The Duct Cleaning Pros

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because Homeaway shut down my listing based on new terms that were added to the Terms and Conditions AFTER I wrote my description and AFTER I renewed my contract. I was never notified of the change to the Terms and Conditions and give the time to fix my listing until it was shut down. I did change the listing, but it was well over a month before my new listing was active. Homeaway needs to extend my contract to account for the time that my site was unfairly shut down.Homeway has a clause in the Terms and Conditions which puts the obligation on owners to continue to check to see if there were changes to the Terms and Conditions after signing. Can you imagine signing any contract where the terms you agreed to could be changed at any time without notice? Because this is obviously unreasonable, the courts have held that this is not an enforceable contract clause.
Regards,
[redacted]

Thank you for bringing this consumers concerns to our attention.   It appears that this consumer has had an issue with our ‘Instant Book’ feature. Instant Book allows a traveler to say they are ready to book the property in the quickest way possible by inputting their credit card information....

The way the system works is it will ping the credit card to make sure it has enough funds for said Instant Booking, this will cause them to show as pending charges on the traveler's credit card statement. The vacation rental owner has 24 hours to either confirm or deny this booking request. If the vacation rental owner cancels or does not accept the booking, the consumers funds will be returned with 3-5 business days.   During the checkout flow, the HomeAway platform clearly states that "We will not charge your card until the owner accepts your booking request." A lot of times the traveler will see the pending charges on their statement and assume that money is taken by HomeAway when in fact it is not until booking is accepted.   We truly apologize for any inconvenience or misunderstanding this may have caused.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
Dear [redacted],A gentle follow up to my recent complaint against Homeaway - my e-mail below is still unanswered. From this point forward I also need you to omit any reference to the property and property owner in all further correspondence as this complaint is between [redacted] and HomeAway I look forward to your urgent action pleaseKind regards[redacted] 
Regards,
[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:I will not be FORCED to change my existing policy just to correct a typo that compromises my renters financial information.  I don't appreciate a response that was just "Copied and Pasted" from their website.  If you allow me to keep what I currently have then you should allow me to upload a new corrected rental agreement WITHOUT changing my return policy.  Your "options" are not even close to my current policy and I will NOT use them.  I've been a good customer for almost 10 years.  How about you treat me like one!  
Regards,
[redacted]

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://www.homeaway.com/info/about-us/legal/terms-conditions: “The Site is a Venue and We are Not a Party to any Rental Agreement or other Transaction Between Users of the Site.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 also filed a formal property complaint against this advertiser (case# [redacted]) As part of that formal complaint process we did reach out to the advertiser on behalf of this consumer in order to try to get the two parties to settle their dispute. We however do NOT mediate; we simply try our best to put the two parties together to work the situation out if possible. We also closely monitor accounts that have had formal property complaints filed. Our policy is to carefully document both sides of a dispute, and keep track of all complaints submitted. When a pattern clearly develops where an advertiser is causing problems for our travelers, we do not hesitate to remove that member from our site. . I assure you we have taken the appropriate action in regards to this complaint.

Dear [redacted] We are sorry to hear about your negative experience with our Customer Service Department. The advertisers of properties listed with HomeAway have an option to set up online payments through Vacation Rent Payment (VRP), a third party credit card processing company. HomeAway does not...

receive any credit card funds processed for bookings made through the website. If an advertiser elects to accept online payments, these payments are processed through VRP as a merchant of record. The funds go directly into the owner’s bank account, which they have set up with VRP beforehand. If a traveler has any issue with their payment as it relates to a complaint or dispute, they should work with the advertiser of the property, as it is the advertiser, not HomeAway, who has their money. Travelers only see HomeAway or VRBO on their billing statement so they will recognize the source of the charge, as they may not recognize a charge from VRP as a booking fee from their vacation rental. We would recommend following up with the advertiser to see if the funds can be refunded through a personal check or any other suitable methods of payment.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: the business has reached out to me to attempt to resolve this complaint.  I can't accept their response until it becomes apparent that, in fact, this is a bona fide attempt at resolution.  I would like the business to be aware that although they state that they have programs designed to inform anyone who uses their site, this information is not readily available.  There are blogs which show a long history of hacking with this website with no action on the part of the business to notify users.  I have used this website on several occasions and had no idea that this is a relatively common occurrence.  I think that it is reasonable to provide some measure of transparency given that the website is not protected from phishing.  I look forward to resolving this issue and appreciate the assistance in this regard of Revdex.com.
Regards,
[redacted]

