VRBOReviews 1,999

Vrbo seems to not care about customers and getting refunded way to hard. Had to cancel a trip due to Chinavirus vrbo said it was canceled and refunded but never received money and said because of Chinavirus they wouldn't charge fees but did their emailed showed 2nd time I have had to cancel through them and other time was also a pain had to talk with a lawyer to get that money back don't think I will be using this organization again

My wife and I rented the vacation home in Leavenworth, WA. We paid all fees and insurance on-time and without incident, as they were all too happy to take our money. Then the Covid-19 Virus settled-in, and we had to cancel, which was mandatory, as there is a Nationwide health crisis in effect. My wife contacted the owners of the rental property, and they agreed to refund our money, but the DASTARDLY SCUM that is VRBO would not allow the funds to be returned to us. The "customer service" representative with VRBO, whom we could barely understand as result of her inability to properly speak the English language, said the refund was processed two weeks ago, it could take up to 3 weeks! If we did not see it by then, wait another 3 weeks! Then she went on to tell my wife, who was extremely polite, "Everyone is waiting for their refund, not just[my wife's name]"! Avoid renting from these people, unless you want to flush your money down the toilet, they are despicable people, whom setup hard-working Americans, to steal their money. If you would like to hear a shining example of how to be a complete scumbag "customer service" rep., her name is Rachel. She's a peach, you guys should really enjoy her monotonous, mumbling, attitude-laden version of the English language!

Booked a place in New York State March 10,2020 for arrival to a property April 8 because I planned to visit family in the area. Mind you the time between book and stay date is less than 30 days and the property is wide open because of the time of year and travel uncertainty. As things changed in travel and virus toll went up on a daily basis I talked to the VRBO property owner about moving my dates or cancelling if things got worse. I even suggested only a 50% refund and a 50% credit for future use in the next year. Totally fair given the circumstances... if I didn't book they would have never had a reservation anyway. I called VRBO and they told me the property owner could give credit to be used in the future and the property owner even agreed in writing that they would do 50% refund and 50% credit. Just 14 days after I initially booked I finally asked to cancel because New York State (well look at the numbers of virus cases) and the Governor started restricting travel. My neighbors in VA had been self quarantining because they all had symptoms but no test available to determine if they had it. I didn't feel well so I certainly didn't think travelling was a good idea. Mind you, it is less than a week after I booked that I started communicating to cancel. The owner just got my money and hadn't been planning on a booking. Now she is looking at a target for keeping someones money. Nice enough person, but you see what people are truly made of in times of crisis. Long story short she refuses to offer a credit and keeps half the rental money telling me I did not cancel in the day window (I booked in less than a 30 day window). I guess it is my fault for not waiting a couple weeks but given the circumstances the owner should have been willing to even give a 100% refund. VRBO should have made the owner give a credit and not refused to do so.

When we arrived to the rental property we discovered window pane was missing from ground level window. The owner just taped a plastic board on the opening and the tape was coming off. It was late in the evening and the owner could not fix the problem immediately and we didn't feel secure to stay at this place. I called VRBO Customer Care # and all they did was to put the owner on the line which I did that myself already. They wouldn't even stay on the line to listen and document our conversation. The owner initially verbally agreed to a full refund but later did not return calls or emails. It would make a difference if the VRBO customer care agent was there to document my conversation with the owner. VRBO did nothing to help me to obtain the promised refund when I filed a written complaint later. Their email answer to me was: "If a resolution cannot be reached after efforts to contact the advertiser regarding the situation, you may need to consider other avenues. We cannot advise you on how you should proceed. We want to assure you that we have taken appropriate action on this advertiser's account. Please note that due to privacy laws, we are not permitted to disclose any action taken regarding this situation." Bottom line is don't count on them for assistance. Whatever action they took on the owner did not help me getting my refund.

VRBO is doing nothing to help people recoup money lost due to Coronavirus. I'm out around $7,000 from an owner who refuses to refund money or reschedule. In fact, he told my husband he will not respond to any more email from him. Shame on VRBO for contracting with unscrupulous property owners who take advantage of a worldwide pandemic to make money. I've called VRBO seven times. All I get from them is " I'm sorry for the inconvenience " and " I understand your frustration." I will NEVER use VRBO again, and I will make sure everyone I know understands what a horrible business it is.

VRBO has handled the COVID-19 crisis horribly. They have done nothing to help renters who are being screwed by selfish and greedy owners, who refuse to give any sort of refund (including the "refundable" damage deposit). VRBO needs to follow a much better run company like Airbnb, which has REQUIRED all owners to issue full refunds, then pledged $250 million to help those owners. We are all in this COVID-19 crisis together and are all being affected financially (losing jobs, closing businesses). Owners who refuse to meet halfway and give any sort of refund are downright disgusting, greedy souls and VRBO continues to protect them rather than renters. Never will we use VRBO again!

After having to cancel our once in a lifetime European holiday because of Covid-19 we cancelled a booking made with VRBO. This was done in the free cancellation period. No problem we thought. What a mistake that was. After a few days of the money not returning to our account we contacted VRBO and were told it takes 4 to 7 days. Ok we wait a week, still no refund. Get back in contact with VRBO and this time we are told it has been paid to us. When pressed the agent agreed it had not been paid back because the banks were busy and it would take up to 3 weeks. ( what a crock of $#*!). 3 weeks later another call to VRBO and I am told again it has been returned to our account. They asked for a screenshot to prove it hadn't and sent me an email with their copy of a receipt for payment which showed absolutely no details of my account or merchant. Such a load of garbage. This has not been payed to us and they are so full of $#*!. Give me my funds back you crooks.

