An artist said she was left $10,834.30 out of pocket after holiday house operators told her to cancel her booking because of the Northern Beaches Covid outbreak, but then refused to return the cost which included a $350 cleaning fee.
Jessie Breakwell booked a week in a Palm Beach guesthouse in Sydney, and said she was promised a 50 per cent refund if she cancelled the Stayz booking.
The guesthouse owners then failed to refund the money and refused to answer calls or emails, the Melbourne painter has claimed.
An artist (pictured) said she lost $10K after holiday house operators told her to cancel her booking because of the Northern Beaches Covid outbreak, but then refused to return the cost and even charged $300 for a cleaning fee
Jessie Breakwell booked a week in a Palm Beach guesthouse in Sydney (pictured), and said she was promised a 50 per cent refund if she cancelled the booking on Stayz
The artist said after it was announced the Northern Beaches would go into lockdown, she was promised a 50 per cent refund if she cancelled the booking on Stayz (pictured, the home she booked)
Ms Breakwell told Daily Mail Australia she booked the holiday after a ‘hard year’, but didn’t expect it to turn into a ‘complete disaster.’
‘It was a treat, I’d had such a hard year and so had my poor family members, my partner had, we were just trying to have a nice holiday and it just turned out to be a complete disaster,’ she said.
The artist claimed she was promised a 50 per cent refund if she cancelled the booking on Stayz after it was announced the Northern Beaches would go into lockdown.
‘[I was told] listen, if you go cancel your booking we will give you [50 per cent] back and I was pretty furious,’ Ms Breakwell told Daily Mail Australia.
‘But eventually I agreed to it and I cancelled my booking and then they sort of strung me out for a bit.’
The artist claimed the guesthouse operators, who she said live on the property, cut off communication and did not refund any money after she threatened them with legal action.
‘If they cancelled the booking I would’ve got my funds back, so they made me cancel it and I’m just so trusting,’ Ms Breakwell said, adding she contacted them ’20 or 30′ times.
‘It was completely illegal for me to go into the area … so really they cancelled my booking, I didn’t cancel their booking.’
After posting her ordeal to her Facebook page, which has 19,000 followers, Ms Breakwell (pictured) said she was refunded a $718.30 ‘HomeAway Service fee’ from Stayz after paying them $1274.71 for their service
‘I gave over $30,000 worth of refunds, 100 per cent back, no questions asked … because I know it’s the right thing to do,’ the painter (pictured) said about her masterclasses which were cancelled because of Covid
After posting her ordeal to her Facebook page, which has 19,000 followers, Ms Breakwell said she was refunded a $718.30 ‘HomeAway Service fee’ from Stayz after paying them $1274.71 for their service.
The mother of a nine-year-old daughter said she paid back $30,000 to her own clients after her country-wide painting masterclasses were cancelled, which is why she was so shocked not to receive a refund.
‘I gave over $30,000 worth of refunds, 100 per cent back, no questions asked … because I know it’s the right thing to do,’ she said.
The listing has been removed from Stayz and other booking sites, but an existing advertisement on Travel City says it has three bedrooms and boasts a sauna, fireplace and is one kilometre from the beach.
‘The cancellation policies on Stayz are set by individual hosts and not by Stayz,’ a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.
‘We encourage all travellers to read the cancellation policies on each property page before making a booking. Travellers are also reminded of the cancellation policy before the final booking step on the site.’
The Daily Mail contacted the owner of the property, but they declined to comment.
‘It was a treat, I’d had such a hard year and so had my poor family members, my partner had, we were just trying to have a nice holiday and it just turned out to be a complete disaster,’ Ms Breakwell (pictured) said about the ordeal
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