Unable to get a refund from hotel booked through booking.com

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JimmyCorkhill said:
The statement doesn’t show the currency is the problem
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Yeah, I never noticed that before but on checking my PTSB statement I can see that it doesn't specify that transactions are in € or that the account as a whole is a € account. And I guess that the IE IBAN doesn't imply this either - e.g. I guess that you could have an account with an IE IBAN that is denominated in a currency other than €? So there's actually nothing on the statement to show that the numbers listed are € denominated.
 
I had an issue recently, where a property cancelled on me with short notice(booked through booking.com) even though I had already paid in advance.
Booking.com resolved the issue very well but it did take a number of attempts.
Booking.com allowed me to book another similar property slightly more expensive, and booking.com refunded me the cost of the higher price property.
The call centre were helpful in advising the next steps, but I needed to send several emails to actually get the refund.
The emails kept coming back "pls show me the receipt, "please show me details & duration" "pls show me xyz".

After several attempts I sent a complaint email saying how dissatisfied I was as I had sent all the required info several times. This final email seemed to do the trick. Maybe one last summary complaint email stating you have already supplied all the info might be worthwhile.
 
You can find many of their senior management email addresses online. I found a Cc'ing dozen of so of them managed to get a response from an agent. They are hopeless to deal with.
 
Landscape said:
After several attempts I sent a complaint email saying how dissatisfied I was as I had sent all the required info several times. This final email seemed to do the trick. Maybe one last summary complaint email stating you have already supplied all the info might be worthwhile.
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Thanks, was there an address you sent the email complaint to? The email address I have been asked to email is basically my booking.com booking reference @my.booking.com so they only seem to check the inbox when I phone them.

Towger said:
You can find many of their senior management email addresses online. I found a Cc'ing dozen of so of them managed to get a response from an agent. They are hopeless to deal with
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Ok, I will have a look for them.
 
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Ptsb are very wrong to say that a chargeback can't be done.
The visa/MasterCard chargeback system is like an insurance policy and it's based on the time of transaction.

Think of when a company goes into liquidation - chargebacks are still valid.

So ignore what they say, simply initiate the chargeback. Also don't mention that the hotel "claims" not to have a card machine - it has nothing to do with your claim.
 
Just having a look at the confirmation email at the time of booking and the booking mentions I will be charged a prepayment of the price of the reservation in the 5 days before arrival.

However, I was charged the full amount of the booking at the time of booking. I probably have another reason to go after either/both the property and booking.com
 

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peemac said:
Ptsb are very wrong to say that a chargeback can't be done.
The visa/MasterCard chargeback system is like an insurance policy and it's based on the time of transaction.
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Their comment to me, now again, it’s a customer service advisor who across the board I find are of a mixed standard of knowledge said it could be unsuccessful because the property charged my card and are saying they are unable to refund me as they no longer use a card POS system.

I initiated the chargeback regardless, maybe he was trying to temper my expectations!
 
I’ve looked at my foreign EU bank statement, the transactions don’t have euro on them, but where the IBAN is has EUR on it. Because I’ve been to the UK I checked and the end of the statement shows the amount in pounds, exchange rate and what it is in Euro all clearly outlined.
 
Bank of Ireland does not mention Euro on the statements. But on the online account it has the Euro symbol when you open the website with the account balances. AIB statements have the EURO symbol at the top of the statements.
 
JimmyCorkhill said:
Thanks, was there an address you sent the email complaint to? The email address I have been asked to email is basically my booking.com booking reference @my.booking.com so they only seem to check the inbox when I phone them.
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Looking back now, I see I started the correspondence through the booking.com app. Booking.com then emailed me about the issue. I used that email address for the rest of my correspondence. The email address is quite obscure and might be specific to my case ?

30 odd string of alphanumeric characters followed by @support.booking.com.
 
I would absolutely slate Booking.com on Trust Pilot, and Google, for not helping you resolve this.

My view is that I would also be taking the action against Booking.com, at The Small Claims Court. They don't want to risk a judgement against them...
 
OP here, to give an update.
1. There is a euro refund amount pending on my booking.com wallet which is essentially a credit that I could withdraw if moved from pending rewards to credit. However, having phoned them about the refund and spending the obligatory 45 mins while the CSR goes and check with others in there, I am still being told I won’t be refunded till I can show proof of payment with the euro amount clearly shown on a bank statement.

2. This morning I sent a Letter Before Action requesting a refund from the property via email (a pdf letter attached), giving the background and requesting payment within 7 days from today’s date before I go down the UK small claims court route. I also sent the same letter by registered post to two addresses in the UK I could find for the company. €16 per letter for registered post is criminal btw.
The property replied to my email saying the amount has been refunded to me by booking.com which is not true.

3. Conor Pope has not replied to my request for help.

4. Booking.com don’t seem to reply to reviews on google or trust pilot, so as of yet I haven’t left a review there.

5. I next plan to send a similar letter to booking.com in the Netherlands with proof of the efforts I have made in relation to statements snd screenshots, replicated by an email but an email will likely go to some generic customer service email address. I will look to go down the small claims court route in Ireland against booking.com before going down the European small claims court, possibly in tandem.
 
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