Help! We Canceled a Vacation Rental 2 Years Ago. Where’s Our $13,000?

Dear Tripped Up,

In July 2024, we booked two apartments in Koloa, Hawaii, through Booking.com for a Christmas-week family vacation, paying $12,984 with our Bank of America credit card. Days later we found a better option and quickly canceled. Booking.com sent an email saying we would receive a full refund directly from the property within 14 days. Two years later, we still haven’t gotten it. We tried to call the company our payment had gone to, Dicasi Vacations, but no one ever answered. We also contacted Booking.com, which told us Dicasi had provided documentation that seemed to show it had refunded our money. (Our card was never credited, and we sent Booking.com several months of statements to prove this.) We also disputed the charge with Bank of America, but Dicasi sent it documents telling a contradictory (and false) story that we had actually completed our stay, and the bank declined to reverse the charge. We even had a lawyer write to Booking.com, which is based in the Netherlands, but we never heard back. Can you help? Jeff and Lynn, Portland, Ore.

Dear Jeff and Lynn,

A case that initially looked like a simple disagreement over a (long overdue) refund turned out to be a gripping tale of dubious documents and falsified signatures that fooled big companies. It’s also a story of missed opportunities to make things right.

First, I could find no evidence that Dicasi Vacations, which is based in Mexico City, ever managed the properties you booked in Koloa, on the island of Kauai.

But you didn’t do anything careless, like send a sketchy wire transfer or fail to notice you were on an impostor website. You found a listing on Booking.com, a reputable online travel agency that’s part of Booking Holdings, the owner of brands like Priceline, Kayak and OpenTable, and the self-proclaimed “world’s leading provider of online travel and related services.” You paid with a major credit card, giving you power to dispute the charge if necessary.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/travel/vacation-rental-cancellation-refund.html