VRBO, whichIn April 2020, many consumers are discovering that VRBO isn’t offering refunds for proertiewhose renta agreements had to be terminated due to the cornoavirus. VRBO pases the money renters pay to the homeowner after taking their fees. It is up to the homowner to refund the cash and most are not willing to do that, instead, offering a cetificate for a future stay is an acronym for Vacation Rental By Owners, was founded by David and Lynn Crouse in 1995. The couple had a condo that they decided to rent out, rather than sell. What began with a single condo offering, has turned into one of the largest vacation rental sites in history. After Lynn was injured in a car accident and David lost his job, the couple decided to move to California for improved job prospects. They purchased a house in northern California and decided to rent their condo.
The internet was in its infancy, so the couple began with an 800 number and a picture of their condo on the back of skiing magazines. Later, Dave built a website and the company was actually run from the couple’s basement.
Today, in combination with their parent company, VRBO operates a vacation rental marketplace with more than 2,000,000 vacation rentals in 190 countries. VRBO was acquired by HomeAway in 2006 for $160 million. The company operates as a subsidiary.
Also in February 2020, hosts with VRBO are reporting payment problem, some taking weeks to receive payment. VRBO says they are not aware of any issues, but thousands of hosts have complained.
VRBO has headquarters in Austin, Texas. Along with its parent company, VRBO had annual revenue in 2014 of $448.6 million
In late April or early May 2020, many renters discovered that VRBO does not issue refunds, but that refunds must come from the property owner. VRBO can only refund their portion. Due to the coronavirus and the quarantine, most renters are looking for refunds and most property owners are refusing, only offering a certificate for a stay at a later date.
VRBO
VRBO, whichIn April 2020, many consumers are discovering that VRBO isn’t offering refunds for proertiewhose renta agreements had to be terminated due to the cornoavirus. VRBO pases the money renters pay to the homeowner after taking their fees. It is up to the homowner to refund the cash and most are not willing to do that, instead, offering a cetificate for a future stay is an acronym for Vacation Rental By Owners, was founded by David and Lynn Crouse in 1995. The couple had a condo that they decided to rent out, rather than sell. What began with a single condo offering, has turned into one of the largest vacation rental sites in history. After Lynn was injured in a car accident and David lost his job, the couple decided to move to California for improved job prospects. They purchased a house in northern California and decided to rent their condo.
The internet was in its infancy, so the couple began with an 800 number and a picture of their condo on the back of skiing magazines. Later, Dave built a website and the company was actually run from the couple’s basement.
History
Today, in combination with their parent company, VRBO operates a vacation rental marketplace with more than 2,000,000 vacation rentals in 190 countries. VRBO was acquired by HomeAway in 2006 for $160 million. The company operates as a subsidiary.
Also in February 2020, hosts with VRBO are reporting payment problem, some taking weeks to receive payment. VRBO says they are not aware of any issues, but thousands of hosts have complained.
VRBO has headquarters in Austin, Texas. Along with its parent company, VRBO had annual revenue in 2014 of $448.6 million
In late April or early May 2020, many renters discovered that VRBO does not issue refunds, but that refunds must come from the property owner. VRBO can only refund their portion. Due to the coronavirus and the quarantine, most renters are looking for refunds and most property owners are refusing, only offering a certificate for a stay at a later date.
I recently had my first experience and it will be my last. I booked a week stay in Sussex county, de . The host misrepresented her property, verbally threatened me, lied, changed and added requirements for the dog’s stay, was nasty, couldn’t be a worse reflection on VRBO, I still haven’t received my deposit back even though, nothing was signed and couldn’t agree on my dogs credentials and I cancelled before the deadline. I want my money back. I will be reporting you to the Better business Bureau.
BEWARE
Dear David and Lynn,
I have been renting vacation condos on Maui for over 15 years Most through VRBO. Been pretty satisfied until now. At a stay this April, we stayed at a terrific condo rented through your company. We posted a great review which showed up on the owner’s listing for a brief time. It was later taken down. An email to us indicated some information in our review was in violation of your rules. I was later sent an email from your company to call your company so it could be rewritten to comply. There was no phone number listed for me to call. I did find it. I made 2 calls before Benjamin assured me that there was no problem with my review and that it would be back up in hours. It Wasn’t. In an email, I was informed that it still didn’t comply and that I would have to send a screen shot of the original review. There was no email address listed so I could send it. Why I couldn’t talk with some one who could actually help me is so very hard for me to understand. Will you please help me leave a great review for a property that really deserves it. I would really like to speak with some one who understands english and has enough authority to really help. The last two wasted over an hours worth of my time and I got no results. Incidentally whoever sent me the last email addressed me as follows: ” Dear bob”. Not only was the email of no help but very unprofessional. I expected more from VRBO.
Bob Churcg
My name is Anthony DeLuca. I am the Somerset County Pennsylvania Treasurer. I have been attempting to contact your corporate offices with no luck. I get the customer service folks and they take my name and number and have continue to say that someone will call me back. 9 calls over the past 2 weeks and no call back. As the treasurer, I am responsible for County Hotel taxes that you folks collect. When you submit a check every month you give us nothing to show who/properties the taxes were collected from. We are unable to conduct audits due to the fact your company refuses to provide us with the owner’s information and taxes collect. I recently had one of your clients provide me the tax records and have discovered that to paid the adjoining county our taxes. Please contact me via my email and I’d like to talk to some with the company
Property 1854503
I would like to give my review on this property. I paid 1/2 of the rental price. I have photos of the house situation. But could not put it on this form. But you can see them in messages on FB under VRBO. Please submit my review.
-We came to the property and it was left unlocked, the pots and pans were dirty, as you can see from the photos the grill was dirty, and full of grease, there was insects in the kitchen lamps, the master bedroom did not have a foot stand to get into the very high bed and it was tight and too close to the closet. The matress was lumpy as well. There were only two TVs, one in the master bedroom and the family room. This is a 5 bedroom home. Each room only has 1 nightstand. I use a cpap machine, my husband also needed a night stand. The bed pole was coming off, but the owner did not fix it while we were there. I told the owner about the dirty pots, etc. He did send the cleaning people to take care of everything, except the insects in the kitchen, when the cleaner came earlier than we were told, we were all eating and she could not clean it and therefore left. We had to live with it. I think the owner should put a foot stool to enter the very high bed in the master bedroom and consider putting tvs in the other rooms. I was very unhappy with my stay there but the owner did fix the problems which made me feel a little better. But I will not rent that property again and probably will not use VRBO again. I am a timeshare owner and have been for many years everything is well thought out and never had these issues. Also, he did not have certain items in the kitchen, measuring cup, mixing bowls, utensils for the grill, and by the way he tried to fix the grill but could not. So we were disappointed that we could not grill. The pots and pans are of low grade. I just thought your company should know this. I paid half the fee for the house, so I should have the opportunity to put in my review. Also, the house itself had deprie in the leaders and gutters and back and green mole on patio walls and underneath the roof ease. There is a muddy parking area, no suitable driveway. Looks like the property is not cared for in a consistent manner. The towels and wash clothes in the bathroom are worn out and stained. The owner should put only white towels and washcloths in all the bathrooms instead of color. I had to buy washcloths and towels…could not use the ones in the house. It was awful, I didn’t feel it was clean. I slept on the bedspread because we didn’t feel the sheets were clean.
