HomeAway United Kingdom 

Similar experience to below. Booked A large house sleeping 30 people just as lockdown measures changed and we were forced to cancelled. We we’re refused the opportunity to postpone until a safe time to travel. Homeaway’s communication throughout was non-existent. Refusing to pick up the phone or answer emails. They are extremely unhelpful, slow and unprofessional. We are now £7.5k out of pocket as a result of greedy homeowners and companies, benefiting from lockdown measures. Please please do not book via HomeAway!

Similar experience to many of the reviews below. Profiting from the pandemic. Refusing to answer phone calls. They will take your money and run.

We recently stayed at Thrigby Thatched Cottage in Norfolk. It was our first visit to the Norfolk Broads and what a lovely time we had. The weather helped and we were able to do a boat tour of a couple of the beautiful Broads.
Thrigby cottage was a great base. The beds were comfy and the kitchen well - equipped, the living room cosy in the evening. The wildlife park next door added to the holiday, as did the lovely garden at the cottage.


comfy,

Wij boekten voor vorige zomer 2020 toevallig 2 maal met HomeAway , hun aanbod is groot maar hun werking en contact is niet zoals het moet. Wij gaan akkoord met vorige en hier verschenen meldingen. Wij kregen 2 maal ons voorschot niet terug. Ze geven datum van storting maar de bedragen van terugbetaling zijn waarschijnlijk nooit geactiveerd. Dat maakt nog 450 euro te goed! Prijs van een weekend uit . Niet bereikbaar telefonisch , moeilijke communicatie . Dus terug huren bij Belvilla , daar verloopt het wel allemaal correct , nooit problemen gehad daar. Eerste 2 keren homeAway , nooit meer homeAway !

Sconsiglio a tutti di affittare tramite loro. Hanno commissioni altissime ed un servizio clienti pessimo. Sono una proprietaria. Per un bug nel loro sistema è stato effettuato un rimborso ad un cliente senza che io l'avessi autorizzato. Ho segnalato all'help desk il problema (tra l'altro dopo varie chiamate perchè dopo aver spiegato tutto il problema ad un operatore cade la linea e sei costretto a richiamare e ricominciare tutto con un altro operatore!) e mi hanno detto che loro non possono annullare il rimborso, Ma come, un rimborso che io non ho fatto, vi sto pure chiamando per dirvi che non l'ho fatto e non potete annullarlo? Mica stiamo parlando di una richiesta di pagamento extra! Parliamo di un rimborso ad un cliente che aveva già pagato tutto e che non aveva motivo di avere questo rimborso da parte mia. Che vergogna. E non è il primo problema sui pagamenti che ho avuto con VRBO. Prenotate da altri siti più affidabili come Airbnb.

I have just come back from a lovely weeks holiday in the new forest. I booked with HomeAway and angie was lady I dealt with. I could not say enough good things about angie she has been brilliant. From the time I booked the cottage to the day I left angie was there if I needed her. The cottage was spotless well equipped and lovely log fire. I wouldn’t hesitate to book again.
Thanks angie

Refund apparently issued 20 September but no cigar. Tried chat functionality who told me to contact the bank but cannot tell me which card was used. check all accounts and no funds received. Online chat was so frustrating and unhelpful. Want my money back!!

No support. During Covid I booked a house for my sons 18th It has 10 bedrooms and i booked for 18 family members ages ranging from 28-84 the 6 people rule was in place but booked as availability on that size house was scarce and i was hoping restrictions might be lifted (Had 2 months til departure) or assumed Owner would accept change of date (Other owners had indicated they would how i wish i had booked elsewhere) anyway im £1200 down Home Away given me a case reference snd say they send emails to Owner and thats the extent of their customer service now they dont even reply to emails its really not worth calling them. I have said to Home Away that if they cant get my deposit back the least they should do is refuse to advertise this property to ensure this doesnt happen to anybody else im still hoping they will do this and as soon as i can get legal advice i will find out if they have a duty to protect other renters. I have reported the owner and Home Away to the Government Competitions and Markets Authority as they monitor companies and individuals behaving badly during the coronavirus pandemic hoping they might intervene. Avoid booking at all costs Home Away or Vrbo as they are now known dont support you at all. It is very stressful cant do anything for my sons 18th as my deposit has not been returned all we wanted was a family weekend away find an alternative platform to book through who will support you Im at my wits end

