HomeAway United Kingdom 

We booked our holiday through H&A before the outbreak of coronavirus in January 2020. The lack of continuity in customer service and the appallingly poor staff was beyond reproach. Honestly I would never ever use this company again and have advised friends not to. If all is plain sailing With your booking then I’m sure people have indeed had good experiences, however if you need help at all you’re at a complete loss. I lost count of the number of calls I made trying to cancel and arrange a refund for my holiday, each time no one had ANY RECORD of my previous calls and gave a tonne of lip service. One minute I DID deserve a refund and the next I DIDNT qualify. Honesty my husband and I found the whole thing so stressful. We finally received a partial refund from a subsidiary company and have had to just walk away from it in order to keep our sanity. An awful, awful company.

Terrible experience with them and their book with confidence guarantee is a joke. When you get into the terms and conditions of the guarantee it’s actually all very vague with loopholes so beware. In our case the owner cancelled the booking the night before we were due to check in claiming a “double booking” on the homeaway app. We’d booked a couple of months prior and been trying to get in touch with the owner for a couple of weeks to confirm the details - the owner had ignored all our messages.

Due to the short notice cancellation we should have been covered by the “book with confidence guarantee”. Homeaway first tried to weasel out of it despite the cancellation was less than 24 hours before we were due to check in. After multiple phone calls they finally said they’d look for alternative accommodation on their listings - the only available one was too expensive for them to uphold the guarantee and said that they’d refund our money and we’d have to find our own accommodation. We luckily found another property on another site - it was twice the cost and after more phone calls to Homeaway they said that they MIGHT pay the difference if we sent them the booking details of the new property and associated proof of purchase. Four weeks later we are still waiting for a resolution - they keep giving us the run around by requesting the same information again and again. They only deal with the “book with confidence guarantee” claims by email so you can’t actually speak to someone. I will never use these guys again.

Worst Company to exist on the Planet Earth. Booked an accomodation, they cancelled it at the last minute and I'm behind them for the refund from more than 2 months. Now they say they cannot give me MY money back. Anyway I'm going to proceed legally, but u guys stay away from them. I will share this on all social media platforms so that noone else will get Cheated.

Doesn’t even deserve a 1 star, no manger ever available to speak to. Withholding my refund money!!! This has been a 7 week wait and still nothing. Now been passed on to a claims team who apparently only contact through email.
Avoid using this company, absolutely shocking will never use again or recommend to anyone.

Comms was fine until it came to deposit refund. Got a message saying it had been done but days later = no money.
Only contact is via chat and agent dropped chat then tried again, got to ask where's my money = agent dropped chat.
Annoyed I spent half hour looking for feedback or complaints- there isn't any!!! Its only the chat or call options- - guess that would if complaint detected = drop call or chat 😆
Advise using other provider

Took payment, confirmed the booking. Even took the deposit that wasn't due until I arrived at the property and then cancelled 24hrs later due to an error they created. This was 2 days before my trip. Issued a refund I will get in 5 to 10 days. Not much good to me the when I need the money for my trip. Didn't care and told me to go complain to someone else.

HomeAway - It's over!

Your reviews from Customers like me and even owners suggest a company in severe trouble with no confidence in you.

The fact it took you 2.5 months to reply to my review really says it all. You did nothing to help me get my refund... despite the clear cancellation policy.

If you had chose to help, you would still have my custom..... but you walked away from me and so many others.

The damage you have caused yourself is irreparable.

What a shocking experience I have had using this company. The advertised a property and when we arrived it was so unsafe we had to leave early. We have been told that even though we found the property through them, booked through them and paid them they have no responsibility if the property is not fit for purpose. In my 43 years on this earth have I ever dealt with such a shocking company. Even the chief executive Peter Kerns who I emailed directly couldnt bother to contact me himself. I would NEVER use this company again!!!!!!!!!

Absolute joke of a company! Do not book in Kissimmee with a man named Don Zhu. He has stolen 2k from us when we clearly cancelled within the terms set out in the Contract. Avoid this company who refuse to help and avoid booking this Villa.

Review updated as still not contacted by this farce of a company even though it says so below my review.

