VRBO Consumer Reviews - Page 5

AUSTIN, TEXAS -- We reserved a room in Puerto Vallarta 2 years ago in December. My husband had a ruptured gallbladder and we couldn't make it back until this April as they were booked up for 2017. We arrived and the room was NOT what it was suppose to be. The photos were old and it looked all new. The beds sagged and it was the worst vacation ever. The room was not spot on clean. It was dirty in the corners and just disgusting. Comfort level was a 2. Parties went on until 5AM and nothing was done about it. So much for those guards walking around. The Peacocks are beautiful (4 of them) but they holler all day and all night. It sounds like a cat that is being killed.

The people below us had a BBQ grill going (NOT allowed) and all the smoke came into our room. We called the owner, we called the front desk (Velas Vallarta) and finally after the 4th time decided we should call the fire Dept. It was the vacation from hell. We left early and went to another resort and now to write a bad review we know it will never be posted. THIS ISN'T RIGHT. We all should be able to hear the truth about these rooms, so we know better than to book them. I think it's time for our gov't to get involved. This isn't right.

If you are an owner, of a Vacation rental property and you want to advertise on VRBO, do yourself a favor and don't do it. (1) They charge travelers an onerous "Service Fee" for which the traveler receives no benefit. (2) The fee will increase the price of your stay to the point where your prices are no longer competitive. (3) They will strictly control your communication with guests lest the guest discovers a way to book the reservation without paying the fee.

(4) They will accuse you of violations of their Terms of Service even if you are strictly adhering to the rules. (5) Customer support is downright abusive. Imagine dealing with an IRS agent who believes you are a tax evader and you will get the image.

If you are a traveler, (1) there is no reason to book with VRBO. Do a little more legwork and you can find the same property for less on another site. (2) VRBO charges you a "Service Fee" even though they are not delivering a service. The owner of the property you are considering has already paid a fee to advertise their property on VRBO. (3) VRBO wants to handle your payments, even though they are completely unqualified to do so.

VRBO used to be an excellent site for advertising vacation rentals and facilitating direct communication between property owners and travelers. Those days are gone. Look for regionally-focused sites that are now catching on and are taking advantage of the dissatisfaction with VRBO.

ARIZONA -- I have booked several vacations through VRBO. My latest booking went wrong and VRBO did not honor its "guarantee". I made a reservation through VRBO for a summer vacation. After booking, I did not see the reservation under "my trips". I called the owner and VRBO.

The owner assured me he would straighten things out. VRBO said they would open an investigation. I asked if I needed to do anything else to fix the reservation and was told they would call me back. I called them again the next day and was told the same thing. On the third day, the reservation appeared and looked just like every other reservation I had. VRBO never called me back.

Months later I found out that the owner had sold the property prior to my vacation and he refused to return my deposit. I called VRBO and they told me that the guarantee was not valid because of the problems I had at the beginning of the process. They told me that they allowed the owner to post the reservation on my account even though they did not intend to cover me with the VRBO guarantee. They misled me and now offer me absolutely no help. I will not use them ever again.

I was booking a cottage, and for whatever reason (they won't tell me why) they said that my credit card was rejected because of "irregularities" but they still managed to charge the card $1,500. How exactly they pulled that off is quite a feat. Even better, they aren't returning the money for 5-7 business days. Now, this cottage was for my boss, who is arriving in 2 days.

So in order to make sure she has a place to stay, I am going to have to shell out even MORE money to secure her lodging. And I still have no idea why they took my money and then claim they have to return it. Unprofessional and unacceptable. Customer Service was a joke and the property owner is equally as furious as I am.

I am a homeowner that has many complaints about VRBO. Biggest complaint is the service fee that actually provides no service. I manage my property and any renter who has a problem is going to call me not VRBO. My latest problem is that I had a renter cancel their reservation on us and when that happens we keep the nonrefundable security deposit for taking our property off the market and the possibility of us losing rentals for those dates.

In doing so, by not rounding our guest 100% of their payment VRBO has decided that this gives them the right to keep the service fee that they have charged. How are they keeping a service fee for no service. They will not have to provide service for this guest for my property. Completely criminal. The agent told me I had plenty of time to rebook and that I shouldn't keep their security deposit. Crazy!! I have also had too many agents lately who could care less, so frustrating.

