HomeAway

Booked a 7 week rental in Spain. Had to cancel within the 100% refund time frame.

Spoke to their totally inept and useless customer service (that's a joke) informed me verbally but never by Email (won't ever put anything in writing) that I was entitled to a full refund BUT guess what only ever got under 50%.

Spoke to my credit card who upon looking at the evidence decided I had fraudulently Been under refunded and made good the difference.

Would advise you give this dead head of a company a VERY WIDE MISS if you need a stress free booking.

Will still use this to find accommodation but will NEVER PAY THROUGH THEM. I always do a deal direct with the owners. Never had a problem as they seem to be honest people to do business with.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Disaster, smelt of damp, asked to remove shoes upon entering? Ripped toe on carpet runner, garden (if you can call it that) overgrown full of brambles which grandsons leg got caught. One toilet on ground floor- sleeps 10, totally unsuitable for two 6 year olds. Dishwasher not working, not enough beds made up even though I stated from the start that 4 were booking in but two might come for 2/3 nights (relatives) even though they charged for extra person. They stated that no smoking was allowed in the house, near the house or garden. On arrival there were plenty of cigarette butts outside back door.
Had to find somewhere else on a Saturday afternoon as could not offer suitable alternative accommodation, thank the lord for Sykes Cottages who were a lifesaver and found us a beautiful 5 bedroom cottage in the Brecon Beacons.
Asked for refund, after a stressful phone conversation with Homeaway where they put the phone down, they emailed asking for proof of which we had plenty of photos, they gave me a reference no. And were looking into it? Not heard a word since.

I opted out of their latest offerings until they locked me out & prior to that had no enquiries so was blocked, am not renewing end of March as disgusted with their tactics, will use only AIRBNB & FLIPKEY from now on, who are way more transparent, for now anyway, we need new players in the market to challenge these large companies

I rent out a property on Home Away and since Expida have bought it out, I have had no end of problems. The customer service is almost non exsistant and when you do manage to finally talk to someone, generally they can not help you as the system is so automated that it can't deal with Bank account changes or reflecting refunds for tax purposes if they are made to a renter who has to leave early. After my recent experence I am taking my property off the site, there are many others which work better! So if you are a property owner think twice about puting your advert on this site you may end up with more headaches than it's worth.

WHAT USE TO BE A GREAT SITE FOR RENTAL HOMES MANAGED BY OWNERS HAS BEEN DESTROYED BY FORCED POLICIES AND POOR SERVICE. AFTER BEING WITH THEM FROM WHEN VRBO.COM STARTED I WILL LEAVE THIS SITE BECAUSE OF THE HORRIBLE SERVICE AND FORCED PAYMENTS. THEY WANT TO KEEP RENTERS MONEY UNTIL A DAY BEFORE THEY ARRIVE. MANY RENTERS PAY 6 MONTHS TO A YEAR AHEAD OF TIME. THEY TURN YOUR SITE OFF WITHOUT WARNING FOR WHAT THEY VIEW AS "POTENTIAL DISALLOWED VERBIAGE" AND IN MANY CASES ITS BEEN THEIR ERROR OR NOT EVEN DISALLOWED VERBIAGE. NO EXCUSES AND NO MONETARY RELIEF FOR TAKING YOUR PROPERTY OFF LINE. DISASTER SITE. YOU ARE BETTER OFF PAYING A MANAGEMENT COMPANY OR ADVERTISING YOURSELF.

I learned that I should Never use Homeaway for overseas travel. Airbnb is more extensive overseas. I know this now but before I knew I used homeaway. I paid 800 per night for 2 weeks because I wanted to make sure I got something really nice. Wrong. The tv did not work. 1 tv 30 inch in whole house. My senior mom had two walk up two flights stairs with luggage because the elevator in the building did not start until second floor. We were on second floor. No help for us. No air conditioning in summer. Beds were hard. Big cardboard boxes stored in living room. No clothes dryer. Washed towels turned hard with line dry. Apartment was a 100 per night apartment that I over paid thinking would get luxury. No. Never again. Then the homeaway insurance says you cannot stay there but most go somewhere else if you don't like. We went to London at peak season. We did not know if somewhere else was available. We had no time to check. Should have provided one day to secure a different plaCE. You get off international flight tired and no one is answering calls fast enough to find new place Sk the alternative is you and family on the street. Never again.