We are sorry to hear about this consumer's experience at what must have been a very difficult time.  Making credit card payments through the site is merely a tool we provide to owners and travelers to make the booking process easier.  A company named [redacted] processes that payment...

directly to the advertiser's nominated bank account.  At no point does the money come to HomeAway and so we cannot issue a refund.  We recommend the consumer continues trying to work with the advertiser or their credit card provider to recover the funds.

This complaint is not against HomeAway Inc.The consumer suggests that the advertiser may be fraudulent.  This is not the case - the owner or manager of the rental home has been advertising on our website since 2013 and has received 15 good reviews in that time.  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 the Site. Instead, the Site acts as a venue to allow homeowners and property managers who advertise on our Site (each, a “member”) to offer for rent in a variety of pricing formats, a specific vacation rental property to potential renters (each, a “traveler” and, collectively with a member, the “users”). We are not involved in any transaction between travelers and members even though we may from time to time provide tools that relate to a booking, such as a tool to enable a traveler to enter into a transaction to lease a specific property directly from a member. As a result, any part of an actual or potential transaction between a traveler and a member, including the quality, safety or legality of the properties advertised, the truth or accuracy of the listings (including the content thereof or any property or guest book review), the ability of members to rent a vacation property or the ability of travelers to pay for vacation rental properties are solely the responsibility of each user.We are also not responsible for the condition of the vacation rental properties listed on our Site or the compliance with laws, rules or regulations that may be applicable to any vacation rental property in any jurisdiction.Finally, 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. In the event we do provide warnings or messages to users about any such activity, we do not warrant that such messages or 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, result or action."According to our records this consumer also filed a formal property complaint against this advertiser (case#[redacted]) As part of that formal complaint process we did reach out to the advertiser on behalf of this consumer in order to try to get the two parties to settle their dispute. We however do NOT mediate; we simply try our best to put the two parties together to work the situation out if possible. We also closely monitor accounts that have had formal property complaints filed. Our policy is to carefully document both sides of a dispute, and keep track of all complaints submitted. When a pattern clearly develops where an advertiser is causing problems for our travelers, we do not hesitate to remove that member from our site. . I assure you we have taken the appropriate action in regards to this complaint.

Travelers have repeatedly told us that they expect a more convenient booking experience, and that trust is a critical factor in their decision to book a vacation rental.  Our user research also shows that travelers who are new to vacation rentals expect a secure messaging, booking, and...

payment experience. As you know from our post a few months ago, we took an important step in our transition to a booking platform.  Online booking is now required when you register or renew on HomeAway.Protecting your and the travelers’ contact information prior to a confirmed booking helps build trust. It also helps us better protect you and travelers against fraudsters — who, unfortunately, are always hard at work.Effective in July 2017, pre-booking conversations will be facilitated through our secure messaging system.  You and the traveler will be able to see each other's contact details after a booking is confirmed.Our platform messaging system helps you communicate securely with travelers. Both incoming inquiries from travelers and your inquiry responses go through a secure, private system that helps protect you and your travelers from phishing and identity theft. As a result, email communications come from an anonymous HomeAway.com, VRBO.com or VacationRentals.com email address. You can email back and forth with your travelers through your dashboard.  Once the reservation is confirmed, we will display the traveler phone number and email address.You can still screen your guests, email them, send attachments all through your dashboard and through our secure communications. Once booking is paid for, then the traveler email address and phone are visible. This does not take away your ability to communicate with your travelers at all. Please, note that we offer alternate payments through our yearly subscription payment model. Also, we have heard your feedback, and we are working on enhancing traveler profiles to make sure you have more information about prospective travelers.  For example, you may notice the number of trips a traveler has taken with HomeAway is displayed more prominently and in more places.  Through your Monthly Statement and Dashboard, as well as our Discovery Hub, we will continue to let you know about the additional improvements we make as they become available.   If you have any questions about a chargeback, you will need to contact your payments vendor or financial institution. If you use HomeAway Payments, contact VacationRentPayment at 1-866-210-6106. They are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Email support is available at [email protected]. HomeAway Customer Support will not be able to assist in this matter.

