Mijn Klacht:

The same complaint, I have registered in Trustpilot.
I thought, it might be better to do the same in here, for more visibility.
Surprised that this is the first complaint here about these clever guys!
Anyway here is my story:

We have booked an apartment in Paris for 3 days via booking.com. There is another agency in between HostFly, helping with the correspondence and booking details.
Anyways, this agency was reminding me 5 times before the stay to make a deposit payment via a platform called Swikly. This did not raise any alarm bell for me, although I made the payment far before the reminders! Red flag, that shows how this deposit payment is crucial for their scam!

10 days after our stay in the apartment. Yes, 10 days after our stay! I received a message via booking.com that there are stains on the table, in short, the deposit amount will not be released back to me!

There is no evidence, no picture, no detailed explanation nothing at all!!

Personally, I am extremely careful about not to damage anything in temporary rentals, whether there is a deposit or not. Anyways, personally, I am 200% careful, and we have never removed the table cloth, so that is impossible for us to stain the table. If there was any damage done, we would have been fair of course. Justice needs to be for all.

Another red flag is now the apartment is not listed in Booking.com! So it is not possible to warn other potential victims on booking.com!

Anyways, without any proof, any explanation, the deposit amount is taken by Swikly.
Now they are telling me, I can file a lawsuit and pursue my legal rights (for 250 euros!) OR of course they are very kind to suggest me using my insurance coverage to get 250 euros back from the insurance company!
So all parties will be happy with this well thought scam!

In short, when you hear Swikly deposit payment, just STAY AWAY!

Gewenste Oplossing:

Be open to communication, provide evidence for the damage, don\'t take it one sided