FlipKey, Inc.

Hi [redacted], Thank you for contacting us via the Revdex.com. We are sorry to hear that you had to cancel a booking due to an overlap with another booking.  We apologize for any frustration you had during this process, as our global agents are trained and have the capabilities to assist...

owners with their queries.  We confirm that you have received assistance from several agents with regards to this booking cancellation.   In the event of an owner cancellation, a cancellation fee is assessed per cancelled booking.  Information regarding owner cancellation and the fee are detailed in our Terms and Conditions, which you agreed to previously and you can find these terms within your owner account page. This is located under clause 4.6, which grants us the ability to issue this penalty.   4.6 In the event that You cancel a Booking for any reason, We may impose a fee (the “Cancellation Fee”), which We will either charge to You directly or withhold from Your future disbursements, at Our sole discretion. This is because cancellations can have serious implications on a Traveler’s trip, and cause Us to incur costs. You will be notified of the situations in which a Cancellation Fee applies before You decide to cancel. You accept that the Cancellation Fee represents a genuine pre-estimate of Our loss that is necessarily incurred in dealing with Travelers’ complaints resulting from Your cancellation, and the sourcing and securing of appropriate alternative accommodation on their behalf. For the avoidance of doubt, once You accept a Booking, You are under an obligation to fulfill it. If You breach this obligation and cancel a Booking, then We may impose the Cancellation Fee.   We apologize if this comes to you as a surprise since you agreed to our Terms and Conditions on April 28 2017.   The amount of the cancellation fee is a genuine calculation of the loss that is incurred in handling the guest’s complaints resulting from your cancellation, which includes the cost of the rehoming process for the guest.  The cancellation fee is collected either as a payment completed by the owner by cancelling the booking from your account or as a credit that is applied to your account, which is deducted from future disbursements until the credit is paid off.   While we understand that you feel that guest has not endured any loss, the guest’s expectations and experience with their reservation was negatively impacted because the dates were unavailable to her.  This may have also affected any travel arrangements they have made because of the owner cancellation, which may likely incur additional costs and expenses to the traveler.  As mentioned previously, the funds from the cancellation fee are used to offset the additional cost of a new booking the traveler must now make.   We confirm that you made attempts to resolve this booking shortly after it was confirmed by adjusting the dates on the reservation via a booking amendment, however we see that the guest declined the changes because you were unable to honor the original dates of the booking she requested for.  When an owner accepts or confirms a booking, we expect owners to check their calendars and availability before sending a quote.  We offer calendar syncing tools that can help you manage multiple calendars on different platforms and we’d be happy to assist you in setting that up to your TripAdvisor Rentals calendar.   After further review of the case, we understand you are unhappy with the cancellation fee and we would like to resolve this amicably.  We understand that this is your first cancellation you’ve had through our site and that you contacted us within a just a few hours of the booking being confirmed.  As such, we would like to offer a waiver of the cancellation fee as a one-time courtesy as a way to appreciate your help to re-homing and working with us.  We will not offer any further waivers, as this represents a one-time exception to our policy. The fee will be removed from your account within a couple business days. Thank you again for taking the time to reach out to us, and we look forward to bringing you many happy bookings. Best regards,[redacted]Senior Customer Relations Executive

This issue is now resolved. But the payment was a week last.
Regards,
[redacted]

Dear [redacted],  Thank you for your message and for bringing this important concern to the attention of Revdex.com [redacted]. We empathize with your situation and can understand that this is frustrating for yourself. As you have raised a chargeback with [redacted] this can take up to 90 days to resolve...

as our bank is currently withholding the funds. Should you have any further questions then please do not hesitate to get in touch with us on the following number 1-877-FLIPKEY and we would be more than happy to assist. We would like to reassure you that we are working with you to resolve this issue for you.  Best Regards  [redacted] Customer Care 1-877-FLIPKEY1-877-FLIPKEY

Dear [redacted],Thank you for your response and we are truly sorry to hear of your dissatisfaction.As previously mentioned, the advertisers are solely responsible for their listings accuracy and we truly apologize that in your case, the renter didn't have the rates up to date. However, we can confirm that the owner has updated his prices and if you are still interested in his accommodation, we can ask him to resend you the quote based on the correct price.Otherwise, if you need any help to book a different accommodation, our reservation team is able to help you find a property suitable for you and, if you need any clarification before proceeding with the booking, we will be more than happy to contact the advertisers on your behalf and address any concern you may have.Our reservation team can be reached calling the number +1-[redacted].Kindest regards,The Customer Relations Department

