Booking.Com Is A Scam

[g5000]

In June of this year, I made a reservation through Booking.com for a three bedroom apartment in New York City for the period 26 September – 4 October 2017. The name of the apartment corporation was listed as Bloc Away From Central Park.

The total cost of the apartment was listed as $5227.

Two days prior to our arrival in New York, I contacted the person named in the emails I had received from Bloc Away and let him know our airline flight arrived late on the evening of 26 September. He told me he would leave the apartment unlocked and the keys on the kitchen counter.

We arrived at the apartment building about 9:30 pm on 26 September. It was evident this was a residential apartment building, and the lobby guard seemed unfamiliar with the side business which the apartment management had going with booking.com, and it took some time for us to be allowed to enter the building.

As we finally were allowed in, and exited the elevator on the 8th floor where the apartment we rented is located, we could see the whole floor was under renovation. The hallway carpet still had plastic covering it.

The apartment is a three bedroom apartment, with a living room and kitchen.

We entered our apartment and found the kitchen and one of the bedrooms were completely dark. Nothing was working in either of these rooms.

Two bedrooms and the kitchen had window air conditioner units. The darkened bedroom had a portable air conditioner unit and a halogen lamp.

I immediately went down to the lobby to inform the guard there was no electricity in half the apartment. She contacted maintenance, and a man came and showed me the circuit breaker box by the front door. He showed me where the tripped circuit breaker was and then left.

A minute or so after the maintenance man left, the lights went out again. And this time, they also went out in the master bedroom, as well as one of the kid’s bedrooms and the kitchen.

I opened the circuit breaker panel and found SEVERAL breakers had tripped. As I reset them, the surrounding metal frame of the circuit breaker panel swung down. Three of the four screws which are supposed to secure the panel were missing! It was barely attached to the wall and a major safety hazard.

I reset several circuit breakers, and they immediately tripped again. So I went around the darkened rooms and shut off all light switches, and unplugged all the lamps and air conditioners, and tried again.

The circuit breakers all tripped again.

I contacted the lobby again, and they informed me the maintenance people had left for the night, and they informed me the apartment manager would not be back until 9 o’clock the following morning.

So I called booking.com and expressed my outrage to them they had booked us into a firetrap, and demanded they immediately relocate us. They told me there was nothing they could do until the apartment manager returned in the morning.

We spent the evening in a darkened, hot apartment. The temperature approached 100 degrees.

I also noticed the air conditioner in the kitchen had a power cord which could not reach any outlet in the kitchen. It was too far away!

This whole deal was an obvious sham from the start.

The following morning, I contacted booking.com at 9 sharp. They contacted the apartment manager while I was put on hold, and then booking.com informed me the apartment manager would respond to our situation in TWO OR THREE DAYS!

We were booked for eight nights. They wanted us to live in the dark in a firetrap for three out of those eight nights.

This apartment was clearly not completed with its renovations, and there was something seriously wrong with the wiring. I absolutely was not going to live for three days in a $5227 firetrap with no electricity, and put the safety of my wife and children at risk.

Booking.com refused to relocate us, so we were forced to pack up and leave and find a place in New York City on our own with no notice. It was at this point I contacted my bank to cancel the $5227 charges to my credit card.

Avoid Booking.com at all costs when planning a trip.

 

[Ringel05]

That's why I always staty at the Mandarin Oriental............

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Yet another reason to avoid NY.
I've been once when i was 16 and hated it. I've had multiple invites from the wife to go to NY for free on a business trip and we'd/she stay at the Lowell on Madison Avenue.
Ain't worth it....

 

[Votto]

In June of this year, I made a reservation through Booking.com for a three bedroom apartment in New York City for the period 26 September – 4 October 2017. The name of the apartment corporation was listed as Bloc Away From Central Park.

The total cost of the apartment was listed as $5227.

Two days prior to our arrival in New York, I contacted the person named in the emails I had received from Bloc Away and let him know our airline flight arrived late on the evening of 26 September. He told me he would leave the apartment unlocked and the keys on the kitchen counter.

