HomeAway
Reviews and Complaints

I booked a two night stay (dec.23rd-25th) through HomeAway. Owners name is Brain Ashcraft. The booking was paid and I received a confirmation. Two days later, I receive a cancellation from the owner because he decided to change the requirements to a 3 night stay. Several emails were exchanged regarding my stay for 2 nights. The owner states that I requested the stay for 3 nights which was false. Due to the lack of availability for other cabins, the cancellation of this cabin has made our stay impossible. B

We have recently been advised of a new STVR tax being implemented in British Columbia, Canada on October 1st, 2018. BC Provincial tax (PST): 13% and a municipal (MRDT) tax of 2%, specifically applied to short term rentals.

MRDT info: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/taxes/sales-taxes/publications/pst-120-accommodation.pdf

PST info: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/taxes/sales-taxes/publications/notice-2018-004-pst-mrdt-accommodaton-providers.pdf

Please look into this and see if you/Homeaway can make British Columbia another exception like Paris, various US States, Vienna in Austria, etc. and collect/remit the taxes on our behalf.

If you cannot do that - please stop charging us a ridiculous "Processing fee" of 3% when you're NOT processing it for us.

I've been an avid VRBO supporter and advocate for over 3 years. I'm afraid after this experience, am considering switching my property to Airbnb exclusively - as they handle the collection and submission of all these taxes for us property owners.

In addition to the current 5% GST we collect, we now have to collect a provincial STVR tax of 13% plus a municipal STVR tax of 2%. Which means we now have to charge our guests an additional 20% in tax. I know that is not your problem - but your 3% so-called "processing fee" definitely is!

Please DO something!

I booked a condo in Kissimmee, Florida for next January 14 - April 7 in May of 2018. In June, we discovered some health issues with my father and had to cancel. Canadastays told me I'd be responsible for a booking fee of $472. I told them that this was ridiculous given that it was still 8 months ahead of the booking and that they would have no trouble rebooking the property. I also told them I intended to dispute the charge with my credit card company (Chase). Meanwhile, instead of refunding me all except $472 as they stated on the phone, they refunded all except $737.76 usd. How utterly incredible that Homeaway allows a company like Canadastays to do business with them. If you are not able to talk sense into them and get my money refunded, than I am done with Homeaway, along with all my family and friends. This is so ludicrous that I can't believe I have to write this complaint. Please advise your actions regarding this complaint?

Thank you,

Matt Nelson
[protected]

Your site has been hacked, we lost € 3.000 and HomeAway promissed a full refund but we haven't seen 1 euro yet.
Please read extract of your mail here below :

_
Van: "HomeAway. nl Klantenservice"
Aan: "karel wyns2"
Verzonden: Vrijdag 20 juli 2018 11:06:20
Onderwerp: HomeAway. nl - Referentie [protected] [ ref:_00D1aZzRr._5001afnvuv:ref ]

Good morning Karel,

I hope you are well.
I have received a message from our Traveler Care team that a full refund has been issued. Please note that it may take an average of 5-7 bank days before the funds is visible in your account.
If there is any further issues, please do not hesitate to contact us back.

Consult help. homeaway. nl for answers to frequently asked questions.
Sincerely
Martin
The HomeAway customer service

Legal information HomeAway UK Ltd.
Address: Portland House, Bressenden Place, London SW1E 5BH, UK Company
registration number: [protected] (England & Wales)
VAT number: GB [protected]

Your contact form:
ref:_00D1aZzRr._5001afnvuv:ref
—

Please confirm me when we can expect the refund.

Many thanks in advance.

Kind regards
H. Lintermans

I had been advertising my property with Home and away and then recently found out that it was being advertise also with expedia.com and ebookers.com . These companies are affiliated with home and away and gave all of my details to these sites.These sites were advertising my full home address my private address details splattered all over the Internet for the whole world to see.

