2/10 Terrible
Gary W.
6 Nov 2019
Liked: Check-in
Disliked: Cleanliness, communication, listing accuracy
An unpleasant experience
The property is very dated inside and not clean. We didn’t want to walk barefoot on the carpets, and the bathroom was in a poor state. There were also a lot of stairs that were not suitable for our children. It wasn’t somewhere we wanted to spend our holiday.
Having arrived late in the evening, we phoned the owner first thing in the morning to explain that we would like to look for alternative accommodation. The owner accepted this and said we could come to an agreement over the costs. After finding somewhere else to stay, completing our holiday and retuning to the UK, we hadn’t heard anything , so chased up the owner. He replied saying he would charge the equivalent of four and a half nights accommodation to cover costs. The breakdown of these costs were: cleaning (for before we arrived and after we left), site listing service fees, taxes, plus an additional (he claimed ‘small’) profit. We challenged this as it seemed a lot of money for the very short amount of time we were at the property. We made a complaint via HomeAway. The property was advertised as available for the nights we wanted, so why did we have to pay for the house to be cleaned prior to our arrival (as well as after our stay). We certainly didn’t leave the place in a worse state.
We kept communicating with the owner saying this was unfair, but he wouldn’t budge.
More than five weeks after leaving the property, the owner has finally refunded some of our money. However, after he originally said he would charge the equivalent of four and a half nights, we have actually been charged the equivalent of seven nights (we were only in the house between 10-11 hours), claiming the additional money was for (further) service fees. He has also kept back more money for cleaning. T&C’s are quoted, but when you buy a product and all the money is paid up front, but the product is substandard, there has to be recourse.
Speaking with HomeAway, it seems the owner didn’t amend the booking after we left, which meant that full fees and taxes were deducted. That’s not our fault.
We now have to consider legal action as an option to see if we can recuperate some money, but it is a hassle that we don’t want or need. If only people were more reasonable we wouldn’t have written this poor review. It’s a real shame.
One good thing, with all that cleaning going on, we’re guessing whoever stays in the property next can expect to be presented with a perfectly clean holiday home.
Gary W.
Stayed 10 nights in Sep 2019