Still Waiting for Booking Fee Refund.
I cancelled this booking on 10th Sept, and was advised that I would get 100% refund. The owners of the property were really helpful and immediately authorised a refund of their portion of the money and the damage deposit. Homeaway (VRBO) have not been so helpful. 4 weeks on from cancelling this booking I am still waiting for the return of the booking fee.
PS. Tried sending email to contact email address,
but my mailapp did not recognise the address as being a valid one.

Thank you for response. Where do I find your Private Message that you sent me so that I can respond.
I have tried contacting you via the other ways you suggest without success!!

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY

They are not the agent you book with and abandon all responsibility. I recommend you avoid them whilst Covid 19 is an issue as they will not help. No ability to move a holiday or issue a refund, resulting in loosing £4000.
Their call centre is in the Philippines and they have no record of any previous calls. They continually ask you to give them 48 hours to contact the local agent but never to any avail. When I asked to speak to a manager and make a complaint I was immediately cut off

To repeat. DO NOT USE

Awful awful customer service. Do not use them. I had to cancel holiday due to COVID and asked for funds to be returned. The original card I had used to pay the deposit had been cancelled. I sent over a change of details form, bank statement and they still sent repeated messages saying the payment was being made to the original card that does not exist. I have no idea how they can operate with such terrible customer service.

I have advertised many years with this site (first as Owners Direct). I have a perfect record and am a Premier Partner. But I have come to loathe this company for its ever worsening high-handed manner. They have just unilaterally and without consultation drastically reduced my headline and shifted its position (as part of some experiment, they say), putting me at a disadvantage against my competitors, who remain unaltered. The reason? The property was once linked to another. I cancelled this some time ago, but it is still down as 'linked' in their system. They say they cannot do anything about this and I just have to lump it. My protests go unheeded. I feel like I am working for THEM and just don't count for anything.
I have detected that travellers are also fed up with their high charges and are starting to use other sites, which are still run by human beings.
HomeAway's share of my bookings has plummeted and they have only themselves to blame.

Booked a property in cornwall...little barn millpool.. ......promised deep cleaning ... was not even cleaned properly let alone deeply lol..really disappointed as put us at risk in these covid times...

We booked a rental in naples when we got there there was no one to meet us was getting directions over the phone finally got some local to help outside the apartment was full of litter and miles from anywhere inside was shocking dirty no TV controls. Got in touch with homeaway by phone didn't reilise we were diverted to Philippines my phone bill for 2 phone calls was 75 pounds they took the side of the owner even he wanted the keys back before the holiday was finished even though he never offered us a refund as we did not stay 1 night cost us another 500 euros for lovely apartment in naples shocking customer service plus it is now owned by vbro American company don't use them ever

Booked a property in Galway for October for up to 17 people explaining it was for a 60th birthday.
Obviously we cannot travel for a weekend and isolate in Ireland for 14 days nor can any more than 6 from different households co habit as this would be illegal.
Property manager refuses to even transfer our deposit for a later date let alone refund us. She did offer a 20% discount but with such uncertaintity why would i risk losing any further money.
Will never use Home away again!

VERY BAD EXPERIENCE, DO NOT BOOK WITH HOMEAWAY or VRBO.

They allow Scammers to clearly advertise their Properties on their Website without any Security checks

No Duty of Care issued and despite my many complaints the "Property I was scammed on" still shows periodically on the Website.

They come across as if they are trying to do something but TRUST me they are not!!

Every time I am asked for my Contact details for them to discuss and every time, NO BODY calls me.

DON'T BE FOOLED AND STAY WELL AWAY.

We booked two separate accommodations in France in October 2019 with free cancellation until August 2020. We cancelled both on July 19th 2020 and received our first deposit back within a week. We have had numerous contacts with customer service, who initially said we were entitled to the full refund of our deposit of £430, and after 9 weeks of chasing received an email telling us we were not entitled to our deposit back. How does this qualify as "free cancellation"? Customer Service has been atrocious, being kept hanging for up to 30 minutes then disconnected. Please do not book with this company as you will end up out of pocket.

