VRBO Consumer Reviews - Page 4

CALIFORNIA -- BEWARE! The service fee that is charged is anywhere from 6-12% according to the customer service representative I spoke with and it's like playing a slot machine--you ever know what you're gonna get! I recently booked through VRBO for a rental on Oahu 07/11-07/17 and was charged a service fee of $422 for a 6 night stay. I considered moving the vacation dates a few days after I booked and put in the next 6 days to check availability and noticed the service fee was only $282--same place, same number of nights!

I called VRBO to ask them why and ask them to honor this lower price on my reservation. I was told no and that the computer randomly picks a percentage between 6-12% and because it was computer generated there was nothing they could do about it. Also on a hunch I went back onto the VRBO website this morning and put in the 07/17-07/23 dates and lo and behold the service fee is up to $422. Imagine that?! But if I chose dates 08/01-08/07 it's only $282. So what additional service am I getting paying $140 more than the family coming in the 6 days after me? That would be none. Charge a service fee-- I get it, this is a business. But make it the same for everyone on the same rental for the same number of night. Simple. Period.

AUSTIN, TEXAS -- Tried to write a very positive review about a property I rented 6 weeks ago. Wouldn't go through. After 1 hour, contacted their customer service. They said I was blocked from writing a review...why? Because the homeowner had reviewed me! FRAUDULENT, MISLEADING, DECEPTIVE. VRBO has a deceptive practice whereby after a vacation stay, if the owner reviews you before you get your property review in, you are blocked from submitting a review on the property. This means, that if there is a lousy property/slumlord and the owner beats the renter to a review, you have no way of seeing any potentially negative reviews! You don't have a full understanding the property and are foolishly renting blindly.

THIS INTENTIONAL MISLEADING, FALSE ADVERTISING, and DECEPTIVE. A terrible and HIDDEN TACTIC! Therefore, question every property and review and consider how many reviews they obstructed when renting. I am sure the Attorney Generals and FTC might find this interesting. Renters should be advised of this upfront, before they rent, not after their stays when they try to submit a review.

People using the VRBO service to book vacation rentals should be aware that the reviews are all either faked or screened by the property owners. The way their "review" system works is that the owners of the rental properties have to approve of the reviews before they are posted. Obviously they will not post anything negative so all the reviews you see are Five Stars. The only exception to this is if the owner reviews the traveler. Then the traveler can post a review. This leads to vituperative exchanges. Also the traveler is then given a rating which is available to future property owners who use VRBO so the traveler can be effectively blacklisted from future rentals because he or she provided a negative review. This obviously deters travelers from saying anything negative about any of the properties they have rented. It's probably better to find things the old fashioned way, through referrals and word of mouth. The reviews on the site are worthless.

We rented a two-bedroom two-bath apartment in Berlin, Germany, but arrived to find that it was a two-bedroom ONE-bath apartment. We questioned the owner, but she spoke little English, and I speak very little German. I wrote a review on VRBO regarding our experience, but VRBO refused to post my review, saying there was no indication I stayed in the apartment (this after the owner gave me a glowing "owner's report"). I escalated the issue with VRBO a month ago. VRBO assigned a case number, but I have heard nothing since. That's it: VRBO's been great in the past, but never again.

LAGUNA NIGUEL, NEW YORK -- My friends and I booked a 5 bedroom house with VRBO in December, 2017 for a wedding in August, 2018. Everything was paid in full and confirmed. 48 hours before we were due to arrive, VRBO contact us to let us know that there was a glitch in their system and the people currently renting the property had extended their stay so the house was no longer available. They offered us a 4 bedroom house from Saturday-Tuesday instead and not comping anything. We all arrive Friday morning for the wedding and now have nowhere to stay. All of the hotels are now exorbitantly expensive. I would stay away from VRBO at all costs - they do not honor reservations book 7 months in advance.

AUSTIN, NEW YORK -- This company absolutely has the worst policies and poorest customer service of any site like this. Interestingly, they are all over you when it comes time to pay the annual fees or commissions on rentals.

