VRBO
reviews and complaints

Off and on for 8 years I've had problems amending or changing my VRBO listing due to technical problems with their website. I tried help.vrbo.com and vacationrentals.com. I sold my beachfront condo and contacted VRBO via email on 1/5/16 to cancel my account and to request a partial refund from the renewal 10/3/15 to 1/5/16. I continued to try to remove my listing myself as it continued to show up. I tried in vain to locate a mailing address to send a certified letter.

On 10/5/16 I received an email notifying me that my account was auto renewed and my American Express was charged $499.00. Yet again their website was down. I tried several times a day for over a week. I called countless numbers that were listed on the Internet to find that they were no longer in service. The site doesn't list contact information anywhere. I finally found one number from one of the other customers on this website and reached customer service.

I called [protected] ext. 0 and reached a representative. I filed a complaint and was transferred to Alex in the customer resolution department. I was informed that a refund would be issued but that it was too late to receive partial credit for the 9 months that I cancelled. I am filing a formal complaint with the Texas Attorney General as well as the Federal Trade Commission.

For those of you having problems with the website or in contacting VRBO another number I was given for customer service for is: [protected].

I have been a subscriber with VRBO for about 3 years now. On Sept 11, 2016 a renter paid for a stay on Sept 12-19. I approved their request and on the next day, my rental manager met with them. This property for rent is located in Manila, Philippines. Since Sept. 12th is a National Holiday in the Philippines, I booked the renters (through Priceline.com) at a nearby hotel to get them through the night. Then they checked in on Sept. 13th. We obtained copies of their IDs and registered them with the condominium management. The rent funds were released to me by VRBO on Sept 15th. They checked out on Sept 19. Throughout their stay, they never once communicated with me on email.

On Sept 22, I got an email indicating that there is a "chargeback" of $531.92 on my bank account. Plus they charged two separate fees of $25 for no reason. Without my approval, they reversed the renter's payment. And it's not even 7 days after the renter checked out. They said, the renter's bank wanted the charge back as the renters told them they never stayed in my place.

I submitted all the evidences of their stay to VRBO (the hotel stay on Sept 12th with their name on it), the copy of the rental agreement that came with the receipt of payment, and copies of their passports. Meanwhile, I ordered my bank to ban VRBO from debiting any amount from us again.

The past few days, VRBO has been harassing me with emails telling me that I owe them the $531.92. AFTER they allowed this very same $531.92 to be debited from my bank account! They keep telling me I owe them $532.92 when if fact on Sept 22, they already debited that amount from my account. And now they're threatening to deactivate my account.

I've made numerous phone calls and each time I am talking to a senseless representative. And every single time I was instructed that the best way to get this resolved is through email.

I don't know where else to go but to go through every website that I can file a complaint against them! First off, I suspect these renters are cons. They booked last minute so I had no chance of getting e-copies of their IDs. And they never responded to any of my communication with them. Then they trash my place. Then shortly after they left, they tell their bank that the payment for their stay is not authorized. I requested for a copy of their passports from my rental manager and found out that they're from Morocco. And then I looked at their phone number and the country code is Australia.

The first time I called VRBO, I alerted them about this. The first representative told me they already "flagged" these people. And now, after all the distress this situation has caused me, and after I have submitted the documents of proof about their stay, VRBO is doing the best they can to rip me off of whatever they STILL owe me! I am STILL OUT of $531.92 plus $50 of their so-called fees. And now they want to charge me AGAIN?! This company is BAD! So bad for homeowners like me! I've been with Airbnb and TripAdvisor for so long and I have NEVER ONCE experienced anything like this!

p.s. Homeowners beware of this renter IBERHAIM LACHQAR!

Vrbo reviewss are just a joke, costumers use this against you to try to get free things and vrbo allow all this costumers to be disonest, vrbo is a mess these days. They have absolutly no customer service. They refuse to help with any issues you have with your listings. The inability to talk with a human on the phone is infuriating. They have made it so difficult to make changes on your own and then require that you send a request for assistance. Then you receive a response which is totally unrelated to what the issue was. I I resent not having any help when I need it. It's getting worse every day. They are the most expensive listing site online and the customer service is the worst. Homeaway should be ashamed of letting them continue with such horrible service

Review #[protected] “Private 2 Br Waterfront Cottage With Deep Open Water Dock On Lemon Bay”

Owner reneged on agreement

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

My husband and I reserved the cottage back in July and were paid in full. When we heard about the hurricane hitting the area, we decided to cancel the day prior to arrival, and understood that we would need to go through the insurance claim process to obtain our refund. However, it turned out that the cottage was available later in September, so we contacted the owner, made the new reservation, and were looking forward to our stay. We had initially decided to stay for 7 nights, but I contacted the owner and let her know we would only be there for 6 nights. The next contact was from the owner telling me that since she had not heard from me she had cancelled our reservation and accepted another one. The period of time when she had not heard from me was about 60 hours over the Labor Day weekend. So she accepted another reservation, and will not refund our money, even though she had previously confirmed the reservation. When I checked her rental calendar on several websites, it shows that it is still available. I also emailed her though my husband's account, and she responded that the cottage was available.