I am Very unhappy with my stay there.
PS The owner was advised, we would not do an internet review, but I feel your company should be aware of this review.
PS The guy Earl and the cleaning woman sent by the owner were pleasant and professional and did a good job in cleaning the grill, pots and pans, fans and patio furniture, but this house needs constant upkeep.
For the cost of the rental we expected a better quality home
—
For God so loved the world, that He gave His [a]only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
I tried to send to VRBO but their customer service is poor.
WOW! I had to scroll down so far to send a note. Customer service is really missing the mark here. I am writing to let you know that the town of Daytona Beach does not allow any rentals on any of the short term rental platforms. Even when following the local laws regarding rentals, they are blocking short term rental companies from doing any business in their town. This seems very illegal, thought someone in your outreach department should address this. If Daytona gets away with it, other towns may try this and you could slowly lose your host base.
I rented a condo in Myrtle Beach Resort, property ID 9532826, host contact Barbara Cetin the week of June 19-26, 2021. Upon entering the condo, I was sadly disappointed. First and foremost, the condo was not clean. The bed that was supposed to be queen sized was a full bed with a queen sized mattress that hung over the sides. The blinds did not work properly nor did the toaster. The toaster didn’t pop up, and this could be a fire hazard. When I went to make coffee the following day, there were grounds from the previous renter. We tried to use the sofa bed and found that any extra linens were soiled and dirty. I didn’t complain until the end of the week and was told I should have complained earlier. I sent in a review when I returned home, and it still says no review available on your website. I paid $2,576.25 for this disaster, yet not a cent was returned to me. I have completely lost faith in VRBO and will never be using them again. It’s too bad VRBO doesn’t seem to care about their renters once they receive their money. I would contact Jeff Hurst, CEO of VRBO, if I didn’t get such a runaround trying to get an email address for him. I’d like to hear from someone from this company, but I doubt that will happen.
I am writing today to complain of the appallingly poor service I have received from your company from December 29, 2020 – current. I generally do not have the time or energy to send such letters regarding my experience with a company, but my experience with VRBO has been egregious that I feel compelled to share my experience as I have wasted countless hours during my workday to speak with a company where the people are not doing the job that they promise.
My husband and I booked a stay for $2,534.21 through VRBO this past December of 2020. Due to getting covid, we were unable to travel and unfortunately had to cancel our vacation- which was supposed to be the highlight to our awful year filled with grief and loss due to Covid. The owner, James (Property ID: 640485) of Black Rock Rentals in Kaanapali, Lahaina, Hawaii, stated he would not give us a refund but would give us a credit. When inquiring about the credit and how to use the credit, he did not respond and still has not responded to any of our messages for 5 months. Unethically, he gave no responses to our VRBO site messages or to any one of our 50+ phone calls on any of his phonelines. We thought that the appropriate next step would be to reach out and speak with VBRO directly. Oddly enough, after keeping us on hold for 45 minutes to 1.5 hours each time, for over 20 phone calls, the customer service representative would hang up and never call back even though they first asked, “is this the number we can call you back on if we should be disconnected?” I have not been called back even ONCE after the phone line was “disconnected.” In fact, once after being told I was going to be placed on hold, I heard the “customer service representative” laugh towards me and hang up.
Your website states trust, safety, security, inclusion, and support. VRBO seems to have majorly failed in every one of these categories:
1. I DO NOT TRUST VRBO. I did not and do not feel I can stay with VRBO and rent with confidence, and I do not/will not recommend it for anyone else.
2. I DO NOT FEEL SAFE WITH VRBO. I do not feel as a guest that my stay or my money is being protected and I am not receiving the service for which I am paying thousands of dollars.
3. I DO NOT FEEL SECURE WITH VRBO. There is no trust between owners and renters. They partner with extremely rude and neglectful owners who have no idea how to deal with renters or respond to communications.
4. I DO NOT FEEL SUPPORTED BY VRBO. The “teams around the world” that claim to be of help, are not helpful at all. They are extremely rude and disrespectful and have no interest in helping their customers. They do not call back if the phone line gets “disconnected.” I was hung up on multiple times.
I am not receiving a response from the owner of the property or from any customer service representative at VRBO of what to do next. I have not received any response about the so-called “credit”, and I understand that I am not entitled to a refund, however the owner, after promising to give a credit, is ignoring us completely. VRBO is not helping us either. I feel as if I do not want the credit anymore because I do not want to stay in a property that I feel unsafe in and I do not want to book with a company I feel unsafe booking with. PLEASE HELP.
I trust this is not the way VRBO wishes to conduct business with valued customers. I have not encountered such treatment before with any business. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss matters further and to learn of how you propose to prevent a similar situation from recurring. I look forward to hearing from you.
An extremely frustrated and stressed customer due to VRBO,
Kamal Trivedi
Kamal, my family experienced almost the exact same situation from start to finish except we lost almost $5000. I’m sad to say you will very likely not get any additional help or response from VRBO in this matter. Before they took on the AirBnB model, they actually used to be a decent company to book rentals through. Those days are long gone and the only thing we can do is to repeat our stories to anyone who will listen and perhaps choose to go with other alternatives. Thanks for sharing your story.
Joe
I am a traveler and about to weeks ago I made reservations thru vrbo for a cabin in hotsprings ark. To begin with the cabin owners number was wrong and vrbo had to figure out what was going on. Due to the fact I had just made a payment of nearly 700 dollars. Come to find out the dates I paid for was unavailable. So that same day I cancelled my reservation for april 16 thru 19th. That being said I have yet to get my refund back on my bank card. I have called dozens of times and the last thing I heard was payment department was handling it. I should have already got my refund. I shouldn’t have to wait another day. Something needs to be done asap. This should had been resolved a week ago!
I am a host on VRBO, I have guest stayed my villa Dec 2020 and Jan 2021, I am still not receive the funds.
The payment department is working on it too!!!
This same thing is happening to us! Did you end up getting it resolved?
