Holiday From Hell - Live

[Bartlebum]

Please help!

It's my nan's 80th birthday and we have arranged for 29 of us to come to North Devon for a weekend to celebrate. Arrived at 3pm to boiler faults in our cottage, no heating and no hot water. Immediately reported and the owner did not reply.

We have seven cottages in total and as everyone arrived we realised all of them are out, so we checked the gas tanks for the whole property and they are empty.

I have been calling the booking agent we went through who said they won't deal with this guy anymore as he has had nothing but complaints, so have terminated the contract.

As we paid them I have asked them to sort it so they said they will do what they can to get in touch with him.

It's been 2.5 hours and no progress. 29 people, two elderly, 7 children and one with a disability. I have asked them to find alternative accomodation but they said its not on them, it's on the owner of the property who is not contactable.

I don't know what to do. There is no one on site as it was all done via key codes. The owner lives several hours away in London, we are freezing and can't begin celebrating my nan turning 80 on what should have been an amazing occasion. We literally stayed here two years ago and had the most amazing time but it's changed hands and not been maintained to any standard.

Anyone been in a similar situation? I've been nice to the agents and I don't want to kick off but I can't believe they won't help me.

In terms of refund once you get back home..
You must complain to agent first. Once you get fobbed off, you go and do chargeback via card company within 120 days (credit or debit). If that doesn't work you claim on section 75 (credit card only, limits apply).
If that wouldn't be successful (it will) you sue the agent AND card company (jointly liable).

I'm excitedly on step 2 of the process atm.

Where in North Devon are you?
I live in North Devon and if you are nearby I have some plug in heaters you can borrow and wood.

Oh how lovely!!! 🥰

I'm so sorry your having such a shit time on what should be a brilliant weekend celebrating your grans birthday. Id like to hope the owner of the cottages is going to be forthcoming with compensation of some kind

Sorry for the shit time op. I hope you've managed to get something sorted

I was going to suggest this too , local people will rally round and lend you heaters etc if they can and probably bring you some wood too or help you get into the wood store. You never know there may even be some landlords with empty cottages that will let you stay in them, especially if you tell them about your vulnerable relatives .
Also as others have said, take as many photos and video as possible of all the grotty facilities to help back up your case for refund.

Okay I can't see all the updates but I will read them later. To update the owner blamed the cleaners for the lack of heating, water and pool, and the agent came through in the end and in the background agreed with the owners of a mansion in the next town that we could relocate there, and explained the situation to get it is for no extra cost.

I know that's the least they could do but they were between a rock and a hard place and didn't log off for the weekend and leave us like I feared they were going to.

I packed my weekends shopping into bin bags and am not sitting in the car piled high with food as it won't fit in the boot, being driven to the new place. I hope it's better as the members of the family with the electric shower we're not happy to move and kicked off a bit!

B R A V O

OP hasn't returned.

I was going to suggest that they share the location so that PP’s may have been able to provide details of local hotels/accomodation that they could contact.

how nice @SconeJam

With many agents they are literally just booking agents and your contract is with the owner and they will wash their hands of any complaint.

@Movinghouseatlast Surely this can't be right? If that's the case, what exactly is the advantage of booking through a booking agent,? What are customers actually paying for? A website and a booking system? Is that it? A website is useless if customers cannot be certain they're getting what's actually advertised on it. It's false information. How can customers be reassured that the property they're booking is even safe? If the person checking OP's property hasn't even made sure there is gas, a basic requirement, how can OP be sure that the whole property is safe? Are the gas safety certificates up to date etc? Are there working batteries in the carbon monoxide detectors?

It's absolutely outrageous that booking agents can make huge amounts of money from people booking a property in good faith, assuming that booking through an agent provides certain security and assurances, that the agent has done all the appropriate checks etc. How can they still advertise such badly-maintained properties? And STILL they take their money, saying the contract is with the owner? Disgusting.

