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VRBO

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VRBO Reviews Summary

The overall reputation of the company reflects significant dissatisfaction among customers, particularly regarding its customer service and reliability. Many users report frustrating experiences with delayed refunds, poor communication, and unhelpful support staff. Complaints about properties not matching descriptions or being in unacceptable conditions are prevalent, leading to a loss of trust. While a few customers express occasional satisfaction with specific transactions, the overwhelming sentiment leans towards a lack of accountability and professionalism. This has resulted in a growing number of users opting for alternative platforms, indicating a critical need for improvement in service quality and responsiveness.

This summary is generated by AI, based on text from customer reviews

service
468
value
420
shipping
118
returns
217
quality
362

We monitor reviews for authenticity

Arizona
1 review
4 helpful votes
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VRBO phone app duplicated a refund to my customer with the same process time. I did not process twice.
VRBO would not help with this and was actually Rude. I called 7 different times.
Same results. So I blocked the bank draw and vrbo idiots paid it anyway... yes the ones that couldn't help. So now vrbo is coming after me for the money. The renter only gets one refund not 2. I called the corporate office and they were just as rude if not worse.

Date of experience: August 6, 2019
Illinois
1 review
6 helpful votes
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Do Not Use VRBO
August 6, 2019

If you are a property owner do NOT use VRBO! I started using them despite their higher fees than Airbnb and longer payment pay out times. I set everything up correctly and after thirty days I got my pay out (Airbnb in a day after guest check in) and my bank rejected the payment saying information didn't match. I called VRBO and the rep was unable to say why there was a problem and issued a ticket to the billing team. I never heard back again. I called back after trying to update my payment info and kept getting an error message. I called back and the issued a ticket to their tech team. I never heard back. I called back again and they issued another ticket to the tech team as they closed it without communicating with me. I called back again and and they issued another ticket to the tech team and this time 6 days later I get and email asking if I'm experiencing a problem and when I didn't respond in 40 minutes (I was at the beach) they closed the case! I had to start the process all over again. I continue to have technical issues with their site to set up payment information and its been two months since our first VRBO guest and we still have not been paid and have spent hours to resolve. NO ONE at VRBO takes ownership of an issue. Bottom line they take longer to pay than Airbnb and cost more too. They are not worth your time. Period!

Date of experience: August 6, 2019
Florida
3 reviews
4 helpful votes
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The owners misrepresented this place. The apt was next to one of the busiest roads in Asheville. I was divebombed by vehicles all night and the sheets were so old with lint balls, I wouldn't even use them as a rag. I checked out the next morning (paid for 6 days). They refused to give me my money back citing their cancel before 2 week policy. VRBO's customer service is worthless. They say it's between my and the owner. I now have to take this guy Shawn to court.

Date of experience: August 3, 2019
Canada
1 review
1 helpful vote
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Booked a night with Acker Vacation Homes and Suites in Kelowna, BC via BedandBreakfast website. Some of the descriptions of the place are: panoramic room, lake views, and free parking among other lovely things.

- was a small room with a king bed and that's about it. Hardly any room to move on other sides of the bed
- was a lake view but it is from a top a hill over 10 kms away
- parking is free, if you park on the street in front of the house
- supposed to be "bed and breakfast" but there is no breakfast. In fact, your small room is locked from the other side and you have no access to anything or anywhere else in the house.
- zero service on site to help with anything including checking out
- no where on the site tells you the rate is in USD to CDN. The only indication is a note the say $100 CDN deposit is required. With that information and that the location is in Canada one would think that the rate is in Canadian dollars. So I booked the room for $133 (after taxes and fee) for 1 night, and immediately my credit card company notified me a charge of $178 being made. Right away, I contacted Arcker about the situation and wish to cancel. After explaining to the site manager, Mark, he told me no problem but I need to contact BedandBreakfast. But when I called bedandbreakfast I was told that Arcker need to approve the cancellation for it to happen. To make the story short, Archer refused to cancel my reservation and will charge me $178 regardless or me staying the night or not.
(To be fair, the bnb man on the other side was very understanding and tried to be helpful.)

Would not use either BedandBreakfast or Acker services again. Very dishonest.

Date of experience: August 1, 2019
Washington
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Have used VRBO in the past with success, this time the listing agent was a scam, the home owner had "no clue" and we were out $1000. VRBO washed their hand because we didn't use their pay service. Also, they don't vet any listings so you are on your own.

