branch-11
Highly recommended that you oid using vrbo and use ANY one of their competitors. Our group of 10, which was inclusive of individuals who work as first responders/essential services (nurses, teachers, seniors care, firefighters, lawyers and law enforcement corrections) wanted a deserved break/kid free weekend and decided to book a property in early December when the region we were staying in was still in the “green zone” and allowed indoor gatherings. However, due to the uncertainty of future events, it was confirmed in writing by the owner of the property that if for some reason he could not rent to our group due to government mandates, that we would be issued a credit and allowed to rebook for a future date! When the covid lock down occured and the "stay at home order" was imposed in Ontario, we attempted to reasonably come to a resolution to rebook for a different weekend, which was previously stated by the owner to not be an issue. But to our surprise, the owner went back on his statement and instead told us that he didn’t offer refunds or rescheduling and that he would not allow us to rebook for a different weekend as previously stated because “he could still honour our booking and recommend a one household limit” (even though he charged us for 10 people) and that we would be responsible for any fines issued if we were in violation of the rules. He then suggested that we cancel our booking (no refund) and rebook a weekend that worked for us (charge us another $2,100) so that he could attempt to rebook our dates and only offered us a “chance” of receiving a refund based on the funds he could recoup.We were then threatened with fraudulent claims that we would be held responsible for damages to his property for the weekend we had booked even though we told him we were not coming due to government restrictions.I contacted vrbo multiple times to get help in resolving the matter and on many occasions I was either hung up on or disconnected from the chat. They didn’t want to deal with any of it. They also just kept saying they can’t change the cancelation policy, which I wasn’t arguing with them. I was arguing the fact that one of the owners they advertise for was going back on a written agreement that was in place before I booked the property. Needless to say, they did nothing. Their customer service is a joke. Following our weekend, in which we didn’t attend, I received an email from vrbo to write a review. So I reviewed my negative experience with the owner and how useless vrbo is in resolving any issue and to use caution when booking a property through them.I then contacted vrbo after 2 weeks of not seeing my review posted and was told they rejected my post because “you didn’t stay at the property”. So I wasn’t allowed to review my negative experience with the owner (to warn others) or with them as a useless company because “I didn’t attend the property” which I wasn’t legally allowed to do...I also asked to put in a complaint about the owner they advertise for and was given an email that doesn’t even work.In conclusion, I would oid using vrbo. If it was so easy for this one owner to get away with taking money from trellers and not receiving any help from VRBO in rectifying the issue, I would assume that it is common practice.