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Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO]
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1.5 278 Reviews

Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] Complaints Summary

34 Resolved
244 Unresolved
Our verdict: With Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO]'s very poor resolution rate, careful consideration is needed. Research their service comprehensively, and read up on how they handle customer disputes. If you face issues, be prepared for potential challenges in obtaining resolutions and explore other service providers as backups.
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Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] reviews & complaints 278

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11:53 am EDT
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Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] vrbo #33745 hhi beware

Owners agree to HHI condo to us for the week at rate of $758, which we agreed was a great deal. Ms. Williams immediately expressed remorse over agreeing to the price, cut us off, and rented to someone else after a last minute barage of emails in which she was obviously creating the illusion of trying to contact us. HHI is great...just save yourself some trouble and pass over this unit and rent from someone else!

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Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] serious mouse problem

We rented cottage #17 last week for spring break. We saw mult mice in the kitchen and bathrooms during our stay. Even had found a hurt bleeding mouse and a dead mouse which was very upsetting to our children (not to mention us). Found mult points of entry that easily could be spotted but owner never seemed to have fixed. Previous posts suggested mouse problem but owners assured it was taken care of and a problem in other cottages. We have stayed in other cottages at this location before and never had a mouse problem. Final day I found rat feces on my daughters toys that were in the nightstand drawer. I was absolutely horrified. Do not stay there. On a side note, the cottage is right near a busy hill road and the noise kept us up most nights.

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Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] illegal vacation rentals ruin vacations

Home Away, INC, Homeaway.com and VRBO.com are websites that advertise 'Vacation Rentals' which are really just homes, condo's, etc... that are individually owned and rented out for short periods of time to vacationers.

We actually have a 'vacation rental' next door to us, in a neighborhood of $500, 000 to $1M homes. It is against the CC&R for this neighborhood, and against city laws that regulate against transient, short term rentals.

We now live next door to a what has become a hotel, with groups of 20-25 people at a time rotating every couple of days.

HomeAway does NOTHING when being told of the disturbances and violations. They do NOTHING to warn renters about the situation they will be walking into when they rent an illegal vacation rental. We have seen group after group have the police called on them, get yelled at by angry neighbors, stared down and treated like the enemy. VRBO does NOTHING to protect these renters from what will end up being a bad experience for them.

Why can't Homeway simply decide to be decent and take an active roll in getting rid of the rental properties that are causing problems in the communities, and violate laws? It's such an obvious, right, thing to do. But, instead, Brian Sharples has been quoted saying that they cannot know every law in every city. No, Brian, you dufus, you can't. But you CAN have a group of people who looks into situations brought to your attention and handle it with class and ethics. Go figure.

I think that any vacationer who rents a house in the middle of a neighborhood and brings in 20-25 people in 'LOUD.. I'm on VACATION' mode is asking for trouble. They get what's coming to them, in my opinion. I feel sorry for the renters who rent in my neighborhood. They go home crying and their kids witness the WHOLE, SAD mess of a vacation.

HomeAway is destined to FAIL if they don't change.

BE WARE of 'rentals' privately owned in neighborhoods. They often do not meet firecodes, pay taxes, adhere to America Disibilties Act regulations, adhere to CC&R's for the area, adhere to local laws... And YOUR vacation will be ruined because of it. Good luck getting a refund! Once that money is out of your hands, you will have to FIGHT to get it back, regardless of the situation that you were subjected to. You can thank the greedy money grabbers at VRBO for not giving you the headsup.

Think the 'reviews' you read on the rentals are accurate? Think again. Any negative comments about the rentals are BLOCKED by the property owner. Do your homework-- or better yet, rent a LEGITIMATE hotel room!

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8:56 am EST
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Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] the reviews are subjective and manipulated by reviewers and homeowners alike.

Untrustworty Review System
Sep 21, 2010

wwwvrbocom20213 says:

DislikesOtherPoor customer support

Comments:
This site has a bogus and worthless traveler review system. The system
has no quality control measures to validate reviews. The reviews are
subjective and manipulated by reviewers and homeowners alike. Travelers
may say anything they like about a property no matter how untrue and
outrageous. Some travelers even plant malicious negative reviews to harm
homeowners (failed attempt to blackmail a homeowner with a negative
review to extort a refund). Homeowners often game the system by getting
customers to plant positive reviews. The bottom line is you cannot trust
the traveler review system, and DO NOT base your rental decision based
on traveler reviews as they are likely unreliable and invalid.

