When booking a holiday cottage in the Uk I booked through HomeAway only to discover that my booking was actually with another company, HomeAway just tacked on their spurious charges for the pleasure of using their web site - end result nearly £100 out of pocket. My advice is to find the name of the property you want to rent, put that into google and you can narrow down the companies advertising it and pick the best value.
We reserved a World Mark two bedroom in Indio California in April of 2017 for a stay in February of 2018. Paid half up front and rest of fee months before our trip. When we arrived WM had no record of our stay. We were treated so wonderfully by Addy at World Mark and the manager. All it would have taken was for Home Away to send a fax confirmation of our paid reservation. They had months to do so but failed to do so. Addy spent over an hour working through a maze of phone holds to make it work for us. Thanks to Addy and Indio World Mark for your high standards. Too bad we were subjected to embarrassment and humiliation by the lack of effort by Home Away. Never again!
The ease of the website is wonderful, and your results are even better. You find where you want to go and then look for the home that fits your needs. And then have a great time. If there is a problem. It's usually the owner themselves, not HomeAway.
We booked for the end of May 2017 but had to cancel reservation 75 days in advance due to family illness. We paid down $376.68 that was the Damage deposit and Service Fee. I understood between 60 to 90 day cancellation there was $100 charge +3% merchant charge. Apparently from what I read after the fact if I am refunded partial payment from property owner the Service Fee will no be refunded. If I am refunded all payments then service fee is refunded... Not Sure who's scamming who but I cancelled 75 days in advance enough time to reschedule property during peak time and I had to pay $231.68 for a 75 day in advance cancellation. I know property owner is not a full fault here but I will never use Homeaway.com or VRBO.com again. I will find property owner and /or property manager and deal with them directly. I never read anywhere during booking that Homeaway would not refund there fees...
Every single home I clicked on reported a certain price and then when I went to book it, the actual price was over double what they advertised. Just say the actual price to begin with and save me the time. I don't appreciate the dishonesty or the fact that companies are now nickel and diming people to death. I will never use this company.
I have listed my property with Home Away and VRBO for over four years. Prior to their being taken over by Expedia I had a great experience dealing with multiple issues with their customer service reps. Since they are now owned by Expedia they are terrible. They are just about putting me out of business.
They simply refuse to help with issues that are critical to my business. For more information on my horrible experiences feel free to email me at *******@inbox.com
We carefully planned a trip to Italy. In January 2016, I reserved two apartments - one in Florence and the other in Rome for a July 2016 vacation. I conversed through the site with the owners, and I made all payments on time. Less than a month before the trip, the Florence apartment cancelled our three night reservation. I was left to scramble to find new accommodations. The day we were leaving The United States for Rome, the Rome apartment cancelled our reservation for five nights. I had to quickly secure accomodations before boarding our plane. Customer service at Home Away provided little help. It took days for our money to be refunded through our credit card. We were left with last minute accomodations at greater expense. I have rented accomodations throughout Europe through different companies in the past without problems. Both my rentals with Home Away resulted in last minute cancellations. Stay away!
This is just plain corporate greed. Last year I was 80% booked at of today 4/14/16. Currently I have 15 % booked. They tell me its because I am not using their site for secure payments. I pay them to list my sites and Homeaway puts me in a lower rental category. WE NEED A VIABLE OPTION. Any suggestions.
We booked a rental with Homeaway and could not fly to Europe due to flight restrictions from pandemic. Was told by landlord would not get any refund. The landlord did not return any of our messages. The only assistance homeaway gave was to connect us by phone with the landlord in which the landlord hung up on us. Will never rent from Homeaway again.
My son and his friends lost their money and ruined their senior week plans because of fraud on HomeAway site. After dealing with HomeAway, I feel that it is not safe renting properties advertised on this site. HomeAway does not do enough to combat scammers, and does not stand behind its protection guarantee. To read more details, please refer to my blog on this subject: http://simonraban.blogspot.com/2015/06/warning-fraud-on-homeaway-site.html
My rental experience was so uncomfortable that I left with two paid days left. My biggest beef w/HomeAway is the website will NOT allow you to give a honest personal review that is not 4-5 stars…in my opinion this is less than honest. I tried to tell 'my story' 3times, and was refused every time. Horrible business ethics.
