Cross-posted from Travel: Any advice on where we stand with having stayed in a villa with multiple problems?

[ShitVilla]

Have NCed for this as could be identifiable. Also posted in travel.

Just back from a week in Spain in a self catering villa. The villa looked stunning, and would have been perfect if anything had sodding worked!

Anyway, after a week of multiple problems - toilets/showers/washer/dryer/dishwasher/cooker not working, problems with transfers, things not being as stated etc - it ended in two of our party receiving electric shocks from the water supply!

It turned out every socket had been live and any of us or our children could have been seriously harmed at any point.

So we will be pursuing the matter and feel a significant (if not full) refund is in order as our stay was so beset by problems. Can anybody offer any advice or point me in the direction of helpful sites?

I'm guessing that in the UK we could report the company to somewhere, but as the property is in Spain I have no idea on where to start.

Obviously, we can contribute damning reviews on Tripadvisor, Holiday Lettings, Owners Direct etc, but really we want our money back!

I'm pretty sure you can only claim for loss you've suffered. so if you moved to alternative accommodation because it was so unsuitable, you'd get that. Since you chose to remain in the villa, there will be a valid claim for any expenses you incurred for sending out laundry for eg, and then the vague heading of "distress / suffering" which is of course going to be the trickiest. You could have been seriously harmed at any point, but you weren't - you can't claim because you could have been. if it was a really expensive trip, might be worth incurring a few hundred quid with a solicitor who deals in travel claims?

Yes, we thought that too about getting legal advice Easter. And I take your point about losses incurred.

So maybe we are looking for a goodwill gesture from the company then. They've offered 10% off our next stay, in other words, we give them more money, HA!

Maybe we just get writing scathing reviews on third party websites where they advertise.

At the moment I'm scared that we won't get our massive security deposit back as I don't trust this company one bit.

Did you book with a UK company or a Spanish one?

Was this part of a package holiday?

Did you pay with a credit card?

It was booked through an email via Tripadvisor or Holiday Lettings, I can't remember which. I'm guessing their business is based in Spain, though the initial contact number advertised is a +44 mobile number.

Not a package holiday.

Paid via PayPal. I wanted to pay by credit card but it was PayPal or bank transfer. A quick google told me that this is a common arrangement for paying for private villas.

This appears to be a small company with maybe 2 or 3 villas. The owners are in UK but they have at least 4 members of staff in Spain managing various bits of the arrangements. Their email address is just a googlemail address, so not that professional a set up.

I've looked on Companies House and can't find the company name listed here.

bump for evening crowd

Legal cover or advice helpline as part of your household policy? That would be my first place to start

AHA! I hadn't thought of that! I'll check our policies, thank you.