However, she will not refund our money. VRBO was no help, so I am hoping that our credit card company can get our money back.

Made a reservation for a house while my husband and I were in San DIego for a week to celebrate our silver anniversary and host a family reunion.
Found a house - price was good and so were the photos. Owner was very cooperative and forthcoming while we were making the reservations,. She knew and was okay with the fact that I wouldn't have firm numbers for how many would be staying at the house nor how many would be at the family reunion being held one day at the house until the week of the event.
Gave her an estimate early on - which had to be significantly reduced when many people were unable to afford the airfares to come to San DIego over Memorial weekend. House and stay were wonderful. Problem is that I have been trying for (3)+ months to get my refundable deposits back... totalling nearly $3, 000. VRBO/Homeaways they can't help, the owner is solely responsible and the owner refuses to respond to any Emails. I am assigned to a military base in Europe so can't afford to call the owner directly.
Desired result: refund my deposits/overages for $2748 —
Owner: Laura Christine
Address of rental: 1114 Skylark, San Diego, CA

Stayed in the resort of Ocean City, Md., who the owner was Randy Bosley. After our stay, Randy sends a text to my phone that the toilet paper holder was broken in one of the bathrooms.Well it was like that when we got there, so now we are out of the deposit because of this. I wrote a review on there website, then Randy Bosley saw this, and taxed me calling me names, and to keep it up(?). I informed VRBO of this owner's activities, and he just told me to take the text to the police. This guy Threatens me in a way, yet I know where his place is, very immature of him.Don't think I will use this company again, and definitely not Randy Bosley's place. He even called me names in the taxed, so juvenile .

I purchased a condo. VRBO refuses to view my paperwork and stop advertising the previous owners ad. I cannot rent from the site as the calls are being reverted back to former owner who owns another unit in same building. This is going on since July 10. I am so sick of it.

Owner promised us he would rent his unit to our family, and then rented it to another party instead, without first notifying us. On May 20, I phoned the owner (Bill Thompson VRBO property # 1641319, Angels Rest Vacation Rental) and asked if we could receive a discount (or free night) on our already booked (through VRBO) upcoming stay in July. (FYI: VRBO had already processed our initial credit card deposit.) He said all he could offer was for us to cancel our reservation and we'd then get the credit card refund, and then rebook with him direct (not through VRBO). Therefore, we wouldn't have to pay that VRBO fee of approximately $138. He said that we should mail him a check and when he received it, he would confirm our booking. We immediately mailed the check (but it did not reach him fast enough, so he then booked "our" unit. He emailed us on May 27 to inform us our reservation was cancelled and immediately I phoned him to plead with him not to do this and reconsider, he informed me that the new tenants already rented it and for 2 more additional days. I told him I could give him a credit card again (and even pay the $138 fee rather than lose this reservation). He said he was sorry, but since he hadn't gotten our check yet he felt compelled to take the new reservation. I feel he owed us a courtesy phone call and the opportunity to say "since our check wasn't received, please let us wire you money, or take our credit card" — like you did initially — before you actually offered us the discount. If it meant us losing the reservation, we would have rather not receive the discount.

I was a renter and when I posted a negative review on their site following my stay, and the owner of the property responded with lies, I was not able to respond to that. All I could do was file a complaint with VRBO, which I am sure goes nowhere. They consider a response to the owner's comments to be a "duplicate review ". So essentially they could care less about the renter's experience. I will NEVER book through them again !

On 6/6/16 I booked a family vacation in Steamboat Springs for after Christmas. To make a long story short VRBO accepted my reservation and put a $1, 500 hold on my credit card. Later in the day the owner sent me an email saying sorry but it is booked. I knew this was nonsense and challenged the owner. They sent me another email admitting that after I reserved their unit and a hold was placed on my credit card they decided they wanted it for themselves. What bad business. There should be some type of consumer protection that when someone offers something they have some type of obligation once a hold is placed on a credit card.

