It's always disappointing when a holiday does not live up to expectations and I'm not sure what you can do about this other than take legal advice re a small claims court case - assuming that the owner is based in the UK and you have a home address here for them? In the meantime some further information might help us advise you here because whether you have a case will depend on how reasonable your reasons for wanting to leave after less than 24 hrs in villa are.

For example, why was it not possible to put two loungers on the rear patio? Was it because there were no loungers? There wasn't room for two? You didn't like it because it was more like a utility area? Whether the information you were given was correct or not depends a lot on what you were told and why you didn't agree. For example, if anybody asked if it was possible to put two loungers on the patio at the bottom of my garden - then it is a truthful answer to say yes - it is very big. But it is shaded by a big tree for a large part of the day and hence not everybody would want to put loungers out there - it's not really a sunbathing area but I think that it is a lovely secluded and peaceful place to sit out and that's why I have a table and chairs there. But it's also where one of my sheds is and is very much a working part of the garden - again not everbody's idea of a sitting out area.

You were clearly expecting a more isolated situation without another apartment block nearby - how was the location described? Just because it was said to be on the edge of the village/development is no guarantee that it would be in a rural location. The exact information you were provided with could make a lot of difference to whether you have reasonable grounds for compliant.

I'm assuming that the owner didn't live locally because it was an agent who tried to get the fridge/freezer working? In which case 14 hrs is not a long time to give them to get another one - I know from my own recent experience a fridge freezer can literally be working one day and not the next - these things happen. The important thing is whether the owner was prepared to try and remedy the situation and what would be a reasonable time scale for them to do that.

When renting someone else's property the hardness/softness of the beds is one of the risks you take and whether all the beds should have been made up depends a lot on how the rental was priced. I know that on La Gomera in the Canaries and also in the Algarve, I've rented apartments and villas from private owners where the price has varied depending on the occupancy rate and in cases of under-occupancy were we have paid a reduced rent, only those beds that were required for our party have been made up. I frequently travel with a friend but we are not a couple and always book a 2 bedroom apartment so that we can each have our own room but I have always made it clear when booking that we want and are willing to pay any extra after the time we arrived somewhere and only one room had been made up and the owner was desperately trying to hide the fact that she had asumed that we were a couple in case we were offended! We weren't! And she made up the other room immediately!

SM

Hi Sma

Prior to leaving the UK for Cyprus I spoke to the Owners wife - specifically asked if we could put 2 sun loungers on the back patio, she said yes and, also room on the drive at the front (the drive that faces the apt block)! A local Cypriot had to be asked to remove his car on the day of our arrival. The loungers were stacked up around the pool, 5 villas but not 10 loungers and, that was where we would have gotten them from. The back patio area the length of the terraced villa, this contained a table with chairs stacked up outside the back door, if there had been more than 2 in our party it would have been difficult to have laid the chairs out with room around the table, a large water tank with sweeping brush etc in the corner - we could have placed the loungers on top of one another or squashed them one way or another with all the other paraphanalia (I do have photos). Plus the patio is surrounded by the very close walls of the villa behind and, the gazebo roof of the villa next door - sunlight, ummmmm!

I agree - electrical items can work one minute and not the next - we turned it on between 9 - 10- pm on our arrival, the agent said that the cleaner who was new to the job that day had forgotten to turn it on. When we went into the kitchen after we had gone out, it was blowing hot air, as it was in the morning, we rang the agent and, she agreed it was broken - she rang the owner and, by midday (we had no fridge for food nor cold drinks and, this was not acceptable in that climate. I telephoned the owner who did not seem concerned at all, he asked me what he could do - I said that seeing as we had the problem with the fridge and, the patio was dire we would like a refund, at first he stated that he did not give refunds - he stated that he had to pay the agent to come out to make up the single beds for us - nothing was stated that only the double bed would be made up on our arrival. I stated that as we were leaving the villa anyway that if we were man minded people we could go elsewhere and, leave all of his aircon and lights on and, leave him with a big bill and, he would not know about it - he agreed to half the rental of the villa refund. We said we would be out of the villa within 2 hrs and, he commented, I hope you leave it tidy!!!