We arrived at the apartment building about 9:30 pm on 26 September. It was evident this was a residential apartment building, and the lobby guard seemed unfamiliar with the side business which the apartment management had going with booking.com, and it took some time for us to be allowed to enter the building.

As we finally were allowed in, and exited the elevator on the 8th floor where the apartment we rented is located, we could see the whole floor was under renovation. The hallway carpet still had plastic covering it.

The apartment is a three bedroom apartment, with a living room and kitchen.

We entered our apartment and found the kitchen and one of the bedrooms were completely dark. Nothing was working in either of these rooms.

Two bedrooms and the kitchen had window air conditioner units. The darkened bedroom had a portable air conditioner unit and a halogen lamp.

I immediately went down to the lobby to inform the guard there was no electricity in half the apartment. She contacted maintenance, and a man came and showed me the circuit breaker box by the front door. He showed me where the tripped circuit breaker was and then left.

A minute or so after the maintenance man left, the lights went out again. And this time, they also went out in the master bedroom, as well as one of the kid’s bedrooms and the kitchen.

I opened the circuit breaker panel and found SEVERAL breakers had tripped. As I reset them, the surrounding metal frame of the circuit breaker panel swung down. Three of the four screws which are supposed to secure the panel were missing! It was barely attached to the wall and a major safety hazard.

I reset several circuit breakers, and they immediately tripped again. So I went around the darkened rooms and shut off all light switches, and unplugged all the lamps and air conditioners, and tried again.

The circuit breakers all tripped again.

I contacted the lobby again, and they informed me the maintenance people had left for the night, and they informed me the apartment manager would not be back until 9 o’clock the following morning.

So I called booking.com and expressed my outrage to them they had booked us into a firetrap, and demanded they immediately relocate us. They told me there was nothing they could do until the apartment manager returned in the morning.

We spent the evening in a darkened, hot apartment. The temperature approached 100 degrees.

I also noticed the air conditioner in the kitchen had a power cord which could not reach any outlet in the kitchen. It was too far away!

This whole deal was an obvious sham from the start.

The following morning, I contacted booking.com at 9 sharp. They contacted the apartment manager while I was put on hold, and then booking.com informed me the apartment manager would respond to our situation in TWO OR THREE DAYS!

We were booked for eight nights. They wanted us to live in the dark in a firetrap for three out of those eight nights.

This apartment was clearly not completed with its renovations, and there was something seriously wrong with the wiring. I absolutely was not going to live for three days in a $5227 firetrap with no electricity, and put the safety of my wife and children at risk.

Booking.com refused to relocate us, so we were forced to pack up and leave and find a place in New York City on our own with no notice. It was at this point I contacted my bank to cancel the $5227 charges to my credit card.

Avoid Booking.com at all costs when planning a trip.

Just pretend it was Obamacare that was sold to ya instead of that death trap. That way you may pretend to like it again.

 

[Votto]

Yet another reason to avoid NY.
I've been once when i was 16 and hated it. I've had multiple invites from the wife to go to NY for free on a business trip and we'd/she stay at the Lowell on Madison Avenue.
Ain't worth it....

I've had offers to go as well. I say no before they can finish their sentence.

 

[SYTFE]

In June of this year, I made a reservation through Booking.com for a three bedroom apartment in New York City for the period 26 September – 4 October 2017. The name of the apartment corporation was listed as Bloc Away From Central Park.

The total cost of the apartment was listed as $5227.

Two days prior to our arrival in New York, I contacted the person named in the emails I had received from Bloc Away and let him know our airline flight arrived late on the evening of 26 September. He told me he would leave the apartment unlocked and the keys on the kitchen counter.

We arrived at the apartment building about 9:30 pm on 26 September. It was evident this was a residential apartment building, and the lobby guard seemed unfamiliar with the side business which the apartment management had going with booking.com, and it took some time for us to be allowed to enter the building.

As we finally were allowed in, and exited the elevator on the 8th floor where the apartment we rented is located, we could see the whole floor was under renovation. The hallway carpet still had plastic covering it.

