Place was crawling with ants which we did not see until last day of holiday.

Seems to me that you were 'hit' by a sudden swarm of ants, and that can happen anywhere including the UK.

Peter

Sadly one of the risks associated with booking direct with an owner and DIYing your holiday. Sometimes the owners descriptive presentation of what they sell can be a little misleading!

That said, thankfully many are more honest. I would always seek personal recommendation when booking accommodation privately. If you don't know someone who has been there, why not ask the owner for a few contact details of people who have recently stayed there. An owner with nothing to hid will normally be more than happy to provide this information to you. They might not have been able to tell you about the ants - but might have told you how close the railway line was.

We have hired privately for a number of years and have always been happy with our accommodation. Last month, however, we were disappointed with our rental and felt we had been fobbed off with an inferior service. We had paid £100 as a deposit that was meant to be returned to us promptly after the keys were returned and the apartment checked for damage, etc. The renter did not even bother to collect the keys and we had to leave them with our taxi driver that he had arranged for us.

I am now wondering whether we will ever see our deposit returned because he is not responding to my emails. I do not want to threaten negative feedback or post nasty messages about him if there is a chance I can still retrieve our deposit (we have been home for over 3 weeks now).

Any thoughts/advice?

Jessica
I have a holiday home which we rent out. I think you have been treated very badly by the owner who should by now have returned your deposit. You have every right to give negative feedback. First step would be to contact the site the owner was advertising on. If it was a personal website check to see if there are links to a commercial site he/she is also advertising on. Contact them with your problem/disatisfaction. They will take action Im sure.

Dont give up. People like this give us honest holiday home owners very unwaranted press. Post his property on here !!!! With the words BEWARE !

Johngw

Thanks for the advice, Johngw. The property was listed on holiday-rentals.co.uk and he does have his own site but would he not be able to remove any negative feedback I leave?

Also, I am unsure how to contact holiday-rentals with a complaint. On first sight, it looks as thoughtheirs is a service to letters rather than renters.

I will give the guy a few more days to get back to me before publicising the person concerned because I feel he should be given a decent chance to respond. I thought of phoning the taxi driver, who was a lovely guy, to check whether the keys did get back to the owner.

Anyway, as you know, this is the ONLY bad experience I have had of renting privately. Usually we find our accommodation far superior to anything we could rent on a package holiday and it is often a home from home since owners do tend to use the accommodation themselves.

Hi Jessica,

I had a look at the Holiday Rentals website and found these contact details. I would definitely give them a ring or send an email. We don't use them ourselves, but I have heard that they do take any complaints seriously and will remove an advert if justified complaints are received.

Customer Support General Enquiries:
Tel: 0844 568 9969 (outside the UK: +44 (0) 20 8846 3444)
Online: http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/customersupport

Have you tried phoning the owner or sending him a letter if you have his address? I'm not trying to make excuses for him but he could be on holiday or ill, or having a problem receiving his emails. You could try phoning the taxi driver if you have his details. He may then contact the owner for you. I wouldn't worry too much about the keys not being returned to the owner. It's not uncommon for taxi drivers used regularly to hand out or take back keys.

I do hope you get somewhere with this. Keep us updated.

If you complaints are not addressed by the owner, tell them you will file a complaint at the local consumer office. This usually gets a response as they are most are not registered and not paying taxes.