HomeAway is now Vrbo 

I stayed in a VRBO home for two months in Santa Barbara, California, 1720 San Andres Street, owned by Mr. Cameron Porter. The accommodation began literally disintegrating the evening I arrived: the tub shower stopped up, backing up in the kitchen sink and requiring three hours of bailing into an adjacent sink, this after a full day's travel plus grocery shopping. The following evening, the shower curtain rod collapsed on my head. In rapid succession, the gas stove failed to ignite and there were no matches available, the dishwasher broke down and again flooded the sinks, the bed linens were stained and the mattress lumpy with old springs, the bedroom curtain rod fell off the wall ( I was being extremely careful in every movement I made by this time), the pillows were stinky, lumpy and looked like Dollar Store rejects, the accommodation was dirty and had to be recleaned, the steps to this apartment, on the second floor, were steep, narrow and slippery in the continuous rain that greeted my first three weeks. One previous occupant had slipped and had to go to hospital. Two palm trees banged continuously on the wall behind my bed headboard during the rain and wind storms, the garbage bins were on the property of the renters below me and not directly accessible. On-street parking was difficult to find much of the time, requiring long walks from adjacent streets carrying purchases. Three stations comprise the tv options. Kitchen equipment is old, dangerous (badly dented and scratched non-stick surfaces), with few of the most useful and common pieces of kitchen equipment. The excuse for all of this was that "most people don't stay as long as you are and wouldn't notice"! Beware.

If I could give ZERO rating I would ...

With the announcement of COVID19 I contacted the Property Owner Jonathan Braun for the accommodation that I booked for the 1st week of Coachella (April 9th to April 13th) at the Indian Palms Country Club Indio | 48276 Garbo Dr, Indio,CA 92201 United States | Stayz Property ID 631593 to cancel the group booking.

Jonathan Braun's informed me that for all his late cancellations, he is refunding 50% of the rental paid in a 'matter of fact' tone that insinuated that he was doing me a favour!

Indio | Palm Springs occupants are in the high risk group due to the fact that the majority are elderly - even if our group were allowed to fly it would be extremely insensitive not to mention morally unethical as we are travelling from a country of high risk, Australia.

I called VRBO for assistance as there website states that they encourage all Property Owners to supply a full refund. The owner is paying no attention to this advice and has stated that he is losing revenue and does not have the opportunity to get full price rental for the period cancelled due to the short notice given (I cancelled 30 days in advance to arrival). This is a disgusting attitude to adapt as he is being an opportunist at a time of great concern for each other's safety and well being.

I am also extremely disappointed with VRBO who have not followed the example of other accommodation platforms | service providers who have provided a full refund without delay or ongoing justification. They are Air BnB in Santa Monica & West Hollywood | Ace Hotel in Palm Springs and Qantas Airlines. VRBO would not allow me to provide a review on this experience against the Property saying that it cannot be done as the booking was cancelled. I call BS on this as they can easily activate this and it only confirms my suspicions that VRBO or the Property Owner review the received Property Reviews and only post the positive ones.

In future I will not be booking any accommodation hosted by VRBO being HomeAway | Stayz or Vacation Rentals and will also be placing this review on all traveller websites (trip advisor | lonely planet | national geographic etc) and additional social platforms.

Air BnB you have done the right thing and shown that you are a brand that cares! I will only be booking accommodation on your platform ... thank you for being kind ...

Word of mouth is an effective form of advertising and with this verified frustration I will reach a larger audience.

VRBO you will lose customers as well as brand confidence in not doing the right thing - GOOD LUCK with that!

Book a rental in Gatlinburg TN thru VRBO- checked in on 2/13/2020- no lights over the stairwell that worked- Jacuzzi tub- did not work- and was advertised- pool table leg fell off and had to hold pooltable up to put let back on table- furniture too close to the pool table- hit my toe and broke it- the final straw- came back on 2/14/20 at noon- to find a pickup truck in the drive- a man went under the unit and apparently sprayed bleach which made my wife sick and we had to leave the rental for a while to try to help get the fumes out. Contacted Kim and Britt King who owned the property- they NEVER were concerned with the bleach being sprayed. Their comment- "We apologize for the inconvenience!"- they tried to act like they didn't know anything about him spraying- he works for the King's - this was verified by Gatlinburg Falls resort. Called VRBO- that was useless- very disappointed by this experience- thought VRBO would protect us, but that did not happen! Told VRBO the cabin was misrepresented by the advertisement of the property!

Vrbo/HomeAway had prior knowledge a property was dangerous. Vrbo then accepted a $5004.00 prepayment from us. Upon the property owner's disclosing the property would not be safe for our critically ill (non contagious) daughter Vrbo refused to refund our money stating we must provide photographic proof. Upon our providing photographic proof, Vrbo again failed to refund our money. Vrbo/HomeAway's Book with Confidence Guarantee is a deceptive trade practice! We complained to the BBB. Despite our email reservation coming from HomeAway and Vrbo, HomeAway claimed our complaint had nothing to do with them and so did Vrbo. The BBB dropped the claim for them. Never trust Vrbo/HomeAway.

HomeAway = GeldAway!!!
Ze doen alsof je contact hebt met de eigenaar, waarvoor zij niet verantwoordelijk zijn, maar alle contacten zowel met HomeAway als de zogenaamde eigenaar lopen via hetzelfde e-mail adres in hun gesoten systeem. Daarom is HomeAway de FRAUDEUR! Volgens hun site screenen ze de eigenaren, dat is makkelijk gezegd als je zelf de frauduleuze eigenaar bent!
Politieonderzoek loopt naar deze FRAUDEURS, dus wees gewaarschuwd en ga niet met hen in zee! Ze maken zich schuldig aan oneerlijke handelswijze waarbij ze de bezoekers van hun site niet duidelijk wijzen op de gevaren op hun site. Zoals gezegd logisch, want HomeAway is zelf de FRAUDEUR en daar ga je niemand voor waarschuwen!
HomeAway=GeldAway