HomeAway review: bad company ( 35 comments)

BEWARE !
HOLIDAY-RENTALS .co.uk part of HOMEAWAY
is doing the same to me here in UK
Holiday- rentals .co.uk refuses to remove libel Review posted on my listing, saying I homeowner should counteract it with posting review of my own
Their customer service is arogant, hardly speaks any english is very illiterate and neglectful.
Especially the Holiday-rentals.co.uk Review department.
Forget about getting through to their so called legal department or managing director- they do not exist
They rather you cancell your listing and go away without refund.
Holiday-rentals.co.uk are not caring about your business or relations with them.
I think 'the company' is pair of rude, illiterate computer Geeks pretending to be large web listing company
They pocketed my money and as far as they are concerned they do not owe me anything more
I was left with no other option but to have remove my listing and go away without any refund or apology.
I STRONGLY ADVISE AGAINST LISTING YOUR PROPERTY WITH HOLIDAY-RENTALS.co.uk and
their parent company HOMEAWAY.com
very unhappy holiday homeowner

I dont think Homeaway/holiday-rentals are a bad company at all! They dealt with my advert with professionalism and their customer service team are great. if theres ever an issue im betting its to do with the ignorant owners out there who think their dirty villa is the be all and end all

They have all these guidelines about their reviews and I think reviews are great. I mean, if you're gonna rent a holiday home most people tripadvisor everything anyway!

this complaint is completely wrong so please everyone just go with what you think and not some annoying dick who posts bad complaints when he doesnt get what he wants

My experience with Homeaway was absolutely dreadful. The house I rented was okay but when I left, the owner kept almost the entire deposit, accusing me of removing property from the house (they never said what it was or provided any proof) and that the house needed additional cleaning. We shot film of the house before we left and it was immaculate.

I complained to HomeAway, who did nothing and then stopped replying to emails.

Absolutely terrible company.

Homeaway and vrbo are absolutely have absolutely horrible customer service !

Vrbo cares so little they don't even have a telephone number !

Fake reviews and no control whatsoever about who posts on their sites. If your looking for a vacation rental go on google maps and find a local company that you can call!

Well As a Holiday home Owner,
Who Advertises on VRBO and Homeaway.
I can only say that they provide a good service at a good cost.

They get your Apartment noticed .
I do think that a lot of people who Advertise on the sited are More C/o based, And i feel it was set up Initially for individuals . not Estate agents or Relaters . to make Big money .
which i think they dont, as people are wise to them.

I have used Vrbo in america when i have visited and been happy with most of them .

I try my best as a home owner to make peoples Vacation a happy 1.

O, and i dont ask for a deposit, As i trust people enough to take care, and if the Odd thing gets broken Well thats ok with me ..

Scotland 4u2enjoy !

gordon038@hotmail.com

I would stick with a hotel. You don't know if the owner is allowed to rent the house or condo for short term per their Home Owner Association terms. I own several downtown San Diego condos so I know the HOA terms for most buildings. The HOA require all renters be listed for long terms leases and the lease is held by the management company so security has the renters names on record. Obvouisly, long term renters and owner occupiers want to feel safe in their homes without strangers coming in and out every other day. If you are caught renting short term the security is allowed to kick you out of the building. About half of the downtown San Diego condos are being listed in violation of the HOA terms. I would assume it would be the same if you searched any other major city on HomeAway.

I have had similar bad experiance with Homeaway.
As the owner of luxury properties, I paid to place ads on Homeaway sites. That makes me the customer. For some strange reason homeaway does not see it that way.

Only twice in 5 years have I had to keep a damage deposit and both of these guests posted horrible reviews. I sent documentation to Homeaway including photos of piles of dog poop left on carpets, and reciepts for replacement of missing flat screen tv and custom bedspreads. Still they refused to remove the negative reviews. Even though I had 20 other rave reviews from very happy guests, my inquires stopped and I had to cancel my listing. Homeaway was arrogant and unappologetic about this and acted like they did not care about their customers. They can run their stupid superbowl ad all they want but I am sure they are losing customers faster than this ad can bring them in. I have hired an attorney to sue both the guests and Homeaway for slander.

I have had a HORROR trip of a experiance with HomeAway and VRBO. No response, no explanation not even a phone number after a review that was a lie and even against their own policies and left me without guests. This company is BAD. The customer service is a nightmare.

