VRBO.com

I booked with VRBO for a family ski trip in November of 2019 for March 2020. When the coronavirus outbreak occurred, several airlines and other travel companies were adjusting their policies based on the GLOBAL outbreak of the virus. The trip was planned for me, my husband and my parents who are over 65 years old. The CDC urges individuals not to travel at this time. The owner or the VRBO rental we reserved was not compassionate of the issue and was very rude. She also was never answer the phone with the number that was provided and did not call back. I even asked if we could change the dates that we would rent from her, which is an option to do on the VRBO app, and she said no.... She said, she would give us half the money, if and only if, she could rebook the time that we were going to rent..... how greedy. I then call VRBO headquarters and they first tell me that they would refund me my money if the area I was traveling to had confirmed cases of the virus, at the time, the area I was traveling to did not have a confirmed case, the area I was leaving from did. A week later, ther area I was going to travel to now had 12 confirmed cases. So I call VRBO back and told them that the area I was traveling to now had 12 cases of the coronavirus and I would like to cancel and be refunded and they said, "Oh we don't know why that other agent told you that, because we can not refund your money at this time"........ WHAT???? I could not believe it. I have failed a formal complaint with the company as this situation is endangering our health both physically and mentally as it has caused enormous amounts of stress.

We rented property in *** over a month ago. The property owner did NOT send us the code to enter the property. We call her all night long, with only options was sleep in our rented vehicle or pay last minute price for a hotel. We opted to pay for the hotel, assuming the owner would offer to at least reimburse since it was her fault completely. We owner finally contacted us the next morning with the code. Upon arriving at her property, while watching TV in the bedroom, the 9'TV picture turns off but the audio is still there. NOPE no timer is set and nothing in the setting was set either. We for her to reimburse for our hotel room, she informed us that she wasn't making any profit on the property...BLAH BLAH. Our nightly rate at her property was $68.33 and she offered to refund $65...HOW is that acceptable? I want Cleaning, Service Charge and Taxes reimbursed since we did NOT stay the three (3) nights we paid for. We have contact VRBO numerous times with no explanation or resolution. I travel at least 4 times a year and will never use VRBO again.
Do your research, check and double check there are people that refused to do what is right so I publicly let other know.

I booked a house in the *** in *** called ***.back in September 2019 and gave Vrbo my $1300 deposit for my 3 month stay in June 2020.
Last week the owner called me to say there had “been a mistake” and the property was $3500 more!
Vrbo say there is zero they can do but get me a refund of my deposit.
This Renter Vrbo renter I’d ***.
Now I see this same price gouging renter is still able to advertise with Vrbo! I’ve contacted them and they say they will be dealing with it.
But they haven’t!!

I booked a vacation rental through the Vrbo.com website, and within minutes of paying, in full, for the 4-day stay, I was inundated with emails from the property manager, TurnKey. They wanted a copy of my passport, my SSN, the DOB of each person in my party, including my young children, employment history, and so forth. When I refused, I was told this information was required in order to secure the reservation. Upon learning this, I immediately contacted VRBO/HomeAway. Six hours (and four hang-ups) later, I was assured, by two separate supervisors, that the reservation was cancelled. Since no confirmation was given, I contacted the property manager, and much to my chagrin, the reservation had not been cancelled. After a lengthy debate, I was able to obtain a full refund for the rental from the property manager, but now VRBO/HomeAway refuses to refund the booking fee of $304. Unbelievable, avoid this company!

I wanted to delete my account. Something very simple, but it took me over an hour. First, I could not find anywhere on their site that would indicate I could delete my account. Nothing in the Account Settings, nothing in the Support pages, nothing at all. Finally I found a single sentence buried in an unrelated article that said I had to call them to delete my account. So I called. The call lasted 30 minutes, I was put on hold 3 times. And what do I get? They sent me an email asking me to confirm I wanted to delete my account. Of course I want to delete it!!! That's why I went through all this crap and why I called you. It's why I'm on the phone with you. You mns! How could you possibly make this so difficult.