WinteryConditions
It isn't true that you can't claim chargeback unless you leave the accommodation. (section 75/credit card or debit card chargeback)
There is so much incorrect information on this thread 🤦🏻‍♀️

@Movinghouseatlast
People have had chargebacks refused because they have stayed. I'm on quite a few Facebook accomodation owners groups and have read of this happening many times

I don't doubt that people may have been refused chargeback because they've stayed in the accommodation but you were still wrong to say that the OP won't be able to successfully claim section 75/chargeback if she stays.

thanks for the update and thank god you are on your way to another place! Phew! Please let us know how it goes. What an absolute palaver.

I think that's a good update?

Hope things improve!

Hope things look up op and you can salvage the rest of the weekend !
Good luck with everything

To be a able to accommodate 29 people at short notice on a Friday night is pretty incredible! I can imagine how awful the last few hours have been but hopefully this mansion will be amazing and you'll be able to forget about the stressful start.

What? Why did the family that had the electric shower kick off? How awful of them! I’d be booting them out of the celebrations - selfish

I was going to say the same: put it in writing (email and SM) to the agents and the owner (if possible) that, owing to their severe negligence in leaving the property in a reasonable habitable condition, as agreed, they leave you with no option but to smash up the furniture and take up floorboards to burn to provide heat.

I'm not saying actually do that, but you need to put the frighteners on them. When it's 'only' 29 strangers' holidays and comfort at stake, they - not being conscientious, honourable businesspeople - have no reason to care; but if they have reason to believe that it might result in thousands of pounds of damage to their properties, that might just make them jump.

Even if the owner sped on over to order you not to do so, you then have him on-site with 29 people to counter any aggression on his part and demand that he do something to provide you with the accommodation that he's had your money for. Block his car in with several of yours and video the goings-on, whilst you (calmly but firmly) tell it like it is and 'enable' him to find a solution.

I also agree that only refunding the full cost that you've paid them is nowhere near enough compensation. I really hope you get something sorted very soon. What a horrible way for everybody to be forced to remember your Nan's very special milestone birthday.

Agree. Let them stay at the cottages then. Some people are so ridiculously self-absorbed.

Everything crossed that the mansion is amazing and that your Gran has a good weekend.

So glad they managed to sort something for you OP, but how bloody stressful.

And ❤ @SconeJam's offer of heaters. So kind!

I can't believe the booking agents can just terminate the contract immediately like that while they still have bookings with them.

I know it's a little different but when I worked for a UK based tour operator overseas, we had issues with a few properties and we decided to terminate the contract but there was a long grace period which meant that we were still under contract for x amount of time which covered for as long as we had future bookings but no new bookings could be taken that would exceed the termination date, and UK booking agents were instructed not to promote the property.
Surely some similar rules apply here and they can't just shrug their shoulders like it's not their problem anymore when you paid through them.

Ah, cross-posted - wonderful to hear your update, OP.

I still wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him, but at least you have a resolution.

Hope you all have a wonderful celebration henceforth!

I’m glad you’ve got something sorted and hope you can enjoy the rest of your time in our lovely part of the world. Hopefully this bad experience won’t have put you off- most locals are kind and helpful.

Did you pay on a credit card? Or pay some of it (over £100) on a credit card? If so you're covered by the credit card provider.
If by debit card, then call your bank! They can raise a dispute and get you at least some of your money back to get alternative accommodation

Surely this can't be right? If that's the case, what exactly is the advantage of booking through a booking agent,? What are customers actually paying for? A website and a booking system? Is that it?

It sounds crazy, doesn't it? I'd have understood if it were 25 years ago and your only option was finding a central agent and sending off for brochures in the post; but now that anybody can have a website and hopefully use SEO so that people can find the holiday accommodation that they offer, where is the actual benefit if they're only putting you in touch with somebody whose website you could have easily found yourself, and who has not been vetted at all? Even worse, in this case, as he is known by the agency for being highly disreputable.