FlipKey, Inc.

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 # ***Please add your rejection comments below.
Thank you for taking the time to review this issue we are having with *** & Coconut Condos. *** has now sent us an email claiming that "As per the cancelation policy set by the owner you were not entitled to a refund of the booking deposit."( 2nd attachment) This is untrue, we sent an email to cancel the reservation (months in advance) and got this response from the owner of the condo saying that we would receive a full refund less $+ tax (see 1st attachment). We have spoken with an agent from *** extensively this morning and they are claiming the issue is with Coconut Condos Coconut Condos has now tried to delete all correspondence with us from the *** website BUT as I stated before, I have screen caped their emailed stating that they canceled the reservation on October 18th. Please advise us how to proceed
Regards,
*** ***

We do apologize for any confusion caused during this booking processWe can confirm that the refund of the booking fees (USD 109.43) has been processed and should be visible back on Ms***’s as of now.*** does not manage the properties on our site and therefore is not responsible for
cancelling or refunding the reservationsMs*** submitted a booking request to the owner for them to review and either accept or decline the requestIn this case, the owner had accepted this booking request in hopes Ms*** would consider staying at their alternate propertyWe do not encourage this behavior from our owner’s, as a guest is typically only interested in the property that is advertised on the listingThe owner should have rejected this request if they could not accommodate Ms*** at the original propertySince this did not occur, Ms*** chose to cancel the reservationDue to the cancellation being initiated by Ms***, the system only processed a refund based on the policy in the rental agreementThis policy did not provide a full return of the money to her credit card. As this case was being worked, our support agent saw that the reservation was cancelled by Ms*** and provided her the correct process regarding a booking fee refundStandard process indicates that if a guest chooses to cancel a booking, no booking fee is returned.However, we do acknowledge that this was cancelled due to the owner incorrectly accepting the bookingOnce we investigated the reason for the cancellation and the status of the refund, we confirmed the owner diligently returned the payment to the guest directlyAfter this refund was processed, our Finance team was able to return the remaining booking fees to Ms***’s cardWe do apologize that there may have been miscommunication regarding this booking, but are pleased to see that this has been fully refunded for the guest

Dear ***, Thanks for your message and for taking the time to leave a review with TripAdvisor's Revdex.comWe are sorry to hear that your payment was not processedThe booking is still currently active in our system.We strongly recommend getting in touch with your holiday maker to ensure that your booking goes aheadWe would recommend also getting in touch with *** to locate this Please get in touch with our customer service team on the following number and we will be more than happy to help you find a resolution to thisWe look forward to hearing from you soon. Best Regards ***-TripAdvisor Customer Care 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 # ***.
The Flipkey response states that I "called a couple of times in December stating that you wished to renew your account, not that you wished to cancel your subscription." If that is true, why did I receive an email from Flipkey customer service on December stating "thanks for your call about canceling your advert" (see attachment Flipkey1) As requested, I replied to this email with the request to "cancel my account effective immediately" (see attachment Flipkey1.5). In addition, if the Flipkey response is true, why did I receive another email from Flipkey customer service on December stating that Flipkey is "sorry to know that you are canceling your listing" (see attachment Flipkey2). Finally, why did I receive a 3rd email from Flipkey customer service on December stating that my request to remove "the auto renewal from the account as you do not wish to renewhas already been referred to the relevant team" and "should be done soon" (see attachment Flipkey3). The Flipkey response is utterly untrue and continues their pattern of unethical, if not criminal, activity.
Regards,
*** ***

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 # ***Please add your rejection comments below. It has been over days since the funds were sent to the bank to the closed accountI have spoken with the bank and they have confirmed that in no way can they release any funds to me without an associated accountYou asked that I look at the account to see if I got the refund, but there is literally no way for me to be able to access this accountI also do not think it is right that I should have to wait another days and e-mail you myself to follow upMy emails and previous customer service requests have gone unanswered and I will not simply send an e-mail and hope that you may respondI would appreciate it if you all would take the necessary steps and reach out to me once the payment fails (because it will…) and let me know exactly how you will be sending me back the deposit that I am rightfully owed from my trip back in May.Regards,
*** ***