After a disastrous stay, I've been trying for over a week to get a partial refund from VRBO with no luck. The only way to contact them is by phone. When calling, I'm place on hold for at least 20 minutes, and have been hung up on w/ no callback as they say they will. They also will not help if there's been an issue and state you must deal w/ the owner, so there is no recourse should the owner be negligent. They just lost my business and everyone who stayed with me.

VRBO advertises that they accept Service Dogs however they do not enforce this policy with rental owners who advertise through them.
I am a 100% Disabled Combat Veteran who requires a full time service dog.
on 15 Feb 2020, I reserved a unit advertised on VRBO, located in ***t. After providing billing information and receiving a confirmation number from the owner of the unit, I informed her that I had a service dog. Her immediate response was to cancel my reservation stating they “do not allow service dogs” and that “the Forestry Service policy/law” did not allow service dogs. I provided her with ADA references and she was also informed by the local property management company that her actions were illegal. She still didn’t restore the reservation.
I contacted VRBO renter customer service and they gave me a run around full of all sorts of excuses. Then she read the messages between myself and the owner (captured on VRBO web site). After I pushed to talk with someone more senior for about another five minutes, she agreed to pass the issue to another department, stating I would be contacted. No one contacted me.
I contacted them again on 2/24/2020 and was told it was resolved; the owner said they will accept Service Dogs. So I asked for documentation to prove the statement. After more run around I learned it was still being investigated. The owner has rented through VRBO for over 9 years and is still allowed to advertise her rental on VRBO.com.

Worst on-line and customer support experience I have ever experienced. I booked a home and the reservation was confirmed and processed by VRBO. I received a reservation confirmation and was immediately charged $6,100 for rental, fees and deposit plus $286 for travel insurance. 6 hours later I get a message from the property owner saying the property is not available. I asked him how this could be if my reservation was confirmed and I was charged for it. He blamed VRBO. I asked him to cancel the reservation and refund me immediately. He said it needed to be canceled from my end in order for any refunds. After endless hours of phone calls over a period of 2 days and being hung up on multiple times over by VRBO support, I am told by VRBO it will take 7 - 10 days to process the refund and they wouldn't refund the travel insurance. My credit card is carrying $6,100 on it for over 10 days because of their mishandling of the reservation and I can't reserve another house till it gets off. No one in customer support wants/will/can deal with the situation and just puts me on indefinite hold hoping I will go away every time I call to try and get it resolved. My vacation is ruined because of this.
This is insane. They confirmed the reservation and immediately processed the charge on my credit card. They should have never taken the reservation and charged my account if the property was not available. That said, since this was their doing they should immediately refund me all charges so I can move on. I should not have to go through so much effort and wait over 10 days to resolve a problem caused by VRBO. Since it is impossible to talk with anyone there that can do anything other than take a reservation I am left helpless.
Stay away from VRBO. They take your money and don't want to deal with you after despite them charging a $360 service fee "that helps Vrbo provide a safer and more secure booking experience, coupled with 24/7 customer support throughout your trip"

This property website quoted $83 a night. After I booked a six night stay, I was charged $93.00 per night. I contacted the property owner, Larry. He said the difference in price would be refunded after we checked in. This sounded a little sketchy so we canceled our reservation.
Their cancellation policy was full refund if canceled before March 30, 2020. I then received a message from VRBO that we would not receive a refund. I phoned VRBO and they reported that we would be refunded the full price.
I was refunded $200 less than the amount we paid. The refund was for $73 per night instead of the $93.00 per night we were charged. I phoned customer service again and was told we would be getting the full $800 refund.
I then received a message from Larry stating that the $200 not refunded was due to taxes.
It sounded extremely sketchy. But once again I phoned customer service and was guaranteed a full refund of what we charged. They sent me an email confirming this.
In addition, the property pictures on the website were beautiful. My realtor in New Jersey drove by to take pictures of it. The cottage is located under a bridge and bording a parking lot. Complete fraud in every way.
Larry, the property manager, seems to be the root of all misrepresentation.
I will definitely not use VRBO in the future.

