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HomeAway has a rating of 1.1 stars from 1,751 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with HomeAway most frequently mention customer service, credit card and property owner. HomeAway ranks 152nd among Vacation Rentals sites.
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Property #******* Grand Marinas Angeles Gilmore accepted our payment in full in March 2024 for a rental for one month starting in Feb 2025. Jan 19 Angeles sent an email stating at first there had been a natural disaster which was a lie then followed by an email giving us notice our rental was only available for 3 weeks due to unforeseen circumstance and we needed to answer within a few hours or it would be cancelled. We did not see the email and found the credit on our mastercard not ever 24 hr notice. She has never responded to our emails. Of course her new rental rate has increased considerably and obviously they found someone to pay more. Be very leery of dealing with these people. Of course all of our flights have been booked for months. The lack of integrity and greed not to mention the stress & anxiety they created has been unbelievable! DO NOT DEAL WITH ANGELES GILMORE! NOT TRUSTWORTHY!
The place was very clean inside but had a odor smell which made us only spent one night instead of the 2 nights we booked the light in one of the bedroom was not working the property around was very bushey. We wanted to try something different but this place was not worth the price per night. If a person pay for 2 nights no need to be sending emails on check out time. I wi not recommended the place.
Management was rude and deserted her position and left friends in charge. She made jokes about homelessness. I had a sewage water causeway to leak into my room and into others. There were stains even on entrance ceiling. I wasn't aware of leak at first but tossed snd turned all night, itching badly, to find out next day that everything in room was wet snd water dripping from ceiling. No management but "friend" left in charge, opened other rooms to find 3" of water in floor snd one room smelled of mold bad. I opted at this point to try to sleep in car with swollen blistered legs propped over steering wheel as I was too sick snd tired to drive…waiting on management to return. Finally "CJ" who was with manager viewed my room and the others and told me that I would get reimbursed for entire stay, but while CJ went to get repairs in order, I had to pack up all my wet items into my car and so I went to get refund, but lady manager refused to give me full refund, even though I never got to sleep in room snd all my paperwork, clothing and foodstuffs were wet. She argued that CJ never said anything about a refund, even though she was right there when he said it. I went back while the main owner was there, a Mr Hassitt, snd he listened and took her side and both of them accused me of lying about the first two nights'. So I told them that God has his own set of cams and he knows what really happened and that I will seek legal help snd keep complaining against what kind of experience there. It was very dirty, poorly built, against code and very poorly run. If that was HOME AWAY…I'd never want to go home…I would RUN AWAY, screaming!.
We stayed at 10 Old Dock Road in Plattsburgh NY! Never stay there! The place was a complete rib off! The AC didn't work and our family of three sweated there for four nights and couldn't sleep! The worst of it is when we left they charged us $200 for damages that were not true! They stayed complete lies! In fact they should have refunded our money for that stay not charged us more! Avoid at all costs! Wanted to add that the water smelled horrible too! And that my sister Ona Belser paid for this for me her brother so that this review has nothing to do with her!
I booked a home and once I got there, owner would not leave for hours. Then had me sign a contract ( her own) stating all these ridiculous stipulations, cannot go into living room, cannot use pool without paying an extra fee, no opening windows, and the list goes on and that we cannot post reviews of our stay there was no recourse as I had no where else to stay after flying there. Do not use this company. They do not vet their homeowners and this one was literally crazy.
My contract was with HomeAway. HomeAway Property Case ******* [ ref:_00D1aZzRr._5001P13hpQs: ref]
Supplier cancelled my booking after I paid and won't repay / has given me the runaround straight away and ever since. HomeAway are aware of the whole scenario from the start when initially the supplier cancelled (because they changed their mind) and then said they didn't receive my money. Then said they were going to provide a much reduced refund - cleaners fees etc, (but didn't). HomeAway / BookaBach have returned the booking fee only, and say they cannot help me further due to "data protection".
HomeAway offered no advice or help to assist me in recovering the rest of my money.
Supplier has now sold their rental property for over 1.4million nzd but won't reply / repay me!
https://www.bayleys.co.nz/*******
Its a strange world where data protection is used as an excuse for cheating someone out of their money. It should not be against the law to provide someone with enough information to take someone to court who has cheated them out of money. The primary thief - (Debra Taylor if that is her real name), *******@gmail.com has kept the money and I cannot take forward through the courts as I don't have her primary address / details.
The NZ authorities and UK authorities in NZ can't help either!
My family stayed at the Origin by Seahaven in Panama City Beach for a week in June of 2021. We had many bad experiences, but my main complaint was my car was towed from the parking garage without warning. The spot I was parked in was next to a spot with a concrete pillar in between the lines of that spot. I did not think the spot next to me was a parking spot, so I did not worry about the line on that side of my car. Im posting a picture showing the parking spot. I was in the spot to the left where the car is now.