How dare you not ensure refunds to everyone who has been affected by Covid-19? How dare you say that when my state is locked down and my country's borders are closed that I should be out thousands of dollars for rentals that (to be clear) I am not deciding to cancel, but my government is cancelling for me. Disgusting company with awful business practices. I will never book with them again and will make sure that every single person I know, now and forever, refuses to book through VRBO as well. The sooner they go out of business, the better.

It looks like I'm about to lose several thousand dollars because VRBO is not enforcing its weak suggestion that its owners provide refunds or credits for cancellations during the current pandemic. So I get to work several weeks in order to pay a stranger's mortgage, terrific.
The character of a person or a company comes out during times of crisis. I'll never book through VRBO again. I will not be booking a property on AirBnB if it is also listed on VRBO either.

We are having issues with trip cancellations through VRBO. Currently, they are only issuing full refunds for trips booked through April 30th, even with the recent Shelter In Place extension. If we do not cancel by today, we risk forfeiting our entire payment in hopes VRBO extends the full refund period beyond April 30th. Our trip is scheduled for May 1st! We are being pigeonholed into losing money for a matter beyond our control. I imagine others are having the same issue, since this is a VRBO guideline. This situation has me rethinking the use of VRBOs in the future. Maddening! #VRBO #MusicCityLofts #shelterinplace #bayarea

They are pushing the blame onto the home owners for how THEY are handling this pandemic. There are other vacation rentals doing the right thing (AIRBNB) but they have decided to rip off the renters and then blame the home owners. All of this despite getting a government bailout. Everyone is suffering right now due to an uncontrollable circumstance, but what we can control is how we respond to these events. VRBO has decided to respond with greed and indifference.

I booked a VRBO property in Clearwater, FL (702 Prospect Ave) in January, paid the final payment in February to attend a family wedding March 28 2020 at the Sand Pearl Resort. March 16,2020 the GOV and CDC came out with new social gathering guidelines. March 18,2020 the Sand Pearl Resort cancelled the wedding. I attempted to contact the property manager and VRBO with no avail. I tried the property manager 11 times including phone calls and emails and he has not responded. I was on hold for 171 minutes total over 3 phones calls with VRBO customer service for them to answer and tell me to call customer service and give me the number I had just sat on hold on for 45+ minutes and once they even hung up on me. Our family members that booked through AIRBNB got their money back due to COVID 19 with no questions asked or hassle. I can't get anyone to respond to me from VRBO or property management. We are out $879.25 and my message to everyone is stay away from VRBO. If you must book a 3rd party property do it with someone else, AIRBNB perhaps. If VRBO won't work with you during a pandemic crisis they certainly won't work with you with it is business as usual. STAY AWAY FROM BOOKING VRBO!

Vrbo is so far allowing the property owner to get away with cancelling (she cancelled we did not cancel) our pre paid reservation and not refunding us and not moving our reservation. Property owner is in bankruptcy which might explain her refusal to credit or move reservation. I had to do a chargeback with visa and also file a bbb complaint and report Vrbo to the press. Lot of work just to get a refund which so far is not even definite that we will be getting the refund. Avoid Vrbo at all costs.

Prior to the announcement of a pandemic and borders being closed, my friends and I booked a trip to New Orleans and our accommodations were through VRBO.
Given the evolving situation globally we unfortunately had to cancel the trip. Also, being ER nurses in Toronto, we felt an ethical obligation to stay and work. We notified VRBO of our cancellation and have not been successful in getting a refund back for our stay and communication has been a nightmare with the owner of the property. He (Lance) has been extremely short, unreasonable, and rude. This is despite being told by one representative that we would be getting a full refund and that the existing cancellation policy would not apply due to the circumstances.
The owner of the property (Lance) has closed off communication with us after offering to refund only $817 (not even half of total price) and VRBO has yet to refund us the service fee ($200). We are still paying the stay tax ($115), the cleaning fee ($200), as well as over 50% of the actual room charge. VRBO has also refused to communicate with the actual host so we are left with no answers and just a lot of conflicting information and over 2000 Canadian dollars short.
I think the public should know that compared to AirBnB (who are giving 100% refunds), VRBO is a POOR alternative and the company has left many Canadians out thousands of dollars.
VRBO AND THEIR PROPERTY OWNERS SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF BENEFITING FROM A GLOBAL PANDEMIC THAT NO ONE IN THIS WORLD HAS EVER LIVED THROUGH BEFORE!
WE ALL ARE VERY WELL TRAVELLED AND HAVE NEVER HAD A WORST EXPERIENCE!

Vrbo.com and their Property Owner #******* are taking peoples hard earned money and refusing refunds other than Vrbo.com's booking fees. I'm out $2,100 because they don't feel the need to take any responsibility in this COVID-19 crisis where we are all trying to pay our bills. The fact is, they received my money in August 2019 for a April 2020 trip that I never got (or will get) to take. Same story as all these other suckers. I hope they are aware of karma.