Booked a apartment for a short stay with online company. Most of the correspondence regarding the booking enquiry was over WhatsApp. Which I was a little unsure over but could see it was a business account etc so decided to proceed with booking, I made the payment via PayPal.
Due to arrive next week and I recieve a message regarding check in and details needed such as ID etc. I fill in the required forms as requested and get a message saying I now need to pay a (refundable) deposit of £300 in order to recieve check in information - this sets alarm bells off as it wasn't mentioned at the time of booking. Read through T&C's and says deposit of £150 for bookings. So I question the £300 and I'm told this particular apartment is not owned by them and they were not aware of the deposit amount as the location isn't booked very often.
It just so happens that the cancellation policy is 14 days and as we were due to arrive next week I can't request a refund. However they didn't notify me of the deposit - which is different to the amount stated in T&C's before the cancellation period was up.
I've now booked alternative accommodation (for less than the additional payment for the deposit), as I was worried even if I did pay the extra deposit that we would arrive and no one turn up. We didn't want to be trying to find accommodation once we had arrived. We have another event booked as part of the trip so we wanted to go ahead.
I have raised a dispute with PayPal, but im not sure if i have any chance of getting any money back. The way the company contacted me and the timing really felt like some sort of scam. To drop an additional payment which is almost 50% extra on top of the original booking fee just didn't feel right. Any advice if I have any chance of getting a refund if I'm unsuccessful with my claim through PayPal?