u/Feisty_Turnip_4860

Hi all,

In my city, regular trash bins are inside locked cages, but the yellow containers for cans and bottles are outside due to lack of space.

Since the deposit system started, dozens of people go through these bins every day looking for bottles and cans to return at supermarkets for the refund. They literally pull everything out of the containers searching for them.

What really annoys me is that we already separate our recycling properly ourselves, but then other people come and tear everything apart anyway just to collect the deposit money.

And the system itself feels weird. The government charges you extra money for bottles and cans, but you only get it back if you return them at the supermarket. If you recycle them normally in the yellow bin, you lose the deposit...

Now supermarkets are full of people returning huge bags of cans and bottles. Some spend ages there and the whole area smells like alcohol.

Even more sad is that now I’m starting to see school kids doing it after classes to earn a few extra coins for snacks or whatever.

And the worst part: people searching through the bins leave the rest of the garbage all over the ground, making the whole area disgusting. I’m honestly getting tired of it and thinking about writing a complaint to the city council.

A neighbour tried putting padlocks on the yellow containers too, but then the garbage collectors can’t open them when they come to empty them, so that obviously doesn’t work either.

The problem is we can’t even move all the bins inside the locked cage because there’s simply no space. My neighbourhood has lots of businesses and restaurants (KFC, kebab places, Żabka, etc.)

Is this happening in your cities/neighbourhoods too?

I wanted to vent a bit about this situation

Regards!!!

Hi all, long-time Booking user with more than 200 reservartions and never more. I've only had to complain twice in more than 12 years. This second time has left me genuinely shocked.

We booked 2 apartments in Spain for 11 people. What we found had nothing to do with the listing photos, which based on reviews appear to be at least 10 years old.

The worst part: 2 out of 6 beds were completely broken. Not worn out. Broken. Add to that doors that wouldn't close (including the bathroom), severe damp, old electrical wiring with taped-up sockets that sparked or randomly switched lights on, dirty bedding that smelled of alcohol, and zero soundproofing from the bar directly below.

We contacted Booking asking for refund (It was 11pm. The city was fully sold out. Nowhere to go) They said they'd try to get us between 50% and 100% back. They called the host. The host didn't pick up. So Booking came back with... 10% as wallet credit. Credited only to the account of whoever made the booking, not the other 10 guests.

A few things that really bother me:

Only the person who made the reservation can file a complaint. The other 10 guests, each with their own Booking account, have no voice whatsoever.

The "refund" is wallet credit worth less than what Booking earned in commission.

Their answer to everything: "If the host doesn't agree, there's nothing we can do." So a host can ignore a call at midnight and face zero consequences.

We escalated to Supervision. Same conclusion.

The host's solution? Offered to send her husband over at midnight to fix the beds...

The listing is still up. Those beds are probably still broken. Reviews going back months describe the exact same issues. Booking knows, and they're still selling it.

I thought we were protected and booking kept the money until the end of the stay.

Has anyone had success escalating beyond Booking's standard support? ODR platform? Chargeback? Anything?

Regards