Also learned recently that when you have to keep someone's security deposit for damage done to your home, VRBO charges a 3% credit card fee for the transaction. I paid fees on the damage deposit. Hoping another company comes in and takes over because right now they know they have property owners by the **. Frustrated Homeowner.

AUSTIN, TEXAS -- VRBO/HomeAway was a great website and I had a successful relationship with them, then they were sold to a large company. Customer Service is outsourced. When I called for help, regarding a mistake on the billing, they told me I had to work it out with renter, who did not return my calls. They charge a very high fee and offer "0" support. On the other hand, I'm getting more rental requests from Airbnb and when I contacted their customer service this is what I received. "Each and every user that becomes a member of the Airbnb family is extremely important to us," Plus they have lower fees. Which company would you choose? No brainer!

I rented a unit in Palermo, Italy that was listed on VRBO... VRBO listing is 6372200. Stay away from this owner. My wife and I had to leave for the airport sooner than we expected, so we were not able to "officially" check out with the owner. The owner claimed we damaged his door and decided to keep my E100 deposit. I complained to VRBO and was told they would require proof of damage from the owner along with a PAID receipt for repairs...

VRBO claims the owner supplied pictures but is refusing to show me the pictures... They have NO paid receipt. They say it is NOT necessary. We are in our late 70s. We did not damage his door. I will never use VRBO again. They can't be relied upon to protect the renter.

US, FLORIDA -- Since Expedia purchased VRBO, the website has declined astronomically. It was bad, but now, it's terrible. I'm supposed to be positioned among 20 other townhomes in my 2 building complex. VRBO constantly moves me from that listing area, where I'm supposed to be located, and moves me miles from where I'm supposed to be located. This has cost me thousands of dollars in bookings. Last year, I failed to rent multiple weeks and discovered that I had been removed from my listing position. Of course, VRBO told me it wasn't their fault. It's Google's fault - so they tell me.
They cancelled all of the people I had booked on my calendar. Suddenly, I was being contacted by potential renters, who told me that a particular week was available. Of course, those weeks were already booked, and of course, VRBO swore it wasn't their fault.
Their analytics are faulty. I'm fully booked 42 weeks of the year, but according to their analytics, I'm not getting any bookings. They give top billing to my neighbors, who don't have 24 pictures, don't have many reviews, and don't offer online booking. VRBO doesn't have an explanation for that problem.
Their customer service people have limited information and can't answer questions about analytics. Neither can their supervisors, who always say that the computer isn't available.
I'm moving on to what I hope will be a better experience.

We were looking to rent a condo via VRBO and had emailed William Bill regarding his condo #651892.
He had a refundable security deposit that was $700 (3x more than any of the others we had seen) I emailed to ask why it was so high. No response. So I emailed again and his response was "if you have to ask then you can't afford to pay for damages." That was not only extremely rude but uncalled for when a valid question is being asked. Needless to say, we will not be staying there and would suggest no one else does either.

FLORIDA -- Since you deleted my friend's review from your Facebook page the next best place to go for a FAIR review would be your own page. I had a friend get married and book her condo with this service. She paid for a condo with the beach front access; however, upon arrival she realized that there was construction that did not allow said beach front access resulting in not ever stepping foot on the property she rented!!

After trying to get a hold of the property manager without success, go figure, she tried once returning home to give them one last chance to rectify the situation and they blew her off, yet again. So, she left a review on their Facebook page which they promptly deleted and then emailed her saying she was no longer eligible to post a review on the page because she was 'blackmailing' and 'attempting to extort' the property managers for money!!

Not telling a renter that they won't get what they paid for and then ignoring them when they are trying to get to the bottom of the situation IS EXTORTION!! She NEVER asked for money, only to speak with someone that could fairly address the situation. Be careful when renting from this company because they do NOT provide what they promised, nor do they want the public to know about it, hence deleting her comment from Facebook. OH DID I MENTION THAT SHE RENTED THE PROPERTY FOR HER WEDDING!!?