VRBO.com

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
I think it is unacceptable that when my partner tried to book (to check if it worked), she received an error message and was told to pick a different property.  I heard the same thing from another customer.  I am actually no longer interested in having a VRBO with their level of customer service.  It is not in alignment with who I am and the type of business I run.  So I am asking to be refunded half the membership or $150 and to honor the booking at the end of November. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Thank you for bringing this consumers concerns to our attention, we do apologize for the delay in our response.This consumer contacted us in case#[redacted] back on 8/9/2016. According to our records the consumer called and was not happy with the search results of his property. Unfortunately...

the case is noted that the call terminated and we do not have any additional specific detail to assist with the case documentation.We would like to request that this consumer call us back and reference his internal case number and ask to speak with a resolutions team member. We would be happy to try and assist.

We thank this consumer for their comments and apologize for their experience. It seems that we have not received a formal complaint from the consumer regarding this advertiser, so we will reach out to them consumer directly to further assist.

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.
Regards,
[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: This is the same ridiculous excuse HomeAway keeps offering -- as though repeating the same stupid response over and over and over again makes it valid. HomeAway received the money -- I have a credit card record -- and HomeAway needs to return it to me on an active credit card -- not one which has been closed. AND, HomeAway had 10 days notice before the problem occurred and did nothing to anticpate and solve it. A more customer-unfriendly business doesn't exist -- they should be truly embarassed -- and take responsiblity for their actions which evidence willfullness.
Regards,
[redacted]

Thank you for your additional concerns regarding this matter.According to our records this consumer was given a prorated refund, which was applicable in this situation due to the consumer using our service, receiving inquiries, and reservation(s). This was an exception to our no refund policy.

Thank you allowing us the opportunity to reply to this consumers concerns.According to our records this traveler has contacted us (Case#[redacted]) regarding the issue with their review not being posted to the advertiser of HomeAway #[redacted] listing.As previously explained to this...

consumer, all reviews must meet our reviews content guidelines as outlined here:http://www[redacted].com/info/homeaway/owner-marketing/reviewsguidelinesAcc...⇄ to our records this consumers review was posted:http://www[redacted].com/[redacted]We also do have a formal property complaint on file from this consumer (case#[redacted]) and it has been thoroughly documented on the advertisers internal account with us.We do believe this matter has been resolved, review has been published and formal property complaint filed.

This consumer violated the Terms and Conditions of the website.  We removed their listings on 3/11/16 at approximately 2pm CST and notified them by email.  Once we received confirmation that the offending wording had been removed, the listings were activated 3/12/16 at approximately 9am...

CST.  The consumer's listings were suspended for less than 20 hours and at no time were they blocked from corresponding with existing guests.We appreciate this consumer's business but will not be extending their subscriptions.

Dealing with this consumer's second issue first, the reviews for this listing are for the person or persons advertising it on our website.  Although the consumer states that ownership of the property has changed, the person advertising it has not so the reviews are still valid.Regarding...

the first issue, in line with our Terms and Conditions, it is the responsibility of the advertiser to ensure that the advertisement is accurate.  "...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."If the consumer has a specific preference for whether they rent from a homeowner or a property manager we recommend that they address this directly with the advertiser during the inquiry process.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: Home away state that I was refunded my money, which has not happened yet. I spoke with a gentlemen by the name of [redacted]. He stated that my money should have been refunded and I told him, that was not the case. He told me he was going to speak to someone in billing and I should get a e-mail within a week. [redacted] also suggested that if I wanted my property listed, I should pay again and wait until billing would correct the problem. I informed him that I had paid for the service once before and still had not received the service, and what guarantee did I have. He stated I should wait till I get notify.
Regard,
[redacted]

For the past six years, I have used VRBO/homeaway to book my luxury log cabins in Luray, Virginia. My cabins enjoy a 4.8 average review out of 5 stars. Last week, I had a disgruntled client who rated my cabin at a 3 and I accepted the rating with a polite response for future clients to help them understand the review. Shortly thereafter the client's spouse posted a second review with a 1 star rating disparaging me personally. The VRBO customer service team, Gloria, recommended that I offer to refund more money to the client. I refused and asked to speak to the executive communication team, where Michael removed the 1 star rating and let the 3 star stand with my polite rebuttal. The very next day, VRBO switched the ratings out and posted the 1 star with the disparaging remarks in place of the 3 star. I wrote a letter to the VRBO CEO and Jennifer from his executive communication team called me to support the posting of the 1 star review. Tom H[redacted] a senior manager at VRBO sent me an email empathizing with me but sticking by the tenant and not me the owner who paid the $1200 platinum subscription not to mention the exorbitant service fees that VRBO is now charging. I asked Tom for my money back and he said he would support my request. Today, Jude from the VRBO executive communication team called to tell me that in spite of Tom H[redacted]'s support, VRBO would not refund my platinum subscription, that VRBO would not remove the 1 star review even though they coached the client on how to switch it from a 3 star rating and if I contacted the CEO via mail or email again, that VRBO would not communicate with me on the issue again. For the past three days, my cabin has been hidden because of the 1-star rating and Flipkey and AirBnB have sent me new and impressive leads. My cabin continues to book and VRBO continues to lose money. Finally, as a 100% service disabled veteran, I rely on these cabins for routine income so to hide my cabin from the VRBO site is a bold move as I had to rely on Flipkey/TripAdvisor and AirBnB but the principal is important to me. I am disappointed that VRBO/homeaway seems anti-property owner, anti-veteran and generally anti-customer service. If you own a property and post it on VRBO/homeaway, be ready to pay excessive costs and fees and be ready to have the customer service/management routinely side with the tenant. As a property owner, you are a 2nd-class citizen to VRBO/homeaway and as a military veteran, you are behind that. PLEASE GET SMART AND AVOID VRBO/HOMEAWAY at all costs. They are a company that is doomed with lousy customer service, deceptive personnel working for them and exceptionally poor business persons. STAY AWAY!

