you rent a vacation home on the ocean. Like unobstructedly on the waterfront, 180 degree views from every room. Secluded. Nice place. Fireplace, hot tub on the water. Romantic. Not crazy expensive, but a splurge for you. Paid in full at time of booking. You arrive after driving 6 hours to find out they double booked the rental, meaning they took both your money, and someone else's money, and the other folks are in the house.

they put you in another rental, which is just a regular house on the edge of town, near the ocean but not on it, no view, no firecplace, etc. Downgrade. The house is clean and well appointed, but has problems with heat (norcal coast - its cold) and hot tub (dirty and only half full).

you stay, because what else are you gonna do. duke it out a little on the front end, but basically are told you have to wait to deal with their customer care team or whatever. have an awesome time, in spite of the house.

after your stay the customer care folks are cagey and hard to deal with. You angle for a full refund, not expecting one necessarily, but as a starting negotiating position. Later suggest they take the true cost of the stay, housekeeping, shared costs like electric and water, so maybe $100 total, and refund the rest.

After many back and forths, they offer you $100 total for your troubles.

There are more details I could include, but that's the long and short of it. Is expecting something more substantial realistic? Worth the fight?

Yall make the call?

i love to avoid conflict, but that's some bullshit

for starters get the difference on the pricing of the two properties, after that it would not be unreasonably to ask for 50% off the price of the lesser rental for your troubles.

most business don't like giving money back ones they have it in their books. See if you can
negotiate for a return visit in the unit you had paid for at a substantially discounted price.
_____________________________________________________
miserable niggas yo
cant let nobody have nothing
"god save the queen pip pip cheerio tea time princess di" ass niggas (c)white desus

I know you were looking forward to it and did the 6 hour drive already, but i would have given the impression that i was prepared to leave with a full refund + expectation of something for the return visit for my troubles.

Why couldn't you talk to the customer care people before you agreed to anything else? that sounds like some bs right there to me.

If they had another available property, they weren't making any cake off it anyway. I would have argued for that spot complimentary, with a full refund.

If you start throwing around negative internet reviews, people start being cooperative.

they offered me a full refund to leave, but it was night, i was far, and i clearly wasnt going anywhere

i pushed the issue of dealing with it more up front, but they simply wouldn't budge, their follow up team only corresponds by email (crazy), which I challenged via manager etc, but they weren't moving off that

they didnt have anything else to offer pre stay, either leave and take your money, or stay at this other spot. anything else had to go through customer care via email

the night at the other place while i tried to see what my other options were...what other rental homes, hotels were in the area even though it may not have been what you originally planned. If you paid with someone like AMEX, they would have refunded you your money if the new place wasn't up to your standards.

between what you paid and what the house you stayed in would have cost for the week. house #2 rents for significantly less than the waterfront nice ass house.

i think aiming for a free or substantially reduced rate for a future date at the nice beach house is a good idea too.

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The first thing the credit card company will do is check the companies refund policy.. if it states they can put you up somewhere else then you just came up short.


i hope you took pictures of what you said.. call the Customer service department and tell them you will post pictures and review on Twitter and Facebook... and Yelp them...

most of the time they will escalate you to someone that can do a little more for you...

plus he *did* stay in the substitute place.

i mean it's worth a shot but i don't know how solid of an option it is.

of chargebacks in a set period of time, then your processing fee rates will go up.

a lot of merchants hear that word and quake in their boots. not so much

because of the threat of the money getting refunded, but the rates.

and that email-only scenario is ridiculous.

you should send carrier pigeons.

>and that email-only scenario is ridiculous.

At a minimum the difference between the cost of the two rentals and honestly they should have thrown in some other shit to smooth it over, too.

You should have squared this away at the start though.

What would I pursue now? Full refund by way of your CC company. You probably won't get it though. Go balls-out ruining the renter's reputation though. The internet is a powerful tool.

name or number, i'd bet money this scam would come up.

it's a common vacation scam.

i would have made a big fuss up front anyway tho.

i even know why the error occurred, i understood, but ultimately dont care. its an internal thing, and the result to me as a customer is the same regardless

the contingent housing plan is the customer service part = the least they could do.

classic bait and switch

they 'mistakenly' double booked the dope spot

but just happened to have an opening in the off brand spot

*sideye*

and are going to charge you for a residence that would have otherwise been empty?

c'mon

that he left out.

i'll write reviews elsewhere and call non stop and let them know i have all the time in the world to get my money back.