VRBO.com

Vrbo took my money for rental, cleaning fee, service charges, deposit, etc. a month before I we actually were at the rental. I was told my deposit would be returned in 10-14 days after our stay. 16 days later I get a email saying my money has been returned. Nope. Didn’t happen and nothing was pending on my card. I message the homeowner and they said they have no access to deposit unless they have a claim. Call vrbo. Customer service insisted it was returned but it may 3-5 working days to go back on my card. It’s not returned unless I have access to it so it’s not returned. Got frustrated with CS and decided to do Revdex.com. I see I’m not the only one complaining about this.
VRBO IS DECEITFUL AND I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND!!!!

I am a property owner that has listed my properties with vrbo since late 2010. I had no major problems with vrbo. Previously vrbo's policy was that when a renter made a reservation and paid a deposit, vrbo would pay the net deposit to me. 60 days before the renter's stay the renter would pay the balance of the rent due and vrbo would pay me the net rent (OR I COULD USE PAYPAL, you never had to use them- but that changed). All payments made by vrbo would be deposited into my account about 5 days after the renter paid vrbo.
2019 NEW POLICY, funds are disbursed to your bank account one day after your guests check in OR 30 days from the date of the guest's payment, whichever date is later. This change was NOT ADEQUATELY DISCLOSED, I was forced to change my settings when I was making a rate change, they held my site hostage- you have to agree to the new policy. THIS IS CASH FLOW DISRUPTIVE, THEY EARN INTEREST ON THE CASH FLOAT, THEY STILL COLLECT THE MONEY AND DELAY DISBURSEMENT TO HOMEOWNERS. This should have been phased in and highlight as it is a major change in policy instead of including it in a standard service update. Had I known of this major change in payment terms, I would have discontinued using vrbo- other platforms don't do this. Currently, I have renters who have previously made reservations through vrbo before the change in payment policy. So I am stuck using vrbo and if I cancel service with vrbo I will run into problems with refunding renters payments and other problems. I WILL LEAVE THERE SYSTEM, THEY HAVE GONE TO FAR AND WILL PROBABLY NEXT MAKE US DO INSTANT BOOKINGS- THEY ARE REMOVING THE HOMEOWNER FOR THE PROCESS.

We rented a condo thru VRBO in Colorado. VRBO was very quick to make charge to my Credit card which a $500 damage deposit which is understandable and was to be refunded. The owner who is very nice authorized a refund. Vrbo said that it had been processed. It after 3 days has not been credited to my card. I called they informed me that it would take 5-7 business days to process. This process is called float. They use your money until it gets processed thru their books. I made 4 phone calls and was put on the never never land holding system. I never got a good answer as why it took so long other than call your bank.

If I could give zero stars, I would. I have never been more frustrated with a company in my life. This is in no relation to a property, simply VBRO and their customer service.
I booked a property with VRBO for a mountain getaway. The company VRBO works with for payments (YAPSTONE) flagged my card as fraudulent and sent an email to the property owner. The property owner contacted me and I contacted my bank to see if they put a hold on the payment. They did not put a hold on the payment nor did they mark it as fraudulent. The property owner then called Yapstone and VRBO to ask what the next steps were and they recommended that she cancel the reservation.
Today, I called Yapstone (appropriately named as all they do is talk in circles and YAP) to determine why the card was marked as fraudulent. They told me they blocked the charge but would not tell me why, despite being the card owner. They also told me to call the homeowner and tell her to call them (which she did the previous day and they told her to cancel the reservation). They continued to talk in circles eventually telling me they didn't block the charge, that I needed to talk to my bank (be reminded that my bank already told me they approved the charge). The people I talked to, including the supervisor, were rude and yelled at me several times during the conversation and became frustrated when I asked them to repeat themselves because I had trouble understanding their accents. After an hour with customer service, nothing was accomplished. They told me my only option was to charge a new card even though my bank had not gotten a request to refund the original charge. They also could not tell me what the next steps were if this card was also marked as fraudulent. They said they would have to "repeat this whole process again".
In conclusion, be very wary of this company. I believe the property owner was doing her best to get things corrected but customer service sends up some red flags and needs some training in how to work their system and help their customers.

