How can I get my money back from Booking.com

[PlanetClaire76]

Hi all, posting here for traffic. I used accommodation in Nottingham that I booked through Booking.com. I paid for it using my paypal credit account.
The water supply in the bathroom was pitiful. It was very slow in the sink and stone cold. The shower was stone cold. As a result we could not have an adequate wash, shower, or wash our hair. The weekend was ruined.
The accommodation owners have not responded to my messages, nor Booking.com's messages. I tried to get a charge back through Paypal but they have refused. When you book accommodation with a bathroom there is an expectation that you will receive an adequate hot and cold water supply. We did not get this. I have argued this point with Paypal and they still refuse.
Does anybody have any advice on how else I could get my money back?
Thanks

@PlanetClaire76 can you charge it back through your credit card even tho it was PayPal it was still credit card presumably ?
saying goods not as described something like that ? I’d do that

Also learnt the hard way with Booking.com. Advertised as Guest house with private shower. Actually student shared house with one bathroom between 7 rooms. One chap pissed all over the toilet to really add to the experience. Booking.com did not give a toss. Spent hours trying to escalate but manager refused to speak to me. Emailed CEO ect. Nobody cares. Will never book with them again.

Show us the place you booked @PlanetClaire76 I live in Notts and im curious 🤣

Oooh how do you do this? Do you just screenshot the price/booking platform and email it over and ask the hotel to match?

To be fair, I've only done it once, I just told them what the price was.

I'd say you have pretty much zero chance of a refund. If you'd booked directly with the hotel you might be able to negotiate some sort of compensation, but with Booking.com they will just ignore you.

It's a pity the bathroom was crap but this doesn't actually violate the terms of your booking. So Booking.com are not liable.

It was 94 Friar Lane, above the cafe, up by the castle. Great location for going to the Olde Sal, but that was it's only redeeming feature. We normally stay at Park Plaza when we go to the Sal; but that weekend it was a minimum of 2 night stay and was really expensive. Think it was because Download was on

@MissCooCooMcgoo never again, we'll stick to the Plaza from now on 🤣
Like a pp said, if I'd wanted the camping experience we'd have booked one. Hot and cold water should be a given if you've booked a room with private bathroom. Lesson learned, not using Booking.com again!

We managed to get our money back for a scam booking with them but only when we took out a County Court claim. It's easy to do - you pay a smallish charge. You must give a contact address for them which is hard to find but, as long as you have an address in the UK (any will do), that's sufficient. They won't respond within the timeframe, the Court will automatically rule in your favour and THEN they will pay up. I always resolve disputes of this kind via a County Court claim. Make sure you document all your contact with them and upload that along with the form. You should write a formal notice of resolution first (via their complaints email if they have one) and give them a deadline to respond. When they don't, you submit your County Court claim. Job done.

I wouldn't expect a full refund but I'd expect some. To say you only pay for accommodation is ridiculous. Hot water , electricity, gas and so on are all part of the accommodation. Being able to wash in hot water is pretty basic.

I had a nightmare with a refund from booking.com and that was when the hotel agreed to the refund and sent the money back to booking.com!! Ended up going down bank charge back route when I sent the emails from the hotel saying they had sent the money to booking.com. It took several months and loads of phone calls. I will never book with booking.com again.

Tell them you you have sought legal advise and that you are taking them to the small claims court. I'm sure they"ll reimburse you quick enough then to avoid the hassle and bad publicity

Exactly! When you tell them you are taking them to court, 99% sure they wiĺl pay up..great post & great advise

The Op gave them a one star review on 24th June so job done. That review joins the many hundreds of other low score reviews that can be read before you even book. Prices to sleep 2 people seem to range on average from £59 to £99 a night and 20% of that goes in commission to the booking agent. The Op needs to manage her expectations for that price when past reviews have already moaned. It’s obviously a place to literally just crash out. Honestly can’t understand why energy would be wasted trying to claim a tiny refund afterwards.

Even in a small claims court you wouldn’t get a full refund. She ate the steak. She slept there, used the home, she’ll probably get 20% if she is lucky for the inconvenience of having no hot water. Not worth the hassle.

I didn't have high expectations of the property. I know it's just a place to crash. I had read the reviews and I never saw any pointing to a lack of hot water.
The reviews mainly were about noise and cleanliness. It was quite clean to be fair and it wasn't that noisy. I paid £142 so you would expect hot water for that price.
I'm not going down the small claims route. Paypal won't help. Will just never use Booking.com again.

Don't have to- just tell them you are, that should be enough. Of course you should have had hot water, that's just the basics. These shitty places shouldn't be allowed to do business

try Complaining Cow, she is brilliant on consumer rights

I have to say we are in the minority but they were great with us when the owner pulled the booking at the last minute with a cock and bull excuse. Booking.com upgraded us quite significantly and within a few hours to another place of our choosing and paid most of the difference.

Good luck. We once got a fraudulent payment back from Booking.com but it took a while and was a real struggle. PayPal is notoriously difficult to get refunds from. The combination of Booking.com and PayPal will make it very difficult in my experience.

If you stay.. to quote judy judge you ate the steak. You wont get the money back because you used the service.

This sounds like an unacceptable service, apalling in fact. The person who quoted the Consimer Crefut Act wss helpful. You could contact You and Yours Consumer prog on BBC Radio 4, and let Booking . Com you're doing that.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1YnZrF9w7xR82St8d7Pgc6x/contact-you-yours

This is why I would only pay by credit card for this sort of thing

I think they are hopeless. I don't book with them anymore. Do they have a CEO you can write to? People used to do that a lot at one time.

You won’t get it , to get a full refund in accommodation you would need to have not stayed there .you cannot have a full refund in a service that was supplied .