Repayment of security deposit with HA
Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2017 9:47 am
The following is the response from HA:
"As we discussed during our conversation, my understanding was that it was less of an issue that our system couldn't treat the refund which you made as the damage deposit, as the damage deposit had been cancelled as part of the original second payment.
The issue, which I believe you made clear during the call, is that it's a matter of principle, as you believe that we did not clearly explain what the consequences of refunding the traveller would be, going on our advice of how to make the refund - the problem being that the traveller received less due to processing fees.
All I can actually suggest at this point, is that going forward, you refund the traveller the remainder (£6) via direct bank transfer, to avoid any fees. I do understand it's more quite inconvenient, and I do understand you would like us to do a lot more, but this is the only way you can refund the traveller the remainder, unless you want to refund through our system, which may not be advisable at this point, all things considered.
However, for the inconvenience, I have added 2 weeks onto your subscription as an apology for us having not explained the situation fully, vis-a-vis the 2nd payment refund."
My problem was a guest changed her booking from 8 nights to 7 nights. I made an amendment on the HA system and it ' lost' the security damage deposit in with the rental and did not automatically refund it after the normal 7days aswith other guests - yes I know, I should have picked it up but had other issues to deal with.
When I complained HA acknowledged they knew there was an issue and it had been logged. They told me how to refund it. However I then noticed that they had deducted a charge. Had I had been informed beforehand I would have paid the extra so that the guest received the full amount. I think HA should have made an ex gratia payment to cover the fee. The man at HA refused to transfer the call to his superior, would not acknowledge HA was in the wrong. He insisted that first they would listen to the original call, which was fine by me as I knew what I had said and been told. He then sent the above email
Moral is that it's better to cancel the booking on the HA site and rebook rather than amend. With OP you may have to up the repayment to cover the extra fees though!
"As we discussed during our conversation, my understanding was that it was less of an issue that our system couldn't treat the refund which you made as the damage deposit, as the damage deposit had been cancelled as part of the original second payment.
The issue, which I believe you made clear during the call, is that it's a matter of principle, as you believe that we did not clearly explain what the consequences of refunding the traveller would be, going on our advice of how to make the refund - the problem being that the traveller received less due to processing fees.
All I can actually suggest at this point, is that going forward, you refund the traveller the remainder (£6) via direct bank transfer, to avoid any fees. I do understand it's more quite inconvenient, and I do understand you would like us to do a lot more, but this is the only way you can refund the traveller the remainder, unless you want to refund through our system, which may not be advisable at this point, all things considered.
However, for the inconvenience, I have added 2 weeks onto your subscription as an apology for us having not explained the situation fully, vis-a-vis the 2nd payment refund."
My problem was a guest changed her booking from 8 nights to 7 nights. I made an amendment on the HA system and it ' lost' the security damage deposit in with the rental and did not automatically refund it after the normal 7days aswith other guests - yes I know, I should have picked it up but had other issues to deal with.
When I complained HA acknowledged they knew there was an issue and it had been logged. They told me how to refund it. However I then noticed that they had deducted a charge. Had I had been informed beforehand I would have paid the extra so that the guest received the full amount. I think HA should have made an ex gratia payment to cover the fee. The man at HA refused to transfer the call to his superior, would not acknowledge HA was in the wrong. He insisted that first they would listen to the original call, which was fine by me as I knew what I had said and been told. He then sent the above email
Moral is that it's better to cancel the booking on the HA site and rebook rather than amend. With OP you may have to up the repayment to cover the extra fees though!