FlipKeyReviews 138

Flip Key Trip advisor deposit refund. Wow very unprofessional and very hard to contact they keep referring to their 1 -888 number which does nothing for you except circles upon circles of no answers. Refund deposit will not be posted until minimum 10 days after you leave and they say posted 3-5 days after that. When you call they tell you 7 days after, for me I am on day 9,45 minute phone call with promises of an email. Received an email with transaction number which does nothing for your bank, it's trip advisors transaction number not the banks. They will need to re-process your refund. So basically starting from January 26th, or Feb. 8th again and waiting another 10 days which they will tell will takes 3-5 business days. Ok so now I am trying to work and resolve my month old vacation. Help! Still in the process, should have read these reviews

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

In September 2016 I booked an apartment in Miami via Flipkey for the Christmas and New Year period. All seemed well until December when I sent an email to the owner asking where I should pick up the keys, etc. I got no response and contacted Trip Adviser (TA) for advise. They said they would try to contract the owner. Suffice to say, this went on for several days but I got confirmation that if this rental did not work out, they would look for another rental or I could have my money back. I was due to fly to Miami on the Monday but on the Saturday we still had no confirmation that the rental would be available. On the Saturday morning I was still being advised to wait a further 24 hours to see whether the owner would contact Flipkey/TA. At this point I said I was not prepared to wait any longer and had no choice but to book a hotel at an additional cost of £1228.

I will say that because I paid through the payment guarantee scheme, I got all of my money back. I argued I should also be paid the cost of "Non sterling charges" and after some discussion, I received this as a goodwill gesture. However, there was absolutely no compensation for the stress caused and the additional costs incurred.

I had expected that booking a rental via the TA website, properties would be properly vetted etc. I learned a vital lesson that Flipkey is separate and the relationship is not with Flipkey, who merely advertise the properties, but with the owners. Since this incident, I have seen complaints about Flipkey come up on Rip off Britain, the BBC show.

My personal view is that Flipkey/TA have a responsibility to ensure that their customers do not fall foul to dodgy owners. I will never ever use Flipkey again - in fact I will stick with hotels. 'Buyer beware'.

I've booked a house through flipkey, a manager of flipkey (real person) confirmed a reservation, they charged me fully (with a damage deposit) and everything was fine until I noticed that there is no checkin information. I called them on a day before arrival and they again told me everything is confirmed and they're sending me check-in details in just a moment. Then they called me and told that the booking is unavailable and cancelled. Can you imagine if I don't call them and just arrive to the house? So I've expressed all my frustration of their service and asked to talk to the manager. I talked to Wasim Shaikh who didn't offer me any discount, he just sent me a few listings - some were really upscale and some were even unavailable. He also said that he will personally work on my case and will make everything to help me. Ok, I've replied to his email and asked for these upscale properties, no reply. I've called and had to sit on the line for a half an hour just to be connected to an operator who told me Wasim is already left and won't be able to help me. I've had to explain again my situation to another manager Frankie Fernandez who again offered me to provide other listings and no discount or anything.
It looks like it's just a normal situation for these guys, I was planning this weekend and already packed my things for a trip. I've given nothing except "I apologize", that's an unacceptable service and I would recommend everyone to stay away from this company.

--
Dmitry

We have a vacation rental property listed with FlipKey. Our tenants arrived January 1,2017. As of today, January 11,2017 we have yet to be paid. Funds are supposed to be deposited a day after tenants check in. Customer service is offshore and I continue to get pre-scripted answers. I was contacted by a team member from FlipKey/trip advisor yesterday. She assured me that she was on it and very apologetic. She gave me a phone number where I could reach her or a colleague in the Boston office. After seeing that the funds were still not in our account this morning I tried that phone number. Again it went offshore. In an email she assured me that I could always ask to be transferred to her in the Boston office. When I did that, I was informed that Lindsey was not available (on a break) and that nobody else in the Boston office was available. In the email I received from Lindsay, she stated that the funds have been released and I need to contact my bank. I did that and they ask for a tracking number. Called customer service back and couldn't get a tracking number. VERY FRUSTRATED! Beware working with FlipKey and Tripadvisor!

We had our trip planned to Edinburgh, Scotland since October 2016. We used Filpkey (Tripadvisor branch for home rentals). The whole city is booked very fast for the New Years Eve.
Edinburgh Newington Apartment is rented by Mrs. Sandy Ewart and IS A REAL SCAM! This woman accepted our request for a few days stay. We paid the full amount right away (so in October) and she confirmed that she received it. But, one week before departure, she sent an email saying that the apartment was no longer available since she rented it to somebody else because Tripdvisor had (supposedly) never confirmed that we would come. That is obviously wrong since she confirmed she received the full payment and Tripadvisor did send us an email to confirm that too. That is just unacceptable. I defy you to find another accommodation for 7 non-billionaire persons only 1week before New Years Eve in Edinburgh.
The customer support of Tripadvisor is very kind and professional but they did not manage to find us another flat. They did not accept to compensate us for their host unprofessionalism (whereas their competitor Airbnb does!) or pay for the balance between the flat that we paid in vain and another more expensive that remained at that time.
Even though we had been fully refund (with weird exchange rates) I would suggest you to be careful while it comes to Tripadvisor, Flipkey and especially Mrs. Sandy Ewart « Edinburgh Newington Apartment ».

