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VRBO Reviews Summary

The overall reputation of the company reflects significant dissatisfaction among customers, particularly regarding its customer service and reliability. Many users report frustrating experiences with delayed refunds, poor communication, and unhelpful support staff. Complaints about properties not matching descriptions or being in unacceptable conditions are prevalent, leading to a loss of trust. While a few customers express occasional satisfaction with specific transactions, the overwhelming sentiment leans towards a lack of accountability and professionalism. This has resulted in a growing number of users opting for alternative platforms, indicating a critical need for improvement in service quality and responsiveness.

This summary is generated by AI, based on text from customer reviews

service
465
value
418
shipping
117
returns
216
quality
360
Idaho
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow John C.
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Booked a month rent in 2022 at Billy's Breeze Dock in Carrabelle FL. Unit was paid for, plane tickets booked by family members. Owner Cancelled. Did not get enough money. As they say "words no good, your no good."

Date of experience: June 5, 2021
Utah
2 reviews
0 helpful votes
Follow Misty G.
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I would give them ZERO stars if I could. Some extended family members and I had planned a fun girls weekend getaway. I normally book with airbnb but thought I would try out VRBO. We booked an apartment in SLC for 2 nights more than 3 weeks in advance. Our particular host had a very strict cancellation policy 50% non refundable if cancelled less than 2 weeks in advance, and completely non refundable if cancelled within a week of our arrival. That wasn't a problem for us, we were committed so we made the reservation. Our host confirmed all was good. I didn't hear anything more from him until the day before we were to arrive. I received an e-mail from the host saying our reservation had been cancelled and my money was being refunded! We had less than 24 hours to make new arrangements. I was working and unable to call vrbo to resolve this and because it was Memorial Day weekend, there wasn't much available. We decided to forgo getting a rental and just stay with a family member. I contacted the host to see if he could help me understand why my reservation had been cancelled. No response! I contacted VRBO to see what their policies are or if there are any repercussions to the host to prevent things like this from happening in the future. I left 2 messages with vrbo and NO RESPONSE! Given the strict cancel policy you would think you would have the same guarantee that they would not cancel on you, but NOPE! Renter beware of VRBO. We will never use them again, and word spreads fast believe me!

Date of experience: May 31, 2021
Florida
2 reviews
5 helpful votes
Follow Paul L.
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Avoid this site!
May 20, 2021

Avoid. This. Site. They don't really care to make sure that the places being rented are legitimately as they described. Most people will try and advertise house rooms, with complete strangers living in it, as "house rentals." Unless you want to get crammed into a house, where you're stuck with complete strangers, and have it be sprung up on you last second that there's false advertising going on. Avoid this site and save your money. Was a complete and utter waste of my time and money. Will avoid them in the future, that's for certain.

Date of experience: May 20, 2021
Texas
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Emily M.
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We booked the original stay 2 weeks in advance, flew to our destination, and then at 3:59 pm (1 minute before check-in) our host cancels. We were on the phone with customer support, on hold that is, for over an hour trying to get help with the situation and find another stay.

(YOU CANNOT BOOK THE SAME DAY THROUGH VRBO) So either way, we were screwed for the first night. We thought we lucked out by finding another Vrbo listing and the owner said we could arrive a day early no problem. What a relief... Only to arrive after dinner and find that there were already people staying there, so we left... and the owner wanted to refund only 50% of the $1,300 bill even though we were no longer able to stay there.

My boyfriend and his army vet brother ended up having to get two hotel rooms at a Holiday Inn instead. After the second bad experience, I started writing reviews to warn people and he is still on the phone with support... going on 58 minutes. Not only that, but the refund is not immediate... it will take several days to get the $2,000+ back which will be hindering our overall vacation.

I don't understand how this 'company' is in business at all. Terrible experience. We will stick to hotels in the future. It's not worth the stress of not knowing if you have a place to sleep when you get off the airplane.

Date of experience: May 14, 2021
Louisiana
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Lewis T.
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I got very bad experience with Vrbo. I have booked a condo 3 month ago in advance but I got the canceled message from the host a day before I get there. We spent a long day on the phone with Vrbo and went nowhere. It ended up with no solution. After a long day I got the email from booking specialist said they will reimburse a night if I can find another condo through Vrbo's website. The price was up to sky because that is the last day to book. After the trip, I sent them a receipt and they said because I can find a condo with cheaper price than original price so they can not reimburse for one night they mentioned before. I can't imagine a company treat their customer like that. Who will pay for our time to deal with the $#*! like this. If I cancel out my trip at the last minute they will still charge me for whole money but if they cancel out my trip at the last minute they are not in charge for anything? My family is from many states come together. We took off work and spent travel time for the trip, who will pay for us if the trip is cancel?

