Arkady L.

We rented an apartment in Sarlat via booking.com and faced a brutal scam orchestrated by the apartment landlord Alex Chemel. The apartment was rented for 3 nights and paid by credit card 440 and as a standard condition we provided a security deposit of 500 for case of damage. We left the apartment in the allotted time and the concierge handed the keys, leaving all in order. On the same day in the evening we received a mail from booking.com which said that the owner has requested 500 for damages yet no evidence of the damage was provided. The owner did not respond to our calls, moreover soon came a new mail from booking.com stating that the owner complains about harassment and they ask us to stop calling him. On the next day 500 was withdrawn from the credit card. Our attempts to find out any details have failed, Alex never not answer direct phone calls, only when we called from Skype using US calling number. The booking.com sent us a mail that in the future we have to deal directly with the owner of the apartment and was eliminated from involvement in this process. Thus we have not received any support from booking.com, despite the fact that for many years were his clients and had a flawless history of tens to stay in different parts of the world.