Booked a cottage in ***,
The cottage ( The *** by ***).
We had to leave early because of the mold smells, dirty condition of the house. we tried to contact VRBO with no luck, the answering service was no help and told me that no one is there to take a complaint, then just hung up on me.

Travelers Beware!!
VRBO does not really protect you and you cannot trust the reviews. We had a cancellation for a large reservation less than 4 hours before check-in (day of reservation!!) and we cannot leave a review for the property to protect others from getting burned like we did. Here is our saga: We made reservations for a booking with 3 adjacent lakefront houses for a 30-person family reunion. It was hard to find a place for such a large group, so we booked a year in advance (paid in fully July 2018 for a July 2019 reservation). We contacted the owner in June 2019 to start getting ready for the reunion. The owner confirmed that we had all 3 houses, provided us with check-in information, and answered detailed questions about docking boats, linen, etc. Then, the day before our reservation, the owner sent an email via VRBO that they had double booked one house, but we still had the other 2 houses. They refunded us part of the reservation cost (less than a third of the total – unbelievable). I called the owner and they just said sorry and that the other people were already in the house. I contacted VRBO the morning of the reservation and they’re offer was to book hotel rooms (about 5-10 miles away) for the people who would be displaced by the loss of one house. Not good for a family reunion. Less than 4 hours before the check-in time, the owner cancelled the reservation!! All families were already on the road – some had over an 11-hour drive! I did not contact VRBO again because I wanted lakefront houses, not hotel rooms for 30 people or separate houses miles houses miles apart (this is the only listing on VRBO in the area that accommodates 30 people). To not ruin my vacation, I found another place on the other side of the lake that could work, booked it, and enjoyed my vacation. When I contacted VRBO for compensation for the price difference after my vacation I was told since I didn’t contact them to help with the booking, they would do nothing for me. So, because I wasn’t willing to spend my family reunion in a hotel for a week, they won’t do anything for me. When we looked again at the property we had reserved, we found a one-star review from July 2018 where the house was double-booked (sound familiar?). I tried to leave a similar review with this story, but cannot since the reservation was cancelled. So beware, you don’t know how many times the owner has cancelled reservations! I won’t be using VRBO in the future and I advise you not to as well.

I was notified after booking via messages that charges totaling $100 per day were to be paid in addition to the total including all taxes and fees in order to use my reservation. I called customer service immediately after receiving the message. Customer service responded by telling me that I was outside the cancellation period and that this was mentioned in the description. I requested to speak with a supervisor multiple times and was denied by the representative every time. At one point, we spent minutes not talking cause she refused to put a supervisor on the line. I have the entire conversation recorded and would be happy to share there poor customer service.

I would prefer no stars if that was possible. Our entire experience with a place we rented for the July 4th weekend was absolutely terrible and we had to leave in less than 24 hours (old, musty, mildewy home, very dirty, infested with pests-roaches, spiders, poop from all of those, and flea infested. We were on the phone with vrbo numerous times and some agents were understanding and trying to assist, but they couldn’t do much. We cancelled the trip and hopefully waiting for a refund from the uncooperative home owner...

VRBO's phone support is non-existent. Here is the text from a chat with their support about a property being "removed at the request of the owner" and I wasn't notified.
----------------------------------
Me
If
not honor the reservation, what are my options?
Agent
You may contact us again after 24 hours this time by phone call, please contact us at 8 ***.
Agent
So we could further assist you.
Me
OK. Why is the HomeAway main number not answering?
The *** number says "we can't take your call at this time. Please hangup and try again."
Agent
They have calls in waiting.
Me
That's not a good business practice...
Agent
only a specified number of calls can be accepted on queue.
Me
I'm getting very concerned about how VRBO / HomeAway is operating. I've used the service several times in the past and the service was good. But it seems that phone support is very limited now and if this reservation falls through then I'm going to be in VERY bad shape arriving in without a place to stay. Hotels will be $$$$$$$$ now.
Agent
Sorry for the inconvenience. Our customer support line is open 24/7 you may call us anytime.
Me
Right... I can call and get the "call again later" 100 times.
I do appreciate your chat support. But I will report the phone issues because a good business should not have a queue limit on their calls.
------------
The chat support person gave me the phone number of the ***, but the call went to voicemail. I'm going to continue trying, but I'm betting money that the reservation will fall through and I'm planning for it.
I will dispute any charges to my credit card and I will not be using VRBO anymore.