VRBO doesn’t respect the price that they advertised even when a glitch in their system is to be blame for. They offer extremely poor customer service and their answer to everything is if we are not satisfied we just have to cancel. They also blame home owners for mistakes within their system and have them deal with clients when it should be their responsibility considering the error was on their part.

VRBO does not protect consumers as unable to change reviews. Do not believe booking assurance as fully in support of owners. I left an unflattering review of owner for her obsessive communication and she left me 5 stars prior to seeing my review. She then deleted her review (only recourse available) and charged me with $100 worth of damage. I filed a complaint claiming retaliation and the rep for VRBO even told me she has a history even though he said he was not supposed to. Now I am out $100 and unable to warn others. Believe VRBO is ripe for a class action lawsuit!

Made an "instant booking" reservation for a vacation rental on a Sunday morning for the following Friday on Vrbo.com and was charged the full rental amount + safety deposit, but 5 hours later got a message from the owner that they had already rented the place out via another site. When I asked how that was possible since this was an "instant booking" property he stated it should not have been. Anyway, I asked him to cancel the reservation from his end and refund the money. He did not. So, I contacted Vrbo customer support the following day. After 40 minutes on online chat, I was told that I had to CALL the customer support line. When I called I was told that they will email the owner and ask them to cancel and refund at which point I can call them and they will book me a similar place and if it costs more then Vrbo will pay the difference. Later that night the owner cancelled but only refunded the safety deposit and not the rental. So, I called vrbo again and after 40 minutes they got it sorted out. This was 2.5 days since I booked the house.
NOW, I wanted them to help me book a place. They asked me for my preference and I told them about the only 2 places nearby that still showed up as available. Both were almost double of the house I had booked, but they said they will pay for the difference. So far so good. The rep (Jorge) put me on hold to call the owner to see if the house was available and how they could split the fees (i.e. I pay the amount I had paid for the previous reservation and Vrbo pay for the rest). After 30 minutes he came back and said he could not get the owner and left a voicemail, but he also looked at the matter in more detail and noticed that the owner had cancelled a few hours after the reservation so Vrbo was not going to pay for any difference in cost. When I challenged him about this by showing them the policy on THEIR website, he said that the T&Cs stated that a cancellation within 24 hours did not qualify. When I asked him where this was stated he sent me a link to the parent company, but even there nothing was stated about 24 hours....however he said the policy was as he said...irrespective of what was written. When I asked him why they din't tell me this the day before OR 2 hours earlier when I called them, he apologized. At this point, I wanted to speak to a supervisor and he said no one was available!!!!! Upon insisting he said someone would call me back the next day or within a week!!!! A WEEK! That was AFTER our weekend getaway!
Anyway, I called back and explained all of this again to another rep who said she did not think a supervisor would say any different but put me on hold for a supervisor. A minute later the line was disconnected.
Not only did Vrbo allow such bad behavior from their home owners, but they reneged on their "Book with Confidence Guarantee" AND their customer support was horrible.
I AM NEVER USING Vrbo again!
SUDEEP BOSE....

