Please help our holiday is in a bit of a mess.....

Highlandness

2007-07-18 08:54:57

1st thing cutting a long story short we booked through holiday-rentals as we decided to go it alone for our holiday. Initially we queried the property description as it was nearly exactly the same for all the villas the lady owned. We were assured that the one we wanted to book had the same facilities and decor etc... so we booked it asking for photographs at the same time. Its taken the lady 3 or more weeks to get the photographs to us after we had to chase her up several times and whilst querying something else it turns out we are getting a villa that is nothing like the original description. I now will be emailing her to request a refund but i doubt she will refund the money. Holiday rentals say there is very little they can do to help and she ahs altered the desrciption this morning. So i now have to madly try and find accomodation with 2 weeks to go, can anyone suggest where we might find some suitable accomodation at this late stage?

2nd thing is a popular car hire company. We were given a quote of 20 cypriot pounds a day for a polo for 14 days car hire in Paphos. After getting cheaper quotes we politely asked if they would match the other prices we had. In an email back to my partner thay have basically told us to piddle off and were quite rude about it which i am very disappointed given the recommendations on here. They were the only company to offer us car insurance to go to the north for a day so we will now have to give up our hopes of visiting north cyprus on this trip as after such a rude response from the company we dont particulary want to use them.

Its an absolute mess any suggestions for accomodation, or car hire or any other usuful suggestions we would be welcome cause at this point i am very close to just cancelling the flights and not going even if we lose the money. Its been a terrible upset and hassle

Edited by Highlandness 2007-07-18 16:15:41

Jinty

2007-07-18 09:45:26

What a shame and a worry for you.

I have dealt with a lovely lady who has some places, but they are in Limassol...........

Maybe some of our Paphos regulars can help re accomodation in that area.

As to the lady in Holdiay-Rentals, why don't you threaten to name and shame her on this site if she doesn't return your money? You could also tell her you will post a review on Holidaysuncovered. I would!

Cheers,
Jinty

fatcodycat

2007-07-18 09:57:38

Hi

sorry you are having so much trouble with your holiday - i dont really know what to say about the villa except maybe to phone ros fernihough whose number is often given out on here for advice as you are not getting what you have booked and they are refusing a refund. Do you have a copy of the original description and photos before she changed the description??

also petsas we booked a car with them and they completely messed us around by trying to drop it off a day before we had arranged and trying to increase the price from 140 CYP to 190 CYP as well as treating us with such a bad attitude (its a long story)- we told them (politely) that we would no longer be requiring their car or their services...we were very disappointed after the glowing reports of them on this site.

Hope you get something sorted its such a shame when something like this happens. Good luck!!

Highlandness

2007-07-18 10:12:05

Thanks guys

We only requested the refund this morning so she hasnt refused as of yet but given the hard line she seemed to be taking when informing us that the the villa was different i dont fancy my chances. She seemed to imply that she couldnt understand what could have possibly given us those ideas as to the facilities and ended the email i must check the website which she did to change everything so there was no record. We didnt print off the original unfortunately.

fwh

2007-07-18 10:25:44

Cannot help with the villa rental. Know nothing about them.

2nd thing is Petsas car hire. We were given a quote of 20 cypriot pounds a day for a polo for 14 days car hire in Paphos. After getting cheaper quotes we politely asked if they would match the other prices we had.

You asked for and received a quote. You then found it cheaper elsewhere. That is how life is - if you check round you can always find something cheaper.

The price they quoted included insurance cover enabling you to travel into the North.

The cheaper prices did not.

Cross border comprehensive insurance cover is not cheap.

fwh

Highlandness

2007-07-18 10:36:31

The quote wasnt including cover to the North that was on top of the 20 cypriot ppounds a day and yes whilst you get cheaper quotes elsewhere they did not have to be so rude about things. There is something called manners, its was only a harmless enquiry

Liakada

2007-07-18 11:10:17

Hi Ellieeh

So sorry to hear about your predicament.

It angers me that you have had such a bad experience with a private owner as most private owners (myself included) offer extremely good service and are able to offer personal touches that large firms cannot. Maybe the problems have occurred because it sounds like the lady in question is managing quite a few properties.

The trouble with websites such as the one you mention is that they are not able to check out the accommodation themselves. The owner just pays a fee and then your advert appears on the site. I would say that 99 % are probably 100% genuine and accurate but the system is open to abuse or neglect. We chose not to advertise on that site and have our own website instead.

I am also surprised at the treatment you have had with Petsas as although I have never used them myself they come highly recommended not only on this forum but also on others that I have been on.

Try Leo Opismos car rentals as we have always found him to be highly reliable, trustworthy and very pleasant in all our dealings with him. He does not have a website but if you want his e-mail please send me a private message and I will mail it to you.

Sorry that I cannot help you out with accommodation but there will be lots of available accommodation out there so I'm sure you will be able to find something suitable.

Hope you reach a satisfactory conclusion.

Viv

Jinty

2007-07-18 11:12:04

We didnt print off the original unfortunately.

