Ask Community about Vrbo

I usually book with another rental apartment service, but they are all raising their rates with things like fine print “cleaning services’, no matter what condition you leave the place in. The places I leave are usually immaculate when I leave, but they are coming up with new ways of “raising the prices”. Our friend suggested VRBO, so we booked a 9 out of 10 three bedroom house because of the lower rates. The renter gave us the wrong pin to enter. The deadbolt on the door was missing the metal piece and the deadbolt barely entered the hollowed out wood frame (not very unsecured). The condition of the house was a 2 or 3 out of 5. Many things were broken, so I documented the discrepancies, although I was not charged. The place was so filthy that there was a dead, congealed mouse in the laundry area. I tried to contact the renter several times because the lights, fans, and especially gas stove was broken. I was ghosted for the rest of the 4 day stay by the renter. I looked over my bill to make sure that I wasn’t charged and saw that VRBO charged me a fee. I called to see if there was anything that I could do about the falsely advertised apartment. VRBO said that they don’t maintain or do anything that my problem was with the renter (who never returned my correspondence). I asked about the fee VRBO charged and they referred me to the contract, which states something to the effect that they are simply a referral service. So they basically charge a referral fee through the renter and did not care that the place was unsafe, filthy,, diseased and NOT AS ADVERTISED. Usually, I start a legal grievance or file a civil complaint, but NOW, I stay away from VRBO, as far as possible, because if they don’t even care that the renter is not handling any matters, the place is still being misrepresented by VRBO and the renter, and they don’t care about the safety, security or representation of their name, I am fighting a lost cause. I would compare it to a slum lord. Eventually, their reputation will catch up to them. I guess I am stuck with the added fees of the other rental companies. At least they try and make reparations and ensure that their properties are AS ADVERTISED. Just watch out for hidden fees. In your case, I would assume that VRBO is acting like a referral service, but there has to be some law about them falsely advertising a RENTER that doesn’t exist. VRBO is shady and I would go full “Karen”, especially if the address didn’t exist (I would make sure that the address didn’t exist as well) because if the address did exist somehow and you didn’t show, then your point could be mute. I wish you the best.

Vbro wasn’t the best of customer relations and it was hard to reach them at times. Vrbo was to give me funds due to my Expedia booking (728849****4666) getting canceled during my travels. Because I had to pay for another hotel, vrbo was to covered any difference in price between the new booking and original reservation up to C$1,021. I gave them all the documents they requested. I had to wait on my refund for a few months. I emailing them a few times and didn’t get any immediate response. When I call the number (187*****) a number of times, it made me wait on the phone for 1 hour when the prompts said it would be a 15 min wait. While the experience wasn’t very customer friendly, eventually did get my money back.

Good luck getting a refund, best thing to do is just forget about it, I hate to say it but your money is gone

Don't expect a refund from VRBO! Their un"customer service" is a freaking nightmare! They bounce you to foreign speaking agents who say they will open and investigation and they give supposed claim numbers that get you nowhere as well. Sorry cuz but you are screwed. I will NEVER EVER book anything through VRBO again.

The pictures made the home beautiful, got there the front door was filthy, there was hundreds of black house flys in the sunroom, there living room chairs were so dirty I wouldn’t sit on them , I had to clean the stove , butididnt use it, imagine September and she had plastic on the windows , didn’t remove from winter,plastic tablecloth on table big whole in that, up stairs the beds were tilted, the bathroom looked like *** on the light switch,and the towels had bad stains and just 1. FaceTime cloth , I can go on but you were no help and I don’t use VRBO

Hopefully you saved all communications prior to your "stay". I had screenshots of everything and, started by going full "Karen" on all social medias, tagging VRBO, AIRBNB, EXPEDIA and the owner of the rental. Then, threatened VRBO with legal suit and, filed a BBB complaint. Also, filed a CC refund request before VRBO/AIRBNB finally paid me back

Ppl on VRBO are the WORST!! We had some ppl who totally scammed us on their *** one bedroom apartment (which they advertised as a whole HOUSE rental), then they lied to us and the owners tried to give my boyfriend and I a *** rating even tho we had to leave on the first day and go stay at a Hilton. Their *** rental ruined our vacation and they gave US one star!! We did absolutely NOTHING wrong!! VRBO IS A JOKE