Villa Balbiano — Hotel in Tremezzina

Horrible Experience with one of the most heartless and nasty individuals I’ve ever dealt with. Irene Dzhanashiya. Read before you consider booking this venue or you will make the same mistake as us. I have now had to get lawyers to write to this individual and the company to request the rest our money back. I paste below the facts. If anyone would like to join us in a multi group court proceedings against this company, please contact me. They have until 4pm on 20th July If my funds are returned, I will remove this review immediately.

Dear Irene,

I am sending this last email to ask you to give you one final opportunity to handle this amicably before our solicitor takes the next steps. Charlie Lynn is our solicitor and is copied in. We will issue proceedings tomorrow 6th July to recover our losses against you.

Please note the below: - We had a walk round with a very nice lady on Tuesday 28th June 2022. We paid the deposit of 17500 euros – on 28th June 2022 We sent the contract back on 1st July 2022 @ 12:00 (attached) We queried the outside canopy/structure on 1st July 2022 @ 16:25 with you – 4 hours and 25 mins after the contract was sent to you We were shown everything and the lady showed us an outside area which had a glass greenhouse style party/dining area – we were told explicitly this was included along with the entire grounds except the smaller villa on the complex. We were highlighted that this was not included by a wedding planner called “Lake Como Wedding Planners” who advised this was chargeable and 60,000 euros!! We immediately queried this with you You confirmed on 1st July 2022 @ 15:56 “I am sorry for that But you should have asked me That is really how it works! I never propose it to anyone But if you like Not to have you disappointed We can cancel the rental contract and I will refund you 16500 euro Just to keep 1k for the time and services For your info Normally we ask only for the visit - visit fee - 500 euro When the Villa is sold out and the new coming clients insist to see it Let me know your decision I am ready to cancel the contract and to refund 16500 now if you give me the bank data I will issue an invoice for 1000 euro for any services will be suitable for your company expenses Let me know I am fully at your disposal and fine with any of your decision “

Highlighted above are the important points. You confirm yourself that a visit fee is 500 euros. Yet you have decided, unfairly, to withhold £2550.75. At 16:56 you told us the cost for a visit is 500 euros and at 19:07, you change your mind. Its in writing. You already committed to those costs but have chosen. You later then confirms “You were not fine with that offer and it is not at the table any more - after the reaction you expressed” two hours later I have attached some correspondence. You yourself confirm this information. We have received a refund of £12,595.52. We paid £15,146.27 (17500 euros) – we are short £2550.75. in the space of two hours, you have decided to hold another £2050.75 for no reason. We went over to Lake Como to specifically view this venue. We were not advised at any time of any costs associated with this visit. We have all the whatsapp and email conversations to show it. Attached are reviews on google to use in the letter which show we are not the only ones who are suffering as a result of your handling of situations. We will add our review to this and into the public domain if we do not receive our remaining refund.

Finally, we want to move on but it is not fair or just for you to withhold our funds. You have made clear the costs you would apply, yet you decide to apply more for no reason. You agreed to the contract ending, you offered a refund without me asking you and then you decided to change the terms of the refund without due reason.

We request that you please send our funds back of £2550.75 to bring an end to this matter and allow everyone to move on. We confirm in receipt of this, you will not hear anything from us, our solicitor and we will not review...

FURTHER INFORMATION IN RESPONSE TO YOUR COMMENTS I am the partner of Steven Goode Here is the legal letter issued by email to the company setting out the reason we are entitled to a refund. We are so upset at the way we have been treated. Again, if we are provided the remaining refund we are due, we will remove our reviews of our experience immediately. May I point out, you confirmed IN WRITING BELOW, you would keep 1000 euros, you kept more. You also never confirmed we would be charged for a visit (you confirm 500 euros is the fee) let alone that the outside canopy is an additional cost.

To be clear, at no point throughout the transaction was our client made aware of a 1,000 Euro fee for time and services provided nor a visit fee of 500 Euros. We invite you to provide evidence in this regard to evidence that our client is subject to such fees

Confusingly, you contacted our client later on 1st July 2022, stating, ‘You were not fine with that offer and it is not at the table any more - after the reaction you expressed’.

Following further email correspondence, our client’s bank details were provided, and our client notified you on 4th July 2022 via email that only £12,595.52 had been received by way of a refund. This is not a complete refund of the £15,146.27 that our client originally transferred and is also less than the 16,500 Euros you suggested in open correspondence. It was noted on 4th July 2022 that only 15,000 Euros had been transferred. Accordingly, the sum of 2,500 Euros or £2,550.75 remains outstanding.

