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Post by rikita on Apr 18, 2024 23:01:35 GMT 2
for me things always worked out so far with booking.com (and hostelworld and airbnb and other sites i used) - hope it stays that way. i do like booking directly with places when possible, but sometimes that is difficult, not every place even does it or i can't find hem, especially since i often stay at cheap small places rather than big hotels ... booking through a big site often just is the most convenient thing to do ...
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Post by Baz Faz on Apr 18, 2024 23:50:27 GMT 2
We lived for 20 years in France. During that time we used a French financial advisor to invest our money to be useful in old age. We have decided old age has come so we wish to close these insurance-linked contracts and move the money to the UK.But all these insurance companies insist we have to go through our financial advisor to do this. Problem: he has died. He was a one-man band so his office (him) has simply stopped. Nobody even informed us he was dead. It took great detective work by Mra Faz. And what has happened to all the files in his office? Not just ours, his other clients? Your story has me thinking. My Dad made some investments with a financial advisor who was someone he knew quite well, and trusted. When he died, they all passed to my Mom. And since then, when she sold the house, she added a bunch more money to the investments. The thing is, it's not at all clear from the statements that arrive just how much she has, what the investments are, whether one is life insurance or not, etc. And this advisor is well into his 80s. I think we need to go see him to get it clarified just exactly how much money is currently invested with him and what the rules are for cashing them in, etc. And who will take over for him when he retires (or dies). Get it cleared up pronto. But ours is much more complicated, partly because the investments (and the deceased advisor) are in France ad we have been for the past 10 years in the UK. We have just found out that when (eventually) we get the money we must have it directly sent to an English bank. If we send it to our French bank we'll incur social charges (tax by a different name).
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Post by OnlyMark on Apr 19, 2024 7:32:01 GMT 2
Scrubb, when Booking take on a property to advertise they don't physically go to check how accurate the advert is. The property owner fills out forms describing it and its facilities and sends a few photos. Many times in Asia and Africa I've arrived somewhere and all the things the place says it has in, maybe, the room, they don't have. No kettle etc etc etc. Many don't like dealing with Expedia, Booking et al because they have to pay a commission to them and I've often been asked that the next time I book, to go direct. There is also the "rumour"/feeling that the hotel will give the crappiest rooms to those not booking direct. I am aware of the scams and Booking say their system is secure, it originates from someone gaining access to the hotel's system, not Bookings. That's why they are reluctant to reimburse or pay out. They also are reluctant to accept responsibility for inaccuracies falling back on saying we can only go by what the advertiser tells us.
But I will still use them because there is no way I'm phoning some back wood place in Sri Lanka to attempt to do so. I've just made four bookings through B&B Hotels, three through Accor Hotels and twelve through Booking.com for a road trip at Easter so I'll see how we go. When I'm short on time I will make a cancellable booking through Booking for the dates and place I want and then check around and maybe contact direct the place to see what I am getting really and the rates. Then if necessary I will just cancel the Booking booking. I am quite used to reading the reviews and them saying the hotel is nothing like the photos and so on. When in doubt I also check Google Street and Satellite views because it is an unfortunate fact of life you can't guarantee whatever it says in any advert. In fact with one of the hotels I've just booked I was getting conflicting information as to its location. I contacted the hotel who told me the location given on their website was wrong and to go by what Google Maps says.
However, for its faults I will continue to use Booking as a means to an end and prefer to see a list of availabilities in a format I'm familiar with and is quite clear on many details so I have easy comparisons than having to cast around the depths of the internet for individual places but I always treat these things with a pinch of salt. One other thing I remembered just now is I will make a cancellable booking with them but it usually is more expensive than a non-refundable one when I'm planning a trip and obviously it is easy to remove if plans change but as the date get closer I will often check again to see what is available and if plans are firm then will book the cheaper rate (and it tells me you already have a booking for those dates) but then cancel the original one.
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Post by shrjeff on Apr 19, 2024 10:52:19 GMT 2
What mark says ^
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Post by Voy on Apr 19, 2024 13:21:02 GMT 2
FWIW a milliono years ago, when I was in the Card Div. at American Express, I developed and implemented "Assured Reservations". It was vor booking directly with the property - book your room - pay on the card. They will hold it all night ( late arrivals used to find their rooms gone ) and you got all your money back if you cancelled by 4 pm.
just found this on the Amex website:
One of the benefits of the Rewards Plus Gold card is
Assured Reservations Guarantee all your hotel and motel reservations with your American Express Card account and your room will be waiting for you even if you arrive late. If you have an assured reservation and your room is not available, the hotel or motel will provide you with a comparable room that is nearby, along with transportation to your new location and a 3-minute phone call.
and this: Worldwide Customer Care & Travel Services American Express Corporate Card Customer Service Worldwide Travel Service Network Assured Reservations Global Assist® Hotline Emergency Card Replacement ATM Access Managing Your Account
the point of which is that I also developed and implemented Emergency Card Replacement - world wide.