Facebook User (Power Visitor)

The best use of this site is Other. LikesActive community
DislikesHard to navigatePoor customer supportSite is slow and unresponsive

Comments:
I list 3 properties with HomeAway of my own, and at one time had about
25 that I manage with them. The customer service has never been much of
anything. Their focus is on getting more & more owners, and
advertisers, but they don't seem concerned with providing us value for
the money. Their advertising encourages vacation rentals as a bargain,
bashes hotels, and now smushes the test baby. People who relate to these
are not our target market. It's mom, grandpa, and extended families
making the decision. Bleck.

Hard to list. Heavy handed managment.
Expensive.

Canibalistic Predators
Nov 18, 2011
dbo9 (Casual Visitor)

The best use of this site is Other.
DislikesOther

Comments:
Canibalistic predators - I believe from Texas - that have bought several
existing vacation rental sites and proceeded to destroy them by
murdering everything in them that was good and usefull, replacing them
with just ways to milk their subscribers for every penny. Also idiotic
policy and system.

Not focused on customers
Mar 03, 2012
upstateny (Power Visitor)

LikesEasy to navigate
DislikesOtherPoor customer support

Comments:
I have three waterfront homes listed in upstate NY. I find the site
easy to navigate and ok to update and I appreciate that there are a good
number of hits by potential guests. However the "good" ends there.
Customer Service: they have NONE - people to answer the phone, but no
technology knowledge or ability to correct any bugs with the system. I
have had bugs open for over a year. They consistently are advertising
IN YOUR FACE additional features for additional cost before you can
actually use the site. The site is expensive compared to its
competitors. Using their payment system for rentals is very expensive.
I am just waiting for competitor sites to improve their traffic and I
am gone.

San Francisco, CA
4/16/2008

Beware!
When we arrived at the property listed as #153095 on the website, for our
reserved time, the key lock box did not work. We called the owner and
he said he didn't know who I was. When I told him I had documentation
from him to me, then he started saying it was the wrong week. I again
stated I had documentation from him to me confirming the date and
showing he had charged my credit card. Then he said the maid hadn't been
there so the house was dirty. We didn't take the house.

The website Vacation Rentals By Owner offers the promise of 150, 000 properties to rent for days, weeks or months.
Most listings show pictures of the properties and traveler reviews. Boulder resident Jason Mendelson spent about $10, 000 for a
three-month rental of a one-bedroom house in Yountville, California, a Napa town renowned for its culinary offerings. The house had racked up several positive reviews from renters on VRBO.com.
About a month and a half into the rental period, after hearing late night scratching through the walls, Mendelson’s fiancé realized that the house had been infested with rats. The owner Lupe DeLeon says rats are an unfortunate epidemic in the area (disconcerting for diners who shell out small fortunes for a meal at nearby Thomas Keller’s French Laundry).
For Mendelson and his fiancé, the rat outbreak led to disputes with DeLeon over cleaning fees and reimbursement for a hotel stay.

Chalking it up to a bad experience, Mendelson simply wanted to give his appraisal of the landlord and property in the same place where other renters had written their positive reviews on VRBO.com. Mendelson sent his comments to VRBO. But a week later, Mendelson made a surprising discovery. Instead of posting his opinion of the property, VBRO removed all reviews for DeLeon’s listing. “My ultimate issue was not with the landlord. I thought I owed it to the VRBO community to let them know what my experience was, ” says Mendelson. “I was extremely disappointed that they don’t want to have a
transparent marketplace of communication about these things.” Mendelson’s initial review is now posted on his personal blog.
Mendelson’s experience raises the question of what types of disclosures consumers should expect on sites that let strangers exchange goods and services. DeLeon pays $300 per year to list each of his properties on VRBO.com. “Owners say they pay us to advertise their properties so they feel like they should have a say, ” says Alexis De Belloy, a Vice President at Vacation Rentals By Owner’s parent company, Home Away.com. DeLeon agrees: “I didn’t want to give them the opportunity to just trash me, ” he says. “I know I could’ve responded on the site, but I didn’t want to get into it.”
VRBO’s official policy is to let owners either open up their properties to all reviews, both positive and negative, or none, says De Belloy. De Belloy says VRBO.com is the only one of HomeAway’s 15 websites, including three US vacation rental sites, that allows owners to opt out of reviews. On HomeAway’s other websites, he says, owners must show all reviews. DeLeon, who lists three other properties in California and Mexico on VRBO, still shows traveler reviews on his other
properties.

