Lay My Hat

Hi, I just got en enquiry from someone in Spain. She started asking the usual things (e.g. is the swimming pool for private use?) then suddenly said she could not afford to pay the breakage deposit, because her fiancee is ill with cancer and she wants to make a last trip with him....of course I will not accept a reservation without deposit, but I was wondering if this may be an elaborate scam.

How soon would the booking be?

zebedee wrote:How soon would the booking be?

6-9 december

Could you say that the breakage deposit is compulsory as you can't change your conditions for one individual but you could accept ( I don't know if this is physically possible for you?) a cash deposit on arrival which will be returned ( by bank transfer?) as soon as you have made an inspection so she would probably be less than a week without the money?

Of course it could be the beginning of some sort of scam. But wouldn't she have brought up the cancer story at the beginning?

FelicityA wrote:Could you say that the breakage deposit is compulsory as you can't change your conditions for one individual but you could accept ( I don't know if this is physically possible for you?) a cash deposit on arrival which will be returned ( by bank transfer?) as soon as you have made an inspection so she would probably be less than a week without the money?

Of course it could be the beginning of some sort of scam. But wouldn't she have brought up the cancer story at the beginning?

Good suggestion, I'll see what she says.

I have proposed her to postpone payment of the balance (which includes the deposit) until a few days before her arrival. Let's see the reply. I am actually curious to understand if this may be a particularly elaborate scam.

Giuliano wrote:I have proposed her to postpone payment of the balance (which includes the deposit) until a few days before her arrival. Let's see the reply. I am actually curious to understand if this may be a particularly elaborate scam.

I would advise that the balance payment, made so close to the time, should be ONLY by a non-reversible method like a bank transfer, not a potentially reversible method like PayPal or a bouncing cheque.

FelicityA wrote:

Giuliano wrote:I have proposed her to postpone payment of the balance (which includes the deposit) until a few days before her arrival. Let's see the reply. I am actually curious to understand if this may be a particularly elaborate scam.

I would advise that the balance payment, made so close to the time, should be ONLY by a non-reversible method like a bank transfer, not a potentially reversible method like PayPal or a bouncing cheque.

thanks. The enquiry was actually made via HA, so she will have to pay by credit card.

If you are getting the balance paid securely before the arrival date, I think this is unlikely to be a scam. It doesn't follow the usual scripts.

Not all owners take damage deposits and when they do, the amounts can vary. It may be a genuine case. Please let us know how things turn out.