Susan

Homeaway does not learn and it does not get any better. Unfortunately thay have been able to buy other websites in Britain and the rest of Europe who have been converted to their most unprofessional policies. They will allow anyone to post anything that they like anonymously on the comments section about your property and will then refuse to remove it. These can be put up purely maliciously by people who have not even booked through this website. Often they are accompanioed by demands for very substantial payments to remove the offending and untruthful material by the authior - an unpleasant form of extortion. Their customer service operatives are some of the most stupid and unfhelpful that you are ver likely to come across.

I have been a homeowner on Homeaway since it was TripHomes.com in my area and I have always had the original customer service person even though his office moved from my town to across the US. They have always been receptive.

I just returned from an awful rental experience in Jackson Hole WY; the owner (off site) admitted he "had not been there since it become a short term rental" and apparently could care less about the comfort or happiness of a guest on vacation. Thank heaven for Tripadvisor (HomeAway, the company, apparently could care less...) A hard lesson to learn, but they have lost my business AND have earned a "Don't ever use them!" recommendation from me to anyone who will listen!

I agree with the homeowners who have had negative experiences with Homeaway.com. And they are correct in stating that VRBO does not have phone access for its owners. I had a false negative review placed two years ago and it has really hurt my rental business. I have 15 rave reviews posted on my property--all 5-star reviews; but I had a manipulative renter who was upset that I kept a small portion of his deposit after a 5-month stay. The house was filthy after their departure and they had been given detailed cleaning instructions or the choice to pay for a professional cleaning. They took neither option and when I contacted the renter on the day of departure, I even gave him the choice again, after his move-out. He opted to pay for the cleaning at that point, but was very upset about it. I even gave him the choice to enter the home again and do the cleaning himself. I kept a very small portion of his $2000 deposit (one month's rent)--around $150 for the cleaning--and he fired back by leaving a false review, claiming that the heating system in our Maine home doesn't work. I called Homeaway for weeks on end to try to resolve this, as I had AMPLE evidence that this review was false. I was not able to resolve it. They kept insisting that it was a matter of this renter's "opinion" and that they couldn't argue with an opinion. I kept asserting to them that this man's claims were claimed as FACTS--not opinion--and that his facts were wrong. I offered them ample evidence, including a statement from our heating and cooling company, asserting that the heating system was not only BRAND new, but also highly functioning. This man claimed in his review that the heat does not go past 60* in the winter months and does not exceed 55* in the kitchen. Clearly, one cannot live in Maine with a home that doesn't heat past 55* or 60*. I provided Homeaway with so much evidence of our heat system working perfectly fine, as most of my renter heat the home to 70* or 71* and they kept asserting that "it was this man's OPINION that the heat didn't register past 55 or 60* in the house. They have been unwilling to address the issue and all of my winter contracts are renegging. I believe that since I have so many reviews, people read the first few--see that the house is great and that guests are happy--and then reserve their stay. I believe that once people make their reservations, they read all the fine print on the entire ad, to see what's included in the home, what they need to pack, etc. It is at this point that they read the negative review and then I never hear from them again. Dealing with the Homeaway company has been an incredible nightmare for me on so many other occasions and for so many other reasons, not the least of which is their computer glitches. I have not been able to log on to my ad for months now. Their servers are always down and they have major computer issues and programming issues. One summer, my ad was stuck at the bottom of all of the properties in Portland Maine (278 properties that year) and nobody was finding my ad. I lost approx $15000 in rental business that summer, as nobody could find my ad, and despite NUMEROUS phone calls to Homeaway and their own acknowledgment that they were having significant programming issues that summer, their offer to me was to run a free "special" for me--something that they charge $15 for. Thousands of dollars in lost business and they offered me a rebate of $15 for an ad special that I had no interest in running on my property and didn't use.

I came across something very funny about VRBO and HomeAway... they even believe that they suck as they registered certain domains that will make you laugh! Check it out here: http://www.vacationrentalscommunity.com/forums/p/2072/3770.aspx#3770

I booked an apartment thru Home Away that turned out to be uninhabitable! When I complained that it smelled like a sewer, had a leak in one bedroom wall and the owner charged me for the 3 day minimum they said they could do nothing and would keep records on the property. They wouldn't allow me to post a negative review because they said I "threatened the owner" when I asked for my $$$ back-- yes I said that I would post a bad review if he didn't return my cash! What a joke!