VRBO did not engage in overtly deceptive advertising. Mary Engle, the associate director for advertising practices with the Federal Trade Commission, says the agency has clear rules for what constitutes deceptive advertising.
The FTC, she says, might take action against a website which posted only positive reviews and dropped negative ones without making that clear to the consumer. Still she says the FTC hasn’t seen a case like this yet, and VRBO’s opt-out policy clearly doesn’t fit into that paradigm.
The company’s policy does raise questions about overall transparency and consumer expectations online and on new online marketplaces, forums that are rapidly proliferating. VRBO tries to both serve potential buyers who want more insight into properties they might rent and sellers who pay the website for the service of listing their homes. While
consumers wouldn’t expect other companies that sell goods online to air every consumer gripe, VRBO appears to trade on the crowdsourcing check on quality that sites like Yelp offer by posting reviews. Yet, VRBO is ultimately a forum for paid advertising. While consumers who spend enough time on the site might realize that some owners have opted out of
reviews and come to understand VRBO’s policy, it’s not explicitly clear.
Social media has democratized the public airing of complaints. Anyone can post negative reviews on their personal blog and hope for an audience. As a managing director at Boulder, Colorado venture firm The Foundry Group, Mendelson has an outsized social media presence and more ways to get the word out than the typical consumer. Other people had
similar experiences, as you can see from the comments’ section of his blog. Have you had a similar experience with reviews or overall transparency on other websites? Drop me a line at [protected]@forbes.com or leave a comment below.

Sealy, TX

10/12/2012
From owners perspective, its a poor customer experience as well. While
support is very polite, they are entirely inadequate in taking care of
thier owner customers, almost feels like they are monopolistic in their
approach. Wait, that is exactly the problem.

I hope that the VPs are listening. its rather sad to see basic logic not prevail in a good austin based company.

3/4/2011
Joan C.I have used Homeaway for my vacation rental home for three years. While the
web site is easy to navigate for owners and renters alike, their customer service department is woefully inadequate.
As an owner, I pay a fee each year to have my home listed. For this fee, I expect at
least a shred of support when there's an issue with my site.
Today I made the sixth phone call to customer support. Each time, I receive the same reply: technical support is working on it, and they will call me back, or the customer service rep will call me back.
Each time I've been patient, but today I lost it and today I'm Yelping!
Bottom line: $350+ for the listing, and no support at all. Terrible.

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Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] will not refund money for a listing they did not publish

I paid for $698.00 for a listing on VRBO on July 2, 2012. After completing the listing and submitting credit card online, the website interface crashed. I had to start all over with a new listing and PAY AGAIN to complete it. The funds from the "failed" transaction were drafted from my account, as well as the funds for the second payment
Now- on Feb 13 2013, after multiple calls to VRBO and many broken commitments by VRBO staff, such as Kerri, Chad (A senior agent) Heidi, Dianna and others, I am still out nearly $700.00 with no apparent prospects of getting it back.

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Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] gave rental to away

I sent in a request for availability at Mana Kai unit 405. I was sent a reply from the owner saying it was available for the dates I needed. I then sent in the rental agreement and told the owner the deposit check was in the mail. A few days later I received an email from the owners assistant saying they received a deposit from another party for part of the dates I had reserved, therefor I could not have the unit for the dates they had promised. I have used vrbo for years and have never run into a problem like this. I live in Canada and it is Christmas so it does take a few days for mail to reach California. I have looked at this units availability calendar and it shows that the other party wanted to rent the unit for 18 nights and I was renting it for 14 nights. It seems to me that this owner is being very unfair with her agreements. Be careful with this person, if you are going to rent from this person you had better have a backup plan.

