At the beginning of July 2009 I booked 2 rooms in Spain with Roomsnet.

One day before flying to Spain (end of August 2009) I called the hotel to confirm the reservation and, to my surprise, found out that my reservation had been cancelled by my agent 1 week ago.
I tried to call Roomsnet but, needless to say, Roomsnet was uncontactable on their both lines.

Fortunately my flight was in the evening, so I went to their address indicated on their Voucher.
At 45 Craven Road, London W2 3XB, there is no such company as RoomsNet, but... a "Moore & Co. Pharmacy" (picture number 1).

I spoke to a lady at the counter and explained her my issue. She became very nervous, took my vouchers and went to a shop opposite: Bayswater Medical Centre, 46 Craven Road, London W2 3BX (picture number 2).

There I met a lady, Mandy Walsh, who went out of the basement of the shop. She apologised for the inconvenience and lied to me saying that my booking had been cancelled on 26 August 2009 (in fact it was cancelled on 18 August 2009) and that my money was refunded on that date and I should allow 3 working days for the money to materialise on my account.

When I asked Mandy what connection she had with RoomsNet, she said she was helping them out as a person working for a Medical Centre, but she is an NHS employee.

Today is the 6th working day after that and, needless to say, I received no money from them.

I did go to Spain, had to book another hotel (and expand my budget for this trip) and did not go through the ordeal as others did, who found out about their booking cancellation only after coming to Spain.

When I was in Spain I also went to my original hotel, booked through Roomsnet, and they confirmed, that a middle agency ("SERHS Tourism" - www.serhstourism.com), were not receiving money from Roomsnet. They were sending several emails to Roomsnet prompting them to make the payment, but due to not receiving any, they cancelled my reservation with the hotel. The receptionist from the hotel, after speaking with SERHS Toursim, told me that this kind of action is a frequent practice of Roomsnet and my case was not an isolated one.

Funnily enough, Many Walsh, explained to me that the cancellation was a result of SERHS Tourism's fault.

I also found another website where lots of other people who Roomsnet managed to cheat and steal money from tell their stories:

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187439-i318-k3054163-Warning_Do_not_use_Roomsnet_com-Marbella_Costa_del_Sol_Andalusia.html

All in all, Roomsnet did not manage to ruin my holidays, they "only" stole my money and have been consequently lying.

HOW IT WORKS?

Apparently Roomsnet deliberately and methodically cheat people by taking money from them, not transfering them to their intermediary (a Spanish SERHS Tourism, in this instance) and delay in refunding (or not refunding at all).

WHAT I DID?

I found out a website of http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/ who are competent in helping out in such cases.
I launched a complain and hope to receive my money.