None of this surprises me. We have been a super host for years on Airbnb and will tell you that VRBO/HOMEAWAY has HORRIBLE customer service and does not compare to Airbnb in the slightest. They called ME, asked me to allow them to set up a new profile for me to get new bookings. They set up two accounts and never deactivated ANY of the old ones leaving us with three profiles. Which was NOT what we were told. As a matter of fact, when I specifically called to get the link for the the “working or current” calendar, and made changes to that one, it was not the one they made live! So then, we get a booking for 1/4 of our rate, which obviously we could not accept, so refund the customer immediately. Then, VRBO/HomeAway tells us we will have cancellation penalties and blocked calendar for THEIR MISTAKE! Needless to say we will NOT be using them. We get a ton of reservations from the other company and had forgotten we even set up a profile with these idiots until they called us. They could care less about any sort of customer service and treat their “hosts” like crap. Their attitude was basically “tough sh*t”, and we are not willing to offer you any sort of customer service whatsoever. Don’t waste your time with them. Airbnb is lower in fees, INCLUDES $1 Million insurance AUTOMATICALLY for EVERY rental without an extra fee, and treats their hosts SOOOOOO much better. And, actually have terrific customer service. Don’t waste your time with this company. We have a 4.9 score of 5, have been a Superhost consistently for years on Airbnb and make more money through them without the hassles. They have also reimbursed us for EVERY single claim to the insurance some of which were substantial claims. As long as you send them the correct back up, they stand behind their support of hosts and their insurance and customer service is amazing. Don’t waste your time with this awful company that could care less about their hosts. Your will make more money on airbnb WITHOUT the hassle and actually receive excellent customer service. It’s a no brainer. I would NEVER recommend this company after our experience.
The excuse that travelers are not getting refunds because the money has been sent to the owners is false. Owners do not get paid until after the traveler checks in. Last year it worked fine, but this year, I have not received payment/disbursement for the first two travelers. The only option is to call the owners customer service center where they make a promise, but never follow thru. Their is no supervisor avail;able of any other means to get a resolution. I can understand the administrative problems that they may have had in March, April and May, but things should have been resolved by now. Statements like, “you have to understand…” go against any version of customer service 101. I am tired of the lies and that fact that decision makers are hiding behind their front line representatives. They charge an excessive fee to the travelers for very little service. Someone must do it better and that is my next mission.
I would like to post a comment since I cannot seem to locate anyone in charge of VRBO’s website integrity.
I rented a house in Anaheim, CA (#509962) for a family Disney vacation. The house’s stated cancellation policy under ‘Cancellations’ states 100% refund is canceled more than 60 days before the arrival date. Also there is a ‘button’ under the ‘Book Now’ link that states ‘Free Cancelation’. Like many, after receiving Jeff Hurst’s email about covid-19 and watching the pace of the pandemic I decide to cancel the reservation. Lo and behold the Property Manager Ladonna Franke, after waiting over 5 weeks, mailed a refund less a $150 withholding from my deposit for Admin fees. Under the ‘read more’ about the Property and down by the bottom this fee was referenced, for all cancels more than 60 days out from arrival.
And to be fair – she had mailed me, three days after booking the house and posting her charges for the deposit on my credit card, a 15 page contract to sign and initial in about 25 places. On page 6 there was also a reference to the $150 admin fee. I missed it in my efforts of dealing with Adobe Esign. LaDonna uses her own software etc., to handle houses she manages.
I have called VRBO several times protesting this – that they either stand by the integrity of the posted 100% refund cancellation (still) policy stated on the property description or not. It appears they don’t mind being inconsistent on the information posted for properties and so BEWARE. Read every single line posted and the fine print or you may be caught unaware also.
As a “Property Owner” I do not receive disbursements from VRBO for guests staying until AFTER their stay. It appears that VRBO is collecting and holding money.
Dear Sirs: On January 3, 2020, I rented a condo in Oceano, Ca. through VRBO for 3/18-3/23 and paid $614.20 to VRBO. On 2/4, I added an additional day to my stay which increased the payment 110.88 for a total of $725.88. I am writing this letter to document the facts of my reservation, and to request help in getting a refund.
On March 13, President Trump declared the virus a national emergency and on March 15, 2020, Governor Newsom called for the home isolation of all seniors in the state of California advising all people 65 and over to self-isolate. Since my wife and I (68 & 71) are seniors and due to the threat of a pandemic, we complied with the Governor’s directive and abided by the travel ban. On March 16, 2020, I sent an email to the property owner saying I had to cancel the trip. He did not get back to me. On March 19, 2020, I sent another email to the owner stating I was willing to use the reservation for a future stay. Once again, my 2nd email to the owner yielded no response. I find it deplorable that this property owner only responded to emails when he received money, but not when the reservation was cancelled. Unfortunately, it appears that the owner’s unethical behavior is being supported by VRBO. I have spent an enormous amount of time on the phone to VRBO, experienced excessive wait times and gotten nowhere. I’ve attempted to work out a solution with VRBO, and also with the owner. The owner refuses to respond to both VRBO and myself, and VRBO claims that ultimately a solution is up to the owner. VRBO has put a COVID-19 emergency standard in place. I have seen no relief from this policy or even any attempt by VRBO to enforce it. With neither VRBO or the owner taking responsibility to do the right thing, the client is left being victimized: I get no refund, no chance of working out another stay, and no opportunity to even inform others of the owner’s unscrupulous behavior. Unfortunately, if there is no resolve to my issue, no attempt to follow the VRBO COVID-19 emergency standard, and no possibility of receiving any relief, I will definitely have to terminate all further business with both Expedia and VRBO.
VRBO and their parent company Expedia Group have clearly committed fraud, by refusing refunds caused by the COVID-19 emergency. This is especially true if deposits or payments were made via credit cards. VRBO is “pushing” the refunds to the property owners, yet VRBO is likely the one who put the charges on credit card. VRBO is the only one whom can issue the credit to these credit card accounts, the property owner can not, and will never send back a refund in the form of a check If you charged your trip contact your credit card company and demand they reverse the charge, for this fraud. Further what people seeking refunds need to do is send a demand letter or e-mail to VRBO seeking your refund, their Corporate address is 1011 W. Fifth ST, Suite 300, Austin, TX 78703. Give them 5 business days to refund your money. If the refund is not affected, file a complaint with the City of Austin City Attorney (Anne Morgan), and the State of Texas Attorney General, you should also file a complaint to to Attorney General of the state where your rental was against the property owner and VRBO. You then should file a complaint with your home state Attorney General asking them to ban VRBO from doing business in your home state. Also include VRBO’s parent complaint Expedia Group in all your complaints. If anything VRBO and Expedia Group will have to answer all of these complaints, it will become expensive for them. You could file a law suite also in your local small claims local court without a lawyer or a high court for larger amounts due you, they will fight it, and bring in lawyers but again it will get expensive for them they will lose the case, your problem with them will be collecting, they will seek to move the case and appeal, but keep at it, the bad press will kill them. Also keep on the look out for a “class action suite” it’s coming and is going to be big, there are never big pay backs on these except for the lawyers but it will be another nail for VRBO, Copy Beian H. Sharples CEO, Trent York, CFO, and Jeff Hurst, COO in everything you do and name them in all complaints and law suites. Remember this is a public company and with enough bad press it will effect the whole company from Expedia down. Fact is at a time like this, a travel related company keeping people’s money is one of the dumbest things they can do. This Jeff Hurst their COO can write all the nonsense postings in the world, he and they are stealing peoples money, it will catch up with them, we will see them yield.
FYI – when I booked a house near Disneyland in December the charges on my credit card were:
$195.00 for VRBO and
the rest of the calculated down payment amount payable to a very shady Property Manager LaDonna Franke of Pacific Legacy Real Estate in Villa Park, CA.
VRBO has been negligent in helping customers during this crisis.
