Vrbo will NOT get involved in any way. They will not arbitrate on anyone's behalf. They are strictly an advertising website. Carefree travel insurance & all the other stuff is just to make renters feel more comfortable to rent. They hardly ever pay out if there is a real problem. You can sue in small claims court, in the city & state you rented in. The only defense you have is if you paid with a credit card to do a charge back, & even then its hard. You have to have documentation to prove you case. However, vrbo won't contest the chargeback if you can get your credit cad company to work with you. Best to leave a review that warns other renters to stay away. But vrbo approves the reviews before they are posted.

My experience with Vacation Rentals, a member of the VRBO family, is that they are more interested in the $800 from the owner for the listing as opposed to listening to a "dissatisfied" customer, or contacting the owner to get an explanation of what they perceive happened. Good luck...

I rented a home for vacation on LBI this past August... the house was listed on vrbo but the owner suggested we do it separate off vrbo to save money. Silly me who knew so I said yes.
Well I send the money plus security deposit of 500 and now the owner is claiming I left scuff marks on the wall with a small knick in another wall (which has been painted over, then a crack in some molding I have no idea where it is... I claimed I did not do this plus I am renter on this island for over 30 years and never ever had an issue.
The owner Dan Fried refuses to answer my emails and or send me my 500 back...
Help

I filed a complaint with my cc company and they got the money back.

I registered a complaint with VRBO and while they attached the complaint to the owner's file, VRBO does not want to get involved with money issues and it is up to you to TRY and collect from the owner. Unfortunately, I was not successful and as far as I was concerned, he was a ruthless businessman and no way would I ever rent from him. I would love to publish his name, but then it probably won't be published.

Based on my experience the one time we cancelled and got out refund was when the owner had us pay through credit card through VRBO. When I cancelled before the deadline, I had no problem getting the refund which the owner created again by credit refund through VRBO.

First of all, VRBO should not "determine" if you are owed money. Keep in mind that the name of the company is "Vacation Rentals By Owner (VRBO). Consequently as a renter, YOU ARE NOT A VRBO CUSTOMER. The owner is the VRBO customer, you are a customer of the owner. Therefore, VRBO is not in a position to determine if you are owned money from the owner.

Your best recourse is to 1st contact the OWNER & try to resolve the problem. You may also want to write a review. Properties are listed by priority & there are a number of things that go into determining priority, one of which is reviews. A bad review can be the difference from having a property listed in the 1st 10 that are listed or listed as # 150 out of 200 properties. Obviously, if it is listed as # 150, not many people are going to be searching that far for a listing.

You can also try small claims court, however, keep in mind that if you stayed in the property, you do owe the owner because the owner did rent the property to you instead of renting it to someone else.

Owners have a problem from the other side. I have had people stay in the property for 2 weeks without any complaints. After they left, they claimed that the property had dust & dead bugs & if I didn't give them back a full refund, they would write a bad review. Owners are allowed to respond, but unfortunately no matter how valid a response may be, nor how many positive reviews we receive some people are only concerned with a single negative response.

I have no idea. Based on my experience with vrbo am not optimistic about you being paid. If the owner received $ by credit card you may have recourse thru your cc company. That would be the best way in my opinion to recoup money. Good luck. Carol