I made a deposit through PayPal in June for flat in London for October arrival. Property owner communicated with me via email with address, details, and offer of driver transport to property. The date for balance due has passed without receiving any notice from property owner although I have attempted to contact her numerous times to confirm and reconfirmed arrival, rate, etc. emails are returned as undeliverable. Have also messaged her through Trip Advisor. She is listed through HomeAway and Trip Advisor (5 star reviews). My calls to her have gone unanswered. Should I locate another apartment and add this to my "lessons learned"? I will contact credit card company and try to get refund for deposit but would like to take further steps so this does not happen to others. I thought I had investigated well enough but "buyer beware" was not on my radar. Any advice is appreciated.
Posted by
Pacific Northwest
2625 posts
I am not sure what protection you have through Tripadvisor or Homeaway so I am not addressing that. But, if it were me, I would definitely find another place to stay. How much are you out for the deposit?
You don't say how long you've been trying to contact her but I would be worried if it's more than a week.
If your deposit was minimal, I'd make some effort to recover it, but I'd focus on finding somewhere else at this point.
It sounds like you vet your properties but one thing I do that you might have not done is i ALWAYS get the property address and property owner name and then try to do an public records search to try to confirm the connection between owner name and property. This is usually easier to confirm in the US but I try to do it for everywhere.
Also, I always Google earth myself down to street level and walk around, making sure there is a building number that actually exists and that it matches the building address I've been given.
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10230 posts
Would PayPal be able to tell you if her account is still active?
Rather than a scam, I wonder if the person is still alive...since email is bouncing.
If there are any recent reviews on TA, you could ask the reviewers what's up.
Posted by
San Antonio TX, United States
2393 posts
Paypal will also intervene - file a claim with them.
Posted by
Washington DC
27207 posts
My first thought was "health issue", not "scam". But it's really frustrating to the potential traveler in any case.
Posted by
Orange Park, Fl
985 posts
Yes Val, you are right to be troubled by this and I believe you are left no choice but to scramble for another property. I would find another place first thing, then let your cc company know so they can remove the charge. If the owner has lots of five stars I would imagine either illness or family emergency. In this day and age I would think most people would be in daily touch with their email though so that makes me suspect illness. I hope you are able to find a nice place in the district you were planning on staying in.
Very best of luck to you!
Posted by
Paris
2466 posts
It looks as if you should look for another place to stay, and try to recoup your money at a later date.
Have you investigated all social media resources for phone numbers, FaceBook, etc?
It is possible that this could be a scam, since the listing websites you mentioned are not secure, and are popular targets for "phishers".
Good luck!