Christchurch accommodation rip-off

**Insanity_rules** · 5th November 2009, 22:26

Well Mrs Insanity and I decided to have a nice get away for our wedding anniversary and went to Christchurch. All was going well UNTIL we went to check into the bed and breakfast we had booked (and prepaid via travel bug) Very nice place, nice suburb, great reviews and everything BUT the place was as empty as the Marie Celeste.

Thought OK maybe they just popped out so we waited for half an hour, then thought OK we'll go for a drive over the port hills and grab a coffee. Two hours later returned and still no one. OK dinner time now, feeling a little stressy so we drove over to Riccarton to good ol Argy Bargy (Best curry EVER!) tried to phone them right up till 7pm. By this stage my lovely lady looked about ready to kill. They had no answer phone, no cell phone number or anything. So we got a nice motel in Riccarton and settled in.

Have been trying to contact the B&B operator for two weeks now, have emailed, called, sent friends around and all. They have both our Cell numbers, my work number, both our email addresses and our home telephone but no attempt to contact us.

Beware The Tree House Bed and Breakfast in Cashmere http://www.travelbug.co.nz/visit/24752 . Have emailed travel bug regarding this and have yet to hear back from them either so its name and shame till someone gets back to me. To all my biker brethren avoid, aviod, avoid. Also does anyone know the opperator of this place or how I can talk to a person at travel bug? I'm at my complete wits end. Its only a couple of hundred bucks but its the principle. If they had an issue they could have contacted me by now. They almost completely ruined our get away.

**Howie** · 5th November 2009, 22:45

You could try contacting Trade me, as the bottom of the web page for the site carries the the 2009 Trade me copyright sign, so they must be linked to them somehow.

**evotime** · 5th November 2009, 22:56

If you paid by credit card- have a read of this link

http://www.consumer.org.nz/reports/c...rd-chargebacks

**KiwiPhoenix** · 6th November 2009, 08:02

Bugger that you had such a crap service! Will definitely avoid them and will pass this onto friends of mine!

**F5 Dave** · 6th November 2009, 10:28

Yeah that sucks goats, not so much the money but spoiling the get away.

If you can afford it & have some freedom maybe surprise the wiff with another more local night away to make up for it. Makes you look like you care, which is a good trick.

**Insanity_rules** · 6th November 2009, 11:00

Travelbugs reply (finally)

Hi Mark,

Thank you for your e-mail.

I am very, very sorry for the inconvenience caused here. I have been in touch with the accommodation provider who has informed us that he is overseas and is having trouble returning to New Zealand.

I can assure you that your money will be refunded in full. I have asked that the accommodation provider get in touch with you to explain the situation and I trust that he will be in contact at his earliest convenience.

You can expect your refund to arrive to the credit card you used within 3 - 5 business days.

Again, I'm sorry to hear that you've had this experience, and I do wish you all the best for the future. Please let me know if there is anything further we can do.

Kind regards,

So I replied to say thanks and fyi according to your booking callendar someone else has booked and paid ergo they may find themselves in the same position. Now if you were a guest house operator with an online booking system, wouldn't you make sure you stopped taking bookings if you were off overseas. Sounds like a bit of an excuse to me.

Lets see how long the operator takes to appologise shall we?