The worst customer service. I asked if I could speak to someone about an owner and they would not tell me if that was possible, they just wanted my information, e.g., email, phone number, reserbation ID, wife's name and dates we stayed. Two people who would not let me know if I had the right place hung up on me. A third refused to help or give me her name. When I finally got someone to take my complaint, they would not do what I asked (I wanted an owners' listings updated because they appeared to be associated with the waterpark but are not and the wayerpark is no longer letting their guests in, though they have 9 pictures of the waterpark in their many listings), but their supervisor did do what I asked, but would not open a second case about my final complaint: VRBO has some very nice lady's home phone number listed as VRBO's number. She said she has tried to get this fixed multiple times without success. I tried to call VRBO to escalate another case about this and they put me on hold for 10 minutes while the CSR decided whether or not to help me fix their mistake by escalating it. No one at VRBO's +91 support site even knows what the Revdex.com is so I had to explain the importance and that they've resolved 94 complaints in the last year. While on the phone it appeared this was fixed, but it turns out, that is because VRBO has 3 or so duplicate pages on Revdex.com! That must mean they have three times the complaints! This feels petty compared to all the other serious complaints about them here, but given the seriousness I am just even more concerned for the person VRBO has victimized by advertising her number on the Revdex.com where the most angry victims are looking for justice from them. Please fix the number and stop avoiding repurcussions for you ineptitude by adding support numbers and Revdex.com sites and just learn and fix it. Be a leader in to a better tomorrow with your example or the consequences will just get worse! Pkease VRBO and Revdex.com!

VRBO is withholding our guests $3000 security deposit for 40 days!
I have been an owner advertising on VRBO since 2001. Customer service is ABSENT for owners and renters. I rented to a repeat guest over Christmas. The guest paid a $3000 security deposit held by VRBO. As of today the guest has still not received their refundable security deposit back. I requested the refund be returned on the day after departure, 12/26/2019. I have made 5 calls to VRBO and my guest has also made 7 calls to VRBO and they continue to tell us there is a problem with the system. I have asked for a member of the VRBO leadership team to call me on 5 occasions and no one has returned my call.
VRBO is ruining my rental business. Do no use VRBO, They have no customer service, no urgency in handling issues and no credibility..

I had to cancel a reservation I had for 3 days due to family issues. The customer and VRBO agreed to refund the entire amount( through text and verbally via phone call). I was refunded a partial amount. Every time I call, I get a different answer and different instructions. They agree they will refund the full amount. I have used VRBO for 6 years with no problems. They now also tack on a 350 dollar service fee. I will never use them again!! My recommendation would be to avoid them for booking a rental.

Somebody fired an automatic weapon at the house at Stutz NE in Albuquerque during a large party at the home. Bullet casings were found and the police reported that there were 18 citations issued, two arrests, and a stolen weapon was confiscated at the property. This home has been the source of loud UNSUPERVISED parties which have received numerous complaints over the last several months. Over thirty cars were parked up and down the street from the rental house, creating a great inconvenience and blocking driveways.
The police report reference on this incident is ***, dated January thirty first of this year.
Everyone in the neighborhood was terrified at the sound of rapid gunfire in front of the Party House at Fourteen Zero Four Stutz. It brought back memories of the slaughter during an Orinda, California *** house party that left five people dead and four others injured.
We in the neighborhood want the parties stopped. We want the rentals stopped. Even if there are no parties during the rentals at that home the number of cars parking extends around the neighborhood and blocks driveways. We have photo proof of these abuses.
When we called VRBO to complain about this rental property, we got the runaround. The customer service representative asked us for a VRBO account, but because we were neighbors of a problem VRBO rental, we had no account on VRBO. We were stonewalled twice and placed on perpetual hold. After five minutes, we gave up on the hold call and hung up. This happened twice.
Unlike ***, VRBO has NO ONLINE METHOD for ordinary neighbors to place a complaint about a dangerous or nuisance VRBO rental property. Further, there seems to be no procedure to complain to VRBO management about an unsafe VRBO rental.
VRBO needs to take neighbor complaints more seriously, and institute a way for neighbors who don't have VRBO accounts to call in and complain.