VRBO is a scam on taxes and fees if you cancel you reservation and they re-book. They will still charge you the fees if no service was complete and double charge these fees and taxes when they re-book the same dates. How can they bill you for a $250 cleaning fee when no service was done. How can they bill you for $200 in taxes when no service was done. Then when they re-book the same dates they re-charge the same fees.?????????????????????????????????????????????????

Completely horrible customer service department. Poor policies and practices in communicating cancelled reservations with home owner. They blocked my dates which prevented me from booking any other dates due to the cancelation from the guest. I never knew about it nor was I informed of it until the very last minute when I emailed the check in instructions to the guest. Only then did I find out that they had cancelled the reservations. I was also told by the representative with home away that I was still be paid for those dates which were not true.

A terrible experience with VRBO/Home Away. On March 10, 2019, we rented an apartment on *** for a 7 day stay, from May 18-25 2019. Property # *** That same day we sent the initial payment ($576.30). In addition to this amount they collected a Service Fee ? for 114.00, a Property Damage fee for $59, a Cleaning fee of $100, and taxes at $130.80, for a grand total of $1393.80. We also purchase the CSA Travel Insurance offered by Home Away. On April 18, 2019, we paid the remaining balance of $817.50.
On May 10, 2019, as stated in the local news a massive wave of Blue/Green algae was invading the shores of Lemon Bay. Since I suffer from a chronic respiratory condition I was advised by my Primary Care Physician not to travel and stay on that location because of the toxic algae that would have been dangerous for my health. In the past, I had suffered from this condition and had been hospitalized. We had purchase Insurance offered by VRBO (CSA Travel Protection) on March 10th after making the reservation.
We contacted the owner immediately after finding out the toxic algae situation in Lemon Bay and asked to cancel our trip. He agreed and refunded us $159.00 (Cleaning fee and Property Damage Fee) right away. But that was it.
We sent a claim to the Insurance from my Primary Care Physician stating that he advised not to travel to that location because of my condition, together with all the forms CSA required. But the claim was denied and no refund was made. So not only the owner collected our money but they rented the apartment for 4 of the days we were going and even though he offered to refund those 4 days he never did. So not only we did loose almost the entire amount but we wasted our money also on the Insurance. They claim the doctor had to say: you can not travel AT ALL, not to just that location?????.. Insane!!!!!!!!!!
We are very disappointed at VRBO/HOMEAWAY and with CSA. We will never use their services again. Please beware of this terrible experience. We do not wish this to anybody.

After using VRBO for several years with satisfaction, I recently became a victim of a scam by a so-called "property owner". My credit card was charged the full amount of the stay, but I never heard back from him as my check-in date approached. While this condo complex & unit in Florida did actually exist, the photos used were taken from the complex's website and the unit depicted was not a rental. VRBO Customer Service & their Trust/Security Unit were contacted, but they had very limited info about the owner. The takeaway here is that VRBO has virtually no protocols in place to safeguard the consumer/traveler and vet the owners/managers they allow to advertise on their site. When I asked what steps they take to prevent this type of cyber crime, they had nothing to say. I hope this review serves as a warning to others- I certainly will not be using VRBO/Homeaway again.

VRBO charges the owner a 3% credit card transaction fee which is apparently somewhere in the agreement when you sign up. Their initial communication said I would be paid $1308 but when disbursed they debited $39.24 for credit card transaction fee since I'm considered 'the merchant". Their service fee is 10% and there is no other option for the prospective tenant to pay except credit card. I would think this should be covered within their fee since they are collecting the insurance fee and service fee.