I too have had bad experiences with HomeAway and VRBO. They got so big they no longer seem to care about individual homeowners. I have found that advertising on a smaller site like http://www.findrentals.com might not get as many inquries, but has a thousand times better customer service. They actually CARE! They might not bring as many potential renters to me, but I have had no problem staying booked. There are a few other nice smaller vacation rental sites out there that HomeAway hasn't purchased yet, and I recommend you try one of them before going to the huge corporation that doesn't care about you!

Homeaway.com and vbro.com regularly violate FREE SPEECH and will ONLY publish GOOD reviews and refuse to publish BAD reviews! The owner of property #182771 (Seawatch condo) in Gualala, owned by GARY AMADO (A vile, horrible, nasty man), submitted a rebuttal to the review they finally published - which was sooooo watered down as to do NO good to warn others at all. The rebuttal by GARY AMADO was so filled with lies as to be laughable. I am pleased that there is a forum for complaints about Homeaway and vbro. I WILL NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH EITHER COMPANY AGAIN. THEY ARE THE WORST!

You people ought to check the community site on Homeaway. Homeowners are fuming with HA. HA is ruining VRBO. And yes alot of us homeowners are dropping our memberships because they simply don't listen to the owners that advertise. They don't listen to the homeowner or the renter. Remember it is their motto "We are not party to the contract". I am cancelling my listing on HA this March. VRBO I will probably reduce my pictures and pay less. I hope more owners hit them with their pocket book.

I have been advertising on Homeaway for 4 years. I had 5 properties listed all with rave reviews. One very nasty traveler named reyna Joselevitz- kept filing complaints for all my properties. homeway had refused to look in to details- which only could've taken 5 minutes. ha had suspended my advert. Horrible experience with reps and I am so disgusted with their service.

Homeaway is The most number one site NOT to advertise your home to!
Do not do it! You will have no protection to your home, false negative reviews -,
You will never get through on the phone, your advert will take forever to work, overpriced advert---- don't do it!

THEY ARE HORRIBLE!

My experience with home away has been horrible. guest family of 5- reyna j had rented my home for 9 nights and had left the place trashed, had thrown eggs on mattress, piles of garbage, it was disgusting. She had also charge backed a credit card, fake money order. A scam from beginning. She had reserved a studio but had brought 5 people. Our studios strictly sleep max 4 and we had to offer her bigger apartment 2br for $40 extra a night. She was so unhappy with extra charge - she had made several complaints with homeaway.

A week later, after numerous protest, they have suspended our advert. All 5 adverts which had been paid till end of year.

I advertise on homeaweay.com for my Apartment. I have 10 positive reviews with two negative complaints- complaint 1. Guest reserved for 4 people and brought 6 people, and complaining Apartment being too small, 2. Last minute cancellation.

They had already charged me $350/ year on ad and had canceled my account with out any investigation on complaints. They they no concern for homeowners.

VRBO just bought by greedy Expedia. Now they have cut down services without telling us and are now charging for FEATURED service offered free before with purchase of a listing. On top of that they have added a 10% SERVICE FEE to online bookers... EGADS.. talk about IMMEDIATE GREED. AIRBANB is much more reasonable.

VRBO started charging a new service, without notice, to all renters who book through VRBO. The owners have no option to remove the fee from any quote done through VRBO.

I have started sending all quotes without using the official quote feature and do all by bookings outside VRBO

I will not renew my subscription next year

The service fee is too much... We are getting quite a few guests that are complaining and not booking... It was already confusing to our guests with all the costs/fees, now it is worse. There is the nightly rate, extra people fee, city taxes, housekeeping costs, pet fee, security deposit and now VRBO service fee?
VRBO use to answer my calls quickly. Being a fairly new host, I need help. Yesterday I called and gave up...hung up after waiting 30 minutes. I am looking for other ways to book our place.

We were going to rent a house in Orlando and after a month our plans got changed. We asked the owner for a refund on our deposit which was suppose to be 100% refunded. The owner has not given me my deposit nor has the company did anything to the owner for his actions. I scanned numerous documents to their fraud department in which nothing happened. So I'm out 300 for not even staying in the place. Never use this website! His name is Shlomo Moalam. He is not to be trusted for his word or actions!

