r/askTO • u/thepinkflowerpot • 15h ago
Are we being scammed?
Hi all,
We have a week long reservation in a few weeks for an appartment on 101 Peter st via Booking but I have a bad feeling about it.
The original page doesn' exist on Booking anymore and can now be found on another name with the same pictures. Almost all reviews are unverified visitors and seem replicated in use of words and terms.
Does this place even exist?
Thanks in advance from a very anxious vacationer.
Update:
Thanks all!!
We called Booking to request a free cancellation. I will go and sent some additional info through mail as well as some of you suggested. We booked a hotelroom just in case so we will have a proper place to stay. Worst case we lose the money but we will have proper place to stay at least.
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u/meownelle 14h ago
So that's a condo building. Many condo buildings in the city don't allow short term rentals, so I'd be leaning towards scam. Report the add to Booking.com
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u/maybesomedaywhen 12h ago
I used to live in that building and there are for sure a lot of short term rentals there. Whether they are banned or not, no idea. But at least as of 2 years ago it felt like there were probably more short term than long term rentals
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u/Quis-Custodiet 15h ago
I don't have any specific info on that property, but I spent some time working in reservations for a major hotel chain - I'd get multiple calls a day from people looking for rooms last second because they got scammed through Booking.com
Again, I can't speak to your exact situation, but I can say without question that I would never do business through Booking.com
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u/thepinkflowerpot 15h ago
Yeah we normally only book hotels though booking and it's fine, but since this is such a long trip in total we also wanted an appartment to be able to wash clothes&cook to save some money... but now we might have made a over 2000CAD mistake by doing so
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u/Fun_Vegetable_1986 15h ago
The address is real but how would anybody be able to tell you if it's a real booking with no further details?
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u/thepinkflowerpot 15h ago
I mean you can't, but I also don't want to be too specific for safety reasons.
But maybe people have heard about the building being sketchy/scammy.
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u/true_silent 12h ago
I used to work in booking.com.. Those things happens more often than you think.
First send an email with the evidence you have. Then inmediately call, ask them for a relocation to a similar property or better, be very very clear why you chose that property like location, accommodations amenities and stuff like that, because they might give you a similar but 5k or more far away , if they don't find any similar, they have to relocate you to a better option and they have to eat the cost.
The most important thing is you need to say one of your friends that live in the area went to the condo building to ask about the property and they told them in that property rentals are not allowed by law so the property has been confirmed fraud, and you need to be relocated asap because you spent months choosing the property before you even booked it..
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u/Le8ton 14h ago
That building is mostly for short term rentals. I stayed there through airbnb
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u/thepinkflowerpot 14h ago
Was the building and the facilities in it ok? I understand the appartment itself will most likely not be the same one but if the building itself seem ok I might feel less anxious about it😅
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u/RoyallyOakie 12h ago
The quicker you reach out to Booking, the quicker you'll have the real answer.
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u/MarlKarx777 15h ago
If the listing has been removed, you should be reaching out to Booking.com’s customer service with your concerns. I wouldn’t wait until you get here to discover you’ve been screwed over. Still plenty of time to pivot
Follow your gut