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Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] beware... some owners commit fraud

We have a horrible problem with VRBO and the rental with Mark and Linda Lee of 4249 Briar Creek, Dallas Texas 75214. We rented their condo in Austin (1200 Castle Hill) for 4 days last month. When we got there, someone else was in the condo. They double booked it. I have a contract, confirmation emails, and cancelled checks for the payment in full plus $300 deposit. Linda Lee has admitted she double booked it writing. It was Formula 1 week so we were lucky to find a hotel room at the last minute but it cost us an additional $1000. Linda Lee would not respond to my emails, texts or phone messages for 2 weeks. She told me two weeks ago she mailed the check but it hasn't come. Beware of VRBO and renting from Mark and Linda Lee. VRBO will not accept my review since we didn't stay there! Beware... some owners commit fraud.

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Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] vrbo would not allow us to post a negative review on their site

VRBO would not allow us to post a negative review on their site. I believe that they only allow positive reviews to be posted. We chose our St. John Villa (Heavenly Villas) based on the five star ratings they had on their site and found the villa to be hot, bug-infested, and noisy. It nearly ruined our vacation.

Instead of allowing us to warn other travelers, VRBO removed our review for no reason. Beware! Do your homework before relying on VRBO.

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Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] very greedy company and not able to listen or satisfy a disgruntled customer

I own multiple vacation rentals on five contiguous lots. VRBO took my money for my listing then told me I would have to purchase a listing for each building. I cancelled, however VRBO did not notify me they kept my listing without going live for over a year and then refused to refund my over $750 dollars. Very greedy company and not able to listen or satisfy a disgruntled customer.

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Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] breach of rental agreement by owner

I had a rental agreement with Jim Ring for his Park City, UT property VRBO #106012 for 2 nights in August 2012. He cancelled my rental 10 days before my scheduled arrival and refused to refund my $330 (2 nights at $150 + $30 cleaning fee). The reason he gave for cancelling was that he got a longer-term renter for the property - so he was cancelling me for another person.

Jim offered a credit but did not respond at all to my request that he refund my money - even the cleaning fee I had already paid. I had no use for a credit because my travel plans were already booked and I had no plans to return to Park City later. My husband left him a message a few days later that wasn't returned, then did reach him by phone a few days after that. When they spoke, Jim said our money was "gone" and that he hopes we don't use his credit. Clearly he would not honor it if we ever did try to use this "credit". I contacted VRBO to file a complaint, and they told me they had contacted the owner and that their process required him to follow up with me in writing. It has been nearly 2 months and he never contacted me in accordance with VRBO procedure. This property owner breached our rental agreement, refused to refund payment for services that were not provided and refused to follow VRBO's complaint procedures, and VRBO has done nothing to assist me with this.

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Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] owner wrongfully keeps security deposit

Owner wrongfully kept security deposit, and trying to bilk us as renters for damages that did not occur.. All reasonable attempts to discuss with owner so far to no avail. I do not recommend this rental to anyone unless you want to throw your money away to a bunch of crooks.

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Darin Ross
, US
Aug 30, 2018 4:13 pm EDT

Yes, he tried to do the same to us and we are suing him in court!

J
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JB Hammer
, US
Apr 23, 2013 2:35 pm EDT
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Did you go to the VRBO on this complaint?

thanks,
JB

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4:17 am EDT

Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] avoid this website at all costs

I am done with VRBO. The owner wrongfully withheld the deposit for 3 months, for no reason. It was a huge time suck and hassle to get it back: multiple emails and phone calls, had to get VRBO's claim form notarized and supply them with copies of my cashed checks. Finally the owner sent it--pretty much on their own as VRBO never took the listing down.

But here's the rub--when I try to warn others of this owner's poor business practices by posting a bad review--after multiple emails and postings and revisions to try and comply with VRBO's owner-biased review system--VRBO still doesn't post it. And VRBO has all the evidence from the email trails between me and the owner as well as all my documents they made me provide. They say their policy is that reviews "must substantially relate to the stay."