Date of experience: July 26, 2019
Georgia
2 reviews
4 helpful votes
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They have a lot of regulations. Often there reps who answer your calls are hard to undersand because of there heavy accent. Worst of all it takes close to a month to get your money due as an owner, while they are collecting interest on it. YOu have not option to use there system to collect money or refund money ( more rules and more money for them as they collect interest on that to)

Date of experience: July 26, 2019
Kentucky
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Renters beware... I rented a beach house this July in Holgate, the location was great as was the outside shower, however does not only Holgate have a green head fly problem the owner I rented from scammed me out of the security deposit, telling me I left scuff marks on the wall plus a nick and a scratch in the molding which I did none of... its a scam beware
I also had an ant issue in the house that left me bitten and the the were in my car...
Left several messages with the owner Dan Fried, he never responded and I never received my 500 back... find something else... 7 Holgate ave Beach Haven

Date of experience: July 25, 2019
District of Columbia
1 review
2 helpful votes
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I usually don't badmouth a company, but I feel I must in this case. I booked a condo in Montreal on February 6,2019 for our trip to the Jazz Festival and received my confirmation. Then, on June 4th, I received an email from the owner of the property stating that he was sorry, but they had overbooked and it wasn't available. He did say he had another unit available that we could have if we changed our dates by one day. Even though it was going to mess us up a little, we told him okay and he told me to go ahead and book it. I explained to him that VRBO showed it was already booked, but the owner said it was open and he would take care of it. On June 18th, 2 1/2 weeks before our trip, he emailed me that Home Away had made a mistake, and the place wasn't available anymore. I called VRBO for a refund, but was told that I had to go through the owner to get my money back, no help from them. I finally got my money back (less $11.00 due to the exchange rate!) and booked a great place (though not in the downtown area) through Air B&B. But, when I wanted to place a review on VRBO warning travelers about booking with that owner, I was told by VRBO that I couldn't. You can only write a review if you stay in the place. There is no way to let people know to beware. I spent 45 minutes today on the phone with VRBO trying to work with their "customer service" people on a few issues I had regarding the owner and my refund, and believe me, they really don't care! This is the second time I've had a problem with VRBO and there will not be a 3rd time. From now on, I'm an Air B&B customer.

Date of experience: July 23, 2019
New Jersey
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Travelers Beware!
July 21, 2019

VRBO does not really protect you and you cannot trust the reviews. We had a cancellation for a large reservation less than 4 hours before check-in (day of reservation!) and we cannot leave a review for the property to protect others from getting burned like we did. Here is our saga: We made reservations for a booking with 3 adjacent lakefront houses for a 30-person family reunion. It was hard to find a place for such a large group, so we booked a year in advance (paid in fully July 2018 for a July 2019 reservation). We contacted the owner in June 2019 to start getting ready for the reunion. The owner confirmed that we had all 3 houses, provided us with check-in information, and answered detailed questions about docking boats, linen, etc. Then, the day before our reservation, the owner sent an email via VRBO that they had double booked one house, but we still had the other 2 houses. They refunded us part of the reservation cost (less than a third of the total unbelievable). I called the owner and they just said sorry and that the other people were already in the house. I contacted VRBO the morning of the reservation and they're offer was to book hotel rooms (about 5-10 miles away) for the people who would be displaced by the loss of one house. Not good for a family reunion. Less than 4 hours before the check-in time, the owner cancelled the reservation! All families were already on the road some had over an 11-hour drive! I did not contact VRBO again because I wanted lakefront houses, not hotel rooms for 30 people or separate houses miles houses miles apart (this is the only listing on VRBO in the area that accommodates 30 people). To not ruin my vacation, I found another place on the other side of the lake that could work, booked it, and enjoyed my vacation. When I contacted VRBO for compensation for the price difference after my vacation I was told since I didn't contact them to help with the booking, they would do nothing for me. So, because I wasn't willing to spend my family reunion in a hotel for a week, they won't do anything for me. When we looked again at the property we had reserved, we found a one-star review from July 2018 where the house was double-booked (sound familiar?). I tried to leave a similar review with this story, but cannot since the reservation was cancelled. So beware, you don't know how many times the owner has cancelled reservations! I won't be using VRBO in the future and I advise you not to as well.