Dear ***,We appreciate the frustration in receiving proof of payment from our Customer Support teamWe are pleased to confirm that the proof of payment has now been sent to you via email sent on April 4th This confirms that FlipKey did complete the payment in August last year and
you have the proof to dispute this with your bank We have included the document within this response for your own record to better assist you With regards to the form we would like to confirm that the Customer Support Team who handle the form queries have been notified and is currently in the specialism queue with case number ***Once they have investigated the details of your case they will contact you from within that case as it is a separate issue We would like to thank you for your patience and understanding and please feel free to contact us via the contact form for any further assistance. https://helpcenter.flipkey.com/contact_formBest wishes,*** - FlipKey Customer Care

Dear ***, Thank you for raising your concerns about your reservation to us through the Revdex.com. We are truly sorry to hear of your dissatisfactionOne of our support representatives has sent you an email to address your concernsWe thank you for sharing your thoughts. Regards,
*** Rentals Support

Dear ***, Thank you for your responseWe appreciate your feedback and are sorry to learn that you feel that the breakdown of costs (which itemizes the FlipKey booking fee) on your check out page and the information in the cancellation policy is not sufficientPlease be assured that we want all costs and charges to remain transparent and encourage all our users to review the cancellation policy and any booking related costs thoroughly, before proceeding with the booking, subsequently entering into the booking contractWe are once again sorry to hear that your booking had to be cancelled but have to advise you that the booking fee remains non-refundable as stipulated in our cancellation policy Best wishes, *** *** Senior Customer Relations Executive

We sincerely appreciate the patience of Ms*** during this investigationOur Finance team has confirmed a manual payment has been transferred to the bank account details that she providedThe funds should be visible in her account later today or early next weekThis
technical error was a high priority case and we do apologize that the payment was not received as swiftly as expectedThis is not an experience we want our guests to face and sincerely apologize an error occurred on this booking

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 # ***Please add your rejection comments below.
Dear Revdex.com management team,I have complained to Flipkey within months and complaints to Revdex.com in month. Results Flipkey did not answer to Revdex.com, they abetment with the rent owner to continue to deceive, Flipkey permit the rent owner posted the misleading information, if they posted on the web that the way into the house about miles long winding stone path (gravel), many steep and need the 4xcar, I will not rent it and I was carefully asked the rent owner if my van full loaded with passengers and foods is going okay to reach his house? He confirmed that there is no problem, so it's not my fault, why make me pay for days rent is $ 2,010.00? Although they emailed that the owner will refund the cleaning fee $but until now I did not receive yetThis is absurd and unfair.Please, help me to resolve my complaints.
Regards,
*** ***

Hello ***, Thank you for taking the time to review our message, we are sorry to hear that you have rejected our initial responseWe would like to know in further details as to how we can assist you specifically regarding the misrepresentation of the propertyI have got in touch with the owner personally through email correspondence on your behalf and asked that they update this information in their listing so future travelers are awareIf there is anything further we can do to help then please do not hesitate to get in touch with us on the following number and we would be more than happy to help. Best Regards ***-*** Customer Care

Hello ***,Thank you for raising your concerns to usWe are sorry to learn that following speaking to our Customer Support the issue has not been resolvedWe do strive on providing our travelers with a smooth booking experience and appreciate the importance of understanding what fees you are
payingAt the time you book we disclose a total price, the total price remains the same throughout the booking and we do not add or hide any fees associated with the reservationAny additional fees added by the advertiser will be there on the detailed quote before you payWe do take a portion of the rental cost as a booking fee as stipulated in the agreed terms of use as well as stated in the cancellation policyThe cancellation policy is important and we do expect our customers to read this so they are aware what refund is due if any in the event that you decide to cancel.We do understand that it is your desire to receive a refund of the booking fee, however the booking fee was disclosed at the time you paid and this amount is non-refundableWe have reached back out to you directly, please do not hesitate to respond to our latest communication if you need to discuss the matter further with us