Wouldn't give me a refund for a trip I booked. When we showed up at the rental the owner who lived in the same building said her dog had a highly contagious virus which could kill my dog. So we checked out and went to a hotel. Can you believe Flipkey wouldn't refund my $1500. Said no refunds no matter what. Well shame on you, I hope you suffer the worst bankruptcy imaginable and I will yell from mountain tops how horrible your company is. You'd rather have my dog catch a virus than do the right thing and refund me 1500 bucks!

Everything from the beginning was messed up. The owner didn't contact us with instructions on entering property. There was a for sale sign on property. The real estate agent told us it was not a rental and to notify police... so we did on Christmas eve... owner finally showed up after days of trying to reach him. The house was filthy we had to clean it. The refrigerator didn't work and we had to purchase coolers to keep our food fresh. It has taken me almost one year to receive my deposit and quite frankly I would prefer a total refund. I sent pictures of the filth but of course they didn't receive those. Tired of messing with it...
I don't think I will use them again.

I called this an experience but really I didn't even have the opportunity to experience anything. I booked a house in South Tahoe and received an email confirmation that I was paid in full and then one hour later I received an email stated that my reservation had been cancelled due to a safety risk because of the amount and the last minute booking and it would take five business days before my monies would be returned to me. I was furious not only was I out of place to stay but also out of $1321. 75 until when ever they credit my account back.

Our 500.00$ deposit was kept by the home owner. She claimed things that were untrue (furniture and pans broken, excessive people in the home). -- and immediately after we checked out, submitted an itemized budget and photos to Flipkey, to get their approval to take the deposit. We had no opportunity to defend ourselves, nor did we realize we should have taken photos of the house to disprove her claims. Flipkey sided with the owner and released our deposit to her. No appeals.

You cannot contact the owner and the owner cannot contact the potential guests until after paying for the booking. This is not appropriate for owners of a high end home. There is no way to discuss special needs and price discounts with the block on all contacts. I received a threatening email that if I tried to contact the guest again, I would be blocked from the site. Well, I hope that I am blocked, in fact, I do not want my home listed on that site and thought that I had removed it a long time ago. I use VRBO exclusively as a home owner because I like communication with my guests before they arrive. I rate Flip Key as USELESS waste of time.

We rented a property through FlipKey last weekend, and when we arrived we discovered most of the amenities promised weren't there, the property was filthy, the outside was trashed, and the owner was completely unresponsive. We call FlipKey and they assured us they would deal with the situation, and get back to us the next day. They didn't. Nor did they the next four times, over the next four days we called. Each time we were told a specialist was working on the case and would call us. Obviously a stalling tactic. I tried to post a review on TripAdvisor to warn future renters, because of course FlipKey is continuing to profit off this substandard property, but TripAdivsor won't post my review. Pretty sketchy. I would strongly suggest not booking through either of them.

This site is ridiculous. I mistakenly booked the wrong date range, and immediately, within minutes, cancelled the reservation. Their system confirmed the cancellation, but the dates still showed booked when I looked at it again to re-book the correct dates. I finally go the refund after getting the condo owner involved, but they are charging me the booking fee anyway. Basically, they are charging me for a mistake. That's just ripping people off. I'll never use Tripadvisor or Flipkey again.

I looked at a house listed on FlipKey ONCE. Now, I have spent months attempting to get my personal information off of the site and unsubscribe. Of course, they are required to offer customers the right to unsubscribe, but they don't. I got information on their new privacy policies. If you want to opt out, you visit their site and it is automatic approval for them to keep your information. If you don't visit their site to opt out, it is once again tacit approval. You can't ever get out. I have left them dozens of emails, they never respond. They left an address for their legal department, but don't bother. They won't ever respond. I am in the process of filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

This was my first experience with Flipkey and will definitely be my last. We booked an accommodation in Carlsbad, U.S. for July 16 back in Sept 15. We paid in full and had it confirmed. Twice since the booking, the owner Samuel C (Cryan) had tried to extort extra payments from us, the second time after 6 months for approx. £500. When we refused to pay he cancelled with no apology. This comes almost with only 2 months to our travel date with very limited alternative accommodations as it's the 4th July holiday weekend. I contacted Flipkey 3 times and the recieved 3 very generic emails with absolutely no helpful information. The final email from Flip key informed us our booking had been cancelled due to double booking. How can you double book 9 months in advance? And also immediately after refusing to pay an additional £500. (Just checked online and the dates are now available after my booking was cancelled). I would advise everyone to use a more reputable travel company than Flipkey- at least you'd know your booking was safe and they'd have a customer service that could actually help.

I have advertised two nightly rental properties on Flipkey for at least five years. I have had to call customer service on several occasions, and have been very dissatisfied with the entire process.

Flipkey has refunded damage deposits to guests when I requested they be kept due to the guest damaging something on my property that required replacement or repair at my expense. I provided pictures and detailed information, and still did not receive any compensation. Multiple people at Flipkey were involved, and one did not seem to know what the other was doing.

Customer Service personnel are located in India, and they are difficult to understand and refuse to work to resolve issues responsibly.

My listing was offline for an undetermined amount of time because their site had problems. It took several phone calls and emails before it was put back online. Of course, I was not compensated for the period of time it was not online.

One of my properties sold and I relocated some guests to other properties. Flipkey charged a cancellation fee even though there were extenuating circumstances.

This company will just steal your money at every opportunity. I would not recommend listing with them. Advertise on VRBO or other sites that are reputable.