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted]. Please add your rejection comments below. Regards,
[redacted]

Dear [redacted],   Thank you for writing us via the Revdex.com.   Please kindly note, that the $63.42 charge is related to the Eiffel Tower and Summit Access tour and this experience booking request has been made through the website [redacted] on the 27th of February.   Please...

rest assured that your request has been transferred to the [redacted] team who will contact you as soon as possible.   If you wish to get in touch with the [redacted] customer service team in the meantime, please feel free to call the number ([redacted].   Best regards,   [redacted] Senior Customer Relations Executive

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted].
[Again you are choosing to do nothing to rectify this.  You state in your response you see your reps reached out to help me which is not remotely true.  Your reps tried to offer assistance AFTER I had emailed  then waited 6+ hours AND then decided to contact your company by phone.  During which time I had to book my own place due to your business practices.  Only did I receive an email offering alternatives AFTER I had called to complain.  So you have NOT done the right thing in reimbursing as I have stated in all complaints, phone calls, and emails.  I have no misconceptions to expect anything else from my past dealings.  The only thing I ask is please know exactly what the time frame and what truly went on rather than looking and assuming you the truth. ]
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does satisfy my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint #[redacted]. I understand that by choosing to accept the business response that my complaint will be closed as resolved. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted]. 
[Dear Flipkey. I am not looking to make a booking. I own a home and already hosted a client but never received payment since. I contacted [redacted] and they said they returned the money to you. All am asking please is that you forward my payment for services I already rendered and which were already paid for by [redacted] the client I hosted. Let me know if [redacted] or Bank Transfer will work for you. Best wishes and looking forward to concluding this. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted]. Please add your rejection comments below. 
[If you are rejecting the business's response please enter your rejection comments here.] This is the same rhetoric I have heard from FlipKey in the past and sounds like a broken record.   FlipKey states that if you are not sure whether or not your reservation is active, you can click on the manage your booking tab.  Any reasonable person who tries to book a reservation and gets a reply that "ANOTHER TRAVELER HAS BOOKED FLORIDA HOME ([redacted])  FOR THESE DATES SO YOUR QUOTE HAS BEEN CANCELED"   Also, at no time did I receive a reply email that my quote had been accepted.  I asked FlipKey to forward me an email stating that fact but they could not provide one. Their reply does not state that you have already booked this property, like it should have said.  NO, it states that ANOTHER TRAVELER booked this Florida home meaning, NOT YOU. How would anyone know to "manage their booking" when they receive a response that they don't even have a booking it was CANCELLED!   As icing on the cake, I now see in FlipKey's response that the homeowner told FlipKey that they did not return my money because prior to me trying to rent the home that they had "another" person who wanted the home before me.  My question is why didn't the home owner take their quote then, and by judging by the way I was treated, it appears as if FlipKey and the homeowner may have been "double dipping"  (i.e. taking my deposit and then renting the home out to another traveler).    I sincerely hope the later is not the case because that would be Larceny by Conversion, a felony in Michigan.  As verification on my end, I have attached a screen shot of the email I received that "another traveler has booked Florida home ([redacted]) for these dates so your quote has been canceled" 
Regards,
[redacted]

Dear [redacted],   Thank you for raising your concerns to us via the Revdex.com. Primarily, we would like to apologise for the delay in getting your damage deposit back. We appreciate that this is very frustrating, especially following the initial issues you experienced at the property. Damage deposits...

are typically released 10 days after your departure date. However, we can confirm that our customer support has released the refund early, given the circumstance of your booking. Having reviewed this matter, there unfortunately appears to be technical error with the transaction. Further investigation with our finance team shows, that despite this being released on our front-end system, our [redacted] account does not reflect the refund accordingly. For this, we sincerely apologize and can assure you that our technical teams will be investigating this. In order to get the funds to you without further delay, we will have to process these manually. Our records now show that you have raised a claim with [redacted] for 100 USD. This will allow us to accept liability on the claim, which will then return the funds to you thereafter. Rest assured, our [redacted] team has been made aware of this and will be processing the claim today. Once the claim closed, you will be notified of your refund via [redacted].  We once again apologize for the delay and hope this further alleviates your concerns.   Best wishes, [redacted] Senior Customer Relations Executive

Dear [redacted],We're sorry to hear that the property you booked did not meet your expectations on this occasion. We would like to inform you that as the owner did not deny you access and the property was not misrepresented, the damage deposit payment was blocked due to a...