WE WILL BE REACHING OUT TO LOCAL AND NATIONAL NEWS AGENCEIES IF WE DO NOT HEAR FROM VRBO REGARDING OUR SITUATION.
Charge 9/13/2019 PAY*HOMEAWAY HA-DSPXXX WALNUTCREEKCA
VRBO Booking ha-dsp227
March 29 – April 5, 2020
Exuma, Bahamas
Owner – Greg Hiebert
The Bahamian Government closed the boarders March 24,2020
All flights to the Bahamas were cancelled. March 25, 2020
Starting on March 21, we are currently confined to our homes in Illinois until April 4, most likely longer.
You need to realize the severity of this pandemic.
Charge Total – $10,784.00
We are disputing charges and requesting full refund of amounts paid for services that cannot be legally performed as promised.
Our reservation was technically/legally cancelled and voided by Mr. Hiebert on March 20 with the issuance of Emergency Powers (COVID 10)(No. 1). See details below.
March 19, 2020 – Bahamas, Prime Minister, The Most Hon. Dr. Hubert Minnis announces Emergency Powers (COVID 19)(No. 1) – covid19.gov.bs/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Emergency-Orders-2020-What-You-Need-to-Know.pdf – Copy attached.
Among other things, effective 9 am March 20 through at least March 31, the Order:
• Requires all businesses, other than those specifically listed, to suspend operations (vacation rental properties/businesses are exempted from the closure; Section 3(1)
• Expressly prohibits anyone from hosting anyone from outside the immediate household of the house owner; Section 3(2)
• Any person, company or organization in violation is subject to fin and imprisonment
• orders residents to remain home and avoid contact outside their family without special permission from the Commissioner of Police
Pursuant to Mr. Hiebert cannot legally operate his business and/or offer to host any guests at his property from March 20 – 31, and potentially beyond.
Effective March 24, the Bahamas has closed its border to all international visitors and cancelled all international flights, including those from the US. Details regarding the Order –
March 24, 2020 – Bahamas, Prime Minister, The Most Hon. Dr. Hubert Minnis, announces Emergency Powers (COVID 19)(No. 2) Order 2020 -bahamas.com/pressroom/bahamas-ministry-tourism-aviation-statement-covid-19-3 Copy attached.
Among other things, effective 9 am March 24 through at least March 31, the Order:
• closes the border to all visitors;
• closes the airports to any incoming international flights (both private and commercial);
• instructs all international visitors to immediately return home;
• imposes 24-hour curfew;
• orders residents to remain home and avoid contact outside their family without special permission from the Commissioner of Police
Further impairing and prohibiting Mr. Hiebert’s ability to honour and accommodate the reservation he agreed to provide.
Mr. Hiebert is legally prohibited from providing the service he committed to. We cannot be charged for a service he cannot legally provide.
Please reverse the charge. I have attached supporting docs.
Tony Cutinelli & Ted Bots
Bahamas COVID 19 No 1 March 20 2020
.pdf
81.8kB
Bahamas COVID 19 No 2 March 24 2020 (3)
.pdf
291kB
Bahamas Emergency Orders 2020- What You Need to Know (1)
.pdf
680.5kB
VRBO is not servicing customers during this COVID-19 crisis in an effective way. People who answer the customer service line do not know anything and cannot help me figure out how to cancel a reservation.
I actually have a case number # 25936139 and they always tell me there are no supervisors available to help me with this case. After waiting hours on the telephone trying to get this taken care of, I am at my wits end.
We are owners of a property that has been listed with VRBO for 10+ years. Since Expedia has taken over we have seen late payments, changes of policies without notice, fees added in with no notice or agreement, and now VRBO has sent a message to renters undermining owners with respect to the problems with the Corona Virus outbreak. We will now leave VRBO as the tactics are clearly predatory in nature and seem down right illegal. While the old VRBO was great to work with, the new VRBO is horrendous and needs to go under. Thank You Expedia for ruining a good thing. To all people thinking about renting through VRBO, please go somewhere else as you will also be frustrated by VRBO as our tenants have been.
Dear Jeff, (Hurst C.O.O.) March 14, 202O
It’s a lovely letter and it sounds great on paper. Unfortunately, I’m not convinced that family is your #1 priority, however. A more accurate statement might be “property managers and homeowner’s are our #1 priority” as your current policy allows for them to place their personal financial gains above the health and well being of their customers. Case in point….mine.
My friend and I were scheduled to stay at a VRBO (#1827435) on St Simon’s island for 5 nights beginning March 24th. We had planned this vacation months ago and were both excited and eager for the date to arrive.
As the Corona Virus pandemic began to escalate, we became more hesitant about risking our welfare… for a vacation. When the CDC announced the increase risk to elderly people (we are both 65 yrs old) and recommended that all non-essential travel be eliminated (for our age group) we felt compelled to heed the warning. I contacted the VRBO owner, explained the situation (and CDC recommendations) and asked that I be refunded my deposit of $880.00. He told me that he would not issue a refund but that I could reschedule if I liked. I told him that I very well may reschedule down the road but due to the uncertainty of the current events, I didn’t want to make that commitment and that refunding our deposit would be much more appropriate and equitable, given the situation.
I consider his decision to deny my refund (given these uncontrollable and unforeseen circumstances) incredibly unfair and insensitive, to say the least. I’m equally disturbed by his obvious choice of personal financial gain over the health and welfare of his customers and I fault VRBO for allowing this practice to take place.
So, I challenge you Jeff…to make an addendum to the letter you just sent out and change the verbiage to a more truthful sentence “property managers and homeowner’s are our #1 priority”.
Dear VRBO,
I am writing about a complaint on a property you have listed and that we stayed at July 7th thru the 14 of year 2019. The home was originally rented for April 20th thru the 28th but we had to cancel that date, so we rebooked it for July 7th thru the 14th and you will see email confirming this. The reservation number is HA-OLN3G7 and this was the same number used for the July 7th reservation the home is called Casa de la Roca and it is located in Huatulco Oaxaca México.
I understand that mistakes do happen, or situations arise the owner could not anticipate but this was neither of these issues. Everything we experienced was all avoidable if this home was in proper working order and it is not. I have rented from VRBO many times and had very good luck with all my rentals and never experienced this kind of disaster before. I have written out the biggest issues we had below, but this is not all of them as there are just too many to list, but it will give you an idea as to how bad this rental experience is and how it was no vacation at all.
We hired the House Manager Carlos (photo attached) to picked us up from the airport the night we arrived, and he checked us in. He was in constant contact with the owner as there were so many problems every day, we ended up having him help us every day to try and make the home livable. We ended up paying him $400.00 for all the extra help as we had a constant problem every day. If we could have afforded to, we should have moved out after the first day, but we had already spent too much on the this VRBO rental to rent a new place.