I want to point out the problems with Vrbo.
1. They will get money if you book through their website but they don't have any responsibilities.
2. Their customer service is terrible and helpfulless. They can not do anything except sending message to upper level. You might not get the answers till next couple days.
3. They don't care about customer.

Date of experience: May 14, 2021
Georgia
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Tim T.
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I have already wrote details on other sites, this company has waisted enough of my time and money. Once you book your reservation, good luck. That's all you will get.

Date of experience: May 13, 2021
South Africa
1 review
2 helpful votes
Follow Ronel R.
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My friend and I booked an apartment via VRBO with an agency called City Apartment Stay, allegedly based in Edgewater Complex, London, for 10 days in December 2020. When Covid hit, we tried to cancel, but the agency said they could not refund us and offered us a credit note instead. Then THEY cancelled the booking and refunded us the agency fee, but not the bulk of the 3000 euro payment. A week or so later, they claimed the cancellation was made by mistake and that the booking was still valid for our new dates in December 2021. When circumstances surrounding Covid did not improve at the beginning of 2021, we tried to extend the credit note to April 2022, but the agency refused. They also refused to refund us. We were left in limbo as the agency then stopped responding to our emails. I contacted VRBO, and only after I posted a complaint on social media did they bother to respond. I emailed them all the correspondence between me and the agency, heard nothing for three weeks, and eventually contacted VRBO again. This time I was told there was nothing they could do for us, as the agency has not responded to their approaches and that they could not "force" the agency to refund us. We have been left in the lurch and have lost a lot of money. My advice is NOT to book through VRBO as they are not interested in their customers' issues. In fact, don't book anything anywhere until the whole bloody world is vaccinated, as your chances of getting your money back are zero. I won't ever book through VRBO again - I can't see any benefit in doing so for the consumer.

Date of experience: May 4, 2021
Colorado
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Benjamin S.
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COMPLETE SCAM
May 3, 2021

I booked a vacation rental. My host cancelled my rental for no reason against my will. AND I WAS NEVER REFUNDED. It has now been weeks. I am convinced that I will never get my THOUSANDS of dollars back.

How is this a legal company? These people need to be shut down because they are a literal mob.

Date of experience: May 3, 2021
Florida
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Fraud Alert!
May 3, 2021

Booked a cabin online through VRBO. Someone was living in the cabin, it was trashed, and owner would not answer calls, text, or VRbO messages. VRBO Customer service had me on hold for 51 minutes. I finally got a "problem monitor" on the line and he put me on hold another 26 minutes to find someone to help me. Incident *******z DO NOT BE SCAMMED

Date of experience: May 3, 2021
Minnesota
5 reviews
11 helpful votes
Follow Faith P.
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There are a lot of hidden fees that are not obvious until after you confirm your booking - I will not be using them again. It looked like the room was $79 per night, but it was actually $212.

Date of experience: April 25, 2021
Georgia
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Hannah P.
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I own a vacation property in Florida. VRBO had a technical issue and over rode my rental rates and gave everyone a 55% discount for peak season! Trying to even get a live person through chat or a phone call is impossible. When I asked to speak to a supervisor I was told that the agents are not allowed to transfer calls to a supervisor. VRBO also collected State taxes for a property that is located in a state with NO state taxes! When I attempted to recoup this money; I was told that they would have to investigate the matter and get back to me. This never happened. I think that this company is a sham and is very poorly ran.

Date of experience: April 20, 2021
Virginia
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Bob M.
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Should be better
April 18, 2021

VRBO ("verbo") obviously spent a lot of money for Feb 2020 Super Bowl commercials. Based on my experience with this app lately, they should've spent more money on functionality if they were hoping to capitalize on big dollar advertising.
I recently booked a VRBO condo in Jackson Hole. I thought the deal was done but soon I saw that my booking was cancelled (with no communication) and the property was re-listed at $800 more per night. My calls to VRBO Customer Service were frustrating and still no communication three days later.
I booked with AirBNB easily- their app and their service is simply better.

Date of experience: April 18, 2021
Oregon
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Minx R.
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VRBO has the worst customer service I have ever dealt with! They paid our County taxes to the City by mistake and are unwilling to help recover the money so it can go to the County where it belongs. The City allows VRBO to pay them in one non-itemized lump sum so the city has no solid proof that a mistake was made. They (and we) have asked VRBO to provide payment amounts and the check numbers used to make the payments. It's a very simple request but after almost five months of going back and forth we have gotten nowhere! VRBO is one of those companies that seems to prefer stonewalling and prevaricating over actual customer service. They have eliminated email communication and now relay on a call center that is all but useless!