I got chunks of Amex Stock as rewards for both. Cool to see they are still going !
end of brag
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Post by Scrubb on Apr 19, 2024 23:56:30 GMT 2
I certainly understand the reasons for using something like booking.com sometimes. However, my recent experience trying to deal with them definitely turned me against them.
In our situation last fall, it was definitely a complete scam. Someone copied a property already on booking.com, that is a real place, used all their photos and the name and the address, so that the innocent customer thinks they are looking at the real place. Booking.com accepted this fake, not recognizing that it was a clone of a place already on their site. I don't necessarily blame them for that, although you'd think they'd have some software able to catch duplicate names and addresses.
While that is understandable, what was unacceptable to me was their refusal to acknowledge that it was a fake. They would not contact the actual resort, at their real phone number. They would only use the contact phone number supplied by the scammer. The scammer refused to answer international calls, so nothing could be confirmed. The scammer kept sending us messages through the booking.com ap insisting we pay a security deposit (and send them a picture of the completed bank transfer) which was against all booking.com's policies and contradicted our confirmation.
It was infuriating that even though it was 100% clear that this reservation had been faked, booking.com insisted we had to traipse across town and try to check in.
The scammer sent us a message saying "your room is waiting for you". Even though I was still at our old hotel, I answered it with "where? We are at check in and they don't have a reservation for us". That was the last we heard from the scammer.
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Post by Scrubb on Apr 19, 2024 23:58:51 GMT 2
Heh. I should add - Mr_Scrubb had a local sim card in his phone, with a local number. So, after the scammer didn't answer the phone at the number provided, when I called with my international number, he called with his local number. The scammer still didn't pick up, but texted back a minute later with "who this?"
yeah. 5 star luxury resorts always text back phone calls with "who this?"
We replied "booking.com customer service". There was no response, of course.
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Post by Scrubb on Apr 23, 2024 19:06:46 GMT 2
A quick warning to everyone who uses booking.com - there is a scam happening frequently.
The way it works is you have a booking through booking.com and you receive an email and a “secure “ message through your booking.com account saying you need to re-confirm your payment details or indeed pay now for your trip otherwise your booking will be cancelled.
Because it comes through the booking.com secure messaging system it looks and seems authentic, but it is not. If you google, it's widespread and a lot of people get caught. So be on your guard and don't believe that you have to confirm payment details.
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Post by shrjeff on Apr 24, 2024 7:58:57 GMT 2
thanks for the heads up, scrubbie...
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Post by Baz Faz on Apr 24, 2024 10:57:02 GMT 2
Scrubb, I had that for a hotel booking in Italy earlier this year. I replied to the scammer that I had no intention of rebooking something I had already booked. I informed the hotel. They apologised and said they were aware of the scam.
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Post by Baz Faz on Apr 25, 2024 20:41:47 GMT 2
Mrs Faz and I had our Covid booster jabs yesterday afternoon. For the first time we have had adverse reactions - arm hurting, extreme lassitude. Neither of us want to cook so it is fish and chips tonight.
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Post by Scrubb on Apr 26, 2024 4:17:14 GMT 2
A couple I've known since I was a little girl, who I love a lot - they think his melanoma is back.
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Post by sophie on Apr 26, 2024 5:26:03 GMT 2
Scrubb, that’s sad.
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Post by Baz Faz on Apr 26, 2024 11:24:58 GMT 2
A couple I've known since I was a little girl, who I love a lot - they think his melanoma is back. Bad luck. I wish him luck. About 12 or 13 years ago I had a melanoma on my arm. I got the result of the biopsy at midday on a Friday and was operated at 8 a.m. on Tuesday. The op was at Montpellier teaching hospital. A student was watching and learning. I listened to the surgeon's running commentary. There was something I didn't understand. When I got home I looked it up in the dictionary. A literal translation was: Now I am removing the waste paper.
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Post by shrjeff on Apr 27, 2024 10:50:54 GMT 2
A couple I've known since I was a little girl, who I love a lot - they think his melanoma is back. Bad luck. I wish him luck. About 12 or 13 years ago I had a melanoma on my arm. I got the result of the biopsy at midday on a Friday and was operated at 8 a.m. on Tuesday. The op was at Montpellier teaching hospital. A student was watching and learning. I listened to the surgeon's running commentary. There was something I didn't understand. When I got home I looked it up in the dictionary. A literal translation was: Now I am removing the waste paper. the Brits must have left the waste paper in your foot!
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Post by tzarine on May 1, 2024 13:43:10 GMT 2
A couple I've known since I was a little girl, who I love a lot - they think his melanoma is back. wishing him the best
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