The house had been cleaned somewhat when we arrived, but we could not see to much as we arrived that night, but we hoped it looked better in the morning. The first problem was that there is not a light fixture that works over the downstairs dining table and that is the only dining table there is in the home so that night we could not see our meal so the next day we had to purchased batterie operated lamps and candles so we could see our dinner (photos attached). Carlos helped us hang them from the wooden twigs above the table and then we had some light to see our dinner. When we woke up in the daylight, we could see the home actually was not clean and in fact the home is so dirty everywhere you would have to spent days to clean it properly. I have attached a photo of the window in the kitchen to give you an example of how dirty the entire home is. We ended up hiring a cleaning lady to come and clean and that did help a lot but that just touched the surface and the home is very dirty in every room and corner. There were not enough bath towels and no beach towels so we had to wash then a few times and the washing machine was very difficult to use but Carols the manager figured it out and we were able to get the maid to do two loads for us, but the dryer does not work so Carlos had to hang a rope in the yard to dry them.
The pool has a good half inch of dirt in the bottom when we arrived, and we were unable to use it at all. Carlos the manager had it cleaned the next afternoon but then there was not enough water in the pool to swim as they had to drain most the water out to clean it. We had to wait till the following day for them to refill the pool so it could be in a condition to be used. The pool system never worked so we hand cleaned it every day to make it possible to swim. We had frogs and crabs that would get in the pool at night and that was easy to net them out, but the leaves and bugs were a constant challenge without the pool system working. The whole pool experience was not good as the beach loungers were the old plastic type and not stable enough to sit on, so we had no place to sit on the patio except the dining table chairs but the chair cushions are soiled. There is an outdoor grill that was fifthly but we cleaned it up and tried to use it but the gas was out so we had to pay Carlos to go get the tanked filled so we could grill one night.
When we went to take a shower the hot water was not working, and the manager Carlos says there is no hot water in the home. So the entire time were at the home we had no hot water. I would not have thought to check this on a listing as I cannot imagen not having hot water at a home! Is that an added Amenities that I should be checking each time I rent from VRBO? There were many problems with not having hot water but one of the biggest was that there was no way to ever properly clean our dishes, so we had to boil water to sterilize the dishes every day.
We could not find a coffee maker that worked so we went and purchased a new one, I have a photo attached. Also there was no juicer, so we purchased one as well, picture attached. The only place to sit at is the dining table downstairs but it is only covered by twigs and so if it is raining (it rained every day as it was rainy season) there was no place to sit. Upstairs there is a covered hall in between the two rooms and a very small table and two chairs. So in order to sit or eat during the rain we needed a place to sit and a table, so we went and purchased a new larger plastic table and moved two chairs from downstairs up to the new table, so we had a place to sit out of the rain. We left all these items at the house thinking the next person would need them.
We had great rainstorms and tons of lightning a few nights but after a while every time it rained the roof started to leak in the upstairs bedroom and water falling on me in bed. If I move over enough, I would not get to wet, but it looks like there is a major roof problem as my room had about 6 leaks and a large leak in the hall upstairs and about 4 leaks in the second upstairs bedroom as well. The upstairs bedroom bathroom also had some plumbing problems and Carlos the manager worked on it but never could get it working so we had to use the downstairs bathroom.
The power went out every single day and many times didn’t come back on so at night there were no fans that worked at all and it’s quite warm this time of year, so this made for a very hard time sleeping and sweaty nights. There is no air condition in the home, so you are very reliant on working fans. A neighbor named Scott came over after a few days and helped us by bringing a generator as the batteries on the solar system on the home do not work properly to power the house so in order to get through the night with power, we had to have a generator. Of course having the power go on and off made the vacation very difficult and the generator was loud.
The screens in most of the house are falling out, have holes or are broken and the bugs come in and you cannot be kept them out. In fact the screens are so bad that at night we would get these land crabs in the house because they would come in thru the holes in the screen doors on the bottom floor. I have a photo attached of one of the screens in my bathroom showing how they tried to tape the screen back.
I have attached some of the emails that we sent to confirm the rental and an email to the owner on how bad the rental was. The manager Carlos was in touch with the owner every day on the conditions and we did not get much help from him except he did have Carlos clean the pool and had Carlos give an effort to try and get the power working.
This house is in no condition to rent as it not a properly working home at all. The whole vacation was like we were camping and if we knew that is what we were renting then we would have come more prepared, but we thought we were renting a nice VRBO vacation rental. We could not have been more disappointed in a vacation that we all had saved for and anticipated on enjoying for so long. The homeowner did offer us a discount on a next visit for the power issue, but I would not go back to this home ever, even if it was free. I feel that the full amount should be refunded as this home is not the home that is represented in the VRBO site and is not a working rental.
I have tried for the last year to have VRBO help me with this problem but I have not had any help from you in trying to correct this issue and in fact I just called today and the VRBO agent would not let me speak with a supervisor. This home was represented as a acts intended to swindle someone into believing they were renting a nice home on the beach. If you would please try and help me resolve this issue.
Sincerely,
Paul Beyer
I rented a home in Dallas (property ID HA-D56269D) for a business trip for myself and 6 young ladies. When we were driving to the house we were worried about the neighborhood; we are pretty sure we saw a drug purchase near the house. The houses on both sides of the rental as well as most houses in the neighborhood had bars on the windows, trash and broken-down appliances and furniture in the yards. SEE PHOTOS of the houses on either side of the rental.
I immediately called the owner and his attitude was “too bad”. It was late and I had to find lodging that night as well as the other 4 nights while in Dallas. I had the expenses for these as well. The other rental was thru your company- so you got paid twice!!
I continued communications with the owner for several days with no luck. Nor could I get anyone from your company to help me. I have sent photos 5 times to your staff with no luck of a response.
December 2, 2019
RE: Complaint #24117219/24126301
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Andy Sabatini and I am a retired hotel owner and thought you would like to know about the recent experience I had with your company VRBO/Home Away. I was on a two week trip and stayed at several of your facilities along the way with little or no incident. However, I had a booking in Cancun Mexico (reservation number HA-2RYB2Q, property ID 1730401) and did not hear anything from the property owner since taking my $95.00 deposit on September 23, 2019. I contacted VRBO on November 14, 2019 and explained the situation. The representative at that time ask me to physically go to the property address, which I did on Saturday November 16, 2019 when I arrived in Cancan. The property did not exist. The representative at that time asked me to take photos of the address and email so they could start the complaint procedure, which I did. Upon further research while waiting to hear back from your representatives I noticed that someone else had posted (in Spanish) in October 2019, after my booking and before my arrival that the property did not exist and it was a scam. As I sit here today on December 2, 2019 and more than five phone calls later to your company I still have heard no resolution to my problem. Needless to stay I am not happy. It ruined my stay in Cancun as well as causing me to find my own alternative accommodations.
Furthermore, your representatives stated that the most they could do is refund my money for that booking, since I declined them from finding me alternative
accommodations at that time (because I had no faith in your company at that point and had gotten the run around all day while sitting in Cancun) and that is all they felt then needed to do to resolve my complaint.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Andy Sabatini
Gentlemen:
I am an attorney and owner of vrbo listed property no. 854866.
The purpose of this email is to notify you of your organization’s violation of it’s policies and procedures regarding the time for payment of rents owed to us, as owner of that property listed with vrbo as property no. 854866.