Numerous e mails etc and, we still await our deposit and, refund which was agreed - the only thing he did say was that I agreed to a refund and would not write a review on his property - I totally dispute this fact - I would have agreed , gotten the money in the bank and then written a review. if I had any sense but, I am a fair person and, do not believe in stating one thing and doing another, unlike him.

Unfortunately I only have an e mail address and the contact through the agen he advertised with. I wish I could post the pictures on here.

Thanks again

Jan

Brits18 wrote:

I stated that as we were leaving the villa anyway that if we were man minded people we could go elsewhere and, leave all of his aircon and lights on and, leave him with a big bill and, he would not know about it

I'm not sure that was particularly helpful to your case.

Which website did you see the villa advertised?

The web site was HomeAway

As to leaving the aircon on etc - I said to the owner that we were not mean enough to do this but, some people who were mean minded would have done it or indeed could have done it if they so wished. We do not like confrontation and, just wanted what was fair and, the villa to meet up with any questions we had asked and, the description on the web site - the photographs on there are not up to date and, taken at flattering angles.

Jan

You can contact Home Away and complain to them about one of their advertisers. They won't be able to do much, if anything, but at least it will flag up a complaint against that owner.

I am in contact with HomeAway - I wrote my review for the villa over two weeks ago - they state that it is not yet on the website due to the company being very busy - I imagine it is due to my review being a negative one.
This company have been no help whatsoever.

All I can do is to keep bumping up my review of the villa on other travel websites and, providing pictures that we took of the villa if asked for them, we would hate for someonelse to be unfortunate enough to go for a long saved for holiday and, be so dissapointed as we were - we are fortunate that we could afford accommodation elsewhere at that time but, this may not be the case for someonelse.

Jan

Bumping of topics is against the T&C's of the site.

The Complaints forum is for people to ask for advice regarding a problem and for members to offer advice.

luci

Homeaway don't check the contents of reviews for complaints to act on them.

Contact Homeaway direct pointing out the problems encountered so the complaint is flagged up.

Thanks for that Luci - I did not mean on this particular web site x

I have contacted HomeAway personally - useless as a chocolate fireguard in my opinion on this matter - middle men and, I presume the owner pays to advertise their properties so Homeaway are not going to upset the applecart for loss of income against a little fish in a big pond.

Lesson learnt - they are not even interested that the owner has not refunded us the £100 breakage deposit, which is a term of the contract - I reminded the owner of this and, still nothing has appeared into our bank account. We do not hold our breath!!

What goes around comes around in life.

Another thought . Did you pay by Credit card , If so I would contact them too.

No, sadly not - the booking was made a few days before departure and, the cash was paid directly into their account - on receipt of this we were then given the Villa location.

We go to Pervolia about 3/4 times a year and, know many of the x pat community through chit chat in the local tavernas

I guess unless there is a wave of guilt on the owners part that we recieve our breakage deposit, I will keep at Home Away re this issue - our money is long gone - live and learn.

Thanks for all the comments and interest - if anyone would like to see the photos I am more than happy to send them via e mail if this is allowed on this site x

I have contacted HomeAway personally - useless as a chocolate fireguard in my opinion on this matter - middle men and, I presume the owner pays to advertise their properties so Homeaway are not going to upset the applecart for loss of income against a little fish in a big pond.

You need to read the Terms & Conditions of the site. I think they will have a disclaimer - quite normal for sites that are simply there as a means of advertising. It would not be practical for them to inspect every property.

Starting a campaign against a particular property owner will not help your claim in any way. It will only make the owner dig their heels in and ignore you, and many people will look at it as sour grapes on your part. Better to try to resolve it in private. If you do not get anywhere then you can go down the legal route via the small claims court if the owner has a UK address.

fwh

Really have tried to resolve this with the owner in private - he just ignores all e mails - not sour grapes on my part, just like to pay a fair price for fair goods.