Hate to say it, but looks as if you're shafted

Don't know if you can name the renter (Admin?), as it would obviously help the rest of the members to avoid the same experience.

Best of luck and please keep us up-to-date.

Cheers,
Jinty

Glynis HT Admin

2007-07-18 13:31:03

I don't think it would be wise to name the renter, especially as it appears they have now corrected any errors. Sorry.

Glynis HT Admin

2007-07-18 13:36:38

On the subject of renters (bit off topic but it's a bit of a whinge) I've been looking on the same site for our forth coming holiday to Algarve. We are going 31st August (Fri) to 11th September (Tues) and approached a few renters. Average price came out at £350 - £500 (penthouse £500) however, one lady came back with a price of £650 for one of the average apts. When I queried this (Thought she'd made an error and quoted € not £) she said the price was right as, I had booked a date in August she couldn't rent it for that week so she was charging us for 1 week at the August price and the rest as September price :shock:

I must say that she was the only person to do this from any of the many quotes we had.

Highlandness

2007-07-18 13:57:57

This is the thing you can so easily get a bad egg. I wouldnt name and shame as the woman has the chance to do the right thing though from her previous email i doubt she will but we can but hope. I may be able to get accomodation through another site holiday lettings but i am wary to book through such a big site again. This was the first time either my partner or myself had done a holiday DIY as it were, next time we will be going as part of a package tour to avoid the stress we have had. I've checked hotels for the two weeks we were looking at and most are coming up at over £700 so thats a definate no no......

Did try to ring thomson to see if we could cancel our flight but no luck getting trhough, i know we can alter the dates etc... for a fee but i dont think we can cancel them....

Jinty

2007-07-18 14:13:53

I don't think it would be wise to name the renter, especially as it appears they have now corrected any errors. Sorry.

Yes Glynis, they may have corrected the error but will they correct the misinformation that the booking was made on and refund?

So far I've done four d.i.y. holidays without any problems and its such a shame when this happens. Hopefully a refund will be received.

Cheers,
Jinty

jesmic

2007-07-18 14:21:14

Hi,
What dates and location are you looking for?

fwh

2007-07-18 14:33:55

I wouldnt name and shame as the woman has the chance to do the right thing though from her previous email i doubt she will but we can but hope.

There is a tendency for some people, when posting, to name companies and individuals, besides the use of inappropriate words.

If you have not yet done so may I suggest that you have a read of this topic
http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=100357 elsewhere on HT.

Our Mod/Admin team work very hard to ensure that postings do comply with the law.

By all means post with a complaint or comment, but do remember, whilst you may be unhappy with a particular situation, any derogatory statements you post could result in the closure of HT and your being required to defend them in a court of law.

I can assure you the term lying scumbag (which I have seen posted) would not be acceptable in front of a judge and would not help your case.

So why should it be acceptable here?

fwh

AskCy

2007-07-18 14:40:01

I think we all forget that although this is a medium for sharing views and opinions, its also public and can cause actual real world problems.

Highlandness

2007-07-18 14:46:26

Fwh i am not sure where i posted " lying scumbug" as you suggest perhaps you can clarify, i have not named and shamed the women cause that would not be fair perhaps you can tell me where i have done so....?

Jinty

2007-07-18 15:49:32

Think this is actually directed at me, as if someone did the dirty on me I would welcome the opportunity to forewarn other people.

However, of course I do understand the need to be exceptionally careful on an open forum and I certainly admire and respect the effort the Mod/Admin team put in to ensure all is complied with.

Can I ask tho, what is the difference in naming Petsas and not this lady?, still a complaint surely............

Cheers,
Jinty

Highlandness

2007-07-18 16:17:20

Yes you are right Jinty and i should have been more careful it was just that i know some people on here have had better experiences and i thought they might be able to help me but i see your point entirely and have edited my post to take out all names as i am sure the moderators have enough to do wihtout edting my posts.....

M___and___M

2007-07-18 17:51:19

Ellie, so sorry to hear of your plight.

Can I suggest you look at Villarenters - they have reviews from genuine paying guests, plus you pay by credit/debit card so you have some comeback. They're now owned by the Daily Mail group which owns teletextholidays.

Marion

edwardes.m

2007-07-18 19:16:02

elieeh wrote:
some people on here have had better experiences and i thought they might be able to help

Not wanting to sound smug but I've been using Petsas for years and have had nothing but excellent service.
I don't see how myself or others who have had good service can help.

All I ever do is email them with my itinerary and the car I want and they email me a price. What I don't do is try playing one against another by hawking my enquiry around. When I was trying to get the best price everyone got one bite at the cherry. Petsas seemed to be the best deal for 2 years on the trot and the service was excellent, so unless the price seems too high, or the service takes a downturn I'll be sticking with them.
I had used about 5 companies before discovering Petsas.

A word of advice; cheapest is not always best! I supply a lot of local authorities with goods and a phrase that pops up frequently is "best value".

Mark

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