Blowflies and blown bulbs: Can we get a refund on our holiday rental?

With room for all 10 of us, including 4 kids, it seemed perfect. Plus, it had a fireplace – a perfectly cosy place to celebrate the Matariki long weekend.

We booked and paid for 3 nights through Bookabach. It cost us: $2,170.64.

Unfortunately, those photos didn't tell the full story.

The state of our rental property

When we arrived at the agreed time of 3pm, we immediately noticed some issues.

Several light bulbs were blown, including a bedroom lamp, a kitchen light over the oven, and one hanging directly over the dining table.

Large blowflies were buzzing around inside the property. The first thing we did was open the windows to shoo them out. Several required squashing, then removing. Two had already died and were curled up on the stairs and kitchen bench.

Then there was the fireplace, which had this sign taped to it:

Over our weekend, more issues became apparent:

• The oven was underpowered. It took roughly 4 hours to cook 2 chickens and enough roast vegetables for 10 people on its highest setting.

• When we tried to switch the cooking over to the BBQ, it wouldn't ignite.

• The windows were covered in muck and grease.

• Then the WiFi stopped working.

As the problems mounted up, the state of the property became a running joke.

What was going to go wrong next?

Can you get your money back on a rental property?

In the fine print of Bookabach’s terms and conditions, it states: “We are not obliged to mediate between a Guest and a Travel Provider in any dispute arising between them.”

That means the onus of fixing any faults falls on the company in charge of renting the property to us: Harcourts Taupō Rentals.

The property’s listing on Bookabach says: “All bookings are accepted on the basis that you have read, understand, and agree to abide by the Terms and Conditions and House Rules.”

But when I searched for these, I couldn’t find them listed there or on the travel provider’s own website.

In a statement, Harcourts Taupō Rentals said its terms and conditions were provided and accepted through its guest portal when we signed our rental agreement, although it acknowledged that “third-party platforms like Bookabach don’t always allow for full visibility of external documents”.

As for the standard of the property, that document states: “If you do find something that has been missed, or is not working/up to standard, it is your responsibility to advise us of this and allow us the opportunity to put it right for you. If you do not allow us the opportunity, we will not consider any form of discount or compensation.”

Your rights when booking a holiday home

Consumer NZ’s consumer adviser Maggie Edwards says holiday rental properties are covered under the Consumer Guarantees Act and the Fair Trading Act.

Under the Consumer Guarantees Act, accommodation must be provided using reasonable care and skill, and it must be fit for purpose. In practice, this means the property must be available to guests over the pre-arranged period, reasonably clean and so on.

The Fair Trading Act also prohibits traders from making misleading claims, so they can’t misrepresent the condition of the property.

If you believe your holiday rental isn’t what was advertised, you have grounds to seek compensation, says Edwards.

She says it’s worth reaching out to the owner or property manager as soon as any problems arise. “Try to contact the host as soon as you spot anything going wrong in case they can send a repair person round to fix the issue,” she says.

No luck? Contact the website that you booked through. Some offer dispute resolution processes. If that fails, you can head to the Disputes Tribunal to seek compensation.

Either way, a refund is going to take some negotiating.

How to ask for a refund

Edwards suggests documenting any issues during the rental period by taking photos and notes, where possible, and keeping receipts for any unforeseen costs from issues with the property.

After the rental period is over, Edwards says it's worth working out what kind of discount you think those issues are worth to you before asking for remuneration.

In our situation, we contacted the property managers through the Bookabach chat about 2.5 hours into our struggles to cook dinner on the second night. They didn’t respond, but an automated message did supply a phone number for “any issues”.

In its statement after the event, Harcourts Taupō Rentals says we should have called this number. “The duty phone was not used. This limited our ability to respond or assist while you were still at the property,” a spokesperson said.

The problems, however, did not feel like emergencies, just a series of inconveniences we felt we shouldn’t have had to deal with. Instead, I photographed the dead flies, the blown bulbs, the dirty windows, the BBQ that wouldn’t start and the woodburner we weren’t allowed to use.

I emailed these to Harcourts Taupō Rentals after our stay with a list of the complaints we’d had with the property across our stay, including the WiFi dropping out.

Initially, they apologised. After reviewing our issues, they responded: “We’ve been in touch with the owner, who arrived shortly after your stay. They’ve confirmed that the oven is currently working well and that the WiFi is unlimited, so connectivity should not be an issue. As for the bird muck and flies, these are unfortunately common given the rural location of the property.”

They offered to refund our cleaning fee. This wasn’t itemised on our invoice, and the Bookabach listing doesn’t say how much we paid for cleaning.

We said the issues amounted to a bigger problem than that, and we wanted them to consider giving us a larger refund of 50%. We also requested the website be updated to state guests aren’t allowed to use the fireplace.

They agreed to refund us $300, a 14% refund.

The spokesperson said: “Had we been contacted earlier, or via the duty phone, we would have been in a position to investigate and likely resolve the issues - particularly those relating to the oven, BBQ, or Wi-Fi, which we consider important. Without timely contact, our ability to assist during the stay was not possible.”

They also said: “It’s important to note that this particular property has received 137 guest reviews on Bookabach, with an average rating of 9.2 out of 10. While we understand that no experience is perfect and that things can occasionally go wrong, the overall guest satisfaction at this property has been consistently high.”

When Consumer last checked, the listing had been updated with the following note: “Fireplace pictured is no longer available – a heat pump is provided instead.”