VRBO

I have been trying for two months to get a refund, on an owner cancelation, and VRBO aka Homeaway, keeps telling me they will email with 24 to 48 hours, last email was on june 10 th 2020 and I have called them weekly to get an update.

Public service announcement: Do NOT use Vrbo.com (owned by expedia) for your travel. They have no customer service and once you pay for a property, the money just disappears. It's a nightmare for both travelers and owners.

The owner (Andrew V.) of the property falsely advertised the Condo Unit through VRBO. The Condo was to be a 2 bedroom fully furnished with 2 Bath located 2mins from the beach, instead we got a bedroom that had mold on the wall, mold on the floor AC unit, holes in the wall where they had been running electrical wiring, the master bedroom literally had a king size "soiled" mattress on a rolling box spring base, sheets weren't clean, bug was noted to be on sheets when comforter removed, mattress had no mattress pad and a 5 gallon bucket with a piece of wood and stained sheet as a night sand. Sofa had holes and was torn, broken chairs at the breakfast table, floor bathroom mats soiled in urine, bathroom curtains falling down because of no curtain hooks, toilet seat broken, we had no privacy in the living room or breakfast area because the floor length window shades where missing blinds we had to use sheets to cover the windows for privacy. The refrigerator wasn't clean, floors were dirty, washer and dryer were full of sand and there were many more maintenance and sanitation issues. I had been corresponding with Andrew, the owner, prior to arrival. When we arrived we had to call him because he had given us the incorrect code to gain access into the unit. Once in the unit we were absolutely disgusted with the condition and the false advertising. We attempted to call Andrew over the next hour because he wasn't answering his phone. When he finally answered we informed him of our disappointment in the unit. He casually said the only requirements for renting out a unit in Texas is that the renters have AC, electricity, running water and no electrical wiring that wasn't covered that could cause harm. We had to clean the unit the entire 1st night we were there and go buy comforters and mattress pads for the beds we would be using. We reached out to the owner again regarding reimbursement of the unit the next day in which he became very agitated and yelled that in no way he would refund us our money. This rental with fees and deposit was over $1500.00. We reached out to VRBO on the 3rd day to inform them they had an owner falsely advertising through their site. We were on the phone with VRBO from 11-5!! The representatives would take our call back number and when we were disconnected would never call back. Our stay was suppose to be M-F. After the inconveniences from the owner we left on Wednesday. VRBO "attempted" to find us another location to stay for Wed and Thurs but was unable to locate because they did not accept pets. They told us to find somewhere to stay and they would "possibly" reimburse us our money. By this time we were at our wits end with the owner and VRBO and made the grueling drive home (we lived over 6hrs for the location). VRBO NEVER reached out to us after we left the unit. I called them everyday to check the status of our complaint and refund. I spoke with over 18 different representatives, which I consider is absolutely outrageous. The last representative I spoke with basically told me I have to wait for a response via email from the Specialist group my case had been diverted too, because that group had no Customer Service Support. They claimed they removed all of Andrew listings, HOWEVER I have not received my full refund from the owner nor VRBO. VRBO advertised the unit and therefore should be held just as accountable as the owner. I would STRONGLY advise against renting ANY properties through them. Our mini-vacation was completely ruined by Andrew V and VRBO.

VRBO has the worst customer service team in existence. A property owner pulled the property off of VRBO. As a renter I was trying to gain understanding of how that works if my reservation is still active. I got no answers from VRBO or Evolve Rental Management, as Evolve stated that the property was still active but they could not explain to me why it said differently on VRBO. I had to find a way to make sure that I was not charged more for a property that disappeared from VRBO so I cancelled on Evolve. When I called VRBO to try to gain understanding, the rep with a British Accent spoke over me the entire time as I tried to explain the confusion. He then slammed the phone in my face and hung up on me. Never again would I use VRBO. And I am disputing to no end.