Thank you for bringing this consumer’s concerns to our attention.By using our site to inquire on properties, you are agreeing to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy. You can review our Privacy Policy here: [redacted]Our customer service...

collected the traveler's email to create a case for support, not to create an account. Since this traveler already used our site to inquire on properties, they already had a record with us and the user agreed to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy at that time.

We appreciate the feedback.  As part of our efforts to offer great customer support, we provide ongoing training and coaching for our customer support representatives.  We will pass this information to the appropriate department.With regard to funds being placed on hold, that is a necessary function of a reservation request.  A traveler makes the request knowing that they want to rent the property and that it is shown available on the advertisement's calendar.  If the advertiser accepts the request then the initial payment is made immediately to secure the reservation.  The accuracy of the calendar and whether or not a particular property is available is the responsibility of the advertiser.  Travelers have the option of sending inquiries instead of reservation requests and these do not require any money to be placed on hold.

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://www.homeaway.com/info/about-us/legal/terms-conditions:   “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 also filed a formal property complaint against this advertiser (case# [redacted]). As part of that formal complaint process we did reach out to the advertiser on behalf of this consumer in order to try to get the two parties to settle their dispute. We however do NOT mediate; we simply try our best to put the two parties together to work the situation out if possible. We also closely monitor accounts that have had formal property complaints filed. Our policy is to carefully document both sides of a dispute, and keep track of all complaints submitted. When a pattern clearly develops where an advertiser is causing problems for our travelers, we do not hesitate to remove that member from our site. I assure you we have taken the appropriate action in regards to this complaint.

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.
I appreciate you getting back to me. I hope in the future, the customer service department...

is able to help out others who are having difficulty connecting with the property [redacted]. I still have not come to a resolution because they will not return my messages. I have spent hours and hours of my time on the phone with customer service (20 minutes holding, and 25 minutes on the phone being transferred repeatedly), trying to find an email to email to, but it gets rejected. I hope in the future, you look at those processes because currently they are broken, and unfortunately the consumer suffers.
Regards,
[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: I was told by their staff that the banners are on some listings, not all, are beta testers to see the responses by potential renters.  Some properties may have these random banners  while others don't.  A banner indicating - "You must book through Home Away in order for your payment to be protected"may indicate to some potential guests as a property having a problem with payments.  I don't think this company should have banners placed randomly on their listings.  Their fee is strictly for their benefit and certainly not for the potential renters nor the owners of vacation rentals who pay their salaries.  There is more and more control over our paid listings and I feel they are overstepping the original intent of their business.  I would like a one year free advertising with their company. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Thank you for bringing this consumers concerns to our attention. We do show that we have tried to assist this consumer in case#[redacted]. This consumer had a same day check in for their rental property. Our online payment system allows 24 hours for a supplier to accept or decline a reservation. This...

time period is used to allow the supplier time to adequately review his calendar and decide if this particular guest is acceptable for their property. Same day check in can also be a security concern. If the check in is less than 24 hours the only option at present is for the supplier to send a payment request to the guest. This was explained to this consumer in the above mentioned case. The consumer was also told that a request would be submitted to our Knowledge Management team to update external facing help articles in this unusual scenario. Most suppliers do not rent last minute, however thanks to this consumer we will be updating our external articles to explain how a supplier will need to use our system to accomplish this. As a good will gesture we also extended this consumers listing for 1.5 months for the inconvenience. Again we do apologize as this is rare, and our help articles will be updated shortly.