Well, I don't have to pay a deposit at a hotel for my "stay"--that's substantial. So guess what--no more VRBO for me. They suck.

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Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] owner refusal refund deposit & payment

Owner, AAALuxuryVillas, LLC refuses to pay deposit and balance payment check after double-booking rental property VRBO #300483. I inquire about my vacation rental check-in procedures but the owner claimed that she received my rental payment late and booked it to someone else. The owner cashed my deposit but reserved it to someone else. She now refuses to provide a refund of my deposit and payment. She verbally agreed to pay me back but then has not replied to my e-mail to confirm to payment. Rental agreement states that full refund will be provided if booked to someone else due to a cancellation. NOTE: I did not cancel! The owner mistakenly double booked but still wants to keep my deposit.

Still waiting for my refund! Note: AAALuxuryVillas which rents out other properties in Orlando through VRBO has had other complaints with Better Business Bureau.

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lilian AAAluxuryvillas
Paramus, US
Sep 26, 2012 1:58 pm EDT
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Here is the owner and AAALuxuryvillas reply:

After I got the security deposit from the customer on April 26, I emailed her on April 27 that since it was less than 8 weeks prior to her arrival, the full payment was due and asked her to send the full payment as soon as possible .

I didn't got any reply back from the customer until May 29, more than a month later, which was about the time I got her $405 cashier check, not full payment of $705. Please remember her vacation dates was June 9 to June 16. The date I received her partial payment is far beyond the date I request my customers to make the full payment, which is treated as customer cancellation.

She didn't feel sorry not to reply right back to me, not make full payment in mail, but questioned why I received it so late. In the phone call, she said she mailed it out on April 30 and her cashier check was made on April 30, but from the post mark it was mailed out on May 14 5PM. The customer mailed out more than 2 weeks later after my emailed her to request to make the full payment as soon as possible.

Based on my cancellation policy, I refunded her deposit and and the portion of the rent recovered.

Below is the vrbo representive's replies:
We appreciate your prompt response. We have made thorough notes of your comments and explanation of this unfortunate situation. We are grateful for your cooperation in resolving this issue.

This is Chris in the U.S. Trust & Security department with VRBO®, HomeAway®, and VacationRentals™. Thank you for your response, we have marked this complaint as "resolved". We appreciate your cooperation and understanding, and wish you the best for your future rentals.

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7:48 pm EDT

Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] the website and dashboard are down constantly or freeze, no customer service

Horrible customer service - they purchased all other competitive rental websites out there and increased 500% their listing rating. The website and dashboard are down constantly or freeze, no customer service ...if you finally get a response (if you are very, very lucky w a 20% chance) it is mostly "sorry, we are working on the issue" or "yes, we increased our rates significantly but added features". Really, for whose benefits? Clearly not the listing owners but their own benefit to enrich them further. Hate it...

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Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] this was the absolute worst experience I have ever encountered with an online resource

This was the absolute worst experience I have ever encountered with an online resource. I submitted the following inquiries:

172 inquiries for a vacation rental in Destin, and I Received back 28 RESPONSES out of 172 inquiries. That is 144 no response and a huge waste of my time.

In the past, VRBO was a wonderful resource, however, it is becoming a total waste of time. Half of the homes/condos that I researched were already booked but the left you to think it was still available for rent. I would never waste my time inquiring about a rental property that is obviously not available over my travel dates and no, my travel dates were not flexible. The amount of hours I spent searching was outrageous in compasion to the response rate, very disappointing, there has to be a better way. I had more success on Flip Key and Home Away with far less inquiries, time and effort.