Everyone reading this knows about the service fee that's now being imposed I guess that ranges from anywhere from 6 to 10 percent of their quote. I suggest to all owners of all properties when posting an inquiry copy and paste written text below. Let everyone know they're being charged a service fee and let them know there are other options. We need to start putting pressure on these big companies so they get real. If we all stick together we can make change happen.

The property you are interested is available or not available whatever the case maybe. Then post this.

The service fee is what this greedy homeaway vrbo Expedia started charging You and I to use this website which used to be free for guest. I'm paying way more too! In return they give you a phony booking guarantee. Then they charge me your credit card fee. They increased their bottom line 1000% overnight.

Hopefully people will start shopping on the free sites soon and maybe they will rethink their business decision. I'm informing all my guest and inquiries so everyone knows they are being preyed upon. Most people don't notice and when they do notice they think that I charge this fee. Which again I do not.
Joe

I am really disappointed with this company. My husband and I booked a 2 night stay in Niagara Falls NY Buffalo back on June 22,2017 for a date of service Dec 9th-11th 2017. The owner cancelled our reservation Dec 5th and kept sending me texts that he would refund us although on home aways website, it showed he initiated the refund when in fact he never did and we had proof of his text messages giving us excuses of why he hadnt refunded us our $398 yet. Home Away refused to help us in any way and I spent countless hours on the phone with them. Each time I called, they told me to take it up with the owner. People are frauding on sites like Home Away so I advise to book hotels or condos through more reputable sites. Crazy too that they have a lengthy process to file a complaint against the owner which can take days and in the meantime this guy is probably frauding so many others. Its awful and unjust.

As with others who have posted here, I have listed 2 homes on VRBO/Homeaway for 4 years at a cost of $1500. 00/property, per year. Apparently that's not enough for VRBO/Expedia, as they are now getting greedy and wanting income from both homeowners AND guests. Even worse, if you elect not to use the booking system to avoid the service fee, they drop your listing position! That seems like extortion! Either use our system and gouge your guests, or turn off the booking option and lose your site ranking/position! Also, if you are consistently declining the bookings, or letting them expire, you will also be penalized by have your ranking/position negatively affected. They think they have us over a barrel, but I'm glad to read that plenty of other homeowners and guests are fed up and looking for alternatives!

I changed my listing description to explain how guests should not use the Book It function, and instead should use the "send email" button to avoid fees. That only works if a customer will pay with a check, which plenty of my guests are choosing to do. It's very unfortunate to see a site that was so useful and user friendly go completely sideways after being acquired by another company. Oh well, I'm off to look for other rental sites and alternatives.

I've been using Homeaway.com for about 6 years. The guests have been good so far. But I do my own research on them and ask for my own rental contract to be signed.

The company will do nothing to investigate a crime in progress. I was contact by a convicted criminal through Homeaway.com trying to do a lease scam on me this time. I contacted Homeaway.com and sent them his policy report from where he was arrested before for this crime. This is part of their response: Thank you for contacting HomeAway Trust & Security. I understand you investigated your traveler Sean Downing and you found a record on him. I do not however understand what your question is. We do not block people from our site due to their past... If Homeaway.com won't block a convicted criminal perpetrating lease scams, then how are they calling themselves the Trust and Security Department.

They have penalized me for speaking out about their policies. I complained openly because they started charging travelers a fee in addition to the annual fees owners already pay. They offer no services for these fees. It's just greed. As a result, they closed my account. Eventually, they reopened it when I apologized and took down my complaint of these greedy practices, but they didn't reinstate quickly. I had to contact them three different times. No credit back to me of course.

I gave them two stars because the idea of Homeaway.com is good. But this is a company that puts profits before your safety and security.

Stayed at a home 10/18-10/19/16. Property had many issues. Called Home Away 10/20/16 to report. They gave me a file number and said they would send a complaint form. The rep was appalled when I told her of some of this issues with the home (I explained I have videos & pics) said they would shut the property owner down as they don't allow issues such as we experienced. They NEVER sent the form. I was forced to dispute the charges with my credit card company. I am STILL as of today (on the phone with them right now 2/3/17) trying to get Home Away to credit the amount that the property owner authorized them to give back to me. It's ridiculous! AND the guy (Marcus) JUST hung up on me (and my credit card rep as we were all on a conference call) STAY AWAY from this HORRIBLE and INCOMPETENT company! Seems like the company policy is to be evasive because they are only after your $$ and don't care what kind of vacation experience you had.