We had a non refundable booking for a house in London last May. The company was gracious to change our reservation to May 2021. I was just in contact with them and found out that the company was forced into administration in July and that they are unable to let us have the house which we had reserved because they no longer have it.

My question is has anyone had an experience where they booked through booking.com and the company went under or the house is no longer available?

I am trying to live chat right now.

Thanks in advance

If you are in the US and paid with a credit card, tell the credit card people right now. Administration is, I believe, the equivalent of bankruptcy and credit cards often cover you for that: Service not delivered.

Thanks AJ. That was going to be my next step but I just got off the phone with Booking.com and they refunded the entire amount back to our credit card. If this really happens (7-10 days) then I will be very impressed 😀

When I don't book directly I use booking.com. They've always stepped up when I needed them to, which is not often but, but reliably. I'm glad to hear you've also had a good experience.

Yes, Administration is full on bankruptcy. I was going to suggest contacting Booking before disputing the cc charge or anything else, because while never having a property going bankrupt, I have had two snafus with property availability (twice years apart) and Booking came through both times. No hassle at all. But I see that's what you did - I'd be very comfortable that the refund will show up in a few days.

Thanks Janisj and MmePerdu. I just need to reschedule our trip and am hoping for this fall. I have a place in the Cotswolds and in Paris still. I sent them messages this afternoon to see if they would change the dates.

I think the credit card method would have been fruitless. YOu have to dispute CC charges within a pretty short time of when the charge was made, a month or so I think.

Of course a cc charge back would be appropriate in this situation -- but isn't necessary since booking.com will take care of things. The service wasn't denied within a month -- there would have been nothing of any sort to dispute back then.

I checked my credit card and all of the money was refunded. I really was impressed with Booking.com and the customer service.

I’m glad the OP was successful with booking.com. I’ve found them reliable and helpful when I did, in fact, have a small problem.

But this past year, I had no problem with several travel-related chargebacks months later, so the time frame isn’t limited. I did have to call the CC company directly as it was too late to file a request on line, but it wasn’t difficult. The charges were from flights that I purchased about 9 months earlier.