‘We went on our first vacation in 11 years and the Spanish villa did not exist’

A household who turned up in Spain able to take pleasure in their first vacation in additional than a decade was dismayed to search out the villa they booked did not exist.

Neil Bray, 42, had deliberate to spend two weeks away together with his 4 youngsters and accomplice in Alicante and located a villa to lease within the port metropolis.

The property – which included a swimming pool, sauna, jacuzzi and ample out of doors area – was listed for simply €1,800 (£1,542) on a vacation leases group.

But it turned out too good to be true, as when the household arrived for his or her highly-anticipated fortnight break, their first in 11 years, they discovered the constructing was non-existent.

Instead, they had been left stranded in Spain and compelled to fork out 1000’s of kilos for various lodging.

While reserving his vacation, the dad-of-four from Bexhill, East Sussex, mentioned he reached out to the advertiser and spoke with them over the telephone concerning the property every week earlier than his household left.

They spoke about their pleasure concerning the upcoming vacation, and the advertiser even instructed locations to eat and drink and advised him “how nice the weather was out there”.

He determined to go forward with the reserving and transferred an preliminary deposit of €180 (£154), having promised to ship the remaining payment on arrival.

The advertiser mentioned the household could be picked up after their flight, however after spending £1,800 on flights to Alicante, they discovered there was nobody to greet them on arrival.

Mr Bray mentioned: “We arrived at the airport expecting to be met, then when we tried to contact on all the different methods – Facebook, WhatsApp, email, call and text – everything was dead.

“We came upon in a short time that the villa was on the market and that this particular person lifted the photographs from a on the market web page.”

He added: “We spent the primary six hours stranded within the airport while we frantically discovered a villa that set us again €2,800, a taxi was €125 and automotive rent was €325.”

The bank manager was forced to book a new residence for €2,800 (£2,399) and pay an additional €450 (£385) for travel and a hire car.

He said: “I really feel so silly, it has affected my well-being and psychological well being – I really feel so ridiculous.

“We have just been focusing on making the most of the trip for the children.”