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VRBO Refuses to Remove Fake Info About Property #**
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

NAPLES, FLORIDA -- I rented Property #** through VRBO during Nov 15th 2017 until Jan 1st 2018 at a total cost of $7833 USD plus a refundable security deposit of $500. The title of the property in VRBO is "Nice Condo! Completely Remodeled, Stylish, Quiet And Downtown With A Boat Dock!”. Nothing can be further from the truth- as the condo is not quite at all! The boat dock is in bad shape and the condo is filled with old smelly furniture that the owner has kept from family long gone!

The airport is only 300 m away from the condo and the jet noise, which occurred at all hours of the day and even in early morning and at night time, was just truly horrible. How any decent human being can miss to clearly state this in the property description is just beyond my understanding. If you have a pacemaker or heart condition I strongly advise you to avoid this condo! Your life may depend on it.

The jet noise made my chest vibrate and was so loud we could not talk during the landing or taking off of the planes which occurred several times a day. Do not be fooled by the “it is only a small municipal airport” or “the planes only fly between 8 am and 8 pm”. I realized that rich people can fly any damn time they want!

Conclusion 1. Avoid this condo: it is noisy, smelly and the boat dock is not in good shape. Now: the owner M **. She tried to scam me out of my $500 security deposit by sending an e-mail to my private e-mail where she claimed I caused “damages” to her condo. I asked for pictures of the damages and also told her that I would be back in Naples within a week and wanted to inspect the “damages” myself. She never sent any photos nor did she allow me to inspect her condo.

At the time of our check out her “agent” was there - this unprofessional person by the name of D **, working for Broker Associate Downing-Frye Realty, Inc just sat there in silence and with a negative vibe while we checked out. If the agent even had a little bit of professionalism in her, she would have done a small check-out inspection with us. Instead, she was in fact “spying” on us and reporting back to the owner that we “banged” our suitcases around (i.e. scratched the walls) while we checked out!

I am sorry - but if you cannot tolerate guests to get in and out with suitcases from your property and by doing so “touch” the walls of your property with their suitcase you shouldn't be in the renting business at all! By the way this owner states the following on VRBO in connection to her property “Absolutely no scratch pads anywhere, or damages will have to be compensated." This includes buffing the stainless steel refrigerator and/or sinks. Stains to the furniture will have to be compensated. If they can not be removed, costs for recovering or replacement must be charged.

Sorry! But the owner doesn't provide any updated inventory list or check-in/out inspection. This is totally unprofessional! She asked me not to give her a review. I did a honest review - and she gave me a bad review. Whatever!

Also, the owner allowed the new rented to check in immediately after we checked out (he was outside the door waiting tighter with the owner's agent). And the owner had the nerve to complain about the cleaning! I paid a cleaning fee to the owner and asked two times what this fee was for, without a response. So at check-out (just to be sure!) we did dishes, took off all bed sheets, started a wash, emptied fridge/freezer, took out trash & even cleaned the coffee machine!!!

Of course the condo was not spotless clean - the cleaning crew had yet to arrive. Duh. It seems the owner wanted us to pay for the full scale cleaning and maintenance of her condo by keeping my security deposit. I found out that the new guest was in fact a “returning guest” and by profession a handyman. Well see now - that is convenient! And the owner even wrote to be on my private e-mail that since I used a part of my Fulbright scholarship to pay for her condo rent - I should not care about the $500 security deposit. She in fact wrote “You didn´t even pay for it yourself”! The nerve of some people.

The owner did refund me the deposit after some time but together with this refund I received very offensive language directed towards me and my family to my private email from the owner. All of my family was very offended by her and strongly question her ability to conduct professional business on VRBO.

Conclusion 2. Avoid this owner: she is unable to conduct professional rental business. I contacted VRBO and put in two formal complaints about the property and asked them to contact the owner and force the owner to remove the word “quiet” in the title describing the property as "quiet". It is not quiet. I was fooled and do not want any more guests to get fooled.

There is also another reviewer about property #** that states the jet noise as a “CON”. So my desired outcome which I clearly communicated (two times now) to VRBO is that they force the owner to *remove* the word “quiet” in the title and description of her property **. So far no response from VRBO at all. Great work guys!

Conclusion 3. Avoid VRBO: they do not have the capacity to run an honest rental business since they only take the owners side. In summary: Do not rent Property #** or other properties listed by this owner Mel **. Avoid VRBO but if you do decide to rent via VRBO keep all communication with the owner strictly on the site.

