Fraude via Booking.com

Deze klacht legde ik in bij Booking.com.

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Hello,
On your site this booking is advised as "one of your best sellers" with a very good location. But nothing like that is true. This property is one big scam.

We got to the Potzdamer Platz in Berlin and walked from there to the location (near the intersection of "Wilhelmstraße" and "An der Kolonnade"), only to find a big construction site. A local noticed our confusion and asked if she could help us, but she was not aware of a hostel in that direct area. We checked booking.com but there was no actual address on your whole site for this property, so we called the listed phone number.

A man picked up. He didn't speak German and his English wasn't very good either. He wasn't very friendly and urged to be fast (we would have been if he would have given us a correct address in the first place). He sent us to the intersection of "Möcknerstraße" and "Obentrautstraße". If you check the map: That's quite a walk. By the time we got there, both our phones were empty from navigating all day. Again: Nothing. We asked a lady who was walking her dog. She got the question before, but had no clue about a hostel in the area.

Frustrated we went to the Hotel Am Potzdamer Platz that was nearby, in the hope they knew about this hostel. They didn't. They tried to look it up but couldn't find anything about it and asked if we were sure about the name. We got allowed to use their business center to check the booking. The name was correct. We noted the number and got permission to use thier phone. Again we spoke to the person not speaking proper English. This time he was even less friendly, but he gave us an actual address and also sent us a mail with the address in it "Möcknerstraße 113".

Now if you would check the map, you will see that this address is NOT in Berlin-Mitte, as advertised when booked. The address is somewhere halfway in Kreuzberg in a quite bad neighbourhood where we didn't really feel safe.

Once we got there, it was an appartment complex with a lot of doorbells, but none for the Hostel. We pressed some random doorbells until somebody opened the front door for us. There was a mailbox with "BNB" on it, but still no appartment number. We knocked on a random door. The lady who opened didn't know the hostel but gave us 2 options to try within the building. The next door we tried seemed to be the correct one - After 2.5 hours of searching, mind you.

An unfriendly man opened and was barely able to ask my name. He called with somebody and gestured us in. Only for us to get the next shock.

If you check your site, you will see nice beds in rooms. This was nothing like advertised (again). The living room of the inhabitans containd a small closet, a table with some chairs, a stretcher and a sofa. We paid for beds in Berlin Mitte, but got couchsurfing in a shady neighborhood. The couple owning the place didn't speak English at all, but the (friendlier) wife showed us via Google Translate that she was still cleaning for 10 minutes (even though we got there a lot later than expected). After this we went to sleep dead-tired and frustrated. In stead of a nice evening in Berlin we had nothing but trouble and frustration.

The beds were too short and we didn't get a good sleep. Eventually we got up early because we both had pain in our backs. Our phones charged over night and showed us that we were in central-west Kreuzberg, in stead of Berlin Mitte. The distance to the Brandenburger Tor was not a Quater Mile (like advertised) but 2.6km.

Not able to talk to anybody about this. We tried to make the best of is. Our frustration got bigger when we found a hotel near Berlin Mitte (Ibis Budget) that had rooms available for only 95 per night - including breakfast. So for only 2 euro more, we could have gotten a decent hotel, with breakfast on a better location.

To top it all: When I got home they charged 30 euros more from my creditcard than the advertised price (which was WAY too high for what we got to begin with).

For some time now, friends of mine (all frequent travellers) are complaining about booking.com and are advising me to switch to another site where the service is better and they also have lowest price guarantee. I demand you do something about this situation. I don't only want these 30 euro back they charged too much, but also a compensation for the terrible circumstances. Couchsurfing in a shady neighbourhood far from our actual location should not cost 93 euro's per night. This is an outrage.

Kind regards.
André

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Dit was hun antwoord:

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Dear Andreas Bormans,

We’re sorry your stay at Hostel Potsdamer Platz didn't meet your expectations, and we’d like to apologize for any inconvenience this situation caused.

We followed up on your complaint with the property, but unfortunately no compensation can be provided in this case.

The property informed us that they gave you the correct information prior to your arrival and that you arrived outside of check in time and the security guard did not want you to not have a place to stay so he provided you with a place.

You were charged the additional 30 EUR because there is a 30 EUR service charge for this reservation.

We apologize for the inconvenience that you experienced with this. We would like to offer you 25 EUR as a gesture for this.

You were right to talk to the property during your stay to address this issue, and we’re sorry to hear that the staff members weren’t helpful. In the future, if you’re unable to resolve a situation with a property, you can always call our customer service line. Our staff knows the language and culture of the property and can help you with communication.

A great way to determine the quality and comfort of accommodations is reviews from other guests who stayed there. Hostel Potsdamer Platz has 149 guest reviews and is rated 6.2. This shows that there’s some room for improvement, and issues are mentioned in several reviews.

Thank you for the feedback you provided. This helps us and the property improve the quality of our services.

If you need us again, we’re always here.

Best wishes,

--
Jason S.
Booking.com Customer Service Team

 

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Hierna werd de case gesloten zonder enig overleg met mij. Dit antwoord is natuurlijk te gek voor woorden. Het is niet zo dat als een hostel matig scoort (een 6.2 is nog steeds voldoende eigenlijk) ze zo maar leugens en onwaarheden mogen verspreiden. Ik mag me dan wel vergist hebben met de schoonmaakkosten, maar de rest is nog steeds niets mee gedaan eigenlijk.

Iemand nog tips?