For instance, if you have a life and can not reply to any and all inquiries within a 24 hour period, they will hide your listing from all searches and they will not tell you that they have done so. Yet, they will still be more than happy to bill you for the annual listing fee despite the fact that your listing has been hidden by them.

Don't bother to try and get anywhere by calling them as an owner to voice your displeasure with their policy. You'll be connected to a call center somewhere in Asia, with someone who speaks modest English, will repeatedly and automatically state "I understand" and "you make a good point" but will not do anything to resolve your complaint and will not be able to direct you to any other level of customer service. But hey, they "understand".

I have used this site for 4 years and this policy change is for their benefit. They want their customers (wait, I thought I was your customer. You're only getting a percentage for listing MY property) to have a positive experience. Frankly, I am not in the rental property business. This is for limited use when the property is not being used. Most of us have real jobs, take vacations, have holiday celebration, etc. Sorry Homeaway (and your VRBO) if it takes 30 hours to respond to an inquiry 5 months in the future.

If you own a rental property, don't list it here. This company is the epitome of a rip off

I have rented my vacation property through VRBO for years until they were bought by Expedia. They are now charging renters 5-15% booking fees and the homeowner 3% fees to transfer money into their account. These fees are ridiculous and corporate greed has ruined their company. I placed my property on HOME ESCAPE and they do not charge fees to renters for booking the property nor do they charge to transfer funds to the property owner. They allow the property owner to handle all of their own bookings and transactions if they choose to. They don't block the owner's or renter's phone number or email address.

HOME ESCAPE is currently offering homeowners to advertise their property for free if you call their toll free number. Otherwise it is only $199 annually versus the $500 charge by VRBO. I am confident that HOME ESCAPE will become the new VRBO as people are disgusted by their ridiculous fees and taking all control away from the owner.

N/A -- Bed bugs or were they fleas? Check Consumer affairs on VRBO!
Your experience:
Martie was wonderful and assisted us in everyway possible and really listened to our needs. She is the reason for two stars. The issue is the master bed room, I have been bitten over 40 times and my daughter was bitten over 30 times herself. Lice or bed bugs? Doctor mentioned bed bugs.

After contacting VRBO I was disappointed that they didn't take my complaint seriously. They stated I have to deal with the owner? But, its your website! They have limited resources on investigating if my claims are true or the resources to check proof of practice if they have bed bugs or lice have the issues been rectified.

During this trip my wife was screaming wolf before we got there ( because she is always itchy). I was itchy, but figured them talking about it was making me itch. I got home and shaved the portion of my stomach that reveled several bites real close to one another, days later bites kept appearing, doctor stated normal for bed bug bites to appear at a later time.

Good Luck people

CALIFORNIA -- VRBO charged a $374 service fee that was never disclosed. After having the reservation accepted, an email from VRBO came back stating they charged my card an additional $374 service fee that wasn't in the initial quote. In their email in bold black letters it stated "service fee; $374 not in payment request". I spoke to 4 reps and 2 managers, all whom said "pay it or cancel your booking". You can't charge a fee that was never authorized to be charged and then use black mail to pay it. I will never use VRBO ever again. To top it off, they've said they've been receiving a lot of complaints about this business practice. You think?

HAWAII -- We rented our home, renter paid refundable damage deposit, then trashed our home seriously, so we held back the deposit, provided pictures, cleaners detail, there was felt pen drawings on the floor, felt pen marks on new furniture, all of this info provided to VRBO and get this: VRBO refunded the entire amount to the scofflaws. Microwave broken, missing remotes, stayed an extra 1/2 dayamazing... All of this documentation pictures etc provided within a timely manner.

We responded to the VRBO emails but they many times were to an expired email address. These folks are very dishonest. Run, don't walk away from VRBO, If you as an owner had similar experiences, please file complaints to the Federal Trade Commission, attorney generals office in Texas and your elected officials, Let's shut down this scam business!!!