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Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] mold in condo

We rented #127 in Seascape resort for 2 months in 2012, January and February. Owner Steve Khatchadourin required the full 2-months rent prior to our arrival. When we checked in there was a foulsmell upon entering the unit . We later learned that the owner himself put fresh fish in the in the freezer, stinking up the whole place. There was little to no maintenence on the unit as the patio door took two people to open it, the microwave was rusted and unuseable. There were only two plates, no usable frypans, no canopener or pot holders. On the 11th. day of our stay, late in the evening we heard rain leaking from the top of the window and dripping down on the sill. I got up and placed a pan under the sill to catch the dripping water. The next morning after pulling back the curtains that were placed in the closed position since we entered the condo, we noticed black mold everywhere around the window to the floor and was in the carpet. We contacted the owner and Seascape and took pictures of the mess. We never did hear from the owner, but 2-days later someone from Seascape came over and agreed we had a mold problem. I Take medication for allergies and sleeping 4 feet from this growing mold was a health concern. If proper maintenence was performed on this condo the leak would have been fixed. Finally a contractor was sent out and we were told that the work would take five days. We never were offered accomadations by Seascape or Steve. We vacated the property and after 5-days and many unanswered e-mails, Cathy from seascape sent us an e-mail that the repairs were much more extensive than thought and will take longer to complete. The drywall from the inside and the siding from the outside had to be removed, as well as rotted structural framing. We finally got ahold of Steve, all he had to say is that we could stay at his studio condo in Sandestin while the repairs were being made. We had an agreement to stay at a condo in Miramar Beach not Sandestin. We were cheated out of the condo we paid up front for 2 of the 8 weeks that we were there, not to mention any of the possible health consequences from being exposed to the growing mold for 22-days. We asked the owner (Steve) for a refund of $500.00 and he refused. We feel we are owed this amout as again we were out of the condo for two weeks. We recommend that you do not rent #127 at Seascape.

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Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] accusation of broken equipment

When I arrived at the Sevierville TN cabin. It was very dirty. Bathrooms, jucuzzis, hot tub filthy. Towels on the tolit brush instead of towel rack.I immediately called the housekeeper. He said he hadn't been contacted until that morning by the owner to let him know we would be there.He was rude and still didn't get things clean.. so I called the cabin owner(elaine foster). She of course didn't answer and still hasn't called me back after 2 1/2 weeks. Through email- She claims I broke a basketball game while I was there (which was already broken, I assumed she knew since it's suppose to be checked after each guest) and will not refund my $200 deposit. Also my mother's finger got cut on the very sharp banister coming up the stairs. Not safe. If I broke something I'd admit it...because I don't like liars or thieves.

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A voice!!!
Rex, US
Oct 07, 2013 9:03 pm EDT
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I am in the same situation now, however the place was extremely nice but was wrongfully accused of broken a planter. I was so upset that I was just going to leave it alone, but as the days went by I couldn't take been accused for something we did not do... Can you let me know who I can contact? I have a voice and don't want this to happen to the next person...

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8:46 pm EST

Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] stay away from these guys

Although I like what VRBO does for my rentals bottom line it is unfortunate they are allowing Brokers to advertise and lie about the location. My rental is located on Anna Maria island which includes 3 towns in it. Bradenton Beach, Holmes beach and the small town of Anna Maria. The most desirable is the town of Anna Maria. So the brokers lie and say thier rental is located in the town of Anna Maria instead of Bradenton Beach or Holmes beach because they know it is more desirable. Unfortunately they have overloaded the Anna Maria page with these false listings.

It is a shame that VRBO has allowed these broker to lie to the public with the false assumption that they are dealing with the owner but it is more disapointing that they are allowed to mislead us into thinking the property is located somewhere it is NOT.
If VRBO is so greedy that they need the money so bad and then don't care what is posted this site will dissolve in time because the public will be fed up with being lied to and the honest owners that have followed the rules of proper location will be lost in the shuffle.

VRBO check your listings 50% of them listed for the town of Anna Maria are false.

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Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] deposit scam