This is a breach of privacy and invasion of privacy

We booked a rental in Wales, res no: HA-N7GZQH. On other similar website you would get one invoice for the whole amount. The money between the property owner and the website is between them. At HomeAway, you must ask for an invoice from the owner, and then there is a service fee invoice from HomeAway, but the totals does not add up, even after deducting the £200 Refundable Damage Deposit. After spending about 2 hours on the phone with customer service with both HomeAway and HolidayRentalPayment (the payment partner), they finally said they will contact the owner and supply them with the full amount to invoice us for. I spoke to 8 different people and got 8 different explanations, each one putting the responsibility on the other side. Maybe it is time to change the way invoicing is done or train your people to handle the queries correctly.

We will most definitely not be using HomeAway again. As a business, we cannot go through this trouble every time we book a property.

we booked a rental through home and away, paid £135 for 12 nights, received the holiday confirmation.A day later we received an email saying that the place was overbooked and could only do 11 nights.Expecting a nights refund but instead we get another receipt sayind 11 nights at £147.17 .So instead of refunding the cancelled night they just readjusted the night rate.We told them about this but all they said was the rental owner had to authorise it, but his saying that home and away are responsible.

I have reported that you are using stolen photographs in 3 different instances on your site in the UK. Two were stolen off of Airbnb and one from an estate agents. Airbnb has solved one by writing to them..(but I do not think it is their job to sort your problems out)
The 2 remaining are
https://www.homeaway.co.uk/p8530395
https://www.homeaway.co.uk/p8679688
I have rung and was promised it would be sorted...with the quote "just reply to the email we send you" I have emailed again and again
I have had NO response.
Could you please get this sorted as it will cost far more than £120 per property if it goes to court.

Thank you for your swift resolution
(Airbnb act and resolve things in less than 12 hours)

Regards
Sarah (Sarah Perring Photography)

Good morning,
I have attached the booking nunber and payment details for my reservation. I recently booked through yourselves for an apartment, after using my credit card to pay and have confirmation thanking for my payment of 741.80 I then was told on my last day that I had not in fact paid, so ended up having a stressful final day having to borrow and transfer money in under an hour so we didn't miss our flight in order to pay the owner, this is not her fault and the issue is with you, because we have had to transfer money we have been charged so I am going to calculate the charges and have yourselves pay these and compensation for a nightmare end to the holiday which up till that moment was amazing, I would like a contact email address to send to you directly my charges etc
Many thanks
James Leyland willows

We were told that the deposit would be returned within 5-7 days from check out. We are now 10 days out from check out and no deposit. contacted property owner but no response. Contacted Homeaway and they say 14 days. terrible customer service. Will never rent any property associated with Homeaway or any company affiliated with them again.
Unit was ok but dirty.

Hello we stayed in a Homeaway property 27th July for one week it cost £850 and was called Beachcomber in Beer, Devon. On arrival the house was grubby, smelly, had spiders in all the rooms (including a false widow), moths and moth caccoons hanging off the ceiling and shelves, a grasshopper in the toilet, silverfish in the bath etc.. I contacted the owner [removed] who offered to have a cleaner come around with a feather duster-not acceptable and we didn't want to be disturbed and have awkward conversation with cleaner.
I forwarded my concerns to Homeaway who encouraged me to write a formal complaint which I have done.
It is now Aug 18th and I have not heard the outcome of my complaint. Nor can I see a way to leave my negative review on the property page. I have e-mailed 2 or 3 times and had no reply

We recently booked a trip to San Jose through VRBO. Well after we booked the space and merely days before our trip we discovered that way at the bottom of the listing it was noted that the owner would also be staying at the house in the master suite. I contacted customer support as we were unaware this would be a shared space and this was a family vacation and my kids would be there as well. As far as I was aware the Home Away policy is for rentals to be the entire property. There is no information on your site anywhere easily showing that a shared property is even an option. After my first call I was told I would get a call back. I received no return call. The following day I called again having not heard back and again was told I would get a call back. Again I received no return call. That night I received an email (not a call, but an email response) saying they had recieved my call and asking what I needed. I sent an email back and received no response. The next day, extremely frustrated I called again. One day before our trip, after about 4 hours on the phone over a 3 day period my final customer service rep was very helpful and expressed concern for our situation. She consulted several of her supervisors and I believe went above and beyond to resolve my issue. She was ultimately told by a Supervisor that we agreed to whatever the terms were when we agreed to rent the property and there was nothing we could do. She said multiple Supervisors read the listing and didn't find any issues with it. She apologized profusely and did advise us that there should be no shared spaces and to inform Home Away if that happened. We went on our trip feeling we had no choice but to stay there since the rental cost us almost $2000.

