The Duct Cleaning Pros

We apologize for any frustration but our system does not allow for traveler accounts to be completely deleted. However, we have disabled the account, preventing it's further use.

We thank the consumer for his comments and his business.  The service fee is a fee charged to the traveler and is calculated on a sliding scale of 4% to 10% of the total booking. The charge applies to the cost of the rental and will not exceed $499. The service fee helps cover the cost of...

running the HomeAway websites, including features such as 24/7 customer support and marketing efforts to ensure a quality experience on our sites for both travelers and owners. Travelers pay the service fee by credit card through the checkout flow or payment request, no matter how they pay the owner. The service fee is charged to the card once the booking has been accepted.If the reservation is cancelled in full by the owner through the Dashboard, the service fee will be automatically refunded to the traveler. If the reservation is outside of the owner’s cancellation policy and they do not refund the entire amount to the traveler, the service fee will not be refunded.The service fee is visible as a line item to the traveler in the price quote on your listing and in the checkout process. Owners can see when the service fee  was charged, if applicable, in the payments section of the reservation. HomeAway is responsible for the service fee funds and the associated credit card processing fee; owners will not receive the service fee funds in their account. Owners may choose to charge similar fees which often cover the cost of cleaning or maintaining the unit. The service fee does not change the ability of the owner to control their own rental rates. We do recommend, however, that owners provide a name for their fee that differs from service fee to avoid confusion.Additionally, owners do not pay taxes on the service fee. Sales and Use Taxes and Transient Occupancy Taxes are only due on the amount paid to the property owner related to the rental of the accommodations. The service fee is a charge paid by the traveler to HomeAway for HomeAway's services. It is not paid to the owner for the rental of the accommodation and the owner has no obligation to collect or remit taxes on the service fee.

Thank You for bringing this consumers concerns to our attention. When an owner signs up to use our site for renting properties, they in turn agree to the Terms and Conditions of our website. A portion of the Terms and Conditions does state: "We may change, suspend or discontinue any aspect of the Site at any time, including the availability of any Site features, database or content. We may also impose limits on certain features or services or restrict your access to parts or the entire Site without notice or liability.  This version of the Terms became effective on the date set forth above and this version amends the version effective before such date.  We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to amend these Terms, in whole or in part, at any time.  Notification of any amendment will be posted on the Site by the indication of the last amendment date at the top of these Terms and will be effective immediately. When members renew subscriptions, the terms in effect at the time of renewal will govern, provided that such terms may change as described above." Consumers are able to read on the Marketplace Standards here - [redacted]ies We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Our website provides an online marketplace where travelers can find, inquire on and book vacation rentals advertised by property owners and managers.  The site provides tools to assist owners and managers to do that.  We are still providing that service to our consumers.The service fee is being charged to travelers, not owners or property managers, and as such is not a meaningful (substantive) change to the Terms and Conditions that the consumer agreed to.

This complaint is not against HomeAway Inc. We cannot comment on this consumer/traveler’s complaint, because it appears that this complaint is not with our online advertising service, but appears to be the result of a marketplace transaction between this consumer and the owner or manager of an...

individual vacation home rented by that owner or manager to the public. We are in no way a party to the agreement or contract between this consumer traveler and the owner manager, and cannot solve this consumer’s complaint. Our advertising service is an online site for owners to advertise and travelers to find vacation homes to rent, but we are never involved in the transaction between the traveler/consumer and the landlord/property manager. See the Terms and Conditions below that the consumer/traveler and landlord/property manager agreed to about our role here. Therefore, this complaint is incorrectly being associated with HomeAway Inc, and it should be associated with the landlord/property manager. Section 1 of our Terms and Conditions http://[redacted] “The Site is a Venue and We are Not a Party to any Rental Transaction.We urge all users to be responsible about their use of this Site and any transaction entered into as a result of either listing a property or renting a property.  We do not own or manage, nor can we contract for, any vacation rental property listed on a Site. HomeAway.com and other Sites act as a venue to allow homeowners and property managers who advertise on the Site (each, a “member”) to offer for rent in a variety of pricing formats, a specific vacation or short term rental property to potential renters or renters (each, a “traveler” and, collectively with a member, the “users”). "Members" may also include property owners or managers who originally advertised their properties on another website and their listings have been redistributed on the Site. We also may offer online booking or other tools or services to allow users to communicate with each other and enter into rental agreements or other transactions. We are not a party to any rental or other agreement between users.  This is true even if the Site allows you to book a rental or provides other ancillary products or services, as the Site may facilitate booking a rental or other tools, services or products, but we are not a party to any rental or other agreement between users.  As a result, any part of an actual or potential transaction between a traveler and a member, including the quality, condition, safety or legality of the properties advertised, the truth or accuracy of the listings (including the content thereof or any review relating to any property), the ability of members to rent a vacation property or the ability of travelers to contract for properties are solely the responsibility of each user. You acknowledge and agree that you may be required to enter into one or more separate agreements, waivers or terms and conditions prior to making a booking or purchasing a product or service and may place additional restrictions on your booking, product or service.While we do take certain measures with a goal to assist users to avoid potentially fraudulent or other illegal activity of which we become aware, we assume no liability or obligation to take any such measures or actions.  When we provide warnings or messages to users about any such activity, we do not warrant that such messages are accurate or that such messages will reach any or all users they should have reached in a timely manner or at all or that such messages or measures will prevent any harm or otherwise have any impact."According to our records this consumer reached out to us (case#[redacted]) As part of that contact  we did reach out to the advertiser on behalf of this consumer to advise them that this consumer had contacted us and for them to cancel this travelers booking and issue a refund. HomeAway does not issue the refund, this must be done by the advertiser by logging into their account and processing it through our system. If the advertiser is having any issues doing so, they should contact us for assistance.