Our client’s claim

You entered in a contract with our client for the lease agreement of the subject Property. Upon reviewing the Property, you made it clear that the outside complex was included within the Property. Upon confirmation by your company representative, your company’s warranties as to the outside area induced our client into entering into the contract. Were it not for your client’s express assurances our client would not have entered into the contract.

Accordingly, it is our client’s position that your company’s assertions as to the external area were misrepresentations, fraudulently or otherwise, and induced our client to enter into the contract upon false assertions.

Further, or in the alternative, as per DIRECTIVE 2011/83/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 25 October 2011 on consumer rights, amending Council Directive 93/13/EEC and Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 85/577/EEC and Directive 97/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, our client as consumer is entitled to 14 days to withdraw from a distance or off-premises contract without giving any reasons, as per Article 9(1). Accordingly, our client is entitled to a refund in full in accordance with the relevant EU legislation.

Further, or in the alternative, as per the correspondence highlighted above, you appear to justify withholding our clients outstanding funds based on charges incurred for ‘time and services’ and ‘visit fees’. You have no explicit or contractual basis for such charges and our client is entitled to reimbursement of the outstanding charges accordingly.

Accordingly, our client demands the return of 2,500 Euros or £2,550.75 which remains outstanding within 14 days of this letter. Should repayment not be forthcoming, our client reserves the right to commence court proceedings and to claim all unnecessary legal costs associated with bringing its claim against you.

We require a response to this letter of claim within 14 days if receipt, which we consider to be a reasonable period for a full response. We therefore calculate that your response is due by not later than 4.00pm on...

When a place boasts to be the most “classy” place in Lake Como and commands a “classy attitude” for its visitors, this place has done something that’s the utmost un-classy. A classic example of contract switch and bait. I booked this entire villa for our August wedding, despite hearing horror stories abt the villa mgmt. When we paid 40,000 euros and signed the contact in fall 2022, the contract stated we have access to the “entire villa”. We went for a site inspection in March 2023, and all the rooms were shown to us and also we were told that they would be open for our use (for photos, no sleeping of course )during the wedding. It’s worth noting that we understood we would only get one bridal suite as day of accommodation, to get ready etc, which is all the way in the third floor as we only booked a one-day rental. To get ready in the highly decorated bridal suite on the second floor would be for an extra charge. But that’s about it regarding extra charges. (Later did we know that guests using bathrooms come at extra charges too! Lol) Time came June 2023, the wedding planner forwarded an email from the villa mgmt, barring us from using 85% of the rooms that were shown —the rooms with beautiful fresco and furnitures—they were crossed off on the PDF floor plan that was forwarded with big red crosses. On the wedding day, with our elderly parents and bridal party, we had to make do with just two couches on the first floor living room area, and there was barely any AC in 96 degrees weather. My family and bridal party had to take turns to sit and they were suffocating. If not for the nice photographers to ask for a couple smaller rooms to be open for bride & groom’ photoshoot, I’d have nothing inside the villa to show in my wedding portraits. And isn’t showcasing the beauty of the villa the whole point of booking it?! Most of the time, my family and I were just standing against the white wall in the first floor hall way for family photos, which completely defeats the point. Everything has to be a fight including disability access. A place that lists “wheelchair access” on its website and google page refused our disability access requests. My mom couldn’t sit, walk or stand for long due to her disability. But normally people can’t tell because she hides it well. When we arrived at the villa, knowing most rooms are blocked, we were still shocked that the mgmt wouldn’t allow us to use the elevator —their reason is: access to the elevator is in the area that’s blocked off to us. Our bridal suite is on the third floor—and these are the big marble steps with two flights each floor. My mom begged the staff to please make an exception for her and they wouldn’t. After several times, our wedding assistant eventually persuaded the on-site manager to allow my mom to use it. Yet it took the manager 30 minutes to arrive to open the door to the lift. ( isn’t it her job to be on-site and stand by in the day of an event!?) And she forbid anyone else to accompany my mother. My mom suffered so much not being able to go the bridal suite to rest and use bathroom that she had to lean on the chair ( seen in the photo here) to alleviate some of her back pain. What kind of nasty behavior is this to treat the people who come to simply adore your beautiful “home” and bring you business? Overall this villa has the attitude that “we know we are pretty and in high demand, so we can do whatever. Take it or leave it” and I can tell you, Villa Balbiano, this is the exact attitude that would send you down the toilet eventually, and probably soon. A reputation is...