Booking.com customer service

[asteclaru]

Back in June I booked some accommodation in Sheffield through Booking.com. At check-in I was asked to pay a £25 damage deposit, which I did.

It's now been 3 weeks since then and my deposit hasn't been returned, the property isn't answering my emails (3 emails sent so far that I know got through fine) and neither does Booking.com

It's not just the £25 that's pissing me off, it's mostly the fact that they are ignoring me. What can I do to get my money back? Would a chargeback (I paid on a credit card) be valid in this situation?

By the way, just to add to the infinite pool of wisdom that is TZ, the property in question is Harley Apartment Lets (which also run the Harley Hotel). If by any chance you ever need accommodation in Sheffield, I would steer clear away from them

[Captain Morgan]

Personally I’d give it five weeks. Not because I think you should have to wait that long but my thought is you can evidence the communication from your side.

Allow 28 days for the accommodations to advise you of ‘any’ damage requiring the deposit to be kept and a weeks grace. At five weeks contact the cc company explain you have contacted them multiple times and they have not responded and ask for a charge back.

The aim is to stop the accommodation folk from ‘discovering’ the communication about the ‘damage’ hadn’t been sent...

[Mr Curta]

Have you submitted a Booking.com review yet? If not, maybe tell the property manager that you are waiting for your refund before leaving one, but can’t wait forever...

[asteclaru]

Personally I’d give it five weeks. Not because I think you should have to wait that long but my thought is you can evidence the communication from your side.

Allow 28 days for the accommodations to advise you of ‘any’ damage requiring the deposit to be kept and a weeks grace. At five weeks contact the cc company explain you have contacted them multiple times and they have not responded and ask for a charge back.

The aim is to stop the accommodation folk from ‘discovering’ the communication about the ‘damage’ hadn’t been sent...

The only 'damage' they could 'discover' would be that the smoke alarm was disconnected : on the second night the smoke alarm started beeping as it was running out of batteries, so I called the emergency number I had been given at check-in and a guy showed up. His solution? To rip it out of the ceiling : I don't know much about building regulations and such, but I would think that was a bad move in itself

But, as I said, there has been no communication from the property or response to my emails so I'm not even sure if they know about the alarm

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Have you submitted a Booking.com review yet? If not, maybe tell the property manager that you are waiting for your refund before leaving one, but can’t wait forever...

Not yet and I would if they bothered to answer me

[Wolfie]

Get it on Twitter.... usually wakes people up

[LuBee]

Back in June I booked some accommodation in Sheffield through Booking.com. At check-in I was asked to pay a £25 damage deposit, which I did.

It's now been 3 weeks since then and my deposit hasn't been returned, the property isn't answering my emails (3 emails sent so far that I know got through fine) and neither does Booking.com

It's not just the £25 that's pissing me off, it's mostly the fact that they are ignoring me. What can I do to get my money back? Would a chargeback (I paid on a credit card) be valid in this situation?

By the way, just to add to the infinite pool of wisdom that is TZ, the property in question is Harley Apartment Lets (which also run the Harley Hotel). If by any chance you ever need accommodation in Sheffield, I would steer clear away from them

To suggest the obvious, phone the property...emails are so easy to ignore.

[Captain Morgan]

The only 'damage' they could 'discover' would be that the smoke alarm was disconnected : on the second night the smoke alarm started beeping as it was running out of batteries, so I called the emergency number I had been given at check-in and a guy showed up. His solution? To rip it out of the ceiling : I don't know much about building regulations and such, but I would think that was a bad move in itself

But, as I said, there has been no communication from the property or response to my emails so I'm not even sure if they know about the alarm

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Not yet and I would if they bothered to answer me

Sorry I wasn’t suggesting there was any, just suggesting how you might approach it to prevent them from claiming there was to retain the deposit.

[asteclaru]

To suggest the obvious, phone the property...emails are so easy to ignore.

Turns out phonecalls are just as easy to ignore.. the bar stewards aren't answering my calls either. No matter, I'm back in Sheffield in a few weeks (obviously not staying with them again). Let's see if they can also ignore me in person

[Jeremy67]

Is there a letter box?

[prexelor]

I was overcharged after a one night stay in a hotel where a deposit was taken (but not cancelled upon checkout) and the full balance charged again upon checkout. I did not check my receipt as I wanted to get to the airport for my flight home. When I arrived home I realised and emailed the hotel and no one seemed to understand or know what to do. I emailed my credit company and then informed the hotel they will be contacted by the credit card company as I am disputing the charge as fraudulent. Suddenly the hotel staff understood and addressed the issue.

[Geoff W]

Get it on Twitter.... usually wakes people up

Sad but true. The amount of shite we've had to deal with trying to sort out stuff regarding my father-in-law's credit cards and loans, plus British Gas, since he died suddenly and you get fobbed off. One tweet and all of a sudden you have people falling over themselves to help...or at the very least not ignore.

[asteclaru]

I was overcharged after a one night stay in a hotel where a deposit was taken (but not cancelled upon checkout) and the full balance charged again upon checkout. I did not check my receipt as I wanted to get to the airport for my flight home. When I arrived home I realised and emailed the hotel and no one seemed to understand or know what to do. I emailed my credit company and then informed the hotel they will be contacted by the credit card company as I am disputing the charge as fraudulent. Suddenly the hotel staff understood and addressed the issue.

Sad but true. The amount of shite we've had to deal with trying to sort out stuff regarding my father-in-law's credit cards and loans, plus British Gas, since he died suddenly and you get fobbed off. One tweet and all of a sudden you have people falling over themselves to help...or at the very least not ignore.

It's incredibly sad that you have to resort to threats for a business to stop ignoring you but it worked :

I have emailed them again today evidencing the times I have tried contacting them and telling them that I don't have any more time or patience to keep chasing them for £25, so I would just get the credit card company on the case and also write a review that reflects the way that I am being treated.

I had a reply within 10 minutes and they are sending me a cheque.

[prexelor]

I had a reply within 10 minutes and they are sending me a cheque.

I charged my bank £25 for making an error and £25 as my admin charge for writing to them, in addition to the amount that they overcharged me. They paid up.

[asteclaru]

I charged my bank £25 for making an error and £25 as my admin charge for writing to them, in addition to the amount that they overcharged me. They paid up.

The reply was from the hotel; that I would get my bank on case was written in the email I've sent them today. That seemed to get things moving

[bambam]

It's incredibly sad that you have to resort to threats for a business to stop ignoring you but it worked :

I have emailed them again today evidencing the times I have tried contacting them and telling them that I don't have any more time or patience to keep chasing them for £25, so I would just get the credit card company on the case and also write a review that reflects the way that I am being treated.

I had a reply within 10 minutes and they are sending me a cheque.

Sad you have to resort to that, but good to hear that you got it resolved in the end.

[Estoril-5]

I charged my bank £25 for making an error and £25 as my admin charge for writing to them, in addition to the amount that they overcharged me. They paid up.

That's great! Love it.

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