This is my experience with VRBO. We scheduled a short weekend in San Diego. Due to extreme thunderstorms, our flight was delayed 5 times. Finally, we received an email saying our flight had been canceled. We were supposed to leave on a Saturday, and return home on Tuesday. We were in constant contact with the owner the entire time letting them know we were delayed at the airport because of the weather, and eventually cancelled. We went to the ticket counter as soon as we received the email cancellation to attempt to schedule a flight out on Sunday morning. We were informed that the earliest day we could get a flight out was the Tuesday we were supposed to be flying home. We had taken time off from work to take the weekend trip, and that didn't work for our schedule. When we contacted the owner to see if we could transfer dates or get a refund since we have no control over the weather, or the airport..we were told..sorry, we can only refund you the cleaning fee. Refunds are given only with 60 days cancellation(we scheduled 3 weeks before our trip), and that even hotels require 24 hours cancellation. That would have been fine had we the ability to time travel, and see that our flight would be cancelled due to weather, and no flights would be available. I understand this is a business, but it's a disservice to customers to have to deal with this sort of treatment, and be placed in a position where you lose 1200 dollars, or more...not because you didn't show up, but because circumstances prevented you from getting there. Had I know when I booked what I know now, I never would have booked through VRBO. It's a RIP off. They tell you it's at the owner's discretion as to whether or not you receive a refund. Fat chance of that happening. In effect, if you choose to book through their site, you are effectively giving money away. Beware of this company. I will never do business with them again. I would have rate them with no stars, however my review would not post. I had to give them 1 star just to post a review.

As a owner I put my listing with strict cancellation policies. The site specifically notes that traveler initiated cancellations get NO booking payments back under this option. Little do they tell you / or they changed the policy structure because I only received 50%. They either added or did not disclose that there are payment options which are set to 2 "payment" installments. The last being 5 day prior to check-in. Therefore because payment "2" had not been initiated, they do no consider it part of the booking payment. If I had known ... I would NOT have used the option to let the traveler cancel their reservation.

VRBO doesn't care about the safety of children or anyone for that matter. They only care about profit. they say they guarantee their stay but they don't.
Below is my experience from their listing-
Unfortunately during our stay my daughter developed a rash. (there was nothing in their 1st aid kit but bandages btw) .I bought her several over the counter creams and benadryl but they didn't help.The next day after our trip the rash had become even more horrific looking and was covering her chest, neck, behind her ears and some on her back . I took her to a walk in clinic and the Dr diagnosed her with hot tub folliculitis. Hot tub folliculitis is a skin infection of the hair follicles that appears after coming into contact with bacteria contaminated water.
She was put on antibiotics and stayed home from school. I Immediately notified the owner to let her know. I even sent her pictures of the rash and prescription. I was expecting an apology and for her to say she would have the hot tub checked/cleaned and for her to help resolve the situation. However the response I received was nothing like that. She was hateful and rude. She blamed us saying we left the hot tub open for 24 hrs, that we left alcohol bottles and that we didn't keep the chemical float in the hot tub. All of which is not true and irrelevant to the situation.
During our stay the hot tub was malfunctioning it leaked out almost all the water the 3rd day. The actual owner lives next door to this cabin unknown to us at the time . He came over saying he saw water under the deck and wanted to know if the hot tub was ok. He added more water and said he had a lot of problems with this hot tub. He asked when we were leaving. So that tells me right there he doesn't know when guests are coming and going(because the lister handles that not him). (the lister said he came over because the hot tub cover was off, not true because that isnt what he said) So if in fact they drained and cleaned the hot tub after every stay they wouldn't be concerned about water under the deck because it would often be there.. Him coming over also made us uncomfortable as if we were being watched. The following week the rash became even more horrific looking, the following weekend of our stay she got much worse, the rash got worse and spread more and she had high fevers she was seen at two different emergency rooms. All of which I have documentation on and pictures. She got a new prescription and is finally starting to do better however even after 2 weeks the rash is still visible.
Imagine going on vacation and this is what happens to your baby and you also end up with Bills costing more than your stay. She was 7 at the time. She got teased and even cried before school because of this rash and not wanting people to see it. She complained about having this rash on her birthday she was so upset. All of this is heartbreaking as a mother and to be blatantly disrespected and ignored by the lister and vrbo makes it much worse. You would think they would have the decency to try to rectify the situation.
I urge you to be careful with hot tubs and not trust that everyone cleans them properly. I hope my review helps others and prevents this from happening to their sweet babies.