I booked a vacation for June of this year and had to cancel due to Covid 19. The homeowner refused to give me my money back. Her name is Judy G. VRBO promised my service fees would be returned and they NEVER were. I have called 4 times and been told 4 times it would be refunded. The homeowner lied and said I could cancel any time and then refused to give me my money back. It was in Miramar Beach. VRBO was ZERO help. I will never use them again.

I wish I would have come to Revdex.com first before I used VRBO again.....Look at all of these horrible reviews! By the way, this is not my first VRBP problem.
VRBO has been paid for our June 2020 stay in St. George Utah with my credit card company confirming on multiple occasions that the charge has indeed been paid. However, VRBO keeps telling the homeowner that I have not paid/that the charge was reversed and therefore they have not paid the homeowner of the place we stayed. I have invested hours in this and have tried to contact VRBO on multiple occasions. The first time I called I was on hold for over an hour (July 2), I was told there was no Supervisors for me to talk to and that someone in billing "should" call me back. I told them, I was not comfortable with "should" because no one was helping me or the homeowner. They PROMISED they would contact me. Never heard back from VRBO. So on July 31st, I get another email from the homeowner saying they have not been paid and that they would like me to pay the money that is due (he also was told by VRBO at the beginning of July that they would take care of this). I therefore today confirm again that Citicards paid VRBO and try to call VRBO again. I was told I was being put through to a supervisor in billing and, after 20+ minutes on hold, the call was disconnected. Called back, disconnected again (which, by the way, the service agents are very hard to understand and communicate with). Tried the VRBO online chat help.....said a 5 minute wait for an agent and it has been another hour waiting and no agent.
I cannot dispute this charge with my credit card company because it "is a valid charge" so I cannot get credited back the money so I can pay the homeowner directly. If I send a check to the homeowner, will be paying twice for the place we stayed. This is so frustrating, disappointing and, as far as I am concerned, fraudulent business practices. VRBO does not have any interest in customer service for me or the homeowner. VRBO says they will do things (contact you back, pay the homeowner, etc.) and they don't and, since they took my money and did not pay who they said they would, VRBO is engaging in FRAUD!

We booked and been on vacation in Naples,FL , the damage deposit was pulled right at the time we booked, and the owner of the house said that they are refunding it after 2 days we check out from the villa. However after 5 days there was no refund, and I decided to call VRBO.COM , their customer service agent was so rude, and tryed to put me in the corner, but she choose the wrong person for it. She said that the owner is holding the damage deposite, then after she lost her page in her script, she jumped on me and said" let me educate you " , which make me real angry. After all this going between the owner and vrbo, she was like " sir your refunds will be processed on August 7th, you like that or not" . People please stay away from this scam agency VRBO.COM !

VRBO allowed a Homeowner to basically rob me of $3000 during the Covid - 19 pandemic by allowing a homeowner to keep my money even though the State of Mississippi of surging with Covid-19 cases. The property is located in Mississippi and the property ID # is #*** and the owner is

Back in the late 2000's I used VRBO multiple times a year and it was the best way to travel. In the last few years they have been doing sketchy stuff, like charging early, not doing full refunds, and using obviously dated photos. They are working with rental companies instead of owners so its a completely different business model than they advertise. I booked a place in May to start July 17th and on June 19th I was cancelled without warning. I booked with the $96.98 trip cancellation protection which was useless. When my trip was cancelled I called for help and there were no comparable rentals since it was so close to the travel date. They said they could not help me with any kind of credit or price reduction on the units that were still available and big enough to fit my group. They were useless but promised a full refund. They still owe me the cancellation protection but I did receive the rest of my refunds promptly and I have patiently waited but i'm out of patience. I've tried reaching out to them several times and they are unresponsive. I am disputing the charge with my credit card company since that seems to be the only viable option. I'm annoyed and disappointed. ALSO, check out AirBNB. I was able to find the same place on both websites but AirBNB had less fees and saved me about $300 for the place I booked after the original one was cancelled.

Oh and I just remembered my previous experience with them. Last winter VRBO cancelled my trip on the day I was supposed to arrive. I got their call while I was getting groceries about an hour and a half away. They tried to help me book a comparable place, but could not grasp basic filters and kept advertising places that were not pet friendly and I had my dog with me. It was so much stress and the place we ended up at didn't have the hot tub we wanted. They just suck, avoid them.