I was declined for 5 bookings... then my visa was charged 5 service fees! They will not return my money and keep bouncing me from one dept to another so I basically spent 250$ for nothing! And no one cares!
Bad, unpleasant and non responsive customer service and insurance claims department (agents and supervisors).
You can wait more than a month for a response and when you call you get hostile representatives and of course no advance in the process.
Warning to anyone who is thinking of using Homeaway or Owners Direct (one and the same company) to book holiday accommodation.
Did you know that despite paying a large deposit to "secure" your accommodation (which you forfeit if you cancel the holiday at anytime) the owners can cancel whenever they like? They have to return your deposit but if (like us) you paid in euros and the exchange rate goes against you, you may find that you have paid (in our case nearly 40 pounds) to NOT have any accommodation in the resort that your friends are going to which is now completely full...
Oh and don't expect to be able to speak to anyone to get help despite the assurances that your holiday is secure...
Make the reservation and then cancel and you will not be able to on your own. You need to contact the company and they contact the owner to make the refund. Called the company three times. On the third time I received a case number. The first two times I called there was no action taken. Lets see how this goes. I have been trying for three days to get my $550 dollars refunded and the cancellation of the reservation.
I have been a real advertiser for over 5 years and have ONLY positive to report. The site continually is making improvements. I would in no way agree with this other person. Is this just someone slamming the competition. It is NOT a scam and it is safe and secure.
I have been an owner of a short term beach rental for the last 3 years. VRBO has gotten greedy and started charging buyers a "service fee" now along with charging the owners more for their websites. They also take a cut of the rental fee. Now they have changed their policy and their "payment service" is holding owners rents for extended periods even after they have been using their service for 3 years. They are literally "strongarming" their own clients!
We called the property manager, Suzie M., in an attempt to be reassured about the availability and access to the TN cabin we rented for the week. Our first phone call was not returned before we left on our trip. We called from VA to get the access code, but the manager said we could not get in until she received the agreement in the mail even though payment in full was received via credit card. If they demanded such a speedy return of the the rental agreement, they should have made the agreement returnable by email. When I asked if I would be refunded if I lost a night or two, Ms. M. would not respond. The entire tone of the conversation on her part was abrupt and rude. Please take the advice of the preponderance of reviews and STAY AWAY from HomeAway!
My listing recently dropped off the HomeAway/VRBO web site during peak season. When I FINALLY reached a customer service agent, his English comprehension was very poor, & he did not appear to understand the problem. I politely requested to speak to a senior representative. I was then disconnected. When I made several attempts to call back, I continued to get a recording that "customer service was closed & would re-open at the top of the hour." There was not even a provision for leaving a message. Additionally, HomeAway is no longer the company that it was previously solely as VRBO. Guests should not have to pay a service fee as owners (myself) pay a fee to list our properties. I hoping that, in time, a new company will appear to provide premier services to both guests & owners which formerly we experienced under VRBO.
I am a home owner that uses homeaway to find vacation renters. I had a bad review left with wrong information so I called to get the review fixed or amended. They said they can't help me. I then ask if I leave a review for a renter would the renter see my ratings. The customer service person said I had complete privacy in this matter. Well I reviewed a renter who left the house a mess and moved all the furniture around. An hour later that renter gave us a poor review with lies given ad the reason for the review. I called the customer service line and find out that the renter can see my review. I ask homeaway to wipe all the reviews clean even my 4 5 star reviews since they told me the wrong info. Nope they can't do anything. I will take my busiNess to airbnb and tripadvisor now.
Overview
HomeAway has a rating of 1.1 stars from 1,751 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with HomeAway most frequently mention customer service, credit card and property owner. HomeAway ranks 152nd among Vacation Rentals sites.
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- Sitejabber’s sole mission is to increase online transparency for buyers and businesses
- Sitejabber has helped over 200M buyers make better purchasing decisions online
- Suspicious reviews are flagged by our algorithms, moderators, and community members