[redacted] charge-back being raised.  We have checked with our Finance team and the charge-back has been closed as it meets our Terms and Conditions.  We apologise for this delay however, the payment for your Damage Deposit will be set for release. The delay is due to a charge-back claim, this can block the payments up to 90 days however, due to the confirmation from our Finance team. We have requested this payment to be released as soon as possible. The owner has a strict cancellation policy which was agreed to when you booked the property, this means that no refund is due within 28 days of the check in date. Leaving the property does not entitle you to a refund, we have spoken to the owner and they have decided to be paid in full.Thank you once again for taking the time to bring this to our attention. Many thanks,[redacted] - TripAdvisor Customer Care

Dear [redacted],Thank you for taking the time to respond to us regarding your complaint. We must clarify that we did reach out to this owner regarding their rates following this complaint, they have since updated their rates following our contact with them. We must also clarify that the owner is responsible for updating their rates and when a booking request is submitted, the owner has 24 hours to respond to the request. They are able to accept or decline a request, if the rates are not correct at the time of the request, this can help them to modify their rates so that the rental will show an up to date seasonal rate.  Thank you once again for your patience and understanding. Best wishes,[redacted] - FlipKey Customer Care

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted]. Please add your rejection comments below. 
I will be waiting for a reply by email and a decision regarding my additional booking costs to determine if this is resolved or not.
Regards,
[redacted]

Dear [redacted],first and foremost, please accept our apologies on the inconveniences you and delays you have been experiencing on this matter. We have been able to locate your case and see that you have not recently been updated on the progress and further steps we have taken with our finance...

team. We can confirm that we have unfortunately duplicated your payment but have also received confirmation that any payments taken in error will be refunded an returned to your card in 2-3 working days.We will also arrange for a senior agent to take on your case and reach out to you again directly, in order to keep you updated on the process the next few days.We again apologise for the inconvenience caused and will update you again shortly.Best wishes,The FlipKey Team

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted]. Please add your rejection comments below. The company is still asking me to submit sensitive banking information to them to a general email mailbox that will be picked up by anyone in the department. This is not secure way to transfer personal banking information. I've responded to the person named [redacted] by asking for his/her direct email and a phone number going directly to his/her desk.  
Regards,
[redacted]

We apologize for any difficulty contacting our support staff.  Ms. [redacted] sent several emails to us and follow up was provided. However, we will reach out to her again and confirm that her calendar is fully available for any guest to make a reservation.  A screenshot has...

been attached for further clarification.

We sincerely apologize for the delay of funds to Ms. [redacted]’s account. Our engineering team has been thoroughly investigating into the cause of her blocked payment. We have attempted to resend the payment every few days, but unfortunately an error is preventing the payout from...

occurring. At this time, our engineers and our  Finance team are aware of this escalated case and are working with [redacted] to determine the cause for this error. We also reached out to [redacted] on her behalf to confirm the account settings did not have any restrictions or errors to cause this block. Ms. [redacted] has been continuously updated regarding the case and has been provided two options for continuing this payment. Currently the  case is still pending with our Customer Relations team and she can respond to her most recent email with the options she chooses. Again, we sincerely apologize this has occurred and our engineers will investigate to insure an error like this does not happen on future payments.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted].  
I responded to [redacted] right away when he sent me an e-mail. Actually, I responded twice. First on January 3rd at 10:18am, then again at 10:20am. He has not responded to either of those e-mails. This is the problem I always have. I respond to e-mails I receive from FlipKey, but no one replies back. It's one-way communication!
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted]. Please add your rejection comments below. 
[I never intended to have two accounts.  The first one which was active would not let me reply to anyone or contact them.  I never see anything in the inbox but I have inquiries. When you fill out the form for help you never get an answer to your questions it's a round about answer.  There is no "general" answer for most of my questions. I kept getting text messages that someone was still waiting for my reply but it would nt let me reply.]
Regards,
[redacted]