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: just to clarify, are you saying that your business motto is renter beware?   You take no responsibility whatsoever for the accuracy of your listings, do I understand that correctly? You see nothing wrong with an "advertiser" lying in a listing about who owns the property?   
Regards,
[redacted]

I had a poor experience at a rental property using VRBO. I submitted the well written review to VRBO and it was inexplicably rejected from being published on the site. This explains why most of their rental properties only have 4 and 5 star reviews, which in hindsight should have been obvious. I don't recommend using the site since you don't get accurate and honest reviews of the rental properties.

Thank you for bringing this consumers concerns to our attention. We do show that this consumer did contact us directly in case# [redacted]. In that case we replied that we simply are unable to 'delete' an account. We are a publicly traded company and as such our system does not allow for account...

deletion. However we have taken precaution on our end by to removing the account  email from receiving any solicitation or sales emails. We also updated the account so it will not get solicitation emails to renew the listing. In regards to the banking information such as social security number, this consumer would need to contact Yapstone division called Vacation Rent Payment (VRP) as they are the third party company we contract with for online banking capability. They can be contacted at [redacted].

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
Despite the company's claims that they are a third party vendor and this is a dispute between the property owner and us, we acted on the advice of VRBO's representative to cancel the reservation and that the best way to do so would be through our credit card company. We were then later advised that there was a clause that we had agreed to that advised "no cancellations." The VRBO representative did not advise us that we should contact the property owner directly or that any negotiation would be through them. We were responsible renters in that we called VRBO and spoke to a representative of their company with our concerns, who directly advised us to take the actions above. When this lead to a dispute with the property owner, VRBO then advised that it was our responsibility to understand the initial agreement we had "clicked on" and that their representative had indeed "made a mistake" but that "everyone makes mistakes." This ended up being a $5000.00 mistake that we are having to pay for. This is simply because we followed the representative's direct advice and attempted to cancel our reservation 4 days after booking and 6 months in advance. To have to pay this for services never rendered seems absurd. If VRBO's policy is to not get involved, then their representative should not have advised us on how to proceed other than to contact the property owner directly. This was not the case and we as customers are left with the bill.
Regards,
[redacted]

Thank you for bringing this consumers concerns to our attention.This consumer has reached out to us directly regarding this matter as well in case# [redacted]These ads are using Google Advertisements, and less than 1% of people who see listings click on these, so owners are not losing...

travelers to the links. One of the biggest reasons we include them is that having these advertisements on your page actually boosts your listing in Google Search results. However, if you are seeing direct competitors for your listing and you would prefer to have them removed, please reply with a screenshot of the advertisements that are in competition with yours and we can have it forwarded to the appropriate team for review and removal. If there is anything else we can help with, please feel free to reply to this email or give us a call anytime at [redacted] or internationally at 1-[redacted]-**2-[redacted]-----------------------------------------------------...⇄ Case | Trust & Security Lead[redacted].[redacted].[redacted] (desk)[redacted].[redacted].[redacted] (mobile)[redacted] (skype)[redacted]

I have a complaint about (HomeAway Payments) YapStone

I have been on hold for 45 minutes waiting for a customer service rep. And when they answered they were unprofessional, did not even introduce themselves or apologize for the wait.

I'm considering using another listing company and going private because of the poor customer service.

Thank you for bringing this consumers concerns to our attention.
This complaint is not against [redacted] 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 [redacted] 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. [redacted].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."   We encourage this consumer to contact us directly to file a formal property complaint against this advertiser. As part of that formal complaint process we 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.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
DICTIONARY:
Fraud is the intentional deception of a person or entity by another made for monetary or personal gain. Fraud offenses always include some sort of false
statement, misrepresentation, or deceitful conduct.
THE LISTER NEVER OWNED OR MANAGED THIS PROPERTY...EVER.  THIS IS FRAUD AND VRBO IS CHOOSING TO IGNORE IT.  WHAT IS THEIR DEFINITION.
Regards,
[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: they are not addressing the complaint.  Why is the service fee not fully disclosed on the website? The only way you can find this fee is you have to unclick details on the invoice to see it hidden among the other charges. As a FYI, I have seen no improvement in the site since they began charging this fee.  I did not ask for the services they are now charging for.  It's like travel insurance, either you elect to take it or not. They will not address the issue just as they have ignored all of the negative comments from vacationers and the property owners. We can only fight against this with our money, and mine will not be spent with VRBO again. 
Regards,
[redacted]