I understand your gripe about the sunbeds albeit the fact they wouldn't fit in with all the other garden furniture isn't end-of-the-world stuff. The fridge not working I also understand altho' surely you know time would be needed to allow either repair or replacement but from what you've written it looks like you were so hacked off with everything you decided enough was enough and wanted out without really giving the owner the chance to put things right....agreeing to lose half the money you paid. If he did offer to refund half he was being quite generous as no major tour operator would have!

It's quite possible that the owner took your "if we were man minded people we could go elsewhere and, leave all of his aircon and lights on and, leave him with a big bill and, he would not know about it" to be some sort of veiled threat and perhaps that's why he's hanging onto your money? Or perhaps he doesn't think your complaint justified any sort of refund?

You don't need me to tell you that the comment you made wasn't really necessary and that writing a bad review before you'd received your money back was a bit silly...all you can do now is to proceed thru' small claims court if you have his full contact details, otherwise I guess it's chalking it up to experience.

As for "the photographs on there are not up to date and, taken at flattering angles".....this is a trick every single holiday company employs and not a tactic reserved solely for the owner of your accomodation.

So the consensus is - That owners can get away with not "painting" the full picture and, the companies are just there to take the owners money - this leads back to my original posting - avoid this villa.

Enough said - we waved goodbye to the money long ago and, just wanted to make other possible renters aware of this particular pitfall - so even the £100 breakage/deposit is not worth the word of the owner - this cannot be right!
And why should someone who rented in good faith be liable to take a claim to a small claims court - madness!

So the consensus is - That owners can get away with not "painting" the full picture and, the companies are just there to take the owners money

Nobody has said that. You have been advised of steps you can possinly take to resolve the situation and it is your choice .u posted what in effect was a rant - not what the complaints section is for - and members expressed their views on the information you posted. One side of the dispute. Members of HT do like to assist those who have a problem but based on what you have said you have created a problem by you actions. I am sure that those who have read you comments will take note of them.
You have, as I said above been advised of possible steps you can take to recover your monies - it is for you to decide if you want to take that action.

fwh

Not even the main tour operators 'paint the full picture', that's why peeps go onto review sites and put reviews to give others a clearer picture......it's always been the same...no different to the brochure stating "5 minutes to beach" when what they actually mean is "5 minutes to beach if you run like Linford Christie."

I'm not saying the owner is in the right here but you haven't helped matters by a) Not giving owner the opportunity to rectify the fridge situation, b) making an unecessary comment that the owner could take to be a veiled threat and finally c) writing a bad review (however justified) before you have settled things with the owner. Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it!

I would say all you would be entitled to is your breakage deposit legally and if you want it then the small claims court is probably your only route....it is madness, however that's the way it is if you want to see any of your money again. Plenty of peeps have taken various companies to task that way....if you really want to see this man and his wife taken to task then unfortunately that's the only way you are going to do it if he is refusing to communicate with you further.

Thank you for all your replies - very helpful and, the choice is ours - I am sorry I have come across as "ranting" etc etc
This is not my style.
We know that we will not see any of our money again, we are realistic on that point - had our fingers burnt - we read the villa reviews on the HomeAway website and they were all 5 stars but, as I stated, the neighbours said that other guests of the villa were not happy - wonder where their reviews were.

Anyway - thanks again for all of the responses and, I will take and digest all information

Jan

This may not help but I advertise with HomeAway, although not in Cyprus.

It is just an advertising site for which the owner pays an annual subscription. HomeAway do ask for proof that the advertiser actually owns the propertly.

Reviews are sent to the owner by email prior to posting against the property listing. This gives the owner the opportunity to add a response, if required.

I have just checked one of my previous review notifications and it says "If you do not believe the reviewer actually stayed at your property, or if you have other questions/concerns regarding this review, please contact us immediately at http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/customersupport.

So it is possible that the owners said that you never stayed at their villa and got the review suspended.

All dealings are between owner and guest and if a guest were to trash my apartment, I wouldn't expect any come back from HomeAway. Having said that, I also believe in honest advertising so from a moral perspective I would probably have refunded the guest.

As I said, no help at all to your current situation for which I sympathise. Sadly there are some unscrupulous people out there.