andrewjlane

Went on to their website today and booked a short break for next week. Got the following message at the end:

Thank you for booking your holiday with English Country Cottages

Your temporary internet reference number is : xxxxxxxxxxxx

If you wish to view the property at a later stage you can use the Property Reference search.

Your cottage's Property Reference Number is : xxx

I then get an email:

Thank you for reserving your holiday through English Country Cottages.

Please note:

We will confirm your booking by e-mail within the next 48 hours and written confirmation will follow within 7 to 10 days.

I then get an email 4 hours later saying the property was not available! All through the website booking process it states "... we would prefer you to book via our website..." but seems someone booked by phone and received preference. My point is, i think i have a valid contract with them - I'd given my cc details etc and in my mind, there was no doubt that the property was not available - should i sue for non-performance of contract.

bigmac

If you had of received the email confirming the booking then you would have a case.
I heard of people getting confirmation of a digital camera at a price that was obviously a mistake. But because they had the confirmation email th company had to honour the deal.

So to me that means the confirmation email = a contract between you and the company.

Sounds like you never received that email, so therefore no contract.

That's just my thoughts and I'm not a legal expert!

You could play on this a bit, "because you mucked me about, can I book somewhere else and have some compensation bla bla bla, I have booked time off work now and this causes a real pain having to re-jig my holiday bla bla bla".

Mark.