FlipKey

I am Completely Over it with these people the only way to get hold of them is an expensive Toll call to the USA in the middle of the night and then you get transferred (on hold) and transferred (on Hold) from one idiot that only wants you to Upgrade your account to make some more money out of you and doesn't speak english to another idiot who's english is only slightly better to re confirm your ID again after another $30 toll call what I have known all the time and they have repeatedly denied and said they have paid me - when I KNOW THEY HAVEN'T now the account shows the Payment has failed
Jan, 2016
Failed
Dec 31,2015 Jan, 2016
AUD330
And they DO NOTHING about ensuring I actually get Paid! EVER!
Yes its taken Over 2 years to sort it out at MY EXPENSE
What can i say about a company that never pays or cares about the little guy
I'm attempting to sort this out this out for the 10th time
Who reviews? Trip advisor? As i know I'm Not the Only one and its well known around other BNB Owners I know they do nothing but muck you around (its very hard to Find their Contact phone number - and then they Rub salt on it make you pay for it - and continue to deny things when you do get someone that speaks english
I am so sorry but this Company is SO BAD! To deal with and they will only muck you around as well

TRIP ADVISOR and Flipkey -FRAUD
I booked apartment in central London via Tripadvisor paying also for their "peace of mind policy" insurance (88 $). I gave visa card number and instead of blocking money on my account they collected it immediately.
I tried to contact the owner Martin C., I wrote him several times on his e-mail stated on flipkey but he did not respond. So I called the number provided in booking and man picked up: he said that I got the wrong number, that he is Martin indeed but he does not rent any apartments...
I tried to find property on flipkey or trip advisor but... It was not listed anymore... They removed it as they "found out that this individual does not have right to rent those apartments" but they were happy to keep my money on tripadvisor account (quite profitable business if you think about number of clients) and they didn't bother to inform me about the situation!
I contacted flipkey and they said they will "cancel" my booking of non-existing property and return me money. I got 1 day to find a hotel in London and I do not have to mention that prices were overwhelming.
Trip advisor returned my money (US$2358. 00) after 10 days (payment on 4.04, return on my account on 18.04) but... I am from Poland so to my horror I noticed that I miss 910,47 PLN (about 300 $, which is actually half of my monthly salary) - there was the spread!
I paid the insurance so of course I complained to tripadvisor to give me back that difference: without any result, they said that they reimbursed fee in full (so even if that was totally their fault, I had to bear the cost of this transaction. Their insurance is obviously meaningless. Contact with support desk is not so easy and stress I had trying to find accommodation for 5 people just before departure was terrible.
It is a disgrace for renown service to behave like this. So: never ever again!
Summary:
- seek other agencies DO NOT book via Trip advisor or Flipkey, - they do not take any responsibility of whatsoever they advertise, just your double fees you are paying
-never give them your card number- they do not block money like booking.com but collect it and keep on own account. They call it safe way- think for yourself for whom it is safe and profitable. Pay after arrival and if it is not possible, seek other accommodation (that was advice from their support desk 1 day before my departure, when money for my hotel in London were still on their account!)
-do not bother with this insurance- it is worthless- they said it covers up to 10.000 $ but just try to get something of cost you paid (actually they should also give me back money for my hotel- it was much more than cost of this apartment)

Ok, i booked a 2br/2bath through Flipkey in Los Angeles for a March 10-a 2016 stay well in advance, paid my deposit and paid off balance Feb 11th as asked. I was now excited for my trip to start. I get an email/call literally Feb 23rd, 10 days after I paid in full, that my booking was cancelled by the owner. They gave me a reason that owner sold his apt and can't rent it anymore. Now I have about 2 weeks to find another place, I have spoken to 6 different FK (flip key) reps since this happen, not one of them showed any urgency to fix the problem. I specified I needed 2br/2b and a pool and I'm leaving in 10 days so please help. First set of new properties came in email, no follow up call (as I heard I was going to get) nothing close to what I needed. Next person I called I had to explain whole story to again (btw I had to tell same story to every single person I talked to at FK, including a couple supervisors) they promised help and said will send over more properties to look at and call me later to discuss if call volume wasn't high. No call, and most of what they sent were 1br no pool etc. I call next day, get another rep, he is going to help me get this problem fixed. He sent me over 8 nice properties to look at in Miami, Fla. Only problem was we are going to Los Angeles. At this point I emailed back and swore they had me on candid camera. This charade continued thru a few more reps with no concrete leads. Finally, Tuesday, March 1st, I talked to someone that actually seemed to care and help more then all the others. We went over all the same listings left, some were available and seemed great but of course once owner was contacted place wasn't available. I decided to try other companies and found a place 60 feet from my original place I got screwed on for 400 dollars less, no booking fee. Next day I was contacted, signed rental agreement and ready to go. Sorry for lengthy review, however, I am also in the customer service business and the funny thing about customer service is this "you don't notice customer service until your not getting it" and trust me FK does not get it and certainly didn't give it in this situation.

We attempted to book a vacation rental for next Christmas via flipkey. We did not hear if our offer was accepted until 2 days later the owner emailed to let us know that the offer had been accepted at almost double the posted rate. When we tried to cancel, the owner insisted that we pay him 1,500 euros or he would not authorize the cancellation. We called flipkey and they refused to help. Instead they negotiated with the owner that they would split the 1,500 euro cancellation fee. I regularly book vacation rentals for friends and family and I will NEVER use this company again.

In terms of verifying this transaction, please see email interaction below:

From: *******@flipkey
Sent: Wed, 01 Feb 2017 03:41:17 -0700 (MST)
Subject: Case No: ******* [ ref:_00DD0rcv8._500D01MwP1P: ref]

Thank you for your email in regard to BR*******.

I can confirm that if you cancel the cancellation policy applies and you cannot receive a refund. However, we have emailed the owner if it is acceptable for them to override the cancellation policy and refund you the booking deposit, minus our booking fee.

Refund = 5637. 50 EUR - 712.50 EUR = 4925. 00 EUR

Once we receive their reply we will send you a follow up.

Best wishes,
Milena
The TripAdvisor Vacation Rentals Team

And from the owner:

From: chris king
> Sent: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 10:07:18 -0700 (MST)
> Subject: Re: My apologies
>
> I am sorry to hear that. My calendar has been blocked for a period of time now and I have lost potential bookings over Christmas. I do not know how much it will cost you to cancel with tripadvisor. However on my side I am glad to accept a payment of 1500 Euros for cancelling with tripadvisor and the loss of potential earnings I have suffered + time. Obviously, this payment will need to be be made before I cancel with tripadvisor.
>Sincerely,
> Christopher