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In May 2023 we have booked a large cottage close to the church and reception venue for our daughter’s wedding in the Cotswolds this summer.
It can accommodate most of the family (11 adults and two dogs) and will be the centre of attention on the wedding day as make-up, hair and wedding cars will be arranged. We paid the full bill at the end of May this year, at a cost of £1,600.
The owner has now informed us that he is no longer renting the property and apparently informed Booking.com of this eight months ago. Booking.com denies this and will not carry out any relocation until they receive confirmation from the property owner or after check-in at 3pm on 27 June, two days before the wedding.
I have contacted Booking.com on four occasions and always get the same canned response that we need to wait until check-in opens on the day of arrival so they can help us. What can Booking.com realistically do on a Thursday at 3pm to find us an alternative property for 11 adults and 2 dogs? This is causing significant stress.
January 2010.
Sally Hamilton responds: I sympathise with your situation as my eldest daughter got married 18 months ago and we also carefully arranged many months in advance for our stay at a property close to the wedding venue so that the family could prepare for the nuptials. If we had been faced with a booking cancellation so close to the big day, I’m not sure my already shattered nerves would have been able to cope.
With the wedding season just around the corner, I guess many families will be interested in knowing how to get out of such a complicated situation. As you explained to me, you tried to solve this problem and contacted customer service, but you didn’t get anywhere, so you turned to me. But maybe you weren’t lucky this time.
The suggestion to wait until the day of check-in before Booking.com took any action was absurd.
I contacted the company on your behalf to ask you to help me save the day by finding another property that could accommodate you and your family.
A couple of days later, you received the wedding gift you were hoping for thanks to my involvement. Booking.com managed to find and book an alternative home for you and, more importantly, agreed to pay what turned out to be significant additional rental costs.
Due to limited accommodation supply so close to the date, the bill for the new property was £2,621 – £1,021 more than the original booking. Booking.com said it would refund the difference immediately after the wedding.
When I contacted you last week, you confirmed that you had the money in the bank two days after you left the property. I am pleased to report that your daughter managed to get married without further problems, and I was also very pleased when you told me that you mentioned it in your father-of-the-bride speech. I suspect this is the first time this has happened in this column.
A Booking.com spokesperson says: “Our aim is always to enable seamless travel experiences and in the very rare case that there may be an issue with a specific property, customers should contact our customer service team for further assistance.”
My son is having a problem with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) over the renewal of his driving licence.
When he filled out the online forms a few months ago, he accidentally ticked the wrong box about drug and alcohol dependency, prompting the DVLA to reply saying his licence had been cancelled.
He is a plasterer and needs his van to carry all his tools and get to his jobs. The situation risks putting him in serious financial difficulties as he has a wife and two teenage daughters to support. Please help me.
DT, Hove, East Sussex.
She told me that her son had called the DVLA several times to try to correct a simple mistake, but it had proved disastrous. He is not addicted to drugs or alcohol, but a mistake in pressing a key on the computer set off a chain of events that has left him unable to drive his van for months.
As required by the DVLA in such cases, he had to obtain a letter from his GP confirming that he was fit to drive and had no alcohol or drug problems. He did his best to sort things out on his own, but still has no licence to prove it. As his father, he was keen to help, but was unsure of who to turn to.
Both hoped they would be granted a special concession under Section 88 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, which in some circumstances allows motorists to continue driving even if they do not have a valid driving licence.
However, this did not apply in her son’s case, as his licence was revoked while the DVLA checked his medical history in more detail – the GP’s letter was apparently not enough to prove he could safely drive a vehicle.
Understandably, his son was distressed (and broke) about taking on plastering jobs for which he had to pay a driver to take him to work. As he was getting nowhere quickly with the DVLA, I asked if he could speed up his enquiries.
The day after my intervention, the DVLA called his son to confirm that he would receive his driving licence imminently. But I had to insist again because the licence still had not arrived. Two weeks later he received his licence and told me that he was delighted to get back behind the wheel.
This case is a lesson to all of us: we must be careful when filling out forms. I hate filling out forms, and when it is a particularly important one, I ask a family member to look it over in case they spot something I have missed. I recommend, dear readers, that you do the same.
Scam Watch
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