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VRBO Homeaway Complaint - VRBO, HOMEAWAY Works AGAINST their customers
Complaint
FLORIDA -- HomeAway, HomeAway.com, Vacationrentals.com, Vrbo, Vrbo.com, Complaint
Vacation rental owners BEWARE OF VRBO/ HOMEAWAY's FATAL FLAW - Vacation Rental Website
I was a happy customer of VRBO/Homeaway until I found out their fatal flaw!
We own/mangage many high end properties. As owners we charge security deposits to cover damage done by guests.
I am now fearful to deduct the cost of damages done because of their ability to then retaliate an post negative reviews about your property.
Homeaway allows these slanderous reviews to be posted and gives owners almost no consideration. Owners are coerced into waiving fees for damage done because of the fear of retaliation. (We had one guest who too the Flat Screen!)
By allowing this, they cripple the owners ability to enforce their rental agreements. As an owner we pay to advertise on the site.
We are the customers.
It is very upsetting that we, the customers who pay to purchase ads, are not given more consideration and have no control over what is posted on the ad page that we are paying for.
This is a problem.
The only recourse an owner had is to cancel the ad and to lose the money they paid to run it for an entire year. Homeaway does not issue refunds for the balance of unused time if you do this.
Homeaway is a Monopoly
Unfortunately, with huge investments from Wall Street, homeaway has bought up other independent sites and become a sort of monopoly.
One bad review can do a multitude of damage the reputation of a rental.
Vacation rental owners BEWARE OF VRBO/ HOMEAWAY's FATAL FLAW - Vacation Rental Website
I was a happy customer of VRBO/Homeaway until I found out their fatal flaw!
We own/mangage many high end properties. As owners we charge security deposits to cover damage done by guests.
I am now fearful to deduct the cost of damages done because of their ability to then retaliate an post negative reviews about your property.
Homeaway allows these slanderous reviews to be posted and gives owners almost no consideration. Owners are coerced into waiving fees for damage done because of the fear of retaliation. (We had one guest who too the Flat Screen!)
By allowing this, they cripple the owners ability to enforce their rental agreements. As an owner we pay to advertise on the site.
We are the customers.
It is very upsetting that we, the customers who pay to purchase ads, are not given more consideration and have no control over what is posted on the ad page that we are paying for.
This is a problem.
The only recourse an owner had is to cancel the ad and to lose the money they paid to run it for an entire year. Homeaway does not issue refunds for the balance of unused time if you do this.
Homeaway is a Monopoly
Unfortunately, with huge investments from Wall Street, homeaway has bought up other independent sites and become a sort of monopoly.
One bad review can do a multitude of damage the reputation of a rental.
Comments:
Posted by Alain on 2011-11-09:
When we had rental property, we always used a local real estate company to advertise & manage the property instead of large franchised/multistate firms. We didn't get as much coverage from ads, but we always received personal service and had someone local to talk to in the event of problems. We were always booked solid for the summer and frequently booked well into November (this was in Avon, NC).
Posted by Marco Owner on 2012-02-07:
I agree hardily with Luxuryrentalssouth22's posted comment. VRBO used to be a great site but is owned by HomeAway. Homeaway has conspired to allow false and negative complaints from renters in order to boost their falling share price caused by a few bad apples. They should have instead targeted the bad apples just like VRBO did when it was independently owned. As a home owner that has been with VRBO (my low number attests to this fact)when it was independently owned by the couple that started it in Denver, I can factually state that once Homeaway bought VRBO and the three other independent ad sites customer service disappeared and we (the paying customers) have suffered greatly with real financial losses. I can attest that some renters now resort to blackmail wherein they seek a discounted refund on their rental fee or they write a negative, false, unsubstantiated claim that does real financial damage. I even had someone write a bad review that never stayed at my home. Turns out he was a another homeowner competitor. Homeaway would not remove it and they take the attitude that false and slanderous reviews are our problem plus just part of the business. They even stated that we should spend more money with them to counter act it. Now we get the new notification (January 2012) from them that our rental rates will DOUBLE in order to stay in the upper exposure tier. They are just out to milk as much profit without regard to customer service.
TIME TO MAKE A NEW COMPETING WEB SITE INDEPENDANTLY OWNED FROM THIS WALLSTREET MONEY GRINDER.
TIME TO MAKE A NEW COMPETING WEB SITE INDEPENDANTLY OWNED FROM THIS WALLSTREET MONEY GRINDER.
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