When we came out the next morning our car was gone. We had a parking pass clearly displayed in the window. If asked to move I would have done so immediately. We were in our condo unit all night. I have since posted about my experience on my own Facebook page and have received multiple posts from owners calling me names and saying I think I'm better than others. They have gone as far as to say they were glad I was towed. This was an honest mistake. I paid my fine and only expressed they put a sign in that spot letting other guests know the spot next to it is considered a parking spot. When my husband went to pick up our car from the towing company, there were 4 other guests from the Origin picking up their cars. The cars are being towed at the Origins request. I have never experienced anything like this before and would not recommend the Origin at Seahaven to anyone.
Great folks to rent from. Home was very clean and spacious. A few things were a bit worn, but everything was in good repair. The owners were very responsive and helpful with our needs. Plan to rent from them again
Hello!
I booked a property last year in march in London. Because of covid situation i was unable to travel to London. The host ROBERT BASSETT refused to give me my money back. Homeaway/VRBO tried to help me receive my money, but Robert refused to refund. So STAY AWAY fRom ROBERT BASSETT in London property id is #******* - HE IS NOT A TRUSTED HOST.
I have been a commercial owner renting 6 homes in the Black Hills of South Dakota through VRBO for three years now. This company does not treat the property owners well. The customer service is overseas and good luck getting any help or understanding what they are saying. Last week I had over $1000 removed from my bank account by VRBO because a renter never showed up during the 2020 Sturgis Bike Rally and wanted a refund. I told the renter no because I could not rent the house back out on such short notice and my company policy did not allow for it (I have a 30-day cancelation refund policy). In the end the traveler disputed the charge and won so VRBO refunded them directly from my bank account and I was out an entire week rent during the busiest time of the year. These guys are just a bunch of crooks taking advantage of the property owners who have made massive investments into this business. VRBO uses every excuse in the book to pass the blame off, See attached photo of the email from them.
Booked accommodation for a wedding well in advance, had to cancel because of Covid. Made the cancellation within the "free cancellation" window and I was whacked with bank transfer and currency exchange fees, even though I paid with the local currency while booking. "Free Cancellation" is in NO WAY free, be wary of that before you commit your money! I will not be using HomeAway again.
Booked through HomeAway almost 2 months ago.
First booking didn't go through - although payment did.
Call center assured me that it was an Internet fault. Payment would bounce back to my account and to use a different card for booking.
I did - paying $454.05 again.
After a week payment had not bounced back and bank told me both payments had been cleared by HomeAway.
It has been 2 months, many unanswered emails, then automated emails asking for the same information again and again, repetitive phone conversations and STILL NO REFUND.
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.
We've been renting through VRBO/HOME AWAY for years with pretty good luck. HOWEVER everything has changed this year! It seems I not only have ahouse for our vacation in 9 days but our 1,800 will not be returned it will be held! We did change our dates due to COVID and we DID recieve a confirmaiton of the new dates!
HOME AWAY has told us its our problem and we need to work with FLORIDA PROPERTIES who 1. Has disconnected thier office number. 2. The person who is suyppose to help us told us we have no house ansd he is not giving us back our money. He will keep should we want to rebook in the future.
Now I sit here with 9 plane tickets, 18 disney tickets and NO HOUSE! Oh and did Im mention that HOME AWAY COSTUMER SERVICE HUNG UP ON ME TODAY!
Cancelled my booking on the same day i made the reservation. 100% refund was guranteed. It's been 5 days and no refund yet. This site looks like a scam. Becareful booking through them.
DO NOT BOOK THIS VILLA- ORLANDO
HA-6T57KM
#*******
I would like to make other travellers aware of the very strict cancellation policy of this property owner. During the COVID-19 epidemic, we were naturally forced to cancel our Florida holiday in Easter 2020. The property owner refused to reimburse us any of the money apart from the damage deposit of $750, which left us $2574. 40 out of pocket. I assume we would have been receiving this damage deposit after our stay regardless. The property owner even kept the money for heating the pool. Ridiculous! HomeAway urged all their property owners to reimburse their customers as this was unforeseen circumstances, however, HomeAway cannot force the homeowners to reimburse any money. I have spoken to five different people at HomeAway who have all tried to contact the property owner regarding our refund but the property owner has not replied to any of their emails or phone calls. The property owner was informed that our travel insurance was not covering our expenses but she showed no sympathy to our predicament. I would not recommend this property owner to any travellers as I don't want anybody to find themselves in the same situation as it has been very time-consuming and stressful. Do not book this villa!
We chose a cottage yesterday and were told it would cost £1180 approx with an immediate deposit of £396 approx. Gave c/c details for deposit. Showed kids the house; everyone happy and excited for next years holiday.
Then, later in the evening the owner emailed me saying the house would cost £800 MORE than the first price to reflect next years fees.
With HomeAway, all communication is faceless and there is no redress or person to complain to, no emails, no way of raising the issue! The owner has the upper hand entirely.