The owner of the house was very pleasant. Since we would be there for over a week I made the effort to reach out to him to get to know him and hopefully ease my mind about the situation. I have no issues with him and other than lack of sleep the first couple of nights the house worked fine for our purposes. He was very obviously in the house in his room almost our entire stay but we did not see or interact with him. He did have a separate entrance into his room but his bedroom door was right next to both child rooms with locks on his side but not on our side and our room was further down the hall. Again my issue is not with the owner of the house. Considering the circumstances he made our stay manageable.

Although our stay worked out ok, obviously if we had known the situation from the start we would have not booked a shared house. The complete disregard for my concerns, zero follow through to try and resolve my issue (seeing as I had to call back multiple times just to get anywhere), and the lack of information and empathy is astounding considering the service you are supposed to provide. I have lost any faith that Home Away has me or my family's best interest or safety in mind. With others such as AirBnB you know exactly what you are getting... a shared space would be listed as such. No hidden suprises. Overall my disassisfaction is with Home Away, their process, and complete lack of communication. Leaving your customers to resolve their own issues with your service is not a good way to do business in my opinion.

This is an amendment to complaint [protected] on property 671835 pursuant to request for more information.

Listing 671835 on HomeAway
Reservations # HA-8420M9
Our email [protected]@cableone.net
Owners phone:[protected]
Can't access owners email
Desired outcome: some type of refund

I know owner will say we didn't give him time to rectify situation but there was no way for him to rectify the situation besides installing multiple air conditioners that wouldn't fit in the giant windows.
Owner did not recognize this was a Medical situation not just a complaint about extreme heat.

I booked the references property online and my reservation was cancelled with no explanation. I have messaged the property owner multiple times and have been given no information. If you choose to list your property you should have an obligation to at least provide an explanation for cancellation. I am very disappointed. I have used this service for several vacations in the past but will not do so now.

I booked a property for three months. I later had to make a change to the reservation and called the owner asking that the rental be reduced to two months. The owner was very cooperative and readily edited the information on her calendar. However, this edit did not properly change the amount I owe for the rental. In addition, I can no longer see, or access, my reservation online, in the app, or elsewhere. I have called Home Away customer service multiple times since 7/13/18 and have been told something different each time.
During one call on 7/25, the service rep said the best thing to do was to cancel & re-book to correct all the details and access the reservation properly. He called the owner & left a message to this effect. I also called the owner a few days later and left the same message. Nothing was changed.
The last call I made was 7/30/18 and I was told for the second time that I could not simply cancel & re-book to get a clean reservation. I said that my belief was that the owner was also having trouble cancelling the reservation since it can not be accessed any longer. Again, I asked to cancel the reservation & re-book. I was told this is not possible and that the case #[protected], (new number), had to be referred to tech support & I would hear back in 48 hours. I waited 96 hours and called again today, 8/2/18. I was escalated to a supervisor who told me he could not tell me when the problem would be fixed, or when tech support would be done working on it. He could only say the tech would call me directly when they were ready.
This is horrible customer service & even worse software.

VITALPARC N° 683
Lacanau, Nouvelle-Aquitaine 33680

From 28 July to 4 August. We arrived at the property, it's pictures did not reflect the place. It was dirty and smelled including dog hairs on bedspread, dirty furniture, lack of cleaning, broken fridge handle, disused hob in the wardrobe, rusty bath and it was not fit to stop in. We have booked two new locations from 29th and have details of the bookings. I am disappointed that for 1000 euros I would have to face this property. I have returned the key and I expect a refund for the six days not spent at the property and a return of my deposit. I have several pictures to show the state of the property.