The apartment is a three bedroom apartment, with a living room and kitchen.

We entered our apartment and found the kitchen and one of the bedrooms were completely dark. Nothing was working in either of these rooms.

Two bedrooms and the kitchen had window air conditioner units. The darkened bedroom had a portable air conditioner unit and a halogen lamp.

I immediately went down to the lobby to inform the guard there was no electricity in half the apartment. She contacted maintenance, and a man came and showed me the circuit breaker box by the front door. He showed me where the tripped circuit breaker was and then left.

A minute or so after the maintenance man left, the lights went out again. And this time, they also went out in the master bedroom, as well as one of the kid’s bedrooms and the kitchen.

I opened the circuit breaker panel and found SEVERAL breakers had tripped. As I reset them, the surrounding metal frame of the circuit breaker panel swung down. Three of the four screws which are supposed to secure the panel were missing! It was barely attached to the wall and a major safety hazard.

I reset several circuit breakers, and they immediately tripped again. So I went around the darkened rooms and shut off all light switches, and unplugged all the lamps and air conditioners, and tried again.

The circuit breakers all tripped again.

I contacted the lobby again, and they informed me the maintenance people had left for the night, and they informed me the apartment manager would not be back until 9 o’clock the following morning.

So I called booking.com and expressed my outrage to them they had booked us into a firetrap, and demanded they immediately relocate us. They told me there was nothing they could do until the apartment manager returned in the morning.

We spent the evening in a darkened, hot apartment. The temperature approached 100 degrees.

I also noticed the air conditioner in the kitchen had a power cord which could not reach any outlet in the kitchen. It was too far away!

This whole deal was an obvious sham from the start.

The following morning, I contacted booking.com at 9 sharp. They contacted the apartment manager while I was put on hold, and then booking.com informed me the apartment manager would respond to our situation in TWO OR THREE DAYS!

We were booked for eight nights. They wanted us to live in the dark in a firetrap for three out of those eight nights.

This apartment was clearly not completed with its renovations, and there was something seriously wrong with the wiring. I absolutely was not going to live for three days in a $5227 firetrap with no electricity, and put the safety of my wife and children at risk.

Booking.com refused to relocate us, so we were forced to pack up and leave and find a place in New York City on our own with no notice. It was at this point I contacted my bank to cancel the $5227 charges to my credit card.

Avoid Booking.com at all costs when planning a trip.

Damn! Sorry to hear that, but that is informative. I personally have reservations about booking anything in an "apartment" or someone else's condo or home, whether through booking.com or airbnb...I think it's bizarre and mostly a crapshoot exactly because of situations like this. Shitty, scumbag apartment managers, shitty scumbag condo/homeowners and the inevitable communication difficulties involved if there are any issues. Plenty of high quality hotels out there who respond instantly to problems and take care of their rooms and guests. Hotels specialize in travel, accommodations and customer service. "Landlords" and people who invest in properties to rent out do not specialize in customer service.

 

[SYTFE]

Yet another reason to avoid NY.
I've been once when i was 16 and hated it. I've had multiple invites from the wife to go to NY for free on a business trip and we'd/she stay at the Lowell on Madison Avenue.
Ain't worth it....

NY city has nothing to do with his experience. Nothing whatsoever.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Yet another reason to avoid NY.
I've been once when i was 16 and hated it. I've had multiple invites from the wife to go to NY for free on a business trip and we'd/she stay at the Lowell on Madison Avenue.
Ain't worth it....

NY city has nothing to do with his experience. Nothing whatsoever.

Been there and hated it.
Must be the redneck in me.....

 

[MarcATL]

In June of this year, I made a reservation through Booking.com for a three bedroom apartment in New York City for the period 26 September – 4 October 2017. The name of the apartment corporation was listed as Bloc Away From Central Park.

The total cost of the apartment was listed as $5227.

Two days prior to our arrival in New York, I contacted the person named in the emails I had received from Bloc Away and let him know our airline flight arrived late on the evening of 26 September. He told me he would leave the apartment unlocked and the keys on the kitchen counter.