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 publicWe 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 complaintOur 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 managerSee the Terms and Conditions below that the consumer/traveler and landlord/property manager agreed to about our role hereTherefore, this complaint is incorrectly being associated with HomeAway Inc, and it should be associated with the landlord/property manager Section 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 SiteWe 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 usersAs 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 userYou 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 disputeWe however do NOT mediate; we simply try our best to put the two parties together to work the situation out if possibleWe also closely monitor accounts that have had formal property complaints filedOur policy is to carefully document both sides of a dispute, and keep track of all complaints submittedWhen a pattern clearly develops where an advertiser is causing problems for our travelers, we do not hesitate to remove that member from our siteI assure you we have taken the appropriate action in regards to this complaint

Rental property was false advertised as being on the beach side of a busy street. After booking it became clear that it was the OTHER side of the busy street. Within 2 business days I discovered the misrepresentation and notified VRBO and the owner. They charged my credit card $3,500 and cancelled my reservation and refuse to refund me the $3,500 even though they misrepresented the location of the property. VRBO is responsible since they allowed a misrepresentation on their site and they facilitated the fraudulent payment. They have, so far, refused to help and claim that I owe the money. They are CROOKS and I would recommend NEVER, EVER using VRBO for anything. I may have to file a lawsuit to recover my money (and I will if I have to).

VRBO has terrible customer service. I had a reservation for a property December 22, 2019 at *** in ***. for two nights. Upon arrival there was no electricity in the unit. Property owner said we would not be able to stay there and would get me a refund. We then had to find other accomodations for 2 nights on short notice. After 3 weeks of the property owner "checking on the status of my refund with VRBO" I contacted VRBO and was assigned Case #***. VRBO tried several times to contact property owner with no luck. I asked what my recourse was if the property owner did not answer and their answer to me was they would "send me up the ladder". After a week and speaking to 3 different representatives with VRBO , they told me this was my fault and I should have contacted them immediately and now the problem was between myself and property owner. The thing is they took my money and the final payment was disbursed to the property owner the day after we were to check in! Now VRBO claims no responsibility and the property owner will not respond! The last supervisor I spoke to said - I understand....are we done here today? I can't believe a company today can get away with this! DO NOT RENT THROUGH THEM!

[redacted] .com strives to provide a secure online marketplace for owners to advertise their vacation rental properties and for travelers to research an extensive catalog of rental options [redacted] has invested in trust & security technology, people and processes to help protect consumers against criminal activity on our sitesThis consumer/traveler unfortunately has been the victim of what is referred to as phishingPhishers are individuals, or small groups, who execute phishing schemes in an attempt to steal identities or information for monetary gainThe advertiser/vacation rental owner or property manager’s personal email account or [redacted] account credentials had been phishedWhen we learn of a phish attempt of our advertiser/vacation rental owner or property manager’s email account or their [redacted] account our Trust & Security team takes immediate action by temporarily deactivating their vacation rental listing(s) locking their account down and putting them through a security process by which they must update all of their account detailsWe also immediately send out messaging to any travelers who may have inquired on their listings to protect any travelers from falling prey to a phisherPhishing is one of the most common internet scams; [redacted] , Incbeing an internet based business has both programs and educational materials in place for our site users to protect themselves against phishingWe strive to inform and encourage our travelers to protect themselves in various waysUpon inquiring each traveler receives instruction on the safest payment methodsThey also are instructed to call the advertiser prior to sending any moniesTravelers also are encouraged to buy the [redacted] Carefree Rental [redacted] Terms & Conditions of the [redacted] Carefree Rental [redacted] : http://www[redacted] .com/ [redacted] /***.htmlWe also direct each inquirer to learn more about renting safely from our Security Center at: http://www[redacted] .com/info/ [redacted] /Owners In the event that a traveler has fallen victim to phishing and has not protected themselves we do have a program in place called the Basic Rental [redacted] This program will reimburse an unprotected traveler up to $of their lost fundsAccording to our records this consumer does qualify and was approved for the Basic Rental [redacted] This consumer has responded to the approval notice and settlement forms by stating that they would prefer to seek legal counselWhen a consumer mentions that they are seeking legal counsel at that point Trust & Security is no longer able to communicate, and therefore we supplied them with our legal teams contact information