VRBOReviews 1,999

Finding it incredibly difficult to accept the fact that my family is now out over $3,000 that we saved up for over a year towards our family beach vacation in the Outer Banks. The owner of this property, John Carter (owner of Smile Away in Corolla, NC) refuses to refund us even a portion of what we paid when were given no other option other than to cancel our reservation due to the circumstances at hand with COVID-19 (by the way, our reservation wasn't until July so we are cancelling 3 months in advance!)

With multiple family members, including myself, my father and grandmother being out of work due to mass lay-offs at this time (we all live in NJ and NYC areas) there is no doubt that we will be struggling to overcome this financial setback for years to come, and we realize that this is sadly this is the situation for thousands of others who VRBO turned their backs to. Shame on you John and shame on you VRBO, your days as a company are surely extremely limited. Seems they were a terrible company even before this crisis.

Booked our get away thru VRBO in Madeira Beach Florida. The owner puts on a good face in the add but is anything but when contacted. When we first reached out regarding our reservation he responded with there's no reservation under that name, when provided with the rental information proof he responded contact VRBO not his problem. Even changed the add for the property, His new add states they are "open" for business during the pandemic. Of course they are but nothing else is. Just want to steal your money! Avoid property #*******

Because of the virus, she asked for a refund. They want to book her for the next year. But want give her a date and want return her phone call.
I would never use this company!

This is a whole new low. After using VRBO for at least 5 years, VRBO allowed a company to (1) rent homes (not an Owner); and (2) CHANGED its payment policy for some them (only for companies?; not for owners?) and paid the company the entire payment I'd made to VRBO before the cancellation date. I cancelled before the deadline and VRBO HANGED UP ON ME when I called to get my refund. Low and behold, the "rental" company fraudulently posted homes and took my payment and WENT BANKRUPT! The company is called "NOTL" in Canada and obviously VRBO did not due ANY due diligence to protect its customers. I have my credit card company on the case now, but DO NOT USE VRBO. Contact another site (houses are often on more than one) or work with a vacation rental realtor.

VRBO offers no protection if the renter does not represent the property correctly. They will allow them to place pictures that are not the actual house you will be renting. In my case we rented Property
#******* in Weeki Wachee, FL for 13 nights. When we arrived the house was not what the pictures showed of the exterior. You could tell the house had been flooded previously and smelled of mold and mildew. Roaches greeted us as we entered the house and walked along the spongy leaning floor and upon entering the bathroom the tub was covered in mold. Initially, the owner stated she would refund our stay, but after we departed she changed her mind and stated she would only refund what VRBO required to her refund. After speaking with Robert the supervisor at VRBO, it was clear that VRBO does not have the best interest of the renter/customer as its priority. They stated they have no protection mechanism in place to provide a refund and that only the owner can make a refund.

We rented a flat in Kopenhagen for the end of May and did this in the first of Febuary.
Long before the problems with Corona started.
As we now are unable to use the flat due to the lock down we tryed to get a refund.
But a big No is what we get.
The house owner refuses and refers to the general policy regarding Corona that VRBO has created.
Also VRBO keeps their cut witch is 25% of in total 870 $
VRBO has still our payment on their account?
Still they refuse to help us in this matter.
Do not use VRBO and especially not the house owner Solveig Eike in Kopenhagen.
Thats what you can call GREED in it´s worst form.

VRBO is full of nothing but excuses and lies. I canceled my reservation due to covid-19 8 days ago and was told by one of their agents the refund would take up to 7 business days. I called on the 5th day and was on hold for 20 minutes because a full refund wasn't issued and was AGAIN told it will take 7 business days so to wait 2 more days and call back if I havnt been refunded. I then had to contact the home owner who VRBO also gave issues on giving me the full refund. Now I'm at day 8 and I call them to find out where my refund is and the lady I talked to said that the first person I talked to should of told me my refund will take up to 30 days because their payment system is having issues. Like seriously?! This company has been nothing but a headache and Airbnb took care of my mom when she canceled her trip through them and they went above and beyond to take care of her. I will NEVER go through VRBO ever again and will happily take my business elsewhere.

Posting a review as a last resort, after numerous attempts to resolve this through emails and phone calls to VRBO. What a waste of time! They even issued a fake "Case Number" to make me think they are doing something about my complaint. See below part of the email I sent to customer support:... our Formal Complaint against VRBO Property #*******, New York City. We were compelled to cancel due to the Covid 19 virus and they offered a credit, however shortly thereafter our business closed due to the virus.

As business owners our future efforts will be in rebuilding our company, and due to the inevitable financial strain ahead we have no plans for travel to New York or anywhere else, any time soon. Upon requesting a refund I received the same brief one-sentence reply from property manager Therese, credit only. When I asked if we should contact VRBO directly. Therese suggested that I am trying to put them out of business, and in regards to contacting VRBO to "go for it".

We paid VRBO Property #******* owner a total of $1551. 63 USD, ($2005. 25 CDN). NOT ONE DIME of our hard-earned money will be refunded by this owner, including a $200.00 CLEANING FEE for a unit that we won't be using. The loss of over $2000. 00 CDN is very significant for our family, and could be used to support our children for the hard times ahead.

