I will never use this service again. My daughter has Lyme’s disease so she is highly likely to have an adverse affect should she contract Coronavirus. We have been advised not to travel internationally. I tried to cancel the reservation and have not heard anything back. This is appalling
I'm another family who has lost $3,000 for a trip this week with no protection from VRBO. Both King County Public Health and Riverside County Public Health (where we were going) issued public health emergencies, so travel wasn't a possibility. For VRBO to distance itself and say these are just transactions between us and the property owner is a fraud. Here is how they justify their booking fee: "Focusing on travelers’s peace of mind through our Book with Confidence Guarantee, which brings comprehensive payment protection, 24/7 Customer service, re-booking assistance if the booking is cancelled last minute and security deposit protection. But the guarantee is beneficial for owners too, as it increases travelers' trust when booking on our sites and accordingly, they will come book through Vrbo for their next dream vacations!"
I was forced to cancel my vacation rental in Italy because of coronavirus travel restrictions. The owner refunded only 50 percent of my money and none of the so-called "service fee," which was about $300. There is no travel insurance to cover epidemics or pandemics. You are on your own if you have to cancel. Numerous calls to VRBO resulted in no satisfaction. I have used the service many times over the years, but will never use it again. They gave me no consideration and did not intervene with the landlord on my behalf.
What isn't listed; The $133.86 convince fee that has NOTHING to do with your reservation nor is applied towards your balance! Nor does Vrbo complete the reservation, you'll still have to do everything thru the property management company and charge your credit card again! Don't even worry about customer service the CSR's are rude, my advice!! Cut the middle man and go directly to the property management company!!
It was very easy to pick a cabin and book it!!
BEWARE This company offers no protection for its clients, any issue with the booking and their standard response is you need to contact the property owner they cannot help. For example, If you need to cancel your reservation it is 100% the property owners discretion if you receive a refund or not, any dispute and VRBO say there is nothing they can do.
I hate to write this review since we previously loved VRBO. We booked a dream trip to Paris and due to coronavirus had to cancel. We were given a small portion for a refund. What we really wanted is to have the larger company assist us in rescheduling another property for a later date. I have left numerous messages with no response. I called the 800 number and talked with Mary. There was not a manager and it is a call center with the only recourse was to use their feedback button online. I did that and at the end of my message, it stated that the company cannot always have the time to read the comments but they are appreciated. Have now found an agency in both France and Italy and will either use them or hotel companies that have options too.
So sad since I thought someday I would use them to rent my home. No more.
This condo was very nice and as advertised. The location right on the beach was perfect and views were excellent. There were many outstanding restaurants nearby. Beds were extremely comfortable and kitchen was nicely furnished. The grounds and pool area were very well maintained. Special kudos to Theresa and Kelly of the management staff and Cliff in maintenance. A couple items could be improved. Some of the dining room chairs were wobbly. They held up throughout our stay but we never felt completely comfortable in them. Also we had occasion to use the fold-out sofa bed but found we could not inflate the air mattress. The mattress itself seemed functional, as did the air pumps, but we (and the management and maintenance staff) couldn’t find a way to connect them.
Do not use VRBO. VRBO does not protect the customers. Only care about making money and don’t believe in helping their customers. I have used VRBO previously with no problems, until my last stay in Sydney. The place was not safe to stay in, due to health concerns and doors not locking. VRBO is refusing to help the situation, stating that the place did exist and that is all they protect against. We had to pay for double accommodation, the VRBO and a hotel, as the VRBO was not liveable. VRBO will not give the money back and is leaving it to the property manager to deal with, who obviously is ignoring. And VRBO also is still letting this property manager rent out the place that has mould all in the carpets, that they covered with mats.
We booked a place to stay for an event. The owner cancelled the booking saying that the property had sold, but there was no sign of a refund. My wife has now been on the phone to VRBO for over an hour to learn the following:
We have a case number but we still have to check for the refund and get back in touch with VRBO if it doesn't happen. Presumably spending another hour on the phone in the process.
Despite waiting 20 mins to get transferred to the rebooking team, they could not to help us. In fact even after the transfer it turns out that they weren't even the rebooking team - they just raise a ticket. But they wouldn't raise a ticket because our booking was for less than 4 days.
