Provence Holidays have cancelled holiday and now MIA with deposit- WWYD

[DaftWeeBun]

We booked a very nice villa for last year- I had a big birthday so we really pushed the boat out. Of course, it was cancelled because of COVID and after a discussion with the company owner, DH agreed to carry over the booking to this year. I would have asked for a refund- it was a lot of money but DH felt sorry for the guy and felt it was the fair thing to do.

Fast forward to this year and the balance is due to be paid but no contact from the company so I email them to be told that the owners have decided not to rent the property this year. I ask for my deposit back and they refuse saying that I now have a voucher valid until 2022. I spoke to someone at the company 2 weeks ago and their spiel was that they have no obligation to gave me anything because of COVID and how generous of them to let me use my money with them. Surely this is a different situation altogether because the villa we agreed is no longer available?

It was left that the owner would phone me back (2 weeks ago....) and nothing. Now theres no answer at all on the phone and you can't leave a message. Please tell me there's something I can do. It's not looking good, is it?

Their own T&Cs say refund www.provenceholidays.com/en/book-with-confidence

Maybe post on the MSE specialist board forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/travel-chaos-help-info

Did you pay by credit card, how much?

I take it they are in France?
Under the emergency covid rules brought in last year, tourist accommodation booked up to September could, under French law, offer a voucher against another holiday. Iirc this shouldn't cost more than the original (if same length and same season). If an acceptable date can't be agreed within18 months of the original date, then a refund should be made.

Write to them and get proof of posting stating what their Ts and Cs state and requesting they refund per those Ts and Cs within 14 days or you will take legal action to recover your money due to their breach of contract. You should be able to get a template letter before action from CAB. Did you pay by credit card? If so it is worth to your credit card company to inform them if the situation and see what, if anything, they are prepared to do. You might be out of time for the card company to act, but worth a shot.

Don't send letters that have to be signed for at the other end - it is all too easy for the intended recipient to ignore Royal Mail cards and it'll just take several weeks for the letter to come back to you.

If they don't refund you, take them to the small claims court.

Btw - they are registered with Companies House in England and have recently changed registered office address. Send your letter to their new registered office address and a copy by email to them too.

Thanks so much for answering. All great advice and I feel much better that there I can at least take some action.

As I understand the t&c’s on the website only came into play this year post-covid. I’m guessing that knew no one would book unless the risk was minimised.

For the original booking The deposit could only be paid by bank transfer in euros. I did think that was odd but only found out after the fact once dh had paid.

The email for rebooking said they had transferred the money to the owners but since they have subsequently cancelled, it makes no sense that they ‘can’t’ refund. The ignore ringing out without an answering machine is ominous and I had prepared a whole speech about how they would hope to be perceived versus how they are presenting.

I am in Scotland- hopefully shouldn’t complicate things.

Have you got a copy of the Ts and Cs which they were using when you booked? At the very least they should be able to provide those. If you wanted to pursue a small claim against them and they had refused or failed to provide those Ts and Cs then that would go against them.

Unfortunately a bank transfer provides the least protection of all when paying someone. However, there are still courses of action open to you.

Good luck with this and if they agree to refund you, do let us know. I would be tempted to post on their social media how unethical their behaviour is.