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Andy C.

2
Level 2 Contributor

Contributor Level

Total Points
589

3 Reviews by Andy

  • Tripadvisor

4/20/17

I have had overnight cabin rental listings with Flip Key & Vacation Home Rentals for over 10 years & have had very good experiences with them. About a year or 2 ago, Trip Advisor bought both companies. Trip Advisor contacted me last year & told me I couldn't have listings with both companies. Since I got more inquiries from Flip Key, I told Trip Advisor to cancel my Vacation Home Rentals subscription.

My Flip Key subscription has expired, so I tried to go on line & renew the subscriptions, but it says that I don't have an active listing, so I couldn't renew them. I have called several times to renew my subscription:

1. It's very hard to contact Trip Advisor because they don't publish contact info. However, after many hours of research, I found a phone #. I called after hours & was told to leave my contact info. & someone from renewals would contact me in 24 hours. THAT WAS 4 DAYS AGO.

2. I called today & talked to "Kathy" who I could barely understand. She said she was with Vacation Home Rentals I told her I needed to renew my Flip Key listings. She told me that I couldn't renew the properties. She said I had to have a new property listing. I told her that I had information I send to guests with those property numbers, prior guests have those property numbers, & I have business cards with those property numbers, so I need to keep the same property numbers. SHE SEEMED TO NOT KNOW WHAT SHE WAS DOING & kept insisting that I can't keep the same property numbers which I have had about 10 years.

3. I asked to speak to someone else & "Kathy" transferred me to "Judy" who was only slightly easier to understand. She also said she was with Vacation Home Rentals & it was obvious that she DIDN'T KNOW WHAT SHE WAS DOING EITHER. After about 5 minutes of my having to ask her over & over again to repeat what she was saying so I could understand her, she told me that she didn't work in renewals & transferred me to "Leo."

4. "Leo's" English was slightly better than "Kathy's",, but much worse than "Judy".
He didn't hear my problem, but said he would he would have to check into it & would call me back. He didn't ask for my contact info., & when I asked him how long it would be before he got back with me, he said 10 - 15 minutes. THAT WAS OVER 9 HOURS AGO, i. E. he told me that at 12:45 today it's now almost 10:00 now.

All I'm trying to do is renew the same subscriptions which I've had for over 10 years. Worst customer service I've ever had. Worst organization I've ever dealt with (including VA).

  • VRBO

4/13/15

Not sure if everyone is aware, but Home Away & VRBO are not getting into the property management business. Of course, this means that VRBO, i. E. "Vacation Rentals By Owner, will no longer be "Rentals by Owners." This also means that those of us who are owners will have our listing priorities reduced even more since properties that they handle will have 1st priority.

The problem for renters is that they will no longer be able to deal directly with owners & properties handled by VRBO & Home Away will have their management fees added to the cost of the rental.

  • HomeAway

4/13/15

Home away/vrbo has added a "service fee" to all on line bookings. This increases the cost of renting our properties. They also charge us a fee when we book on line which decreases our income. Although owners don't have to pay the "service fee" renters do which makes it seem as though owners are hiding fees. I have told renters how much they can save by booking directly with me. Most want to cancel the on line booking & book directly with me. However, this penalizes me because my listing priority is based on the number of on line bookings. For owners & renters looking for an alternative I have had good luck with flip key by trip advisor. I pay about 1/3 of what I pay VRBO/Homeaway & get about twice the bookings. I was in the process of listing with airbnb until I read their complaint policy.

Andy Has Earned 29 Votes

Andy C.'s review of HomeAway earned 15 Very Helpful votes

Andy C.'s review of VRBO earned 10 Very Helpful votes

Andy C.'s review of Tripadvisor earned 4 Very Helpful votes

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