We appreciate Ms*** bringing this matter to our attention and we do apologize for the inconvenience this has caused Property owners do go through an activation process on our site and we have a Trust and Safety team dedicated to validating our accounts.
It appears this reservation was cancelled and a refund was processed based on the cancellation policy for the bookingTherefore, Ms*** did not receive a full refund for her stayWe will be investigating into the behavior of this owner and reaching out to him on behalf of Ms***A senior representative will be in touch shortly to continue the investigating of this case The cancellation procedures have now changed for owners and travelers on our siteA traveler has the ability to cancel their reservation from the Manage Your Booking platformAn owner only has the ability to cancel the reservation if they cannot accommodate a guest, and this would trigger a full refund for the bookingUnfortunately this process was not in place when this cancellation occurred in MarchWe will be following up with Ms*** directly to provide further assistance and clarification

Hello ***, Thank you for reaching out to us on Revdex.com. We can see you have had recent communication with our Support Team yesterday and we are working to resolve this with yourself and the owner, once more we are sorry for the confusion surrounding the currency you were paying for
your reservation, we are a global site and we do offer our users to view the amounts in their local currencyThis is to help you understand roughly what the costs are to you but this is only an estimateWe have been triaging this issue to ensure the correct currency is being disclosed to our customersWhen a quote is received to your email inbox from us you click either ‘View Quote’ or ‘Pay now via FlipKey’, the first page you land on when selecting either options is the manage my booking page, here I agree that it does not stipulate the currency that is being paid, I can see where you are directing us to just a dollar sign being presentedHowever, from here you must click ‘pay deposit/balance now’ to confirm your booking and this takes you to the checkout page where you enter your payment detailsIt is here that we clearly show the currency payable for the stay and have a box that reads ‘Why are the values in USD? With a clear message: 'The owner has set up the rate and subsequent quote for this listing in US DollarFor your convenience, we have converted the amount of your payment to Canadian DollarThis amount is an estimate only and is subject to currency exchange fluctuations.'Underneath Review and book, we explain clearly- You will be charged $XXX (in USD) followed by the Submit Payment ButtonWe feel this is a clear demonstration of the currency you are being chargedI have attached a video screenshot of the booking process via a quote for our test listing on FlipKey, I hope from this we can demonstrate that we are as clear as we possibly can be with stipulating the currency that is chargeable for the booking***, we do recognize that some of the responses received from our agents confirm this to be an issue and we are sorry for this incorrect information, we are reviewing your contact with our agents and will be addressing feedback and training to ensure our customers always receive the correct information, we apologize for any miscommunication on our part, I also extend our apologies for the amount of time this has taken to resolve this and are dedicated to helping you bring this to closureWe are in talks with the owner and will be in touch directly as soon as we have an update for you.We thank you for your continued patience and appreciate your cooperativeness throughout this processBest wishes, ***- The *** Team

Dear ***,Thank you for your response and we are truly sorry to hear of your dissatisfaction.One of our support representatives has sent you an email to address your concerns.We thank you for raising your concerns to us through the Revdex.com.Regards,*** Rentals Support