This dispute relates to the non-payment of amounts more fully described in vrbo statement which is attached and incorporated by reference.
As you will note, the statement represents that payment will be made within 5 – 7 business days of the Nov. 2 date referenced. The time for timely payment expired on November 12, 2019.
Not having received payment, I called vrbo today (Nov. 14, 2019) and spoke with “Kat” who informed me that the vrbo department processing refunds has had significant problems which are delaying refunds.
I have repeatedly encountered vrbo delays in paying me funds owed as an owner, all in violation of vrbo’s terms and conditions, also attached hereto.
I am concerned that vrbo is encountering financial problems, which concerned is validated by a scan of various vrbo related sites online. I am in touch with other vrbo property owners and we are in discussions of collaborating to seek formal legal redress against vrbo.
I am requesting the contact info of your company’s in-house General Counsel in San Antonio which I was not able to obtain by perusal of the vrbo corporate records online.
Thank you in advance for your reply.
Mark Henry, Attorney
Hi Mark,
Can you please send me your email address or email me. We want to file a complaint
and want to be paid. Obviously VRBO is incapable of running a business.
Shalom_32@ hotmail.com.
Best,
Miriam Nichterlein
Mark,
I too need to file a complaint. VRBO held my owner payout for 30 days, then claimed that they refunded my guest’s security deposit twice, so they deducted it from my payout funds. They’re obviously floating money or some Ponzi scheme. You can reach me at ericpiersma@ msn.com
Hello –
Kindly update me on your progress? VRBO has built a new decadent HQ building in Austin and is in the process of building another, presumably with our funds. I have not been paid in weeks and am owed thousands.
Carla Webb
PS, this doesn’t even address the inability to charge taxes correctly – we have been coming out of pocket since last year. VRBO has done nothing to correct the situation, nor returned a single call to address the issue.
Absolutely terrible customer service, Call center is in Mumbai (?) so communication is a problem. Calls for assistance go unanswered. “Known computer problems” are cited for late refunds, incorrect email addresses are cited for lack of notification of cancelled reservations. Rent through anyone else, but give Vrbo and Home Away a wide space, you do not want to do business with these people
I am finished with your company. I did not sign any agreement offering to loan VRBO or Home Away money. You are currently witholding my payment for a rental tho your last communication was that I would be paid Day 2 of the rental. I will not receive payment until after these guests check out! You are apparently having some real financial problems as from reading the other reviews, I see I am not the only homeowner with this problem. I suggest every disgruntled customer write Representative Frank Pallone, Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in Washington, D.C. I, too, am canceling all upcoming rentals. My first listing number was 15017. That is how long I have been a customer. Shame on you for stooping to your underhanded tactics! You will pay……
Agreed! Same experience here; they’re using excuses like ‘accounting errors’ for holding owned payouts. Luckily I cancelled the other booking and went through AirBnB instead, they are wonderful. It’s obvious that VRBO is floating money .
—– Forwarded Message —–
From: “David Ferguson”
To: “jholacka@homeaway.com”
Sent: Thu, Aug 22, 2019 at 12:23 AM
Subject: Outraged
Jana this may be a deal breaker for me. We left abnb over this kind of crap and i will not stand for you changing the terms of our agreement part way through the year. When we paid our listing fee it is for 1 YEAR. How dare you take us hostage before that year has expired. Short notice. OUTRAGEOUS.!!!!!!!!!! I WILL CONTACT THE BBB AND THE CONSUMER PROTECTION AGENCY. Then my attorney,.!!!! Further i am beginning a campaign to contact every vrbo homeaway member i possibly can and recommend they strike against allowing guest to fulfill reservations until you people come back to your senses. Enough is enough. Until you reverse this decision i am contacting all future guests and telling them i am shutting down immediately and if they want a refund to go to you.
This is by far the worst move you could have possibly made. Another 3% are you out of your G-DAMN MINDS!
ONE VERY FRIGGIN PISSED OFF MEMBER
DAVID FERGUSON
I do not own property with this company but was told I will not receive a refund. We were supposed to rent a property in Virginia beach, but COVID, and the riots happened and we had to cancel. I recieved only $100.00 of the money I paid. I will no longer use this company and not give any recommendations to any of my colleagues. After reading all these complaints I am appalled at the way this company is run.
Travelers checked out of my property on August 4th and VRBO has still not sent me my money. Contacts with their support team have only given me the run around with no solution. Every day I check the website and the payment date is moved back another day with no explanation as to why from their support agents.
It has been 2 weeks and counting since the guests checked out. The policy is that payments will be disubursed 1 day after check in and will take 5 to 7 days to post. Customer service on your help site is ridiculous. There is no customer service, only run arounds and turning the problem over to another department.
Property 922676
Case # 16085697
I guess you were scared for the truth to be read by people about how incompetent and terrible homeaway payments and customer service is. …you didnt post my story about how you still have not released over $7000 in rent that you have on one of my 5 properties I have listed with you. Your customer service people are TERRIBLE, RUDE AND INCOMPETENT. THEY CANT READ AND HAVE NO UNDERSTANDING ABOUT HOW TO FIX A SIMPLE CHANGE. I SENT A REQUEST TO CHANGE BANK ACCOUNTS AND THIS LISTING HAS SPIRALED DOWN A BLACK HOLE. There are other ways to let the world know how bad your customer service is.
VRBO customer service is THE WORST of any business I have ever dealt with. I run a multi million dollar real estate company and interact with many companies, banks etc. I have 5 properties listed on VRBO and have been a loyal customer for about 10 years. …..now for the facts…
I changed banks last year and spent 2 months and hours on the phone to get the rent money change to the new account. That was November 2018 when we changed bank accounts for a property that had been listed with VRBO since 2016…. nothing changed except the bank account. Fast forward to July 2019 and we have not been paid over $7,000.00 in rents. When we realized there were no deposits in this account, which handles lots of properties and lots of transactions, we called HomeAway payments. This is where the nightmare began. NO ONE HAS A. CLUE WHAT IS GOING ON …. I have spent dozens of hours on the phone, getting the run around about needing documents they already have, proof of ownership, proof of email addresses. I am on every account and the same information is on the 4 other properties they have, this property has been listed with them since 2016. The only change we asked them to do was use a different account to send the rents.
To make things worse they said they couldn’t send me the information because the email on the account didn’t match as the primary address…duh ..the email on the account is the email for the person that does the bookings. My email is listed as the secondary email and always has…BE CAREFUL IF YOU DEAL WITH THESE PEOPLE WHEN YOU SET UP YOUR ACCOUNTS. IT IS A NIGHTMARE IN ITSELF AND TROUBLE IF YOU HAVE TO MAKE A CHANGE. To make matters worse, I spent over 2 weeks proving this was a personal property and not a business property (remember same property that was listed with them since 2016), which they continued to send the same email over and over again from their “support” team ( which is a joke) asking for a business ID. At one point weeks into this I was told by one of their “experts” that they only needed a copy of a government issued ID. I asked what he meant, he said like a drivers license ( which they already had since the bank changed requests. ( we keep copies of everything BE SURE YOU KEEP COPIES OF EVERYTHING YOU SEND THEM WHEN YOU SET UP YOUR ACCOUNT ….THEY WILL TELL YOU THEY NEED THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER). First you can barely understand them and they have no comprehension of property facts and issues here.