Susan Henderson of VRBO Merritt Island Vacation Rental Properties was reported fraudulently withholding deposits from customers. (Banana River)
Vacation Scam Susan Henderson Banana River Vrbo
Not as advertised. Worst place on VRBO ever! The pictures are lovely (must have been taken years ago, but the description is not accurate regarding the location, or amenities. I should have known this was a scam property from the onset because once we signed the contract, she wanted ALL the money right away even though our vacation was not for another 5 months. The house is not walkable to anywhere besides a gas station. You must have a car. The rental was substandard, dingy, dark, old furniture, and everything was cheap and low quality. There was no rudimentary kitchen appliances like a can opener or garlic press. There is no large sauce pan so you will have to cook large meals in multiple pots. The dishwasher was broken. No proper dining chairs for 12 people to dine together--the chairs were horrible--you were either too high from the table or too low to the table. There was dog crap at the front of the steps walking into the property. DISGUSTING! The house is full of inferior cheap items that broke very easily--you will be nickel and dimed for everything. If you leave a cup away from the kitchen cupboard, she will charge you $5. RIDICULOUS! You have to make your own beds when you get there, and you have to get on your knees and scrub every single inch of the place before you leave. They do not wash the comforters and blankets so you might be sleeping on the crud from a previous guest. GROSS! I found a red hair that was NOT mine in the bed...NASTY! They are too cheap to pay for housekeeping but will charge you for a 'cleaning fee'. There was no tissue paper, garbage bags or paper towels provided. There is no king bed--that's a lie, it's a queen bed only. The owners are more concerned with getting your money and once they have it, they will ignore your requests to fix or take care of something. There is a laundry list of regulations, and if you don't arrange the dishes in the exact order as they want it, you get charged--what a scam! This place is HORRENDOUS! They will look for every excuse and will not return your security deposit. They are not helpful and accommodating. The pool had duck crap all in it and you have to spend at least 30 minutes cleaning the swimming pool BEFORE you get in-Yuck. This was the worst vacation spot that I have ever used. It is not near the beach, that was false as well. For the price you are paying, you would be better off going with another property or a hotel that is right on the beach. Be warned, this place is a nightmare!

Rental Property Address:
Sea Shell Drive
Merritt Island Florida 32952
Name of Landlord: Susan Henderson
Property/Unit
#257845 - "Banana River Waterfront with Pool and Boat Dock"

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anonymous1323
Merritt Island, US
Feb 16, 2013 2:28 pm EST

This was written by a renter named, Tosin Ola Weismann, who had a party in this house and was passed out when the cleaning crew showed up on the day of checkout. The house NOT in its original state. Therefore, her deposit was withheld and used for the additional clean up and replacement of broken items in the house. Mrs. Weismann was so upset that her deposit was withheld that she threaten to write a bad review to hurt my future business, if she did not get her deposit back. Would you want to be threatened? Mrs. Weismann followed through with her threat and has also used other means to further taint the owners of this property. To all that took the time to read this article, you never know who a real person is until they don't get what they want. In Tosin Ola Weismann's case she used her powers to threaten VRBO to have this site removed. She achieved her goal to prevent this family from receiving the income they needed to survive and to take care of their permanently mentally and physically disabled daughter, now 22 years old. Thank you Tosin Ola Weismann with following through with revengeful threat.

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Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO] rental cancellation

In June 2011 we made an initial payment on a beach house rental posted by VRBO under listing # 322472 for 12/23-12/30/2011. We followed up with the final payment 0n 11/08/2011, per the rental contract, and were looking forward to being away from home during our first Christmas without one of our sons who had passed away earlier this year. On 12/09/2011 we were notified by the rental agent that the house had been sold and that he had been advised the previous night that the new owner would not honor our contract. In addition, the rental agent also advised that he could not comply with the section of the contract requiring him to provide "an alternate rental property of similar quality" We are now left trying to locate another five bedroom beach front rental property that will meet our needs less than two weeks before our arrival in Florida during the Christmas season. Good luck with that. Not only will we not be renting through VRBO again there is also no chance we would ever recommend VRBO to anyone.

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Borrego Boy
San Diego, US
Jan 07, 2012 4:16 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Although your situation is clearly terrible, how could you expect VRBO, which is only an advertising company, to solve your problem? It was the owner and/or rental manager who screwed you. They should should have stopped advertising on VRBO while the home was for sale, or disclosed that reality in your contract. How do you expect VRBO to know who is, or is not a doofus owner/manager? There's no way. It's up to you, the consumer, to beware of such. Sorry.

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Phil111
, US
Dec 14, 2011 5:53 am EST

Checkout JoeOptions to find your next vacation home! Great site, great service! Can't say enough good things about 'em!
www.JoeOptions.com

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