Date of experience: April 16, 2021
Colorado
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Martha M.
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We ended up paying $500 more for our week in Destin using VRBO. If we had booked directly through the property management company we would have saved that money. It's a referral fee VRBO charges which can be completely avoided. FYI, our plane tickets would have been covered by the fee we paid to VRBO. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!

Date of experience: April 15, 2021
Nevada
3 reviews
2 helpful votes
Follow Frances H.
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Property Address: 2739 3 Peaks Lane Julien, Ca
This is the worst experience we ever had with VRBO. The description of the property amounts to fraud and deception.
Here's a list of the problems:
No toilet paper
No soap in the showers
No paper towels or other towels in the kitchen
Coffee maker was busted.
Bed linens were old and poorly laundered.
Bed liner was a filthy piece of plastic and cotton - never washed.
Towels were old and poorly laundered.
No hot water - the son made some adjustment and then the hot water turned on.
The general condition of the property was very bad. Lawn and garden haven't been attended to for years - one of the adults got poison oak just walking on the rock path.
One of the toilets failed completely and was unusable.
Ceiling fans had an inch of dirt covering them which meant they were unusable.
The deck had a broken fence which would have been dangerous for a child.
An upstairs door led to a shaft area which would have been extremely dangerous for anyone particularly a child who stepped inside.
The curtains were all torn and were hanging by staples.
Pictures of the above problems were taken and will be sent directly to VRBO management.
These are irresponsible property owners. The property should be removed immediately from VRBO as it poses a health hazard as well as a very uncomfortable and miserable environment.

Date of experience: April 12, 2021
Michigan
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Todd S.
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Awful customer service - tried to contact them about issues with my owner account login for 3 hours with no success

Date of experience: April 2, 2021
Washington
1 review
2 helpful votes
Follow Steve M.
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In the post visit email for a review I wrote

" Place was great and everything was as promised. Very expensive though for a short stay, lots of fees racked up the cost. Also the trash rules were weird. Not sure why there is a $250 fee for cleaning if we have to clean up ourselves"

The review was rejected because I quoted prices and I was not allowed to edit even though they asked me too. It was beyond 14 days of arrival. They still send me emails to review.

Date of experience: March 30, 2021
Ecuador
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow Gretchen S.
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Ripped off for $4,397
March 27, 2021

We paid $4,397 for a 2-month vacation rental. The contract stipulated that in the event of a border closure, we would be issued a credit voucher for the full amount. The border closed on the day of our flight. VRBO and the property owner have refused to honor their contract. We have no credit voucher and no refund in lieu of a voucher. VRBO would not even refund their processing fee of $300. They have not responded to repeated emails and phone calls. This is a huge loss for seniors on a limited income. Do not trust this company, they have no compunction about keeping your money for nothing.

Date of experience: March 27, 2021
Colorado
2 reviews
0 helpful votes
Follow Brandi M.
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I rented a cabin on vrbo that is managed by evolve. I fractured my wrist at our rental because it wasn't shoveled. I have yet to receive any communication from their insurance claims department to discuss my injury. I have had to chase them down and my claim has just been pushed aside. I have been told multiple times that someone will contact me and no one has. Stay away from either company!

Date of experience: March 26, 2021
Ohio
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Debbie R.
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DO NOT USE VRBO!
March 24, 2021

PSA to everyone... DO NOT book a trip through VRBO!

We had our dream vacation to Hawaii booked last May and due to COVID, moved it to this May. Considering all the restrictions still in place in Hawaii, we cancelled... following all the rules and working with the UNRESPONSIVE condo owner.
Finally coming to a fair agreement, to split the cost of our prepaid trip, so neither of us lost the whole $2000, we thought we were ok. But then our reservation & ALL correspondence for the past 2 years, VANISHED like it never existed, from the VRBO website & the refund has not shown up on or credit card!
Today was the 5th contact with VRBO and again nothing!
Complete run around from both the condo owner and booking site!
Bottom line, DO NOT RENT FROM VRBO OR MARK WOOD@ Turtle Bay condos on Oahu!

Date of experience: March 24, 2021

About the business

VRBO provides vacation rental listings by owner in the US and around the world.


vrbo.com
Founded in 1995
Austin, Texas, United States
+651