We question the ethics of a proprietor withholding every dollar of our payment with no exchange for service.

Buyer Beware... if you are considering booking a rental listed below.

Michel Saumonneau
www.luxury villas world.com
Rental Vacation Homes
Property ID - *******

My family booked this house for a trip to Disney world and had paid in full. When Disney closed their doors due the CV pandemic, I contacted HomeAway regarding my options in cancelling due to these unforeseen conditions. Mr. Saumonneau has a no refund policy, however, due to the circumstances, I was hoping they would relax the policy. Shortly after I contacted HA, they contacted Mr. Saumonneau and told him that I wanted to cancel my reservation... This was not the case at all as I was only inquiring what my options were. I could have cancelled myself if I wanted to. Despite my request for a full refund, my reservation was canceled without my authorization and Mr. Saumonneau would not issue a refund. My advice would be to stay away from this property and any property that does not offer a full refund. HomeAway offers the renters zero protection when people such as these pull such stunts. I personally will steer far away from HomeAway. It is not worth the $1500 of stupid tax that I paid.

FYI... We did purchase the travel insurance, however, it appears that we are only covered if one of the travelers becomes ill with CV. I have tried to contact CSA, however, I have not had any luck.

We tried to cancel an upcoming stay in CA due to California executive order 33-20 which forbids travel in e state due to COVID-19. Homeowner said no refund. We called VRBO three times and they all say no refund. Tough luck. I reminded VRBO that taking a legalistic approach to dealing with customers during a pandemic will hurt them in the long run. I will never again work with VRBO my entire life. I will tell everyone I can about their ridiculous policy of no refund unless homeowner approves even when it is ILLEGAL to travel to the home. Unbelievable corporate greed that favors the homeowners. Time for MR Hurst the VRBO CEO to be a leader and do what is right for his company in the long term. Keep customers happy. Don't be a corporate predator. I'm having my credit card do a chargeback and will right this tooth and nail. The fact there is a government order forbidding my travel in the state where the house is helps me a ton. My credit card will prevail with me on this and agree that services were not provided as agreed upon.

My family has used VRBO several times over the last ten years and never had any issues. I even recommended them to others. However, that is no longer the case. They are only great when everything goes according to plan. We placed a deposit on a property in Florida for a family vacation in May. When our home state made it mandatory that all residents Stay Home, all our vacation plans came to a screeching halt. My daughter could no longer graduate from college in May, and my husband is unemployed. I immediately contacted the owner and was told that I was SIX days late for the cancellation period, so I could not get a refund. SIX DAYS! When I asked for them to consider the COVID-19 circumstances, I was told that everyone is having a hardship. They offered to allow me to either gamble that the WHO would extend the travel advisory through May (so then I could possibly get a refund), or I could pick a different week. What I think people are missing is that this is not just about missing the May vacation dates. This is about not being employed to pay for a vacation now. Basically, they are just going to keep my $1,700.00. I contacted VRBO, and that was a joke. They do not care about the renters; they only care about the owners. Businesses and people across the world are all trying to help each other out, but that does not include VRBO. VRBO, Matthew Devey, and Mayr & Co Realty should all be ashamed of themselves by taking advantage of people at this time.

The owner ($#*! Wall) of the property we rented in Florida was absolutely unprofessional in his response to our concerns regarding the WORLD WIDE pandemic. Callously remarking "next time purchase the insurance." I wish I could find more places to put him on blast! Don't rent from him! What a snide, unreasonable person. We even requested to rebook on a different date and his response was something along the lines of "you can't expect a business owner to pay for an act of God." Stating that he can't afford to lose money on future bookings by rescheduling all the current ones. I will never book through VRBO again.

I had to cancel my week rental (March 21 to 28) in Savannah because the border was closed. VRBO said 95% of owners were able to reach a mutual agreement settlement with renters.The owners refused any compensation (outside of. Cleaning and damage which is not a refund) VRBO returned service.
Fee only. Also the owner would not offer me an alternative booking as VRBO suggested
Three time consuming phone calls to VRBO did nothing. The owners got to keep my hard earned money and offered no compromise whatsoever. Goodbye VRBO!

The companies that last through the ups and downs are the companies that put customers first. Customers are what keep companies going. VRBO will diminish due to its lack of care for customers. I had no control over the COVID-19 pandemic and now I'm out a nice chunk of money because the property owner and VRBO were not willing to understand OR have any sympathy. If you are debating what rental site to use for your vacation, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT use VRBO, HomeAway or any of its affiliates. These companies do not care whether you lose money. Companies like these should not be supported.

I was suppose to rent a condo in the French Quarter of NOLA for my Bachelorette. We were so excited for this event, but then COVID-19 struck. Lance, the property owner, did not care that I was out thousands of dollar and he didn't even try to help. I would type long messages explaining my situation and I would get one sentence responses. Do yourself a favor and do not rent property ID *******. You will be treated poorly.