So still today I can’t book this one property thru VRBO because they will keep the money….my ratings will go down because of not responding, I am losing money, they are losing money of NO fault of mind. I have sent documents numerous times and nothing but the same run around. ANY COMPANY WITH ANY KIND OF CUSTOMER SERVICE HAS A TEAM THAT WILL CALL A DISSATIFIED CUSTOMER DIRECTLY AT SOME POINT. BUT HELL WILL FREEZE OVER BEFORE YOU WILL EVER RECEIVE A CALL FROM ANYONE IN THIS ORGANIZATION. It is always the same team of idiots that tell you the same thing who either can’t read English or elect not to because I have sent over 15 detailed emails explaining the same thing over and over.
IF YOU HAVE TO MAKE A CHOICE…GO WITH AIR BNB. LESS FEES AND NO HASSLE.
Some good attorney should gather up all of these complaints and file a class action suit against the poorly run division. VRBO should NEVER have gone with the HomeAway payment plan. It is a NIGHTMARE. I hope this helps others because once you are in this battle you will think you have walked into a set of the TWILIGHT ZONE for sure.
VRBO and its affiliates will put your families lives in danger. We stayed in a house in Arizona in a 110 degree weather. But the house only had a portable AC in the living room. The rooms had to be at least 100 degrees since the AC could only cool the living room to 87 degrees. We had to keep showering all night to avoid heat exhaustion. In the end we were only refunded for the remainder of the stay and even got charged for the second day because I was waiting on the owner to repond as to whether he will have the AC fixed or not. My kids had heat rash and my 77 year parents nealry passed out from heat exhaustion.
Class Action Suit.
Is there an active class action suit related to refund scams this company undertakes?
Property manager is bullying me and will not return phone calls. Never again will I use VRBO.
Wow !!! After reading the above testimonials from VRBO irate guests and owners I’ve decided not to waste my valuable time even trying to contact office staff regarding my recent illegal charge by VRBO ~ Re: Orange Beach Alabama Caribe Resort DPH06, Booking ID#18242, dated May 25, 2019. I will, however, contact my state’s Attorney General Office as well as Secretary of State Office. Any and all unsatisfactory transactions ~ especially service fees charged and drawn from debit card without disclosure of the amount ~ most certainly should be reported! It’s a shame, truly, because my family and I have enjoyed many nice properties via VRBO in the past w/o any complications and the property we lodged in a few weeks ago was way above the average condo and we would have delighted in returning this fall. No way. I will rent from individual owners in the future and not use VRBO again ~ ever!
Violet Burke
Eclectic, AL
Just filed a BBB complaint. Was cancelled 2 hours before a reservation for 8 people for 4 days in NYC. Has been 3 weeks and no refund, despite hours on the phone with customer disservice. This should be automatic and immediate. Meanwhile, the property is still being rented on VRB0.
VRBO = SCAM
Booked through this company..took my deposit, owner of condo went out of business, no help in resolving the issue from VRBO.
NEVER do business with them, they left me without a place to stay and took my deposit.
This has been one of the worst experiences of my life trying to deal with this company to get my refund since the owner of the house I was renting has gone MIA. It’s next to impossible to talk to someone to try and resolve this issue. This is a horrible company and I can’t believe they are still in business.
Get this folks. I am paying a security deposit back from my own money because VRBO and their band of idiots call center can’t fix things.
DO NOT USE VRBO. Fraud and false advertising. I have had nothing but problems trying to rent a vacation property from them. Customer service is non existing, it’s brutal. You call them and the line mysteriously gets disconnected. I WILL NEVER USE their service!!
Please don’t waste your time and aggravation.
Beware
Writing this because of nothing but problems with vrbo home away. Being on the site for over 12 yrs. The on line booking is now forced on you before you see any info from guest. then the fees they absorb from your guest, makes your property that much less desirable.
I get it but haven’t be able to collect rent for 2 months. After dealing with there bank and processing bank. two different companies.
I ll never use the site or affiliate company again . I advise home owners to do the same. One of first guest cancelled ………and fought for now 13 month to be paid
VRBO is a fraud they allow individuals to charge your credit card in full and then cancel you because the house is listed in airbnb for more money. STAY AWAY FROM USING VRBO THEY ARE A COMPNY THAT ENCOURAGES FRAUD .
111
I called on Nov 13 , 2018 VRBO to report the house that I had paid in full reserved was listed on airbnb for 5 x what we paid. I was promised that VRBO would take care of this they never contacted anyone they housed was rented for more money on airbnb and i was left without a stay . We had booked in April to avoid any issues with a late reservation. 28 days before my reservation i was canceled by the owner and VRBO PROMISED THEY WOULD FINE A PLACE COMPATIBLE TO MY STAY THAT 100 PERCENT THEY STAND BEHIND THERE POLICY a lot of BS. they never found anything and they called me back to tell me sorry we exhausted all our resources . Really ??? this was unbelievable . I asked what happened to the policy guaranty that i was offered . VRBO told me ” we don’t leave anyone stranded.
THIS WAS A VACATION PLANED 8 MONTHS AGO AND I WILL HAVE TO CANCEL MY FLIGHTS AND STAY ON NEW YEARS . VRBO YOU HAVE RUINED OUR NEW YEAR VACATION WE PLANNED ALL Year.
THANK YOU VRBO FOR YOU GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE PEOPLE THAT ARE THE RUDEST PEOPLE TO DELA WITH. YOU NEED TO TRAIN YOUR STAFF ON CURTESY AND HOW TO DEAL WITH CLIENTS THAT NEED ASSISTANCE
YOU R OPERATOR NAMAED BIANCA IS THE WORST PERSON SHE IS A RACIEST AND HAS NO CUSTOMER SERVICE KNOWLEDGE I WILL REPORT YOUR COMPANY TO THE DISTRICT ATTORNEYS OFFICE , BBB, I WILL LET EVERYONE KNOW ON SOCIAL MEADIA HOW YOU REUIN A FAMILY VACATION AND HAVE THE WORST PEOPLE WORKING FOR VRBO
PEOPLE STAY AWAY FROM VRBO /HOMESTAY THEY ENCOURAGE FRAUD AND ALLOW FRAUD EVEN WHEN YOU REPORT IT TO THEM
STAY AWAY FROM VRBO/ HOMESTAY
I rented Property #4038813 the end of August. The property owners name is Felix. My reservation ID number is HA-334YCG. I paid online with a credit card and my card was charged In August.
We looked forward to our trip to San Francisco and 5 adults booked airline tickets to San Francisco. I emailed Felix the middle of September to see if we could possibly put our bags in the house earlier than the 3:00 pm check in time I received to reply. I waited for a couple of weeks, so now it is the first of October. I emailed again. Felix replied this time saying that we would be able to put our bags in the house at 11:00 am and that should not be a problem.