We arrived at the apartment building about 9:30 pm on 26 September. It was evident this was a residential apartment building, and the lobby guard seemed unfamiliar with the side business which the apartment management had going with booking.com, and it took some time for us to be allowed to enter the building.

As we finally were allowed in, and exited the elevator on the 8th floor where the apartment we rented is located, we could see the whole floor was under renovation. The hallway carpet still had plastic covering it.

The apartment is a three bedroom apartment, with a living room and kitchen.

We entered our apartment and found the kitchen and one of the bedrooms were completely dark. Nothing was working in either of these rooms.

Two bedrooms and the kitchen had window air conditioner units. The darkened bedroom had a portable air conditioner unit and a halogen lamp.

I immediately went down to the lobby to inform the guard there was no electricity in half the apartment. She contacted maintenance, and a man came and showed me the circuit breaker box by the front door. He showed me where the tripped circuit breaker was and then left.

A minute or so after the maintenance man left, the lights went out again. And this time, they also went out in the master bedroom, as well as one of the kid’s bedrooms and the kitchen.

I opened the circuit breaker panel and found SEVERAL breakers had tripped. As I reset them, the surrounding metal frame of the circuit breaker panel swung down. Three of the four screws which are supposed to secure the panel were missing! It was barely attached to the wall and a major safety hazard.

I reset several circuit breakers, and they immediately tripped again. So I went around the darkened rooms and shut off all light switches, and unplugged all the lamps and air conditioners, and tried again.

The circuit breakers all tripped again.

I contacted the lobby again, and they informed me the maintenance people had left for the night, and they informed me the apartment manager would not be back until 9 o’clock the following morning.

So I called booking.com and expressed my outrage to them they had booked us into a firetrap, and demanded they immediately relocate us. They told me there was nothing they could do until the apartment manager returned in the morning.

We spent the evening in a darkened, hot apartment. The temperature approached 100 degrees.

I also noticed the air conditioner in the kitchen had a power cord which could not reach any outlet in the kitchen. It was too far away!

This whole deal was an obvious sham from the start.

The following morning, I contacted booking.com at 9 sharp. They contacted the apartment manager while I was put on hold, and then booking.com informed me the apartment manager would respond to our situation in TWO OR THREE DAYS!

We were booked for eight nights. They wanted us to live in the dark in a firetrap for three out of those eight nights.

This apartment was clearly not completed with its renovations, and there was something seriously wrong with the wiring. I absolutely was not going to live for three days in a $5227 firetrap with no electricity, and put the safety of my wife and children at risk.

Booking.com refused to relocate us, so we were forced to pack up and leave and find a place in New York City on our own with no notice. It was at this point I contacted my bank to cancel the $5227 charges to my credit card.

Avoid Booking.com at all costs when planning a trip.

Welcome to New York!

I used to live there, so whenever I go back, I always have a place to stay.

 

[g5000]

I love New York. To visit, anyway. Would hate to live there. The traffic is atrocious.

But the food! Oh my god the food.

I gorged on Italian food while I was there, as well as several other venues. If anyone is going to Manhattan, I can recommend some fantastic places.

My biggest disappointment was that a large organization like booking.com did not act to make things right immediately and relocate us. I even sent them videos so they could see for themselves what a gross safety hazard the place was. To no avail.

I've always stayed in hotels when I travel to Manhattan. I wanted an apartment this time because we had a lot of friends and family who were going to visit with us while we were there.

Everyone should see New York City at least once.

I did notice the infrastructure is starting to go to hell. The subway system especially is floundering.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I wish I could remember if booking.com was a part of a scam alert segment on the news about these very type of services. The segment said they are hit and miss, some are legitimate - some not and the services do little to nothing to investigate/ensure consumers are nor ripped off.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

I love New York. To visit, anyway. Would hate to live there. The traffic is atrocious.

But the food! Oh my god the food.

I gorged on Italian food while I was there, as well as several other venues. If anyone is going to Manhattan, I can recommend some fantastic places.

