To ask for a refund on holiday cottage

[Livingmybestliferight]

I was supposed to go last weekend. Paid £500. I've rescheduled once and it's clear now that date won't be suitable either due to covid. There are very limited other dates available to change to. More at the end of the year but it would be cold then and activities that we planned to do given the precise location of the cottage won't be running. Owner initially said any rescheduled would have to be taken this year but even if he extends it next year I am unable to go due to other commitments.
I've emailed to cancel stating the reasons why which are out of my control (and his too I appreciate). No response yet after a few days. I don't want to have to go down the legal route (if I have one?) but equally I cannot afford to lose £500.
What do I do now?!

What do the terms and conditions say?

I’m currently in the process of taking my holiday cottage company to a small claims court for refusing to give a refund.

I sought legal advice, and on the legal section here, who all said I am entitled to a full refund.

I think it depends on their t&cs and whether they are classed as fair.

Tricky. I know you say you can't afford to lose x£500.. But if you had gone last week you wouldn't have that £500

Thankfully I bought insurance and am claiming through that. I booked with Sykes who have been utter pisstakers over this. Goodluck.

But if you had gone last week you wouldn't have that £500 but they would have enjoyed their holiday?

You can’t expect op to be ok losing £500 for a service she isn’t receiving.

I am having the same issue with Lakelovers - was due to leave last Friday - they keep changing the goal posts - makes me so mad. Especially as we been using them for over 10 years once or twice a year. Afraid that from what I can find out, if they offer you alternative dates your insurance won't pay you out.

You can’t expect op to be ok losing £500 for a service she isn’t receiving.

But this is different to OP saying she can't afford to lose £500. She has "lost" it already by spending it on a holiday. If she couldn't afford to be without the £500, she wouldn't have booked the holiday in the first place.

Threaten them with legal action, and I’m sure that will scare them enough to pay back your £500. Otherwise their £500 may escalate to many hundreds more if they have to pay court costs. You have to fight hard with these people.

@Livelovebehappy it will do bugger all of OP isn't entitled to a refund.

She needs to look at the T&C's. If it's a non-refundable cost then there's no recourse other than the goodwill of the owner.

@DartmoorChef

Can you just give me £500 for no reason too then? That's basically what op has done if she doesn't get a refund.

Of course she should get a refund. If she had gone, she'd have had her holiday. Why should she just go 'oh well' to having paid for a holiday and not got it?

I understand what @dartmoorchef is saying.

So if you order something and it arrives broken, then oh well you spend the money anyway so it doesn’t matter?

If you paid £500 for a car and it never arrived, then oh well you were still going to be £500 down anyway?

Did you pay on a credit card? If they are unable to provide the service you have paid for then they should refund you, and if they don’t you could make a chargeback claim or a s75 claim through the credit card company?

You're entitled to a refund op. Have a look at the CMA guidance which is extremely clear about consumer rights in these circumstances.

Even if they offer alternative dates you're still entitled to a refund, you don't have to accept the alternative dates.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/cma-to-investigate-concerns-about-cancellation-policies-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic/the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-consumer-contracts-cancellation-and-refunds

Well the terms and conditions say no but are they valid currently? If I was cancelling because I didn't want to go I would expect it but I did want to go I couldn't!

The CMA guidance says that you are still entitled to a refund irrespective of what the T&C say, if the service was not performed.

I would show them this guidance. You may need to pursue through small claims if they don't respond, or if you paid through a credit card it would be easier to make a s75 claim as a poster above suggests. Before doing this you should make attempts to resolve with them directly though.

(I used to work at the CMA although not on consumer protection directly)

If the terms and conditions of your booking say there are no refunds then unless you can prove the T&C's aren't valid I don't think there's anything you can do.

The link @ferretface posted is only helpful if you are prevented by law from travelling. Technically the service is still being provided and you have an option to use that service at another time.

You could take legal action but honestly I think you'd spend more than £500 fighting it.

You are entitled to a refund regardless of what any T&C say - it's in CMA guidance.

But I wouldn't expect to get it anytime soon.

Lockheart sorry but that is completely wrong. Terms and conditions are only legally enforceable if they are in compliance with the law. I could write a t&c for our campervan that we rent out saying the customer must pay me £50 for every remaining day of their life after using the van and it wouldn't be valid because unfair contract terms are unenforceable.

The guidance is very clear that you can be offered an alternative but you still have a right to a refund if you don't choose to take the alternative.

We were due to go on holiday this Friday - booked with Sykes - and are attempting to get a refund from them. Fortunately we always put bigger purchases on a credit card, so will go down that route if necessary.

No I would try to claim a refund of course. But if the item was a luxury then I couldn't rightly claim that I couldn't afford to lose the money. Like, I need that money for food or something. I've already spent it on a luxury.

The OP can afford to spend £500 as she already has paid it.

But it's not fair not to get it back if the service was not delivered.
I don't know if cold weather is a sufficient reason not to accept a reschedule.
But I would hang on for a bit longer before taking the next steps, he's probably dealing with a lot of these and perhaps coming to terms with winding up his business.

@Lockheart but holiday lets have to be shut to normal users at the moment, so the lettings company can't provide the service.

Thank you for the link @ferretface. I've just started arguing with our holiday let company about a booking for half term. Unsurprisingly they've said no. I can't re-book as offered because I can't book leave from work right now.