This is the perfect platform to scam people. We won't be paying the extra £800 however, I'm sure some people would do so believing they're in some sort of contract.
By the way, should you still want to use them, avoid ‘WOODGATE' farmhouse (near Crackington Haven, near Bude), as this is the house the owner tried to scam us out of £800 extra.
I booked a terrible house in Tellaro, Italy through HomeAway. When we got to the house, there were electrical wires hanging out of sockets including over the children's bed, mould growing up the walls, a loose banister, rickety furniture that looked as though it would collapse at any moment. The entire place was a health hazard. I made repeated calls to HomeAway pleading with them to move us to somewhere else but Home Away did not want to know. They were not interested in helping once they had my money despite the fact they knew that they had place my family and young children in hazardous conditions. Even worse, they continued to advertise the property in question even after I sent them photographic evidence of the dangerous state of the property and did not publish my review. Disgusting company. Do not book with them
I don't know why HomeAway offers a customer service as they are incapable of helping with any issue. I have tried several times but they make it very clear that they don't care and are not willing to take any action. Calling them is a total waste of time.
Don't stay at Durham house apartment
Shocking customer service. I booked Durham House apartment in Beer we left early due to how dirty it was.
With covid we had expected it to be clean but the state of it was disgusting - we took photos and contacted The owner Sue Wesley she was rude and very nasty and HomeAway was hopeless.
Really to listen to all these bad reviews. Don't stay at Durham House apartment in Beer and don't use homeaway
Terrible experience with them and their book with confidence guarantee is a joke. When you get into the terms and conditions of the guarantee it's actually all very vague with loopholes so beware. In our case the owner cancelled the booking the night before we were due to check in claiming a "double booking" on the homeaway app. We'd booked a couple of months prior and been trying to get in touch with the owner for a couple of weeks to confirm the details - the owner had ignored all our messages.
Due to the short notice cancellation we should have been covered by the "book with confidence guarantee". Homeaway first tried to weasel out of it despite the cancellation was less than 24 hours before we were due to check in. After multiple phone calls they finally said they'd look for alternative accommodation on their listings - the only available one was too expensive for them to uphold the guarantee and said that they'd refund our money and we'd have to find our own accommodation. We luckily found another property on another site - it was twice the cost and after more phone calls to Homeaway they said that they MIGHT pay the difference if we sent them the booking details of the new property and associated proof of purchase. Four weeks later we are still waiting for a resolution - they keep giving us the run around by requesting the same information again and again. They only deal with the "book with confidence guarantee" claims by email so you can't actually speak to someone. I will never use these guys again.
Answer: Homeaway is charging a fee for paying through them. They said it was to improve marketing and because renters like to pay through them. As some one who is listed through Homeaway I find this practice destructive both to the owners and renters. I encourage all potential renters to contact the owners directly and pay us directly. Owners already pay a fee. If the owners want to be listed in higher tier you have to pay more. To me they are just trying to find ways to make more money at both the owners and renters expense without improved service for either.
Answer: Go elsewhere. Sadly what started as a very good site many years ago has evolved into an unethical monopoly that has a sole interest. Profit. They do not care about owners or travelers. They exist to remove you from your money, and will say one thing and do another. They have lost the faith and trust of both, and it is well-deserved. Anyone coming on board with any of HomeAway's companies as a traveler or host would be foolish considering their underhandedness.
Answer: That's a toss up... Kinda like eBay with sellers and no feedback... In general... I don't trust Home away anymore than I can throw em... cuz they are gonna side with their rentors and not you...
Answer: No, they won't. Worst agency I ever dealt with. Warn all you friends. They should be put out of business.
Answer: HomeEscape.com is relatively new but with the new Expedia Service charges on HomeAway/VRBO, the homeowners are moving over to HomeEscape in droves. Over the next year as the HomeAway subscriptions expire many of the homeowners will not renew with HomeAway if HomeEscape turns into a good alternative. In general we (homeowners) are pretty upset that Expedia is going to make over 4Billion in added income from our customers just in the first year of the fee, if folks continue to book through them. Many of us will feel pressure to lower our rental income but if you only knew our expenses you would know this is not really a big money maker for us - personally, these fees will actually put us well into the red. So, for our guests and ourselves, HomeAway will no longer be a site we do business with once our subscription expires. And, though we used to rent through them at least once a year, we're done with that as of now.
Answer: This was my first and last experience using a similar service. I have been traveling for years, staying at hotels, with no problems. Given my experience with homeaway, I will only use reputable hotels from now on.
Answer: If I were you I would run as far as you can from these people!
Answer: I don't think our guests are aware of the rip-off yet. Look what it took for us to figure out what they are doing.
Answer: Avoid them at all cost! They're criminals!
Answer: Trust me, Homeaway does NOT assist you contrary to what you might think of them as sort of a back-up if there are problems. It's the worst agency I've ever dealt with.