I filed a complaint against HOMEAWAY/VRBO earlier today. I have finally received my money/refund. This company was horrible to deal with and still would like a complaint on them, but as far as my money issue, that has been resolved. [redacted]

Thank you for bringing this consumers concerns to our attention.We are sorry to see this consumer leave our service. I have instructed our billing team to issue a one time refund to this consumer for any unused advertising time. The Billing refund case number is [redacted]. The billing team will...

contact this consumer directly regarding the details of the refund.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
This issue has been resolved
Regards,
[redacted]

As stated in our initial response, this situation does not fall into our definition of fraud and as such is not covered by our Basic Rental Guarantee.  This is a dispute between the consumer and the advertiser of the property.  We recommend that this consumer continue to try to work with the advertiser to come to some resolution.

We thank this consumer for choosing our site to advertise their listing.  However, the information they were given is correct, we generally do not offer refunds for subscriptions.  Section 31 of our Terms and Conditions, agreed to by the consumer when they purchase a subscription, state:...

"All subscription listings are sold to run the full term that is chosen by the member.  ...If you sell your property and no longer wish for the listing to remain online, we can remove the listing; however, no refund will be owed."

We thank this consumer for contacting us and apologize for the frustration caused.  This consumer entered into a rental agreement with an advertiser who has been on our the website since 2012.  As per the Terms and Conditions of the website, HomeAway is not a part of that rental...

agreement.  Payments made through the website are processed to the advertiser's bank account and do not come to HomeAway.  This consumer's reservation was cancelled by the advertiser.  It is the responsibility of the advertiser to refund the consumer's money.   We urge the consumer to continue working with the advertiser to recover their funds and consider initiating a dispute with their financial institution.  To try and help with a resolution we have also reached out to this advertiser.  We will contact the traveler directly to see if there has been any update.

Thank you for bringing this consumer’s concerns to our attention.Any changes in the performance of this consumer's rental property and search results are most likely due to a new and improved search result system called Best Match. This system is designed so travelers see more relevant listings when they search, and owners get more relevant booking requests that result in a successful booking. Best Match affects every owner differently, and there are many factors they have control over to positively impact their performance. For more information, see our Best Match FAQ here:https://www.homeaway.com/info/search-resultsThis change is universal to every consumer using our services. We hope this information helps to shed light on why we have made these improvements and how they benefit both the consumer and their travelers. If the consumer is wishing to have their subscription refunded, they should contact our Customer Support at 1-877-228-3145 so their request can be reviewed and processed.

Thank you for bringing this consumer’s concerns to our attention.Our Book with Confidence guarantee covers a wide variety of situations, most of which involve situations that the homeowner can control. Severe weather is not a covered event, and Book With Confidence is not trip insurance. As is...

common for the industry, we offer cancellation protection insurance that many travelers choose to add to their booking, particularly when planning a trip to areas that tend to experience severe weather.Book with Confidence Terms & Conditions[redacted]“Any loss of funds that is caused by or results from events of force majeure that are considered outside the control of the Advertiser, such as weather events, natural disasters or construction.”

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: the fee is neither included or the consumer notified. I have a signed contract that is itemizied no where is the fee in contract. I can send copy of contract. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Thank you for bringing this consumer’s concerns to our attention.  As of today, 9/25/2017, we see that the owner has provided a full refund to this consumer.  In reference to the Book with Confidence, the consumer is welcome to provide feedback via our website to discuss changes they feel should be made to the policy. More information on the policy can be found: Book with Confidence Terms & Conditions [redacted] “Any loss of funds that is caused by or results from events of force majeure that are considered outside the control of the Advertiser, such as weather events, natural disasters or construction.”

HomeAway is an online marketplace that helps connect travelers to the perfect vacation rental. HomeAway has a service fee that is charged to travelers to help cover the costs of operating our websites for owners and travelers. Some of the costs to run HomeAway include: facilitating secure...

transactions, developing our products and services, and providing 24/7 customer service for both travelers and owners. The service fee is a percentage of the total amount of the reservation, excluding taxes and refundable fees. The service fee is between 5-12% for most bookings but can be above or below, based on the amount of the reservation. The percentage rate may change from time to time. Generally, the higher the reservation amount, the lower the percentage of service fee.