AND the property in question was still showing up on VRBO as available.
So right now
NO REFUND
NO WHERE TO STAY
NO HELP FROM VRBO
PROPERTY STILL ADVERTISED ON VRBO
We will never use VRBO again.
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In response to VRBOs reply
"Although if a traveler is protected by our Book with Confidence Guarantee we offer the traveler rebooking assistance to help them find another property should their booking be cancelled by an owner at the last minute. Furthermore, in certain cases we may arrange lodging accommodations for up to seven nights."
PLEASE RE READ MY ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Despite waiting 20 mins to get transferred to the rebooking team, they could not to help us. In fact even after the transfer it turns out that they weren't even the rebooking team - they just raise a ticket. But they wouldn't raise a ticket because our booking was for less than 4 days.
THERE WAS NO RE BOOKING ASSISTANCE. AND STILL NO SIGN OF A REFUND.
Finding what we needed was fairly easy - disappointing to see prices up substantially this year.
**EDIT TO MY REVIEW AFTER VRBO COMMENT BELOW**
I called your company and then proceeded to email them daily for an entire week. All I received back was a generic response. While I appreciate the sentiment and would have sincerely loved to resolve this ridiculous situation, your company has proven that their concern for travelers is non existent.
My story is a long one so to make it short and sweet, we rented from a nightmare owner that has refused our deposit refund and even accused us of stealing his property. He has a history of this that we did not unfortunately see until after we had paid for our rental. The place was a nightmare! I immediately contacted the owner. NO response. I decided to go straight to Vrbo and file a case. Nothing has been resolved and we have pretty much been ignored. This is reprehensible from both sides and we decided to file a complaint with the BBB. Lesson learned. We will never use Vrbo again and we hope that at some point others stop falling for their scam as well.
Worst company ever. Very unprofessional. You cannot get a hold of their billing department. How ridiculous is that. Do not list your vacation rental with these people! We are still waiting for a payout and no one knows how to help me!
We have rented at least 4 homes from VRBO over the last 5 years and have been very satisfied with the service, the quality of our stays and the service and follow up on the customer satisfaction of their customers. We enjoy finding a great location and a great stay where our family of 11 can be under one roof with grandkids, aunts and uncles cousins.
The house was great for our birthday celebration. The house is roomy and the beds comfortable. The view from the porches and water-facing windows were amazing. We saw several dolphins swim by and the wildlife was delightful - especially the resident heron! The boat traffic in the channel was interesting and not disruptive.
Some of the supplies were meager (toilet paper, we ended up buying our own to supplement), the gas grill was out of propane, the kitchen supplies were a bit disappointing for our needs, some outlets don’t work, not much light on the porches at nighttime, light switches are somewhat confusing, and we had no hot water on the last day. The room with all of the media equipment is deemed a bedroom however has no closet for storage...there is room for an armoire and a luggage rack.
In spite of the shortcomings, the overall experience was positive.
Awful awful awful experience as an owner. I had a guest stay at my property through vrbo/home away over 1 month ago. I called them many times about payment and still can’t receive it. I spoke to an agent named Mesha who was extremely rude and when I asked for a supervisor to tell them about her disgusting and disrespectful behavior, she hung up the phone on me. When I called back another agent said that no one would be able to locate her because she works from a call center and the call cannot be traced so she can just be disrespectful to whoever she wants to with no recourse. They told me I have to wait 5 weeks to get paid 4 weeks has already passed. I have a mortgage to pay and these low life termites could care less. I pulled my properties from them. I hate them. Stay away
One star for this company. They still.dont operate in albania which is a must these days. I contacted support and they were useless
I have not booked many places thru VRBO . I booked this speaking to an agent and was told the cost of the booking. What she failed to say was that there was an additional $209. american for the VRBO booking fee on top of all the other fees that were listed... I will book directly thru Hilton head vacations next time where they tell me all the fees at the time... Not a happy Canadian client... When I called to ask about the fee I was basically told too bad for you.
VRBO has been unable to take care of my tech problems for 2 weeks. Unable to get thru to tech support on the phone as their que is always full. No supervisor has ever called back like they said they would. Just constant apologies for them having to deal with an inordinate amount of problems.