My biggest disappointment was that a large organization like booking.com did not act to make things right immediately and relocate us. I even sent them videos so they could see for themselves what a gross safety hazard the place was. To no avail.

I've always stayed in hotels when I travel to Manhattan. I wanted an apartment this time because we had a lot of friends and family who were going to visit with us while we were there.

Everyone should see New York City at least once.

I did notice the infrastructure is starting to go to hell. The subway system especially is floundering.

According to the wife and the Guy who owns Redstone the food sucks.
They hit the top restaurants in NY when they go for business.
Sounds like you might be better off hitting the street level eats.

 

[Wyatt earp]

In June of this year, I made a reservation through Booking.com for a three bedroom apartment in New York City for the period 26 September – 4 October 2017. The name of the apartment corporation was listed as Bloc Away From Central Park.

The total cost of the apartment was listed as $5227.

Two days prior to our arrival in New York, I contacted the person named in the emails I had received from Bloc Away and let him know our airline flight arrived late on the evening of 26 September. He told me he would leave the apartment unlocked and the keys on the kitchen counter.

We arrived at the apartment building about 9:30 pm on 26 September. It was evident this was a residential apartment building, and the lobby guard seemed unfamiliar with the side business which the apartment management had going with booking.com, and it took some time for us to be allowed to enter the building.

As we finally were allowed in, and exited the elevator on the 8th floor where the apartment we rented is located, we could see the whole floor was under renovation. The hallway carpet still had plastic covering it.

The apartment is a three bedroom apartment, with a living room and kitchen.

We entered our apartment and found the kitchen and one of the bedrooms were completely dark. Nothing was working in either of these rooms.

Two bedrooms and the kitchen had window air conditioner units. The darkened bedroom had a portable air conditioner unit and a halogen lamp.

I immediately went down to the lobby to inform the guard there was no electricity in half the apartment. She contacted maintenance, and a man came and showed me the circuit breaker box by the front door. He showed me where the tripped circuit breaker was and then left.

A minute or so after the maintenance man left, the lights went out again. And this time, they also went out in the master bedroom, as well as one of the kid’s bedrooms and the kitchen.

I opened the circuit breaker panel and found SEVERAL breakers had tripped. As I reset them, the surrounding metal frame of the circuit breaker panel swung down. Three of the four screws which are supposed to secure the panel were missing! It was barely attached to the wall and a major safety hazard.

I reset several circuit breakers, and they immediately tripped again. So I went around the darkened rooms and shut off all light switches, and unplugged all the lamps and air conditioners, and tried again.

The circuit breakers all tripped again.

I contacted the lobby again, and they informed me the maintenance people had left for the night, and they informed me the apartment manager would not be back until 9 o’clock the following morning.

So I called booking.com and expressed my outrage to them they had booked us into a firetrap, and demanded they immediately relocate us. They told me there was nothing they could do until the apartment manager returned in the morning.

We spent the evening in a darkened, hot apartment. The temperature approached 100 degrees.

I also noticed the air conditioner in the kitchen had a power cord which could not reach any outlet in the kitchen. It was too far away!

This whole deal was an obvious sham from the start.

The following morning, I contacted booking.com at 9 sharp. They contacted the apartment manager while I was put on hold, and then booking.com informed me the apartment manager would respond to our situation in TWO OR THREE DAYS!

We were booked for eight nights. They wanted us to live in the dark in a firetrap for three out of those eight nights.

This apartment was clearly not completed with its renovations, and there was something seriously wrong with the wiring. I absolutely was not going to live for three days in a $5227 firetrap with no electricity, and put the safety of my wife and children at risk.

Booking.com refused to relocate us, so we were forced to pack up and leave and find a place in New York City on our own with no notice. It was at this point I contacted my bank to cancel the $5227 charges to my credit card.

Avoid Booking.com at all costs when planning a trip.

If you bought an RV you wouldn't have had this problem..


No?

RVs Make No Sense!

 

[g5000]

I love New York. To visit, anyway. Would hate to live there. The traffic is atrocious.