Stuart Parkes [protected] [protected]@yahoo.co.uk

Here is what your misleading add says:

"We are located at Grand Bear Lodge, directly across the street from Starved Rock State Park. Whether you like hiking, fishing, wine tasting, antiquing, photography or just an awesome time with your family and friends- Utica is the place to choose!"

Sounded like a good place, so I booked it for $1500.00. About 11 days later, when I contacted Grand Bear to get waterpark bracelets for grandchildren, they informed me that waterpark was closed.

I contacted Laivis he/she said no money back for you because I missed the cut off for cancelation. That is not the issue.

The issue is bait and switch. It should be he/she that is wrong: lies in ad, wording written poorly and wrong, deceitful.

Advertised prices on Home Away or VRBO for vacation rentals are deceiving and misleading. On July 24, I booked a home rental for a week, the advertised price was $146/Average/per night. After booking, the advertised price dropped to $92/average/per night, with no explanation of why the price dropped. Since I payed a higher price (which was actually even higher than the $146 advertised, @ $149), I called customer service to enquire why. I was told they have no control over the advertised price - it's the realtor or property owner. So I called the property owner, (Hatteras Realty) who reported they have no control over the price that's displayed on the Home Away website. It's a "he said, they said" situation and the customer is in the middle paying whatever price they determine at the time of the booking. This seems like a very unfair practice - and provides customers with a bad experience, feeling like we've been conned out of our money. I will never use this service again. Very disappointed in their customer service - who insisted that the cost is determined by the owner/realtor, and they have nothing to do with it. They are presenting information that is misleading and deceiving to customers. And while I understand that prices may change throughout the year based on demand and availability, there should be a clearer way of presenting the cost, breaking down exactly what one is paying for, and per day vs. per week costs.

My sister and I rented a vacation rental in Gaylord, MI in april 2018. I drove from Norfolk, VA and she from KY when we go to house there is people staying in the property. They double booked us... After two hours on hold and the owner in their own words to busy to respond, still unsure where my sister and I plus our families are staying and also no clear response on how to receive a refund! I absolutely will never use homeaway again and will ensure everyone I know will no you may drive for two days play 1000 dollars. Just to be left in the rain with no options!

I booked the upper guest house studio from 6/15/18 to 6/30/18. When I arrived at the location with my dog, everything seemed to be in order. However, right after I arrived, I received an email from Vicky Judah informing me that the carpet had not been cleaned after the previous guest and her dog had vacated. I had to kneel on the floor to pick something up, and when I got up, my black pants were covered with light colored dog hair (not from my dog -- my dog is black and tan).

The two-story guest house is located behind a fence. I stayed at the upper guest house, which had 15 steep steps leading up to it. No one was staying in the lower guest house, and I saw one unfriendly man come out of the main house a couple of times. The lock on the door was flimsy -- not a deadbolt. I felt very isolated and unsafe the whole time I was there. To the point where my family had the telephone number of the local police, just in case. The last few nights I stayed there, I moved the table in front of the door because I felt so uneasy.

Additionally, the string on the fence opening mechanism caught a couple of times, making it necessary for me to climb over the air conditioner on the other side of the main house a couple of times, once at 10 PM in high heels while carrying my 15-pound dachshund.

While there was an air conditioner in the unit, it was very loud, and I had to turn it off at night so I could sleep. The TV on the wall was crooked, and needed to be rebooted several times a day in order to work. The studio supposedly had internet, but I couldn't get it to work. I contacted Vicky Judah about the internet, and all she said was that I had the correct information. I had to go to the local Panera to access the internet so I could get done the work I'd brought with me.

There was no dishwasher in the unit, so I didn't feel comfortable eating off of any of the plates/dishes provided, and had to immediately go to the store to purchase paper plates, and plastic utensils.

Even though I had booked a two week stay, only one set of sheets and two sets of towels were provided. I actually had to go to the laundromat half way through my stay to wash the towels. Luxury linens were supposed to have been provided -- there's nothing "luxury" about the linens in this place.

I was so disgusted, I ended up leaving a few days early. I emailed Vicky and told her I'd be leaving early with no response back from her.

I enjoyed my trip to California, but this place was just awful! Never again!