Hippo Co owner Sasha Trpkovski fails in compensation bid against lastminute.com.au
The owner of popular drinking spot Hippo Co has failed in a compensation bid against lastminute.com.au after he cancelled a London hotel booking for more than $3500.
Canberra Star
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A Canberra bar owner and holidaymaker who claimed his trip to London was ruined by booking website lastminute.com.au has had his botched bid for compensation tossed out of small claims court.
Sasha Trpkovski, a Canberra pub owner, claimed the website took too long to refund a $3673 hotel booking in London that he cancelled, leading him to suffer “significant distress and disappointment whilst on holidays”.
Mr Trpkovski, self represented, tried to sue the website for $24,500 but filed his case against the company Lastminute.com.au Pty Ltd, which neither owned nor operated the website and which had been wound up by the time the case concluded.
The tribunal heard that Mr Trpovski went overseas in December 2018 and booked accommodation at the Circus Apartments by BridgeStreet in London, but later cancelled the booking by sending an email saying “please cancel this booking” to an unmonitored email address.
The money for the hotel booking was charged to Mr Trpovski’s bank account, and refunded 10 days later, but he told the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal the delay left him low on cash for the last two weeks of his overseas trip.
He told the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal the booking debacle “completely ruined our holiday”.
The tribunal heard that Mr Trpovski, who owns popular Canberra drinking hole Hippo Co and Honkytonks, only “partially particularised” why he was claiming $24,500, but documents presented at a hearing in May last year showed he had spent more than $17,000 on flights alone.
But tribunal member Allan Anforth threw Mr Trpovski’s claim out, because the company he sued – despite its name – neither owned nor operated the website when the booking mishap happened.
The website is owned run by American company Expedia, Mr Anforth concluded.
Expedia’s ownership of the website was detailed on the site’s terms and conditions.
“(Mr Trpovski) has sued the wrong entity; (Lastminute.com pty ltd) is not liable in this matter,” Mr Anforth said.