Thank you for bringing this consumers concerns to our attention. This consumer did book a property through our site and therefore is applicable for the traveler service fee. Here is some information regarding the traveler service fee: Overview The service fee is paid by the traveler when booking...

through the HomeAway websites. This 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. Paying the fee Travelers pay the service fee by credit card when paying through the secure HomeAway checkout process. The service fee is only charged to the card once the booking has been accepted by the property owner or manager. The service fee is, on average, approximately 6% of the rental amount, excluding refundable deposit or taxes. This fee is lower than other travel websites that charge a similar fee. Other Property Fees The service fee does not affect the ability of the owner to control their own rental rates and fees (e.g. pets, cleaning, or maintenance). We do recommend providing a distinct name for fees that differ from service fee to avoid confusion. The service fee is an additional amount added by HomeAway to the rental amount. Refunding the fee The owner does not have the ability to discount or waive the service fee amount. The only time the service fee can be refunded is when an owner uses the Cancellation Refund feature from their dashboard and the cancellation is requested within the terms of the owner/manager's cancellation policy. However, if the reservation is not canceled and all payments fully refunded to the traveler, the service fee will not be refunded. Tax Implications Owners are not required to remit any taxes associated with 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. VAT is charged on the service fee, where required by local regulations. [redacted] Trust & Security Lead | HomeAway, Inc. [redacted]
*

Thank you for bringing these additional consumers concerns to our attention. With every online booking our traveler service fee is added systematically and calculated on each online booking. The service fee is always stated with each quote or reservation request. It is not something that can be omitted or overridden. It is possible that the consumer did not expand the details, which would show the complete booking cost breakdown, which includes the travelers service fee.

Hi [redacted]   Here is our formal reply to Complaint # [redacted]   -------------------------------------------------------------------------   Thank you for bringing this consumers concerns to our attention. This consumer also has an internal case with us (case#[redacted]).  ...

According to our records the issue with this consumers refund was a technical issue between our platform and our third party credit card processing firm Yapstone (VacationRentPayment). According to our records this technical issue was resolved on 6/24/2016 and refund was sent.   We certainly do apologize for the delay, thank you for your patience and understanding.   ---------------------------------------------------------------------  Patty Case | Trust & Security Lead [redacted]

From: [redacted] Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2017 7:29 PMTo: [redacted]Subject: RE: Revdex.com Complaint #[redacted]Here is our formal response to Revdex.com Complaint #[redacted]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://www.homeaway.com/info/about-us/legal/terms-conditions:“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 also filed a formal property complaint against this advertiser (case#[redacted]). As part of that formal complaint process we did reach out to the advertiser on behalf of this consumer in order to try to get the two parties to settle their dispute. We however do NOT mediate; we simply try our best to put the two parties together to work the situation out if possible. We also closely monitor accounts that have had formal property complaints filed. Our policy is to carefully document both sides of a dispute, and keep track of all complaints submitted. When a pattern clearly develops where an advertiser is causing problems for our travelers, we do not hesitate to remove that member from our site. I assure you we have taken the appropriate action in regards to this complaint.We also see according to our records that our Traveler Care Team actually assisted this consumer and made an alternate reservation stay at HomeAway’s expense at the Town and Country Resort & Convention Center (Claim #[redacted])Since this advertiser is no longer listed on our site our best advice for this consumer would be to file a credit card chargeback, since the advertiser did not complete the booking with this consumer.[redacted] 
[redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] This electronic communication (including any attachment)  is confidential.  If this communication is addressed to any HomeAway personnel or legal counsel, it is also attorney-client privileged.  If you are not an intended recipient of this communication, please be advised that any disclosure, dissemination, distribution, copying, or other use of this communication or any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and promptly destroy all electronic and printed copies of this communication and any attachment.