zooey1118

i found a cottage on dingle peninsula (http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/dingle/15377) for my trip in march and the owner asked me to send a 200 euro deposit via bank transfer to her account.

i am a tad nervous about this and wondered if this was common and if there was any way to safeguard myself. was thinking, perhaps, of contacting the dingle chamber of commerce (or equivalent) just to check on the owners or if there were other options that i could suggest to the landlord... i think the place looks great and would like to book it, just want to protect myself against any potential problems.

any ideas or concerns?

thanks!

rickmav

We have gone this route before, although not with the specific cottage you noted. It's fairly standard procedure. You really aren't at any risk, although I would check with your bank - the Royal Bank in Canada charges $25+ to do this plus exchange - because the costs may start to add up. And, again depending on your bank, it may take up to 4-5 days to process. We've found that an International Money Order was cheaper - although you have to send snail mail - but some cottage owners prefer a bank transfer.

Christina

I think the OP was worried about the risk of just renting the cottage and getting the deposit back, not the transfer per se, as they do not know the owner.

StCirq

Most of the world does international banking this way. I don't understand what your concern is or what you want to safeguard yourself against.

janisj

I haven't stayed there - don't know the place at all.

But look at it this way - the owner is taking a much bigger €€ risk w/ you that you are w/ her.

Are you worried the cottage doesn't exist? Or what exactly? Did a quick google and she advertises the same cottage on several web listings besides holidaylettings.

crckwc1

We did this one time and it did not work well for us. We had our bank transfer a certain amount of money to the apartment owner and paid the fees involved which were about $25 if I remember correctly. However, when the transfer arrived (in Croatia), it was for less than the amount we had designated. To make a very long story short, we were told that some international bank between the U.S. and Croatia, "apparently" took an amount out for additional fees. It was never proven except that there was proof that the recipient in Croatia did in fact receive a lesser amount than we had sent. We will never send a deposit this way again. zooey1118, would the apartment owner accept a traveler's check in euros? We have done this satisfactorily.

zeppole

Have you spoken directly to the cottage owners about your concerns? He might set your mind at ease or propose an alternate. This is a very common way to rent cottages, and if I were the renter, I'd be put off by learning that someone was asking questions about me all over town. If he gives you crabby, rude answers -- then maybe you don't want to stay there anyway because if you need something while there, he might be crabby and rude.

zooey1118

my concern is just that i am not familiar with the owner and what happens if i show up in march and either something is wrong with the cottage or my reservation is somehow lost...they already have my money. i have no recourse.

the other 2 places i am staying on the trip allow me to hold with a credit card, then pay cash once there.

zooey1118

good ideas about seeing if they will take a traveler's cheque or some other form... i'll email her back today and see if there are other options.

thanks!

taggie

I just booked a cottage and sent a bank transfer for the whole amount. I'd been emailing the owners back and forth for a couple of weeks, the cottage is on a booking website as well as on their own, and they have reviews from previous letters. I am not nervous at all about it. I frequently hire people oversees and pay them by bank transfer so I guess it's all old hat to me.

One thing you do need to ensure is that you have enough information for the transfer. I had to ask my people for additional info and I'm sure that's what helped my transfer go through so quickly.

In my experience, having to transfer funds all over the world, this is the info you should have:

Account number and the name that the account is under

Bank name, branch name if applicable, and branch address

Name and address of account holder

SWIFT Code. This can sometimes be difficult to get as it's not commonly referred to as that overseas. Try asking for the IBAN.

Sometimes there will also be an intermediary bank involved - you need all the address info for that bank as well.

spaarne

I agree with zeppole's approach. Call them up. 99.99% of the people are straight. Maybe you won't like the place but that is another story.

ronkala

I sent off a 220 euro deposit from my bank to the landlord's bank in Zandvoort today. I was told it will take four to five days, and when he receives it he will email me a confirmation.
The fee was $45.00.

clairobscur

Well, it happens that this morning I read an old thread (I was searching old posts) where a poster was bitterly complaining about a scam he had been a victim of : the apartment he intended to rent didn't exist at all, the money he had sent was lost, and the site where he had found the rental stated it wasn't their responsibility (despite the poster having bought an insurance from them).


Well, it's not going to put the OP's mind at ease, and of course it's a pretty rare occurrence. But well...If wants to contact a local chamber of commerce, or the local tourism office,or otherwise check on the owner, why not?

sssteve

ZOOEY:

If you are really concerned about this, find another place.

onetwo

That cottage is near Ballydavid and not real near Dingle town. If you are looking for something in the country that is where it is. Have you asked the owner if they will accept Pay Pal? That is a more painless way to go.

Most cottages are rated but I could not find a listing for it on www.discoverireland.com

zooey1118

clairobscur, that was actually one concern i had... of the cottage not actually existing. emailed the landlord earlier today to ask if there was an alternative (like pay-pal) that we could do...

sparky

A lot of holiday home owners don't have credit card or paypal as they own only one property. Why not get a Euro draft from your bank & post it if you are not happy about doing a bank transfer. How is the owner going to know you are going to show up if you don't pay anything & then when you don't show it is too late for them to book it to somebody else, the booking deposit commits you to the booking.

soogies

Hi zooey

Here's one thing I have done a few times when placing a deposit.

I negotiated with the owner on a deposit amount and wrote a US check for the amount.

So, say, a 200 euro deposit would be a $300 check in US dollars. (I'm rounding, here, not trying to get an exact number).

I sent this on to the owner who held it. It would NOT be cashed if we showed up. If we cancelled NOT according to their policy, they were covered. The deal was that when we arrived we would recieve our check back, uncashed, and then we proceded to pay for the apartment in cash or whatever the owner wanted.

Very simple, very cheap. So far, we've rented maybe 8-10 apartments and have never been burned.

nona1

I wouldn't accept that if I owned a property. What's to stop you cancelling the cheque and not turning up? You don't trust the property owner but you expect them to trust you with essentially no financial guarantee if you let them down.

There's no reason to assume anything dodgy here. If you don't like this payment method though, find another cottage.

ronkala

A follow up to my post of last Monday.

The apartment owner emailed me today that his bank just received my 220 eur deposit. He also offered to meet us at the Zandvoort train station when we arrive.