This also includes all types of “rental agreements” that need to be signed due to Condominium Associations the the property is part of. All this documentation needs to be kept strictly on the rental site for transparency. And do not give the owner your private email.

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Be Afraid! Be Very Afraid!
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

NORTH CAROLINA -- If I could have given this company zero stars I would have but 1 is as low as you can go. Lucky for them. I have never in my life dealt with such an incompetent business group. I had tried to reserve a property for given set of dates. I paid my $140 booking fee which is on top of the property owner's rental fee. Fair enough! VRBO confirmed that the weekend was reserved and "Guaranteed" my reservation. I was informed that the owner would call me to confirm the dates and the booking. Days pass and no call from the owner. I called VRBO again to let them know that I had no contact from the owner.

The VRBO representative gave me the owner's name and email and I contacted her to ask about our reservation. She informed me that she had never been made aware of our reservation request by VRBO and that the home had since been rented by another group! So much for the VRBO guarantee! I called back VRBO and asked why I had lost my "Guaranteed" reservation. The representative asked me to confirm my reservation number and email. I confirmed and she said my email address was incorrect even though it was the same email I registered with and had confirmed each time I called VRBO. She then asked me if my name was Beth.

Being a male I confirmed to her that I in fact was not Beth. The VRBO representative then said the home was confirmed to someone named Beth. I asked how Beth could have reserved my weekend that I paid VRBO $140 to secure. I then asked what the credit card number was that was used to secure "BETH'S" rental. Lo and behold my credit card was used by VRBO to secure Beth's rental. Ain't I a nice guy? I told this representative that they had not only lost my reservation dates but somehow managed to charge my card for another group's reservation on my weekend.

She said my funds would be refunded in three business days with no explanation of how I paid for the other person's fees. Guess what, no refund for 8 days. I called again today to ask why I had no refund. The VRBO rep. said that the owner had to cancel my reservation! Incredible? The owner has to cancel a reservation that I never got and she never received. So another call to the owner who was a dear through all this. I tell her the latest from this sad saga and she calls VRBO to cancel a reservation that does not exist for me. I call back to VRBO just moments ago and they assure me that my funds will be in my account within 3 business days.

Tick tock! I probably should have waited to write this review as I would not be surprised to have to report that I didn't get my refund. As a matter of fact, I'm so pissed that I am going copy and paste this and save it so I can add to it later if need be. And I'll send it to the CEO of this sorry excuse for a business. The CEO should start reading these reviews because I have a feeling they won't be in business for very much longer! I have always been a fan of acrostics. Here's the revised one for VRBO! VERY ROTTEN BUSINESS ORGANIZATION!! AVOID THIS COMPANY LIKE THE PLAGUE!

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Don't Use VRBO
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

AUSTIN, TEXAS -- We rented a place for 2 weeks in Mexico through VRBO. We planned ahead by booking in March and even took out their vacation insurance. Upon arrival, we noticed a very strong odor, almost like very bad body odor. At first, we thought it was the property manager who let us in. After spending some time in the house, we noticed black mold on the electric outlets, in corners and crevices, on ceiling fans. We tried to stay in the house, but were overcome by the stench and our inability to breathe.

We promptly called the owner and let her know our concerns. She was rude and basically said we were screwed. Being that we were in Mexico, our only way to communicate with VRBO was through email. It took a long time to get anything meaningful back from the company. In fact, we didn't really get sufficient information from the company until we got back to the U.S.

Long and short of it, they did not honor their travel insurance because we did not return the keys to the owner within a 2 hour time window. We held the keys as collateral until we heard from VRBO and eventually folded when we didn't get a meaningful directive from them. I will NEVER use this company again as they do not fully vet their properties or their owners. You are better off working with a hotel. (By the way, the credit card company Fifth Third Bank was super unhelpful as well. They didn't even wait to hear my side of the story before commencing the investigation.)

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VRBO #4254263 Kept Every Dime During Covid Epidemic
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

NEW YORK -- Posting my letter of complaint to VRBO as a last resort, after numerous attempts to resolve this through emails and phone calls to VRBO. What a waste of time. Received a canned response from customer support and what I now realize is a phony "Case Number": Please accept this letter as our Formal Complaint against VRBO Property #4254263, New York City. Upon booking their condominium we noted their cancellation policy. When we were subsequently compelled to cancel due to the Covid 19 virus they offered a credit, which we accepted. Shortly thereafter our business closed due to the virus, with no prospect of re-opening for weeks, possibly months.