Date of experience: July 20, 2019
Ohio
1 review
0 helpful votes
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This was my 4th time for a vacation rental but the first with VRBO. This experience was not good. The house was a great size but that is the only good quality.

Location: 6528 N Ashland AV Chicago Il ******* Floor 1
Manager: Armando
Issues:
- The air-conditioning was out for the first 3 nights nights when Chicago was 89 degrees and humid.
- The floors were dirty
- The bedding in the 3rd room was old and stained
- The dishwasher was unusable as it does not appear to be attached or safe to use
- The grout in the bathroom has mildew
- The bed frame for the 3rd bedroom was in the kitchen
- The lamp next to the bed in the third bed room was to short to plug in

The manager has ignored my concerns and refused to reimburse. Plus he re-registered the rental so that my review would not post. It appears from my research he has done this before with other rentals. This shows that VRBO is not monitoring its rentals and it's renters / users concerns.

Date of experience: July 17, 2019
Illinois
1 review
2 helpful votes
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This place was terrible. The house was very old. It was given rave reviews but certainly did not live up to that. The room was small, the tv didn't work, it was far from town. Construction was going on in the kitchen when we arrived and the B and B smelled from the construction. The price of the room was way too high. Don't stay here unless you want a bad experience. There are many hotels in town that are less expensive and much nicer.

Date of experience: July 13, 2019
Maryland
1 review
0 helpful votes
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They have the worst customer service. You have to spell your conversation because they do not understand English. I canceled my reservation and called my credit card company. This is a bad deal Do not use them.

Date of experience: July 13, 2019
Florida
1 review
1 helpful vote
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Have spent the first 3 hours since arriving at our vacation spot getting the runaround from VRBO customer service. Came in to an absolutely filthy place, submitted dozens of pictures, and they still refuse to provide any solutions. We paid $800 for 2 nights and since this place is not in livable condition, we are forced to find last minute and even more expensive accommodations. They continually transfer our calls around, and still have not made contact with the property owners. We will never use this service again, from now on we will only deal with Airbnb or hotels. Absolutely disgraceful

Date of experience: July 11, 2019
Germany
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Horrible
July 8, 2019

I wish I gave 0 stars! Vacarentals, vrbo, and other misc companies involved did not do anything to help us. We didn't even get to check in because some dumbass didn't put us in any reservations or our information that we were coming. When we got to margaritaville resort, the front desk didn't have our information because we found out that this was a separate contractor. I would give the actual Margaritaville Resort 5 stars! Because they actually helped us found a different place accommodating 10 people! Thank you to them, but the vacarentals, vrbo, etc did not help us. Wouldn't give us our refund back. Had to talk to multiple of agents for over 3 hours and nothing was resolved. I would say. Never ever use VRBo. It was our mini honeymoon celebration trip with our close family, friends, and their babies and that happened.

Date of experience: July 8, 2019
Kentucky
2 reviews
29 helpful votes
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Cabin Duplex Pigeon Forge... Limited parking. Dirty carpet. Dirty blinds. Smelly basement. Leaking shower. Animal knocked over garbage (outside) reported and never cleaned up for 4 days. Terrible internet... terrible customer service.

Date of experience: July 5, 2019
Connecticut
1 review
3 helpful votes
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Do NOT rent your home with VRBO.
I was a home owner who used VRBO for years before I had to sell my home to pay a tax bill. It was a great house in a beach area and was very popular and I made VRBO tons of money and helped as every home owner does, make them look great and improve their reputation with great photos and reviews of homes that they do not own but take a piece of the profit to basically advertise on their site.

They do absolutely nothing in terms of services for the home owners and at the time they allowed people trying to scam leave a snarky review looking to get money back after stays and wouldn't let you leave a comparable review on their profile. They exploit the home owners string arming them into catering to their business model but allow no recourse when the renters damage the property except going through a third party insurance company which as they do. Make you wait and suffer.

Their VRBO help center is off shore and barely know what's going on when you call them and you're put on hold and transfered to people who don't speak English well, and make any hope of solving any problems. Hopeless. If you owe them back fees from one of the hundreds of reservations that made VRBO thousands on YOUR home at little expense to them. They sick wealthy lawyers on you who put their hands in your bank account and take what they want without your permission then threaten to sue you, the little home owner, with their huge million dollar team of lawyers, if you ask for even an invoice.

