Family Left stranded in France. Refund?

[sezzer87]

So last week booked a stop over on our way to Spain in France via booking.
The property owner sent the standard please confirm check in time. We confirmed and received message saying key code would be sent before the day of our check in.
We arrived at 1am (approved by property owner) and the key code hadn't been sent.
In hindsight I should have checked they'd sent the code before we set off, but as I'd be reassured several times it would be sent and I had her number, it felt safe to assume I would logon and just get the code and enter. Not to mention we'd be on the road for several hours, very little signal.

Upon arrival it was very hot about 38c, dark and scary and code hadn't been sent. Our daughter was very distressed and was literally throwing up. She has learning difficulties so doesn't respond well to challenging situations.

I tried to call owner..number not recognised. Messaged her on email and via the booking .com app. Pleaded for the code.
45 minutes passed and no response.
My daughter was crying loudly at this point so we had to move on in search of a hotel.
We finally got space in one so worry over at that point.

The property owner finally responded with a code at 3am. Then 45 minutes later resent it as the first one she'd sent was incorrect.

She is now refusing a refund and booking.com say she sent the code so no refund due.
We've also confirmed it wasn't a scam.

AIBU to expect the code on the day of check in and not to have to beg for it in the early hours?
Of course I made a big mistake not pulling over and checking earlier on it had been sent but I felt reassured by the good communication prior to this. That I just assumed it would have been sent to us before she went to bed at the very latest.

My daughter doesn't have autism. We travel a lot. She's very used to it. She's not used to being locked out of accommodation at 1am though.

But you chose to travel and arrive at that time - that’s my point. No-one forced you to and it’s so much more difficult to troubleshoot at such a late hour. Why didn’t you choose an earlier stopping point so everyone had a more relaxed experience on arrival?

Some posters just like a fight.

If you are arriving somewhere late, you expect to get in and go to bed, it’s not that hard. I can’t imagine arriving at a hotel and waiting at check in for 2.5 hours. This is the same thing.

They totally reneged on their side of the deal and need to refund you.

Things happen though.

But you should absolutely have got the check in code.

Everytime I've used Booking.com and know there's a code, I've worried about it until I get the code or have communication with the owners.

OTOH - I wouldn't want to arrive somewhere at that time as that's stressful in any situation - and it's hard to communicate any issues at that time.

A long drive to the South of France is stressful enough - especially in one day.

Hope you enjoy Spain.

I don’t think that op sounds dramatic at all. When you arrive at 1am and can’t get in to your booked accommodation and you feel intimidated by people circling your car on motorbikes, and your child is throwing up because of the stress and it is 38 degrees and the middle of the night. Everything does become dramatic.

No idea why the code couldn’t be sent during the day time, even if it was after the cleaners had finished. I can’t see why it was withheld
We have been on international flights and arrived very late at night and we have had the door entry code 24 hours before we set off from the uk

You deserve a refund. If you have no joy with Booking.com try raising it with one of the national newspapers which have designated people to help people get what they deserve. The ones they print are usually successful as the companies involved don't want to be seen as incompetent, uncaring etc with the general public.

Yes you are due a refund and if the host won’t due it, Booking.com will likely be useless and not refund it, then raise a dispute on your credit card.

I understand it you booked a stay for 23rd-24th August and got the code at 3:45am on the 24th of August after having to ask for it and then having to be resent it as the first one was incorrect.

I have also not been impressed by some booking.com air bnb type places and only use the site for bona fide hotels these days.

@Houseplantmad because we needed to travel that far so that the travel from there to Spain wasn't so long as we wanted to start our holiday. It was relaxed. We stopped had lunch, they slept. It would have been absolutely fine if we'd have been able to go in.
I've actually checked back on the messages and the first pleading message I sent was at 12:25am so we must have actually arrived at 12:20am or there abouts. So we actually waited a lot longer for a reply then I first thought.

Of course you should get a refund. You were denied every until effectively the next morning. You lost that night

Unfortunately we didn't use a credit card. We just paid for it on debit card.

So property owner promised to, but did not send code before your expected check-in time.

You then had to telephone them for the code when you did arrive, but the property owner had furnished you with an incorrect telephone number on which to contact them.

You then had to email them and hope for a response, all in the dead of night with a vomiting child.

After 45 minutes of waiting in the car, you felt, quite understandably, that the code might not now be forthcoming since either the property owner was asleep, or the property owner (with the dodgy phone number) was possibly fraudulent, so you found and paid for a hotel.

Yes, I think you are entitled to a refund, definitely.

Sorry - missed out the part where they sent you the wrong code!! Utterly incompetent and no wonder you lost trust in their legitimacy.

You should have received the code at check in time regardless of what time you intended to arrive.

I would absolutely push for a refund. This is totally unacceptable on their part.

If it’s a Visa debit card, you can still raise a dispute via your bank- most banks use visa debit cards. Check the card, if it says visa on it call the bank and raise a dispute, sometimes called a chargeback.

Here is a bit of guidance on your rights.
https://www.visa.co.uk/how-you-pay-matters/chargeback-purchase-disputes.html

You'll need to wait 15 days after the transaction has debited your account & keep all emails from booking.com & screenshots of all the messages with the host cos you'll need to send them to the bank

Thank you I'll encourage my husband to contact his bank. I think it would lie under the circumstances that we didn't receive the service we paid for. Worth a try. Definitely won't be using booking.com unless it's for a well known hotel.

Okay thank you for the advice

No, of course not

Why? The guidance doesn’t state this, what it does say is that different banks have different time limits. OP, I’d contact the bank on Monday to ask for advice & time limits applicable to your bank.

If I had a child who was likely to throw up from distress due to waiting around, then I’d make sure I had the code well in advance, YABU.

Not to mention we'd be on the road for several hours, very little signal.

You seem to have been on the road all day - and there is definitely signal on the autoroutes.

You didn't get the code during the day - that would have been worrying me, but you did have time during the day to get the code.

The owner should have sent the code - and I don't understand why they didn't.

But I would personally have been messaging during the day to try to get the code

Be wary though that if you chargeback, companies will often completely delete your account as it's against their ToS. Doesn't really matter if you don't have anything important on your account but I really caution people against initiating chargebacks on things purchased by their Google/Amazon/Apple etc accounts.

Well there wasn't the day we travelling for some reason. I know in hindsight I should have chased it up, but as I said the communication prior was excellent and I was reassured several times the code was due to be sent via email on our check in day. Never had issues with any other booking before. Part of the problem was I was the one driving and the booking was on my phone via the app.

Of course it’s relevant! If the issue around not getting the text in a timely manner was as a result of the phone not getting a signal, thats very relevant.
My comment is relevant about booking accommodation that they could get into earlier as the OP said she has a DD who has learning difficulties and doesn’t respond well to challenging situations. I’d describe planning to arrive at an unfamiliar place in the middle of the night in a foreign country as being very challenging!
All that being said, I would expect that they receive a partial refund for the hours they were unable to access the property.