HA'OD Changes Afoot

[Nigel Goodwin]

Interesting.

I renewed before 11 July on HA, but had an email from my account manager saying that the advert would be on OD from 11 july.

Of course, my adverts are still not on OD, and I sent an email yesterday asking about this, they said they had asked the support team.

I will escalate again very soon.

In fact, just sent email to my account manager:

Have you heard back from the support team with dates when my adverts will appear on OD?

I am sure you realise that I renewed my HA subscription on the basis of HA's promise that my adverts would appear on OD on 11 July.

HA is therefore currently in breach of contract, and I am seeking resolution at your earliest opportunity.

Lack of enquiries, and hence bookings, are resulting in significant losses and therefore the damages I will be seeking are increasing daily.

i still have vacancies starting 20 and 27th August 2016, yet on the owners direct site there are only 2 or 3 properties available in my location. It is easy to see that HA's apparent negligence is resulting in significant losses for me.

Please pass this to your manager. I realise the actions of HA are out of your personal hands.

[Hells Bells]

Thanks for the update. I was about to go back to a subscription listing, but have now changed my mind. TBH, I want to ditch the bloody lot of them, but my bookings are so bad this summer, I need all the help I can get.

[Nigel Goodwin]

Thanks for the update. I was about to go back to a subscription listing, but have now changed my mind. TBH, I want to ditch the bloody lot of them, but my bookings are so bad this summer, I need all the help I can get.

I feel for you.

[AndrewH]

Thanks for the update. I was about to go back to a subscription listing, but have now changed my mind. TBH, I want to ditch the bloody lot of them, but my bookings are so bad this summer, I need all the help I can get.

Reading on here, I have a feeling you might be one among many.

[russellt]

I have a feeling you might be one among many.

I think you are right, and not just in respect of HA/OD. So, how far would owners go?

See poll at viewtopic.php?t=26539&highlight=

It might be useful to quantify how this community feels. Please vote, then continue this interesting discussion back here.

[NeatandPicky]

In response to russellt's poll about listing sites:

Having now ditched OD, I voted A.

(We're still on commission with HL, but not a dicky bird in the last year, and I'm not worried about losing them).

Like others I'm having a higher level of enquiries directly through my website. Guesswork, but I put this down to several factors:

- Problems in other eastern Med locations
- Lots of work improving website (always had compliments, but guest feedback very enthusiastic of late)
- Lots of work on social media (a slow build up over 2 years)
- Improved photos on website
- Offering credit card booking (lots of takeup in short time)

[GRL]

- Offering credit card booking (lots of takeup in short time)

Can I ask who you use for credit card payments as I need to get this sorted ASAP methinks.

[NeatandPicky]

- Offering credit card booking (lots of takeup in short time)

Can I ask who you use for credit card payments as I need to get this sorted ASAP methinks.

I'm using Stripe via WaveApps as recommended on here. Sign up with WaveApps to set up template invoices. Activate credit card processing and you'll be taken to Stripe where you enter your bank details to receive payments. (Do not enter your bank login details on WaveApps!) They charge 1.4% + 20p and no sign up fee. Payments take 7 days to show in my bank account. No hitches so far.

There's a thread about it somewhere!

[ManxRed1]

- Offering credit card booking (lots of takeup in short time)

Can I ask who you use for credit card payments as I need to get this sorted ASAP methinks.

I'm using Stripe via WaveApps as recommended on here. Sign up with WaveApps to set up template invoices. Activate credit card processing and you'll be taken to Stripe where you enter your bank details to receive payments. (Do not enter your bank login details on WaveApps!) They charge 1.4% + 20p and no sign up fee. Payments take 7 days to show in my bank account. No hitches so far.

There's a thread about it somewhere!

Great info. Many thanks.

As a newbie who has joined as a result of this OD fiasco, I have come to the conclusion over the last few days that I must let go of the handrail and skate into the middle of the rink, and set up my own website.

There is a nice domain name available (name of cottage name of village.co.uk), and I am tending towards Promote My Place which I will play around with this weekend as part of the free trial. If anyone wants to PM a promo code I will use the first one I receive!!

I've been reading about the 'why this is not a scam' wording that people on here use, and now I also know how to set up credit card payments.

This forum is terrific. I look forward to being here going forward.

[GRL]

Excellent and thank you NeatandPicky and I have PMed you ManxRed1

[ManxRed1]

Rosie was quickest on the draw! Thanks.

[GRL]

Rosie was quickest on the draw! Thanks.

and good luck with your site.

[Nigel Goodwin]

Interesting.

In fact, just sent email to my account manager:

Have you heard back from the support team with dates when my adverts will appear on OD?

I am sure you realise that I renewed my HA subscription on the basis of HA's promise that my adverts would appear on OD on 11 July.

HA is therefore currently in breach of contract, and I am seeking resolution at your earliest opportunity.

Lack of enquiries, and hence bookings, are resulting in significant losses and therefore the damages I will be seeking are increasing daily.

i still have vacancies starting 20 and 27th August 2016, yet on the owners direct site there are only 2 or 3 properties available in my location. It is easy to see that HA's apparent negligence is resulting in significant losses for me.

Please pass this to your manager. I realise the actions of HA are out of your personal hands.

Following this up, I got a response:

I have been informed that properties that were renewed after July 11th will be on OwnersDirect.

Currently your advert is on all websites except OwnersDirect.

When we did the renewal in May, I did not have this information and was not aware that this was the case.

What we have to do to get your advert on OwnersDirect is to cancel your current order and refund you the remaining time, then we place a new order for the adverts in order for them to be on OwnersDirect.

Even after we do that, your adverts may still take time to appear on OwnersDirect because we do not want to flood the website with all listings at once.

I replied:

If we proceed as you suggest, exactly when would my properties be available to the public on OwnersDirect? Are we talking about a few days, or a few weeks, or six months?

If you are not able to give a date, then a response 'I can't give a date and have no idea' is OK !

I got a reply:

I do not have a timeframe as when exactly the HAUK listings will start Being published on OwnersDirect.

I have requested a more specific timeframe and as soon as I have a clear timeframe I will inform you.

So I have just asked for a refund, and I will place an order when timeframes are more clear. Maybe.

I feel sorry for those working in support.

[ManxRed1]

After receiving no reply to my email asking them to remove Online Payments and Online Booking (even though I never enabled Online Booking) I sent a further chaser to Brian Sharples, who actually replied in person an hour or so later saying that he'd passed it to his exec team and they should contact me soon.

Then received an email from someone in the exec team saying they will deal with it urgently, but no assurances that they were going to remove the functionality.

I am now preparing myself for the listing appearing on page 600 of any search, despite the fact that our village contains about 45 cottage lets, plus the inevitable pop up implying that I am untrustworthy, but I'll cross that bridge next. Already Googling 'defamation of character'.

I'll keep you posted.

[ManxRed1]

Well, that was quick. Just been phoned by someone in the UK to inform me that Online Payment and Online Booking are now disabled.

I'll go home tonight, re-list the property and have a play with the pricing (I've been having to underprice by 9.6% to display the correct rates to guests), and then try some searches and book a week myself to see what happens.

My understanding is that they will still be after their 9.6% but no idea how they'll police this?

I'll keep you posted.