greatgenes
@greatgenes.bsky.social
5.7K followers 4.6K following 11K posts
Melburnian. 43 year old female. Overqualified compared to alpha male peers. Wear 👠. Taylor Swift ✨. Kamala & Hillary > Trump & Biden. Divorced. Friends with ex. 2 extraordinary kids. Fit 💪🏼. F1 fan. Aspiring 🏎️ driver. Keep 🪴 as pets. Love 📚. Drive a Mini.
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Reposted by greatgenes
29rory.bsky.social
Of course, you do

The partnership was never close
Do we have army bases in America? Do we?
Your predecessors sold us out once before

SO albo, ask the rest of the country
If they want you to associate us

with the convicted criminal
and suspected child rapist
president of america?

#ANTIFA
#Auspol
greatgenes.bsky.social
Don’t understand this need for blind worship! So hypocritical.
greatgenes.bsky.social
Naah I’m not going to do that. Had they not refunded I may have. I prefer formal channels over public humiliation anyway.

Bluesky is different & quite niche so I don’t mind sharing experiences here…
greatgenes.bsky.social
Update:

They refunded my deposit in its entirety.

Moral of the story: Know your legal rights & stand up for them!

🕊️💙🦋

#auspol
greatgenes.bsky.social
I reminded them of the law.

Deposits greater than 10% are considered excessive.

When I booked, there was no pop-up to highlight that my deposit was non-refundable.

The dates are months away during peak season, which means it has not impacted their chance of getting another booking.

#auspol
Screenshot of Guidance for Tourism Businesses under Consumer Law

consumer.vic.gov.au
< Back to Contracts

Unfair contract terms are void and cannot be enforced against customers. Businesses may want to include specific terms and conditions about fees, deposits or cancellation charges. If they do include these, they should make customers aware of them before they book. Failure to disclose these conditions could also be considered unfair, due to a lack of transparency.

The ACL bans businesses from proposing, using, or relying on unfair contract terms in standard form contracts with consumers and small businesses.
Penalties can be as high as:
• $50 million for businesses
• $2.5 million for individuals.

Make sure any fees or charges reflect reasonable costs. 

Otherwise, they may be seen as penalties, which generally cannot be enforced. 

Deposits greater than 10 per cent of the total cost of a booking may be considered to be prepayments, which guests may not have to forfeit if they cancel their booking. 

Businesses should consider whether or not they need more than 10 per cent as a deposit. Screenshot of Guidance for Tourism Businesses under Consumer Law

consumer.vic.gov.au
< Back to Contracts

Reducing losses

Before applying a cancellation policy, tourism businesses should take into account the likelihood that losses can be limited by re-booking another guest. 

While the chances of re-booking get smaller closer to the booking date, the business should make reasonable efforts. 

If another guest books the accommodation for the same price, it may be difficult for the business to argue that it has the right to impose a cancellation fee, except for costs already incurred.

If the contract allows the business to reclaim losses from a customer, without taking reasonable steps to avoid them, it may be deemed unfair under the ACL.

This could include any terms that allow the business to claim the total cost of accommodation from a guest regardless of when they cancel the booking.
greatgenes.bsky.social
Why are people talking about the Lord of Mordor again?

What on Orc has he done now?
greatgenes.bsky.social
Close @georgetakei.bsky.social .

Sauron = Peter Thiel
Saruman = Netanyahu
Witch-king of Angmar / Lord of the Nazgûl = Musk
Nazgûl = Hegseth, RFK Jr etc
GOLLUM = TRUMP
greatgenes.bsky.social
The humble beginnings of my new corporate empire…

You heard it here first…

Official announcement still x months away, but you guys…

you guys have been… 🥹

🕊️💙🦋

#WomensTradeCollective #PowerToolGirls
Picture of my organized garage. Bikes on the wall & tools organized on shelves. Other photos are just different angles, because I couldn’t stop myself from posting them!
Reposted by greatgenes
derekjarman.bsky.social
Well, in that case, they're being oversensitive babies and deserve everything they get.

I mean... we all should read the terms, but we also have become conditioned not to expect unreasonable conditions.

I'd get it if you were cancelling the week before the trip... but months out?
greatgenes.bsky.social
And 3 days after booking! I’d be find with them withholding a booking fee or something but the entire $640 is nothing but robbery.
greatgenes.bsky.social
I might have simply been lucky. Also usually I’m quite good with checking T&C’s etc. That day I was particularly distracted with a million things on.

Oh well. I’ll be more careful next time :)
greatgenes.bsky.social
@lovenotgreed.bsky.social I informed them of what the ACL says…
greatgenes.bsky.social
I’ve never had an issue with AirBnB or with Booking.com. Unfortunately this was booked directly with the venue.
greatgenes.bsky.social
That option wasn’t available unfortunately.
greatgenes.bsky.social
That’s exactly what I did Derek. ACL reference had to come after they refused to refund.
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jatolion.bsky.social
They had better not have the hide to ask for a review. :)
greatgenes.bsky.social
haha they don’t even have to ask. They’ve totally earned it 😂
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simmatthews.bsky.social
Good on you for pushing back , not enough people have the tenacity to do this , businesses like this get away with it, keep the foot on the throat .
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mspraxis.bsky.social
Absolutely worth it! And it wasn't all that much more. I felt so relieved to have locked in the accommodation but knowing I can cancel if I have to (hopefully not though!).
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finnigans.bsky.social
Yes Robbie, the Motto of the Young Player Trap Club
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babsflowers.bsky.social
They're terrified of cancel culture. Keep publicising the issue & you'll probably get a refund. I had to resort to a bad review on Trip Adviser a few years ago... suddenly everyone sprang into action, I got my money back on the proviso I wrote, on Trip Advisor, that the situation had been resolved