I have been using VRBO for over a decade. I will never ever use them again!
One week before checking into this VRBO I did not receive either the property address or the door code. I used the VRBO portal and sent the owner 3 emails asking for these items. Crickets......3 days before check in I called. No answer and their mailbox was full. Called VRBO, they gave me another number to text the owner. I did....no response. Talked to VRBO 4 more times without any help or resolution. VRBO uses off-shore call centers with agents that are difficult to understand. Hold times are obnoxiously long. Finally had to call my credit card company to reverse charges. Adding insult to injury, the owner tried to charge my CC the balance payment. I had my CC on hold. As soon as the charge didn’t go through they promptly cancelled my reservation.
Five more phone calls to "supervisor" I finally received a phone call back to review my case. I was lectured that the "Confidence Guarantee" would have worked. They told me I should have called VRBO after the 4:00 PM check-in. Right...I am going to talk with someone who can hardly speak English finding me another property in LA.

I rented a nice looking (in the pictures) studio w/kitchen in Palm Springs for a month. VRBO accepts payment of $2,700.00. I arrive night of reservation to find the owner says its not ready yet. This is already 4 hours after agreed check in time. After giving in and checking back two hours later he says its still not ready! I show up anyway as I have no where else to go. It's a DUMP. Trash bags block the entrance. Trash bags are in the unit. Rancid curry odors are overwhelming. It looks like a crack addict has been living there, the place is filthy. Also window don't work, bare horrifying light bulb is the only light source. The owner is scurrying speaking unintelligible English. I try to use the rest room. NO HOT WATER! I'm freaking out it's now 10 PM and it's pouring rain out and I have no where else to go. Owner finally decides to call it a night and wants to leave but HAS NO KEY to the unit. Says maybe he can get one to me tomorrow or the next day! I finally have no choice but to bail out and the owner verbally agrees to my cancelling and promises a refund. I leave. A few hours later I find an acceptable tiny motel for the night and call VRBO phone help. THERE IS NONE. Just non English speaking automatons reading from a script. After two hours of trying to get assistance I'm finally told the only way to receive a refund it to go online and cancel the reservation on VRBO's site. I do that and finally get some rest. Next day after a total of 16 calls for help over a four hour period I finally get an English speaking "supervisor" who informs me that I have cancelled all of VRBO's liability by cancelling my reservation which I only did on the recommendation of their representatives. VRBO denies any liability and refused to intercede! Oh yeah and all the previous "issues" I stated are considered "housekeeping" issues and according to the supervisor "never" result in a refund. One last thing the supervisor said that had I had a photograph to prove he didn't have a key I "might" have a valid complaint. How can one photograph nothing? As of now I'm out $2,700.00 FOR NOTHING!

Used VRBO online to book a property in ***. They immediately took out several bank transactions that did not match any agreed upon amounts. Upon contacting them they denied any information in the system stating it had been done and then claimed the transactions were pending. Upon asking for a refund of the unauthorized amounts they gave a number to call of a totally different company that has nothing to do with us or them. Hung up on, put on hold every phone call for them to "look up" information that they had already said they were looking at. Given fake numbers to call, contradicted what they said in same phone call, Owner of property is helping get it resolved but a third party shouldn't have to do that. Company offers no contact information for complaints or problem resolution. WORSE. COMPANY. EVER.