If you own a home rent it ANYWHERE but VRBO! Do it yourself or go on Air bnb or even Craigslist. VRBO is clearly making millions off us homeowners, as their fancy new ad campaign suggests but they will do nothing for you in return and squeeze every penny they can from you with no ability to negotiate or talk to anyone capable of making decisions at the company.
It's a horrible experience and I hope I help someone here who was thinking of making the mistake of doing business with VRBO.

Date of experience: June 27, 2019
Washington
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Scammer
June 27, 2019

Property # ******* In Sandpoint, Idaho. The person we rented from was a complete scammer. To top it off when we left our review, she lied again. Her place was a mess, which I have saved text to my husband as he was going to the store. I asked him to pick up cleaning supplies. This place only had a old can of Ajaxx, maybe 20yrs old. The carpets were just as stained and old. We figured the lady was old. So we did not say anything. Cleaned the place ourselves. Upon leaving the owner showed up, she was not older. My husband was taking out the trash. Odd thing to have people do, with such a high deposit. When we left she told us she was charging us for cleaning the carpets. Also something we found odd, thought maybe our son spilled a little drink or something. Then she sent pictures. This is when I knew the person was clearly a scammer. She sent photos of all her old, dirty, stained carpets. Something that would take 10-20yrs of people walking in and out to do. I asked to see how many times she has charged people for this. Or if she was even having them cleaned, she did not respond. Just called us liars online. She left us each a bath towel. We have rented places all over and have never been left with one towel. With no soap to do laundry, we had to purchase that the next day as well. She does not have professional cleaners. She does not know how to clean professional. Yet charges a big deposit, and finds reasons to keep it. I do have photos and text message proof. We could not even find the key the first hour we got there, she never responded.

Date of experience: June 27, 2019
Texas
1 review
2 helpful votes
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I booked a rental house back in February for a stay in June, in April the home owner contacted me saying their HOA no longer allows the home owners to rent out their units and she as going to have to cancel our stay. Later I checked my bank statement to make sure I was refunded for the initial booking, however the amount I was refunded does not accurately represent the amount VRBO took from me. I reached out to the home owner, however she informed she never received payment & it was intact VRBO who holds that money. I reached out to VRBO about it, the first representative appeared she was attempting to resolve the issue then disconnected abruptly. I started a second chat, this representative never engaged in the chat. I then started a third chat, this representative kept telling me VRBO fulfilled the refund, I assured him my bank statement did not reflect that the amount initially taken did not match the amount refunded. He proceeded to tell me it was an issue with my bank & I needed to reach out to them. I told him my bank isn't going to believe it's their fault the amounts don't match, & I then explained to them how sketchy & untrustworthy VRBO is for taking money from customers before a service is provided then fail to return the full amount to the customer when the circumstances out of the renter's control change. The representative then ignored for a significant period of time & then disconnected. Especially after reading other reviews here I would never suggest using VRBO to anyone.

Date of experience: June 26, 2019
Washington
4 reviews
13 helpful votes
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Don't bother
June 25, 2019

Having used VRBO since it first began, usually 1-2x per year, we booked a place in Rancho Mirage, CA in June 2019. We paid for a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home with air conditioning. At over $350+ per night for 10 days. What we got was 2 bedrooms with air conditioning, 1 without, and a bunch of ants!

Contacted property manager who said "he's working on it" then contacted VRBO. At least 2 hours overall so far on the phone with VRBO, plus a "chat" session. Multiple emails from VRBO asking me for the same information.

All you get is a run around from their customer service never getting to talk with their "Traveler Care Team" because THAT system is down and cannot be accessed. But, wait, you all work for VRBO - right? You can access things but a separate team cannot? On the same system? Huh?

Last call I asked to speak to a supervisor where I got put on hold 2x for 10 minutes each and then summarily disconnected.

I will never ever never use VRBO again. I suggest you don't either because if you have an issue - you will get NOWHERE.

Date of experience: June 25, 2019
Texas
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Zero Protection
June 24, 2019

VRBO will be out of business soon. I booked and payed the deposit on a summer home. The owner advised they putting up the daily rate, probably because they received a better offer than mine. I had to accept the new terms, 25% increase or end up not having a destination for our summer vacation. I made contact with VRBO confident they would intervene. Wrong! They completely wash their hands and offer no protection. I now conceded to the higher rate to avoid not having accommodation for our summer vacation. Trough VRBO the traveler is completely subject to the owners changing terms. There is no bully protection.

Date of experience: June 24, 2019