BedandBreakfast.com is part of a monopoly owned by VRBO/Expedia who list themselves by many many other OTA business names. They will tell callers or online visitors that properties are sold out. This is often misinformation. They pretend to represent the property inserting their own contact ph# in place of the property's direct contact number. If they were honest they would say that they are a third party booking agent & that the property has not given them rooms to list in their inventory. Always try to contact the property through their local Chamber of Commerce to get directly in contact with the property for accurate information. I found them to have even listed someone else's property in another city as my property photo.

The owner of this property (VBRO property number ***) would not return $1000+ I paid to them. If you are thinking about renting this Hudson, FL property please be aware that Debi H, Property Manager along with the property owner refused to return $1000+ to me when I was unable to occupy the property for seven weeks due to COVID. Also know that according to the VBRO website the property appeared to have been rented to someone else during the same period I was supposed to be there. The property owner insisted that I knew the rental policy and should have purchased renter insurance. She said this even though the VBRO rental insurance does not cover pandemics like COVID. So if I had purchased the rental insurance it still would not have made a difference. I contacted her two months before the occupancy date and she refused to speak with me instead she wanted me to wait until “we got closer to the rental date” because she was too busy. So they took my $1000+ and it appears they got additional money by renting to others during the period I was supposed to rent and as a result they lost NOTHING. Are these people you really want to be giving your money to? At a minimum they could have offered for me to use the $1000 as a credit toward a future stay but they chose to keep the money for themselves. DO NOT expect to be fairly treated by these uncaring, money hungry misfits. Debi Hartman, your actions will have negative financial consequences well beyond the $1000+ you took from me.

Horrible customer service. Zero stars would be a more appropriate rating.
Wait time to connect with an agent is anywhere from 30 min. to an hour if you don't get cut off and have to start over. Live Chat is a joke. Once connected, no resolution of my problem only the run-around and blaming Covid-19 for their poor service.
As a home owner ( VRBO # ***) I have not received payment for the last two rentals amounting to over $1,000 although the renters have come and gone. One renter checked out on 7/16/20 and the other on 7/24/20. VRBO received their money from the renters long ago and have yet to pay us. We have bills to pay (mortgages, utilities, cleaning fees ,etc.) , but VRBO continues to sit on our payment.
I have called several times to complain, but still don't know when I will receive payment.
I have another renter checking in next week and am afraid the same thing will happen.
Switching to Airbnb is looking better and better.

Getting paid as a host is an exceptionally frustrating experience. VRBO delays payments, schedules payouts, fails to make the pay-out as scheduled, reschedules, then fails, then reschedules (am currently awaiting a FOURTH reschedule of payment, with zero confidence it won't roll into a fifth). Additionally, despite having all funds on hand weeks prior to a traveler check in, vrbo pays hosts incrementally (to match the incremental payments made by the traveler). So if a traveler pays in two installments, a host must now fight for payment TWICE for each booking. It's shocking that vrbo has not been sued by hosts for these aggravating delays in payment. Hosts depend on booking payments in order to operate their vacation rentals. Delays and arbitrary changes in payment schedule (that have nothing to do with their stated pay in full one day after check in policy) make my ability to host tenuous at best. VERY FRUSTRATING.

I wish I could give -5 stars! VRBO/Homeaway is becoming more and more difficult to work with! They are taking advantage of the current situation with COVID and holding payments as they wish. As it appears, VRBO gets to breech their own terms of agreement - holding owner payments until after guests check in to rental. What if VRBO never deposits the funds and the guest is there at owner's expense? I have lost confidence in doing business with VRBO! During the hardships many owners are already experiencing - VRBO is making excuses to hold rental payments for unreasonable periods of time and allowing the individual owners to absorb the negative financial impact. Aside from the increasing fees charged to owners - the lack of professional business practices are creating further undue hardships. How convenient - these large conglomerates taking advantage of individuals, using COVID as their excuse! This is NOT acceptable!

trash services. I am a property owner and they held up my payment a month on one stay and 4 months on another. Tried to call numerous times and do the online chat nothing worked. Day I finally got to talk to sombody the first time I was on hold for 18 min somone picked up and then disconnected me. Second call I was on hold for 40 min talked to a lady I could hardly understand then on hold with her for 20 more minutes. Place is a joke!!! After not bothering to pay me for months they still took the service fee. Go with airbnb they are a much better and cheaper company.