As business owners our future efforts will be in rebuilding our company, and due to the inevitable financial strain ahead we have no plans for travel to New York or anywhere else, any time soon. I relayed this information to property manager Therese and again inquired about a refund. I received the same brief one-sentence reply, credit only. Considering this to be an inadequate response to our request, I asked if we should contact VRBO directly. Therese suggested that I am trying to put them out of business, and in regards to contacting VRBO invited me to "go for it".

We paid VRBO Property #4254263 owner a total of $1551.63 USD, ($2005.25 CAD). Not one dime of our hard-earned money will be refunded by this owner, including a $200.00 CLEANING FEE for a unit that we won't be using. We appreciate the Service Fee reimbursement we will receive from VRBO. In these extraordinary times for everyone we believe some consideration should have been made to alleviate our pain. The loss of over $2000.00 CDN is very significant for our family, and could be used to support our children for the hard times ahead. Had the owners reached out to us in good faith to negotiate a mutually agreeable refund amount we could have been satisfied. As it is, we question the ethics of a proprietor withholding every dollar of our payment with no exchange for service.

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Beware and Do Not Book
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

NEVADA -- I have booked with VRBO/Home Away more times than I can count. My family and friends use them as well. All experiences have been good ones. As a loyal customer, I expect loyalty in return if something were to go wrong. In September of 2019 I booked a property for November 19. It was a home in Las Vegas for a half marathon race and mini family vacation. As always, I paid upfront in full. In October of 2019 I was notified by VRBO via email that there was “possibly an issue with my upcoming booking” and to contact the owner.

I did as they said and was upset by the owner's response. He stated that VRBO had taken everything from him, shut down all his properties and left him bankrupt. He then notified me that not only was my booking cancelled but he had no funds to refund me my money for a trip that was more than a month away. I wasn't too panicked at this time because I knew VRBO would take care of me with their “Book with confidence guarantee”. After all, it's that what booking through a site like this is for? For security?

Boy was I wrong. I first responded to VRBO's initial email in which prompted me to a 1-800 number. I called this number and was lead through the wringer. They could not help me at this time. The lady said the owner had received a “serious complaint” and as a result had to be shut down. That is all she could tell me. She said she would expedite my case and I would receive a call In about 24hrs.

24hrs later, no call but another email.... stating that VRBO could not help me (with no explanation given) and that I needed to dispute the charge with my credit card company. I called VrBO 2 more times after this looking for answers... No one could give me any information other than “This is a unique situation” and I was finally told to stop contacting them. I am appalled to say the least. DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY. Airbnb provides a much better service with a guarantee they actually stick with.

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Travelers Beware!!
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

AUSTIN, TEXAS -- VRBO does not really protect you and you cannot trust the reviews. We had a cancellation for a large reservation less than 4 hours before check-in (day of reservation!!) and we cannot leave a review for the property to protect others from getting burned like we did. Here is our saga: We made reservations for a booking with 3 adjacent lakefront houses for a 30-person family reunion. It was hard to find a place for such a large group, so we booked a year in advance (paid in fully July 2018 for a July 2019 reservation). We contacted the owner in June 2019 to start getting ready for the reunion. The owner confirmed that we had all 3 houses, provided us with check-in information, and answered detailed questions about docking boats, linen, etc. Then, the day before our reservation, the owner sent an email via VRBO that they had double booked one house, but we still had the other 2 houses. They refunded us part of the reservation cost (less than a third of the total – unbelievable). I called the owner and they just said sorry and that the other people were already in the house. I contacted VRBO the morning of the reservation and they're offer was to book hotel rooms (about 5-10 miles away) for the people who would be displaced by the loss of one house. Not good for a family reunion. Less than 4 hours before the check-in time, the owner cancelled the reservation!! All families were already on the road – some had over an 11-hour drive! I did not contact VRBO again because I wanted lakefront houses, not hotel rooms for 30 people or separate houses miles houses miles apart (this is the only listing on VRBO in the area that accommodates 30 people). To not ruin my vacation, I found another place on the other side of the lake that could work, booked it, and enjoyed my vacation. When I contacted VRBO for compensation for the price difference after my vacation I was told since I didn't contact them to help with the booking, they would do nothing for me. So, because I wasn't willing to spend my family reunion in a hotel for a week, they won't do anything for me. When we looked again at the property we had reserved, we found a one-star review from July 2018 where the house was double-booked (sound familiar?). I tried to leave a similar review with this story, but cannot since the reservation was cancelled. So beware, you don't know how many times the owner has cancelled reservations! I won't be using VRBO in the future and I advise you not to as well.