As a recent owner of a vacation property, I immediately thought to use VRBO/Home Away to rent it out. I have been on the other side as a traveler and have generally had good experiences using their site. However, I am appalled at the fees they not only charge the traveler now but also the owner. In addition, if you do not subscribe to their service, they with hold your money until the renter has "checked in". I feel I should be able to deposit security deposits, etc. as necessary to uphold the property and it essentially, feels like the owner has no control over their property and income for it. I am very unhappy with their service and I am planning to withdraw the property from their site as it is not fair to travelers and owners alike.

Booked a condo on August 21st 2015 and had to cancell due to a family matter we had put down 292 dollars which was half the weekly rate that was listed. Have contacted the customer service dept several times with no luck yet and when we try to reach the home owner theres never a answer. We have traveled a lot over the last 30 years and this is the worst company I have ever dealt with

The VRBO or Homeaway "Book it Now" feature is a rip off. Those companies are charging travelers and owners for travelers to be able to book the home "now". Travelers are charged an extra fee that, if the traveler books directly thru the owner, the traveler would not be charged. The owner is charged an extra fee. The only winner is VRBO. There is absolutely NO advantage to book thru Homeaway or VRBO. They have recently discontinued their cancellation insurance for Travelers.
You are better off speaking with the owner directly and avoid using VRBO "book it now" to book your vacation.

Member since 1999 I always had the premiere listing in our market, I paid top fee and did everything that was required to keep the premiere space. Now vrbo has put so many sub areas that they have decreased our leads by over 75%. Not only that when someone does find our site they are also furnished alternatives, usually cheaper). Now where they are deceptive they create hits on other owner sits giving the impression that vrbo is creating a massive amount of leads. To cap it off they also offer immediate transfer from our listings to the resorts that they represent. This is a very corrupt system that now even punishes our customers that list with us. In their main web sites they don't suggest that clients of the resorts check us out. We will now pay the least price we can get from vrbo and we will rent as many listings out of the vrbo network as possible.

So we talked to VRBO's "customer service" yesterday, and just to let everyone know what their new "business perspective" is, and I quote "we do not see the renters as your (the home owners) customer, we see them as our customers providing them the service." Last time I checked, I paid the mortgage, I deal with any problems, I keep the customer satisfied and returning year after year. VRBO is a listing/advertising service PERIOD! Apparently the home owners are not customers, even though we pay them thousands of dollars a year! Oh, buy the way, they also said that we should not be dealing with the renter directly, solely using their sytem and if we didn't should still be charging the 4-10% fee. HUH? This company has gone Bat S*** Crazy.
Did some research...VacationHomeRentals.com (associated with Trip Advisor), utilizes the old system that VRBO used, which served everyone well, and kept the business between the renter and the owner. It is also about half of the price. I'm taking my four properties and heading out of dodge, before I have to pay for a renewal!
VRBO got greedy and will be their downfall. I am spreading the word, to all that I know who use VRBO (which is a lot), to start heading to this other site, as well as bypassing the "book now" system and deal directly with the home owner.
ByeBye VRBO

VRBO has implemented an outrageous new fee charged to the traveler. We have been loyal customers for years. We have listed 2 properties and have rented from other owners all over the world too many times to count. This fee completely ruins the business model we loved and makes VRBO look like a greedy corporation. They implemented this fee after we paid our advertising fee with no warningand are offering no refunds. We are actively looking for a new website on which to list. What a huge disappointment.

As a rental owner I'm extremely frustrated with this new service fee! It is absolutely unacceptable and I am appalled by this new fee. At first they were charging only the owners and now also the guests. This new fee completely disregards any agreements that were in place with existing owners and renters. I will be looking for another service! VRBO is absolutely unprofessional, no respect! They need only money and they don't care about anything!

Vrbo has now done three things in the last 6 months to increase their profits with no consideration of the home owners that have made this site successful. Number one they have raised their prices about 20% each of the past two years. The latest in the last six months. Number 2 they now are putting other web sites on my site, such as hotels.com, among others which simply takes traffic away from vrbo and my site in particular. Number 3 now they have decided to charge an extra charge to my customers, just because they can to make more money. What the new short sighted vrbo management doesn't realize is that the site exists because of the owners and the owners supply all the listing for them. Now they are cheating and triple dipping. Vrbo should be ashamed of their new practices!
Sincerely,
Mitchell Lewis

I had used VRBO in the past and rented a place. The property ended up being a fraud, so I cancelled it. Then I called the owner and asked him to return my damaged deposit of $300, but he refused to give my money back. I told him that his property description was a fraud and he must return the money, I gave him 24 hours to do that. Later I received a message from the owner saying he'll come to my house and deal with me personally! I contacted the VRBO immediately and they promised to do something. I thought they'll ban that owner or call the police, but they did nothing at all! In the end owner just changed the description of his property and never returned my money. I'm very disappointed with VRBO.