April 2018 at 9:13AM

One possibility may be that the credit card company aren't doing anything because nothing's gone wrong yet. They may have to wait until the contract absolutely hasn't been fulfilled before acting.

It may be worth looking at alternative accomodation provision in Liverpool - perhaps get some details of places you could stay and keep them with you. That way when they do try and palm you off on arrival, you can make a few phone calls and book into somewhere else.

danielscott13 · 24 April 2018 at 9:29AM

Yeah I think that's their viewpoint. We just don't want to risk another £1000 to find out!

That puts us in a horrible situation whereby if we don't pay the remaining amount, we are therefore cancelling the contract and this means that we would probably lose the £420 deposit (remember this is a hen do and we aren't paying that for a normal stay haha!) even if we have reasons to believe we have paid for an apartment that they don't even own!

sheramber · 24 April 2018 at 10:31AM

Who own it now?

It could have been bought by the same person.

Our local cinema went bust and the property was sold back to the original owner for £1- only for them to go bust again.

danielscott13 · 24 April 2018 at 10:38AM

I don't know if I'm being honest. I was told the bank repossessed it and it was auctioned and sold last month for £705,000.

venmoreauctions.co.uk/auction-property.php?propertyID=8614790

I'm not allowed to post the full link as I'm a new member...

susancs · 24 April 2018 at 5:57PM

Just had a look on companies house and this guy currently has an active comapny withproposal to strike off at that address for the company.

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09008813

If you do a search of his name other holding companies are the same. Your OH should not pay the remainder of the balance and really should look for alternative accommodation.

danielscott13 · 25 April 2018 at 7:30AM

I noticed that when I was looking the other day.

Spoke to the credit card company again yesterday who are still unable to do anything because the supplier 'hasn't done anything wrong yet'. They also said that their hands are likely to be tied anyway because of the T&Cs applicable when we paid the deposit which are in my opening post.

Basically it sounds like we either write-off the £420 or pay another £1000 to find out if she gets the apartment (and we won't know until the day)! We still can't get in touch with the company to ask them what is going on!

Aparthotel - apartment repossed

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