I called him the week before we were supposed to arrive at the house and he said he usually did not give out that information until the week of the visit. I said that is fine and that I would hear from him the following week.
He did not call or email on Monday so I emailed him asking for the information. His father called me Tuesday, this is now a day and a half before we arrive in San Francisco. His father informed me that the property that I reserved and paid for was not available because they over booked. He said that the other person booked for the entire week and that their reservation was booked before mine was and that the previous booking was not reflecting in the calendar. He indicated that they had another unit in which they would host us and sent pictures but the carpets were stained there was a refrigerator in the living room it was run down. I could see from the pictures that the beds sagged. It was basically a unit built in the 1940s and hadn’t been touched since then. I declined that unit.
I contacted VRBO reference #18361927. They said they would find us a place to stay. Upon inquiries about where that might be and would the facility be comparable to what I had paid for they said at this point probably the only place they could find would be a hotel room. I told them we had 5 people and asked how many rooms would they get for us. He informed me that they usually booked a room with 2 queen sized beds and expected 4 adults to stay in that room. That is NOT comparable to the 3 bedroom 2 bath home we had rented. We had to book a place last minute that cost $4,000 for the 3 nights compared to the $1,272 I had paid 2 months previous to our stay.
Felix refunded my $1272 (6 days after we were to stay at the house) but I would expect that VRBO would make good on their promise and refund the extra $2,728 that it cost us to get a room on such short notice!
At this point I would say I do not trust VRBO and would not use them again.
Becky Johnson
I haven’t been able to get in touch with VRBO corporate offices by phone to to Try to find someone okay help me in my efforts to rent out my home. I have called numerous times and spoken to people at the VRBO’s customer service only to have Lost bookings continuously with the same problems. I’m now about to lose two more one who has requested to split the payment in half and the other one who requested that she pay less then was advertised on VRBO. I agreed to both and now they are leaving because of the incompetence of staff who could not accomplish what was requested. I should just do business with Airbnb which I never have a problem with. the advice I received for you staff was for me to answer requests quicker since they believe that is what’s causing these people to leave which does not have anything to do with their problems.
I have been going back and forth via support tickets trying to get a cancellation deposit refunded. The ongoing additional requests for information is ridiculous. They certainly didn’t need my drivers license or passport to take my money and now they need it to refund my monies? I find this business to be very questionable and have found plenty of complaints against them on the internet. I am also filing a complaint with my Secretary of State. In addition I now see they have ammended the cancellation policy, like I wouldn’t notice? Very poor business behavior.
This should be addresses to the officer in charge of customer service
Dear sir or madam:
I want to bring to your attention several incidents that occurred over the weekend of August 4, 2018.
I searched VRBO for a specific listing in Dana Point, CA and tried to book it and received the error several times that we could not complete the transaction please try in a minute or so.
I finally called customer service to assist me and they received the same thing. The agent then went to try it on another system and after 2 minutes I was disconnected. I called back and reached another agent and the transaction could not be processed. I was then advised I was to contact the owner and explain my issue. I advised the customer agent why that was not their job, and did not receive a good explanation.
I contacted the owner and discovered that the owner was not accepting AMEX cards which after submitting the transaction with a Visa card was successful.
Would like to know 3 things:
1, Why I was disconnected after spec
ding almost 30 minutes with the agent
2, Why it is not clear the message received from the VRBO site to be misleading/
Please advise
We have multiple properties and one of our properties in North Carolina has been renting through Airbrb and VRBO. We have had major issues. VRBO called me to talk to me about the service and to make sure we were using it correctly. Spoke to them over 10 minutes. They never once told me they needes my ID and also a deed with my name on it. We are currently owed over $2600 and have not recieved one payment from VRBO. I called VRBO 2 weeks ago regarding the money owed and they put in a ticket and i automatically sebt the doXXXXents needed. Which I have no clue why the previous person wouldnt tell me. They told me it is approved and sent to the underwritting department and the money would be in my account 5-7 days. When it hit the 8 days it was still not there. I then called back. I was told it is still in the underwritting department and there is nothing they could do. I explained that I keep having to pay cleaning fees and negative in thay account due to not revieving any of my money. I asked to soeak to a manager. The manager told me it would be in my account the following week. He also did another ticket. Another week passed and again the money is not in our account. We called again yesterday and the representative apoligized and said its out of there control and it is in the underwritting department. They did another ticket number. VRBO is making interest on our money and it is ridiculous. In the past 3 weeks i’ve spemt over 4 hours on the phonw regarding this. I can provide phone recorda and proof. We really are not happy and we are contacting our attorney regarding this. We have a lot of renters coming up and we dont even want to rent the property now to them since we have yet to receive one penny. Airbrb has not asked for one doXXXXent from me and has paid us after each renter they are great. I’ve been searching everywhere online for the CEO or COO email to contact them directly. Someone pleSe contact me. If I don’t get a response tomorrow I will be posting something on BBB and yelp. Then will be moving forward with the attorney and certified letter. Someone please just help us and stop getting us the run around.
We are not sure what to do. We manage 7 properties, two we advertise on VRBO. We went to add another property and it is still pending approval for over a month. We had closed a bank account and added a new one, filled out the docusign, was assigned to a Emmet Fey of Yapstone. Still waiting on approval. Our other two properties are fine and are going to the new bank account. What is Yapstones problem? First, nobody can help you, nor can you talk to anyone directly that can do anything. FYI, we put same property on AirBNB, changed bank information on that as well, took less than 24 hours and we have rented 5 times already. Any assistance would be helpful,. Thank you.
Sincerly,
Marc and Annette Starrett
Subject: Property #914928
This property is operating in violation of the Town of Exeter Zoning Laws. The owner has repeatedly attempted to secure approval of a “special use permit” and has been denied on all three attempts; Independent B&B, AirB&B and Duplex, over the course of ten years. Our town ordinance is specific; Section C.1.3.3.F.C and denials on all three efforts were opposed unanimously by the Exeter Zoning Board. By allowing this property to be advertised on VRBO, VRBO is complicit as a willing and active particiipant In the violation. The neighborhood has vehemently opposed the petitions and has provided both oral and written testimony, including a petition, to the Zoning Board. As such should any situation occur, including but not limited to, crime, police action, damage, fire and/or trespassing, VRBO and its parent company, Homeaway may be involved in legal action for monetary damages and/or media inquiries. A letter is being sent to Melissa Fruge, Chief Legal Office, Robert Lindsey, Corporate Counsel, John Kim, President and Trent York, CFO
Please advise within 7 days of this email regarding actions taken.
Thank you for reading this message
No reply from my email??
I have used vrbo for years and like the convenience and have never had any problems.’\
I have one now. I signed up with 998045 and paid at one price listed on the sight and now the owners came back and decided to raise the price. Can they do this?
Thay are “blaming VRBO” and some internal problem.
If you bought something in a store and the price tag said one amount and you go to pay and the cashier decides to charge more? Not good business.
Thank you