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This Company Is a Scam Artist
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

AUSTIN, TEXAS -- HOMEAWAY/VRBO/VACATIONPAYMENT ARE ALL SCAMS BELONGING TO THE SAME CORPORATION. I am a property owner and listed my property on Homeaway, worst company ever to deal with. Most of the travelers on this site are crooks. Case in point Amanda ** of San Diego made a reservation for 54 nights through Homeaway and paid with credit card through Homeaway payments and 20 days into her stay her plans changed and out of the blue filed two complaints on the same day in an effort to find an excuse to get out of the lease. First one was that the toilet is leaking. Sent maintenance the same day and found no leak, then she complained that her gate tag was not working.

Replaced the gate tag with a new one but nevertheless she left and filed a charge back dispute stating the services were not provided. Contacted Homeaway and Homeaway payments and both are totally incompetent idiots working in this organization. Homeaway even though was being paid per reservation that means virtually no contact with the tenant until reservation is confirmed and homeaway is collecting fees upward of $400 for this reservation but takes no responsibility whatsoever when crooks like these use their site.

They have no safeguards against such activity. They are only interested in making money on the backs of unsuspecting property owners and if a crook disputes the charge Homeaway neither takes any responsibility or assists with resolving the issue. They are basically saying to the property owner, "Go ** yourself. We do not care.” Worst customer service ever, all located overseas and their customer service reps are unable to communicate in proper English. It seems like Homeaway purposely hires the dumbest of the dumb.

And their payment processor is even worse. All they do is send generic emails and every time it's a different person so you do not even know who the hell is handling your case and you are unable to speak with anyone in authority. I don't think they have any executive staff at all or they are hiding their tails somewhere and are unavailable on the phone. Homeaway and its affiliates appear to be a complete scam and if any property owner is reading please for your own sake stop using this service because they will screw you without hesitation.

Replies
Terrible for Everyone
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

For a homeowner - Every year they charge more and offer less. Now, you are forced to use their online payment system or have a terrible ranking. We use a management company and can't use their payment system, which means a much lower ranking. My experiences with their customer service have been brutal as well.

For a customer - If you use the online payment through VRBO and have a problem, vrbo customer service is horrific. You have very little recourse and will just be frustrated and probably lose $. All our reservations run through a great management company with fantastic customer service. In 8 years, there have been no customer service problems. Booking our place through them is a much safer and overall much better experience.

If you have a problem after arrival (water leak, heater failure, phone doesn't work, internet doesn't work, etc.), who will you call? VRBO? Good luck getting them to help. The owner? Maybe helpful but also could live far far away and make things much harder and time consuming to get fixed, or not get fixed. If there were a problem in our place, you have 24 hr access to help and very fast turnaround.

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Owner Broke Lease Agreement 5 MONTHS After Rental Was Paid in Full
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

AUSTIN, TEXAS -- Back in November of 2015, I booked a 4-bedroom home in downtown Rapid City, SD, well in advance of a family summer vacation in July of 2017. I did this early because I wanted a nice, clean home that suited my family's needs. 5 MONTHS later, the owner broke the lease and the only other home in that area that I would have considered renting was booked solid for my dates. I ended up reserving another home through Flipkey, 3 bedrooms, 15 miles from where I wanted to be. As a result, the smaller home forced some of my family members to stay home, after purchasing non-refundable plane tickets.

I am quite devastated over this and very angry about the fact that a Homeaway owner can, at will, pull the plug on a client who has dealt with her in good faith. Apparently, Homeaway/VRBO does not impress upon their owners the importance of commitment and responsibility. I probably won't be booking with Homeaway/VRBO again since I guess their owners can get away with this kind of behavior. I'm just wondering now how many people out there have had the same unfortunate experience? Surely I can't be the only one…

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Never Again VRBO!!!
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

This past summer we had the worst rental experience ever. After attempting to contact the owner multiple times and giving them plenty of time to respond (6 months), I finally decided to share our experience in hopes others could avoid. However VRBO refused to publish my review stating it "was not relevant to the property being reviewed". Really?!?!?!

We stayed at the property and I captured our experience with accuracy, so help me understand why it's not relevant. I suppose it's because I didn't provide a 4 or 5 star rating. Obvious proof that VRBO is as shady and dishonest as the owner we rented from. Well I can guarantee we will NEVER rent from this owner or use VRBO ever again. Please share, because VRBO refuses to publish my review.

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VRBO Rating:
Star Empty star Empty star Empty star Empty star
1.2 out of 5, based on 92 ratings and
123 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
VRBO
1011 W. Fifth Street, Suite 300
Austin, TX 78703
877-228-3145 (ph)
www.vrbo.com
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