Terrible customer service. I waited forever to speak with an agent only to be disconnected intentionally numerous times by these agents. I only had a few questions but they didnt want to do the work to find the answers.. Go Airbnb, forget VRBO

I am an owner and have had my property listed with VRBO for 8 years. I’ve never experienced any difficulties with receiving payments owed to me, refunding guests their deposits, or communicating with their representatives until several months ago. All of that has now changed completely and this company has become a nightmare to deal with.
This year, whether it’s due to Covid-19 or solvency issues with the company itself, we are experiencing unseemly delays in receiving our payments from VRBO. The company is payed by the guests credit card provider in 2 or 3 days, but it is taking weeks for an owner to receive the proceeds they are due. The company is also failing to refund the guests security / damage deposit in a timely manner. The representatives, all of whom appear to be based in a call center in India, are completely unable to resolve these issues and need to “elevate” every problem to the Billing Department with a “case number”. You are told that they will contact you within 5-7 days, which never happens.
In short, do not list your property with this company.
While AB&B isn’t perfect, they will disburse your funds when they are due to be disbursed and refund deposits to guests promptly. VRBO has earned the F rating you see on this site and I will be removing my property from their site.

Was told 2 minutes after booking that the room was not available, but was instantly charged $295. It's been 6 weeks and multiple phone calls and I still can't get the money refunded.

Don't use them. Stay away.

I booked a 4th of July vacation rental. The stay was great, but I had to pay a $300 refundable damage deposit. When I booked, I was told that I would be refunded the $300 on July 17th if the property was in acceptable condition. The property owner did initiate the refund on July 17th, but then I receive an email from VRBO saying that due to COVID-19, it would be 3-4 more weeks before I would receive my money.

"Due to the unprecedented volume of travel disruptions, refunds will take 3 to 4 weeks to be applied to your account. You will receive an email as soon as your refund has been processed. We appreciate your patience during this time."

So I checked out from the property on July 5th, but I am expected to wait 5 to 6 weeks total to receive a refundable damage deposit. I will never book with VRBO again. There is no excuse to keep a deposit this long.

HORRIBLE experience with VRBO/Homeaway. Received an email contract with UNIT # and KEY BOX code to be used to get the physical key used to unlock the unit door (was told to immediately put the extra key back into the key box because if you locked both keys in unit there would be a $50 charge). Checked in 4:30ish. By 9:40pm the “real” unit owner and property manager knocked on door RUDELY asking my sister if she belonged there (as if she had broken into the place). She said yes, was questioned are you sure, again answering yes. I could see the trouble from the pool area where I was and immediately went up there. I was ask if I had confirmation email. I provided emails in which they proceeded to tell me we were given the wrong unit number In the contract and both units had the same key box code (TOTALLY UNSAFE - what a major DANGER TO THINK SOMEONE COULD HAVE WALKED IN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT OR CAME WHEN WE WERE NOT THERE AND ROBBED US?!?!... you talking about SCARY) . We spent the next hour to hour and a half packing up and unpacking into a new unit all the opposite side of the place (I REFUSED TO KEEP YHE EXTRA KEY IN THE KEY BOX). No elevator, no luggage cart, physically moving everything including a fridge of food and drinks. Once in the new unit we were missing sheets to the Murphy bed, a missing wash cloth, the microwave handle had a major crack, the hook on the back of the bathroom door I repaired myself. Now 1 week and 2 days later I have still not received my $75 deposit paid at the time of reservations !!! Advising everyone to STAY AWAY from using this site