Dear Homeaway, I am chasing a refund on behalf of a guest who had to cancel with us due to Coronavirus rules. You told us you were issuing a full refund to on 24th September but he advises he only received a part refund on the 29th. I can't find an email or an address for your customer services on the website? Please advise how we make contact with you?

DO NOT BOOK THIS VILLA- ORLANDO

HA-6T57KM
#4257329

I would like to make other travellers aware of the very strict cancellation policy of this property owner. During the COVID-19 epidemic, we were naturally forced to cancel our Florida holiday in Easter 2020. The property owner refused to reimburse us any of the money apart from the damage deposit of $750, which left us $2574.40 out of pocket. I assume we would have been receiving this damage deposit after our stay regardless. The property owner even kept the money for heating the pool. Ridiculous! HomeAway urged all their property owners to reimburse their customers as this was unforeseen circumstances, however, HomeAway cannot force the homeowners to reimburse any money. I have spoken to five different people at HomeAway who have all tried to contact the property owner regarding our refund but the property owner has not replied to any of their emails or phone calls. The property owner was informed that our travel insurance was not covering our expenses but she showed no sympathy to our predicament. I would not recommend this property owner to any travellers as I don’t want anybody to find themselves in the same situation as it has been very time-consuming and stressful. Do not book this villa!!

Answer to HomeAway: Thank you Aamir for your prompt reply. Unfortunately for your travellers, there is nothing that HomeAway can do as HomeAway has got no powers over their property owners. I have been in contact with HomeAway speaking to several different people on the phone, on web chats and on emails and no sign of a positive outcome has come about. As a holiday maker we cannot even leave any reviews on your website to warn other travellers about this property owner’s conduct during a pandemic. I hope this will change soon. The property owner refuses to abide to your COVID rules/policies and there is nothing you can do to help us. We have lost all faith in HomeAway. We will take this further.

I am rather frustrated at not being able to send an email to HomeAway/Vrbo disputing what I think is a very unfair and unjustified guest rating given by a property owner to myself which seems to have resulted from the fact that I dared to suggest a few cleaning/maintenance improvements in my review of her property (I gave a 4 star rating out of 5 though), and by an exchange of emails during and after our stay, all of which were polite and well intentioned. I have tried asking for my own low rating to be deleted by online chat (which only the owner can do) and despite emailing her several times she has not done this. I tried a further online chat today for assistance, but no-one answered despite the message "You are now chatting with an advisor". There must surely be some way of Customer Service investigating my complaint fairly and efficiently and at least allowing me to put forward in writing in a logical way my reasons for disputing this. Otherwise I have been very pleased with the booking system, properties offered etc. but with a 2 star rating given to myself, I will sadly no longer be able to book in the future.

UPDATE I am very pleased to say Homeaway/Vrbo have responded very quickly to this review, and having been in touch with them today, hopefully the issue will be quickly sorted to my complete satisfaction. I am glad to have the opportunity to add this comment as I believe in being fair, and not being too critical.

2nd UPDATE UNFORTUNATELY after supplying a considerable amount of correspondence justifying my dispute of being given a very unfair and unjustified guest rating by the Home Owner, (just 2 stars) for daring to point out politely a few shortcomings, with photographic evidence, I have been advised by email, it is most unlikely this absurd rating can be deleted, as the Home Owner must agree to it (rather than HomeAway themselves) and that's very unlikely, obviously, so unless things change considerably, and I cannot see how, then it's goodbye to HomeAway/Vrbo. I cannot believe they are not willing to challenge an owner, particularly when I am not seeking any financial gain, but wish to preserve my otherwise excellent reputation - I actually gave the Norfolk property an excellent 4 out of 5 star rating which I feel was very fair, but this has not been reciprocated. We are in the same situation as Hannah (see her 9th September review) whereby her elderly parents were given an unfair guest review rating which is now on display, and which cannot be amended, and sympathise with them too, as we know exactly how they feel.