I'm stressed after cancelling a booking I'm being told by HOMEWAY to contact the owner to do a cancellation. When I contacted the owner he told me, he doesn't have my money. I'm being tossed between the two parties. This is very wrong . I am disappointed by HOMEWAY .

Is a scam they took my money and no one can't help or refund the money back! BIG SCAM !

This was my experience after spending all night trying to find another place to rent after submitting payment for a rental in Waynesville, NC. I have contacted the Attorney General's Office, and the BBB. This is not right!

You are now chatting with an agent.
Agent
Thank you for contacting HomeAway. My name is Sally. How can I help you today?
Hi! I'm James Gray!
I tried to book this property for 9/1/18. As soon as I booked it, I went back to check and it said it was unavailable, so I figured I would hear from the property manager/owner. I never heard from her. After waiting 24 hours with an upcoming holiday weekend, I found it almost impossible to make a reservation. She is on many sites...and is double booking!
My Reservation # is HA-6R292P
Agent
I see. Let me check that first James.
Agent
Could you please confirm your trip dates?
9-1-18 to 9-2-18
She is doing this to many, MANY others...It's not right!
Agent
I see. I was able to check and as per checking the request got expired due to the owner failed to confirm it within 24 hours.
Yes...we called and texted her...
She has the property listed on about 3 different sites
We begged her to get back to us
Agent
Actually, it is not double booking. The owner has the option to advertised her property to a different websites.
We are complaining...we were locked in for 24 hours with an upcoming holiday weekend...
Agent
If you want I can try to look for an instant property that is open on Sept Sep 01, 2018 - Sep 02, 2018.
No...I have a reservation after looking for 4.5 hours last night without sleep
Agent
If you want to file a complaint, I can send you a complaint form.
Please
Agent
Alright. Please give me 2-3 minutes to create your complaint form.
Agent
Would that be fine?
I just want others not to have to go through this... Why does a property owner/manager need 24 hours?
Agent
We provide them 24 hours to confirm or declined a request, because for example, there are 2-3 person who wanted to reserved the property for the same dates then the owner can choose and negotiate to the possible renter.
Why isn't it first come, first serve? If that is your policy...You need to change it!
I'm fairly certain it is discrimination as well...I am going to contact the BBB and the Feds about this
Basically, what happens is she books the place...then if someone else comes along and wants more days...she goes with that one...because it is more money for her...
Agent
i'm really sorry about that. Could you please check your email? I sent the complaint form to your email.
It really bites for the customer...Please send me your form...also please tell me your President's name and address...I want to write him/her a letter.
Agent
Have you receive the form?
Yes
What's your Director's name and address?
Who is your supervisor?
Agent
I do apologize, for security purposes we are not allowed to provide the name of our president and my supervisor.

We found the house badly neglected:
- Screens detached and hanging open
- Handles on back door loose and barely functional
- Several years accumulation of dirt, sand, cobwebs under furniture
- Messy yard--no grass, no maintenance, just weeds
- Part of back yard littered with trash
July 29 to August 5, 2017

Case number:
Your HomeAway Property Case [protected] [ ref:_00D1aZzRr._5001aKv4TO:ref ]

issue with payment disbursement for Vicky Sutcliffe HA-NLCP6X

payment to owner overdue by 30 days. Customer service incompetend and cant come back to with cause of non-payment or resolution date

I do not want to see their TV commercial showing the bar soap. I've seen it so many time especially lunch/dinner time. I instantly loose my appetite.
It is gross and disgusting. No "Class".

Home Away allows their home owners to list properties that aren't actually available on the dates they say they are. So they are not at all responsible to customers, even allowing vendors to misrepresent their properties.

Pls see your Case # [protected].
Your agent agreed that the owner of property #6665906 couldn't deduct 40E, re a service already paid for in the rental, from refund of the 200E for property damage when there was No damage anyway. My Res ID: HA-11X3Q5.
My name: Anthony Mercer
My email: agmercer@xtra.co.nz

Pls advise what has happened
Asap.

I made a booking online for accommodation and upon arrival I was told that there is no place reserved for me and that there is no way they could help me out.

Now at the last minute they say that they want to refund me which is not acceptable because I have no where else to sleep

Homeaway, you are taxing my renters 10% in Vermont for local taxes. The actual rate is 9% for state with "NO" 1% local Killington, VT tax (that ended 3 years ago) . I complain, but you don't change this and it happens over and over.

Do you just keep the extra money?