But the food! Oh my god the food.

I gorged on Italian food while I was there, as well as several other venues. If anyone is going to Manhattan, I can recommend some fantastic places.

My biggest disappointment was that a large organization like booking.com did not act to make things right immediately and relocate us. I even sent them videos so they could see for themselves what a gross safety hazard the place was. To no avail.

I've always stayed in hotels when I travel to Manhattan. I wanted an apartment this time because we had a lot of friends and family who were going to visit with us while we were there.

Everyone should see New York City at least once.

I did notice the infrastructure is starting to go to hell. The subway system especially is floundering.

According to the wife and the Guy who owns Redstone the food sucks.
They hit the top restaurants in NY when they go for business.
Sounds like you might be better off hitting the street level eats.

I did both. One of my most satisfactory meals was a gyro from a food cart.

But if you have not eaten at Il Cortile in Little Italy, you haven't lived. I could almost cut the Filetto di Manzo di Puglia with a fork.

 

[MarathonMike]

New York IMO is a fun city to visit. I took the family there for 4th of July and caught a Yankees game. Your experience doesn't seem to have anything to do with New York and everything to do with an unscrupulous apartment owner renting through booking.com. That's a bummer, you spend that kind of money you hope for a great experience.

 

[g5000]

New York IMO is a fun city to visit. I took the family there for 4th of July and caught a Yankees game. Your experience doesn't seem to have anything to do with New York and everything to do with an unscrupulous apartment owner renting through booking.com. That's a bummer, you spend that kind of money you hope for a great experience.

Correct. As soon as I heard it might take up to three days for the situation to be rectified, I determined then and there I was not going to let this bullshit impinge on my jam-packed plans with my family and friends.

I had no choice but to immediately abandon the place and find lodging elsewhere. We then commenced to have the time of our lives for the next seven days.

It will be a while for my credit card company to battle it out with the apartment manager, but I can handle all that post-vacation no problem.

 

[Wyatt earp]

New York IMO is a fun city to visit. I took the family there for 4th of July and caught a Yankees game. Your experience doesn't seem to have anything to do with New York and everything to do with an unscrupulous apartment owner renting through booking.com. That's a bummer, you spend that kind of money you hope for a great experience.

Correct. As soon as I heard it might take up to three days for the situation to be rectified, I determined then and there I was not going to let this bullshit impinge on my jam-packed plans with my family and friends.

I had no choice but to immediately abandon the place and find lodging elsewhere. We then commenced to have the time of our lives for the next seven days.

It will be a while for my credit card company to battle it out with the apartment manager, but I can handle all that post-vacation no problem.

They didn't give you a refund or anything right away? This is why I won't do any of that stuff just to try to save a few bucks.

 

[g5000]

New York IMO is a fun city to visit. I took the family there for 4th of July and caught a Yankees game. Your experience doesn't seem to have anything to do with New York and everything to do with an unscrupulous apartment owner renting through booking.com. That's a bummer, you spend that kind of money you hope for a great experience.

Correct. As soon as I heard it might take up to three days for the situation to be rectified, I determined then and there I was not going to let this bullshit impinge on my jam-packed plans with my family and friends.

I had no choice but to immediately abandon the place and find lodging elsewhere. We then commenced to have the time of our lives for the next seven days.

It will be a while for my credit card company to battle it out with the apartment manager, but I can handle all that post-vacation no problem.

They didn't give you a refund or anything right away? This is why I won't do any of that stuff just to try to save a few bucks.

Nope. No refund. That's why I went to my credit card company.

I wasn't trying to save money. It was the most convenient way to find an actual apartment in NYC for eight days.

 

[fncceo]

That's why I always staty at the Mandarin Oriental............

Very nice hotel. Stayed there in Hong Kong.

 

[g5000]

I ended up at the Sheraton at Time Square. They told me I was lucky they had rooms available. They usually host the Clinton Initiative every year at this time of year, but the convention went somewhere else this year.

So I joked, "Why? Did you guys vote for Trump or something?"

They were not amused.