Booking dot com issues - how do I resolve?

[RotatingPenguin]

I'll try to keep this brief.

On 14th August I booked a 2 night stay via Booking.com for the 21st August and paid via PayPal.

The next day I got a message from the property to say they didn't know how I was able to book because they had closed indefinitely as of 11th August due to family illness and please would I cancel the booking. Perhaps stupidly I did as I was asked. I contacted Booking dot com and sent them the message I'd had from the property.

First they said it was a non cancellation stay so they would keep my £177 as a cancellation charge. I went back to the property to query this and they said they'd had confirmation of the closure from Booking.com. They contacted them.

On 24th August I got an email from Booking.com apologising and saying they'd refund the £177 within 7 -12 days.

Suffice to say that didn't happen and I've had several subsequent emails. Next it was 50 days then another 7 to 12 days... It is now November and still nothing. I have been into my Booking.com account today and the booking and the messages have all disappeared, so it looks like they are hoping I'll just give up. It's a lot of money to lose and I had to book another place to stay for those 2 nights.

I initially tried disputing it with PayPal but we were away on holiday at that point and I couldn't send them "proof" of what had happened so they rejected it, and obviously are now charging interest etc.

It's when you have problems that you find you also cannot phone anyone either at Booking.com or PayPal without great difficulty, which also doesn't help, as everything is messages/ email.

I would ordinarily at this point go to my MP but I have discovered that Booking.com is based in Amsterdam so I doubt he could help.

Does anyone know where I can go from here?

You should be able to ring if you have the confirmation number and code. I would do this.

Expect to be hung up on and told that they cannot hear you as a way to get rid of you. But persist and hopefully you will get a decent person at some point.

Booking.com are a nightmare if things go wrong. I have given up using them, other than a research tool now.

When this happened to me I rang them and spoke to someone. I can’t remember where I got the number, I must have googled it or it’s on the website.

They are awful. They have owed me £300 for several years now after a double payment that was not my fault. I just keep going round in circles with their "customer services". Ive given up now. Generally they work ok, but if there are any issues, you cannot speak to a human. And as you say, they are not UK based. Nightmare.

Agree with PP. Use them to research then book directly with hotel in future.

I did manage to speak to someone eventually but then got told to put it all in another email and thr whole process started again.

Booking.com are a nightmare. We'd never use them again.

As a side point, why did you use PayPal? A credit or debit card makes things much easier if there is a dispute.

I lost over £500 with them last year due to the Tube strikes and Coldplay having to change the date of their gig at Wembley 😡