Thank you for bringing this consumers addtional concerns to our attention. Since each traveler and search is unique, search results vary for each traveler. Within subscription levels, search placement is dynamic. This hasn’t always been the way search has worked on HomeAway, and we believe it’s left too many bookings unserved - either because travelers were overwhelmed by how long it took to find the right property, or owners were receiving too many inquiries that they could not accommodate. That waste of time on both sides of the booking is what HomeAway is dramatically reducing with dynamic search. Best match provides a more efficient experience for both owners, property managers, and travelers.Best match is the combination of traveler preferences and the booking experience a listing provides. Best match will turn more lookers into bookers for our owners, and keep travelers coming back to HomeAway for each future trip, ensuring our entire shared marketplace thrives.  Our philosophy for determining search results: We use the information travelers enter into the search box, such as date and location, and take into account any filters selected, including map views. For basic searches, the results (listings) are ordered into subscription levels: Platinum to Classic. The higher your subscription level, the higher you will appear in search results overall. However, subscription levels may not determine sort order in some specific cases, such as when travelers apply specific filters (price high to low, etc.), or if we are running specific tests. Relevant pay-per-booking listings are sorted and included in search results based on best match. Some appear alongside subscription listings, although they are not guaranteed to always be included in search results HomeAway enables a variety of search options and features designed to help travelers easily find what they are looking for, which in turn also drives qualified inquiries and bookings to our owners and property managers.  1.     Travelers have a variety of options where listings will appear based on the traveler’s choices or preferences, like filtering by price or searching by map. These results will not always appear in order of subscription level.  For example, when a traveler adjusts the search from high to low price or number of bedrooms; these are traveler selections that result in an order relevant to those selections. For owners with listings relevant to the selections of the travelers, these search results should result in more qualified booking requests.  2.     When a traveler searches for a location, properties in that search are determined based on the location searched for and may also include relevant surrounding locations. For example, if a traveler searches for Miami, the results may also include listings from Miami Beach.  3.     To enable continuous improvements, HomeAway runs ongoing tests.  The tests produce various results that may not factor in subscription levels in whole or part. A testing methodology helps us make decisions about future optimizations to search results that drive more bookings and generate more value to customers. Tests typically run for a short period of time and/or on a small percentage of site traffic. Rest assured: Listings in higher subscription levels will ultimately receive better performance and more views in search results when compared to other listings with lower subscription levels.4.     Different promotions and programs run to help attract travelers to book across the different properties advertised on the sites. These promotional search results are determined based on the promotion and differ from traditional search results. The way search results are created is regularly tested to help us drive the maximum number of bookings and inquiries by showing the most relevant listings. We may adjust the best match criteria often and customize the algorithm for each traveler or search. This means search results use a flexible, ever-changing mix of factors.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:1) The company advertise 100% guaranteed and safe booking with 10,000 protection. Proofs are provided. The offer of covering $1000 raised serious concerns regarding inappropriate advertising practices. This is unfair for other customers who may trust Homeaway inc. 2) We followed the instruction from HomeAway and used the link provided to pay for the rent. Proof provided3) We paid on May 21 and received an e-mail from Homeway on May 28 that the property was removed from the listing !Homeway does NOT seem to take responsibility based on this fact and their response. 4) Homeaway FAILED to response a serious concern raised by us (proof provided). We were advised to contact the owner at the time, which we did.In fact, this is managed by Homeaway, whom should TAKE RESPONSIBILITY and contact the  presumed owner and INITIATE an investigation when possible frauds. Consequently full reimbursement should take place for customers who paid in full. EXPECTED RESOLUTION: i) Full reimbursement of  4000 euros. ii) Coverage of the rental expense as the result of this fraud. iii) Change the inappropriate advertisement and business practice. We are providing all supporting documentation in good faith despite Homeaway may take the advantage from us to consult their lawyers in case this dispute ends in a formal legal complaint. Thanks,Dr. [redacted] 
Regards,
[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: They should credit me back the $128 regardless of what they have done.
Regards,
[redacted]

Thank you for bringing this consumer's concerns to our attention.HomeAway introduced a service fee in February 2016. The service fee is currently launched on listings that were purchased through VRBO, HomeAway and VacationRentals.com. When booking and paying for a property on a HomeAway website, the...

Service Fee is clearly included in the breakdown of the total cost of the rental.To read more about what the service fee is and why we introduced it, see this article:  https://help.homeaway.com/articles/What-is-the-service-fee-and-how-does-it-wor...⇄ fee covers the cost of providing 24/7 customer support, enhanced site and mobile features for both owner and travelers, plus expanded marketing efforts to generate more exposure to global audiences. Additionally, when a traveler books and pays through HomeAway, they are eligible for the Book with Confidence Guarantee.https://help.homeaway.com/articles/What-is-the-Book-with-Confidence-Gu...⇄ do hope this information helps explain the recent addition of the traveler service fee on HomeAway.