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 # ***Please add your rejection comments below.
My issue with FlipKey is not the fact that I made a money transfer. My issue with FlipKey is that your site had a breakdown in security which allowed a hacker access to my initial inquiry on YOUR site, which then resulted in the money transfer. The money transfer to a fraudulent entity would never have happened if my initial information had not been phished/hacked away from your site. The entire premise of your business is so that consumers can go online to your site, in what is touted as a secure environment, and easily and securely inquire about vacation rentals and then solidify those rentals. So, as trusting consumers, that is what we do. We go to your verified site, enter our information (name, email, and vacation rental parameters we are looking for) and submit an inquiry. Then, we receive "your" reply. But in some cases, obviously mine included, even though we have done everything right, our initial inquiry was intercepted and the reply we receive in the guise of you is actually now a hacker. How in the world is it NOT your responsibility to have security measures in place on your site to keep this from happening?? How can your business premise even continue to function if consumers cannot trust the very platform that the business model is set upon??I have re-attached a print-out that I sent to you previously which further highlights the lack of sufficient security on your site. Upon clicking a link for further information from within an email that YOU sent to me, I receive the message that:This. Is. A. Problem. Victims of your insecure site(s) deserve more than a canned response and you taking absolutely zero responsibility. And maybe, if you actually started cooperating with authorities when they do try and investigate these matters instead of remaining uncooperative so as to protect your business from negativity, everyone could work together to actually put measures in place to stop this type of activity once and for all. But at a minimum, let's start with proper security measures on your sites and owning some of the responsibility. Maybe, just maybe, then you'd have a better Revdex.com rating than the F that you currently hold. I reject your yet again canned reply to me, and I continue to request a refund from FlipKey due to their lack of security.There is a reason that FlipKey has an F rating with the Revdex.com,
Regards,
*** ***

Dear ***,We appreciate you bringing this case to our attention we have reviewed the claim again in hopes to provide further clarificationThe original contact regarding your reservation was made by the property owner, who indicated that you had brought a different number
of guests than originally stated in your rental agreementWe reached out to you once this was brought to our attention, and you responded to us with your concerns claiming misrepresentation As soon as FlipKey receives any claim for reimbursement, our dedicated team investigates the concerns of a traveler and determines the validity of the claim based on the Peace of Mind GuaranteeFlipKey is not responsible for managing the listing descriptions or rental arrangement that a property owner provides to a guestIt is the responsibility of a property owner to accurately depict their property on their advertisementHowever, we can investigate potential misrepresentation and during the investigation our team found that the advertisement description accurately indicated that a kitchen was not available in this propertyWe do apologize if this was not clarified to you during the booking processAlso, since you did continue your stay at the property, this invalidates a full refund claim per our Peace of Mind Guarantee Terms and Conditions. FlipKey contacted the homeowner immediately regarding your concerns in an effort to provide you assistance during your stayThe owner remained responsive throughout this investigation and confirmed that he would be discussing the issues with you directly to assist in resolving this claim We hope this provides clarification, however you are welcome to respond to the email that was sent on August 15th that confirmed your case was resolved

Dear ***, We are once again sorry to hear about your dissatisfaction and that you do not feel we have fully addressed your complaintI am a senior member of the customer relations team, within which we address high priority and escalated casesAs an advertising platform, we rely on home owners to list their properties truthfully and accuratelyIn this case, the property was not advertised with parking and we can therefore not expect this to be available on the day of arrivalTo avoid disappointment or issues upon arrival, we encourage travelers to apply relevant filters during the search and study property listings carefully, to ensure that these meet any requirements or restrictions you may haveAlternatively, you can also use our messaging tool to ask the owner questions about your arrival or the property facilities. We once again apologize should the property and it's surrounding facilities not meet your expectations but we are unfortunately unable to cover this matter under our payment protection, as parking was not offered on the property listing or by the owner. Best wishes,*** ***Senior Customer Relations Executive

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 #***I understand that by choosing to accept the business response that my complaint will be closed as resolved.
Regards,
*** ***

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 # ***Please add your rejection comments below.
Their email was sent on April 5, after I filed my Revdex.com complaint But I very much appreciate itIt does address my concerns regarding the missing payment The other part of my concern, the incorrect tax forms, has not yet been addressedOpening yet another FlipKey case number regarding the tax forms does not help the situation There is an existing FlipKey case number But either way, I don't care how they handle this internally, as long as I get the appropriate tax forms right away I need to file my taxes Please ask them to email me the correct forms, or post them on my FlipKey account If they mail them, I will surely miss the April IRS filing deadline
Regards,
*** ***