Con artists

Dalvay 7-14 Aug 2020
As a family we have been going to Constantine Bay for very many years, so know what to expect locally. Our approach is to enjoy fully such well-earned holidays which we have to the full and to set aside any shortcomings we encounter which cannot be resolved quickly and at the beginning. We were a family of 7+1 plus guests for main meals.
The structure of the property and location of Dalvay is ideal for us and we had a thoroughly enjoyable holiday with good weather.
We were not satisfied with the quality of the facilities which we found at Dalvay. A number of the features of the property were not accurately portrayed on the website and the quality of the contents fell far below the standard which we would expect. The property is portrayed as a much-loved family home and this is entirely accepted as true. If we had been there on a house swap basis, that would be fine but the property has not made the transition to a quality holiday let on business professional terms in any sense. It has not even had the benefit of basic DIY. Tellingly the website has no picture of the kitchen and 6 of the 20 are outside views – which are good anyway.
• The house does not have 3 bathrooms or a shower room, bathroom 1 and bathroom 2. It has two bathrooms and a sink in one bedroom. The latter was explained orally but the website is inaccurate.
• The house was superficially clean, but one toilet was unacceptably dirty.
• There are many personal effects about the house – case, holdall, weights, open cupboards with personal effects, locked cupboards and a locked garage, boat trailer out the front.. We expected to use the garage for beach items. The shed is not a satisfactory alternative.
• The bathrooms have conventional locks with keys – entirely unsuitable with young children. Bathroom lighting and shaving mirrors are poor with no electric shaver socket. We could not understand the logic of having clear class in bathroom/toilets on the ground floor.
• Many doors stick.
• Some mattresses and a duvet are not entirely clean. Some mattresses are old and worn.
• The interior dining room has 6 chairs that we could find and not the eight shown in the photograph. We could not have eaten together as a family indoors should that have been necessary.
• The wooden outdoor furniture is moss covered and poor.
• The back doorstep is insecure and awkward to cross even for a fit adult.
• One of the black loungers has a broken armrest exposing a sharp metal edge.
• Many of the mugs are chipped and are a poor multifarious collection of non-matching types.
• Plates and bowls are from an extraordinary range of non-matching types.
• The cutlery provided is unsatisfactory and the stainless-steel types were insufficient for a full party. The bone handle cutlery and stained EPNS are unacceptable.
• The black plastic poof is split.
• During our stay there was a power cut. The house folder indicates that the fuse box is in the garage. The key is in an envelope – What envelope? Fortunately, the outage did not last long as was an area one anyway. The question on the envelope remains.
• We were surprised when an Amazon parcel was delivered during our stay and later collected. Although this is not a big deal, we were not warned in advance and consider this wrong.
• Doorbell does not work.
• Some door handles loose.
• Garden – grass tended but otherwise unkempt.
• Front drive in poor condition.
At the end of our stay we inadvertently removed a green Bodum Cafetiere because we have one of the same sort. Apologies, our mistake.


20200816 Dalvay Comments

Rent paid to Homeaway not transferred to my bank account. Usually received promptly. Was told there was a technical problem - but no further information on this. Seems very unlikely - either intentional or incompetence that they can't explain to me what is the issue. Could it be cash flow management by Home away?

Absolutely disgusting service. We booked a Villa in Majorca via HomeAway in February before Covid-19 and subsequently had our flights cancelled due to the pandemic. We contacted the Villa owner (Jakub from Porta Holidays) to cancel and he refused point blank to cancel the booking. The website clearly stated 100% full refund if cancelled 60 days before arrival which we did. We had already paid a deposit and then were asked to pay 50% of the full cost of face paying 90%. We felt absolutely powerless and paid the 50% as we could not afford to lose 90%. We phoned HomeAway for guidance on numerous occasions and were told that they would look into it but they never did. Absolute con-merchants. Will never use again. We are hoping to get a refund through our bank but don't hold out much hope. Covid-19 has not only affected myself and my wife who is an NHS nurse, it had also taught us that some people and companies have no heart and are only out for themselves and financial gain through these worrying times. Shame on you HomeAway and Porta Holidays.

UPDATE: So HomeAway contacted me privately asking for the booking number and my contact details to which I immediately responded. That was on the 1st September 2020 and it is now a week later and I have heard nothing back. Disgusting and frustrated. We will NEVER use this company again and you should think twice before doing so.

We initally saw this villa listed on “Home Away” and we were excited based on the advertisement and reviews. Not to mention, the price was very affordable and cheap. Therefore, we paid for the entire villa for seven days. Here is the link to the website; www. homeaway .co. uk/p6952621

Unfortunately, our experience was the worse, which ruin our holiday. In my opinion, I believe the reviews listed on the company website for this villa on “Home Away” are not genuine reviews, but are fake reviews or the very least paid for.

Firstly, the air-condition unit in the rooms were not working and the rooms were infested with bugs. Where our kids do love to watch Tom & Jerry TV cartoon (I do admit that I enjoy watching it with them!), however, I would never have imagined or expected to have found Jerry and perhaps his cousin running around the villa as I expected it to remain on the TV. Yes.... To be clear what I am saying is that there were rats (Rattus norvegicus).

On that note, the swimming pool area and outdoor lounge area was unsatisfactory and were fundamentally hazardous to human life. The lights would turn off, thus leaving us in pitch darkness. One of us actually sustained a serious injury which resulted in the need to seek medical attention. The owner refused to turn off the automatic timer which overrides the manual switches. Put simply, with the password protective automatic settings/timer enabled the manual switch to turn on the lights was useless as it was disabled. This is simply pure negligence and a blatant disregard to human life. Also, there were no first aid kits or fire safety equipment for the kitchen.

Further, there were no privy to sun bath in private due to the CCTV cameras constantly watching us!It felt like being on “Big Brother”. Actually, it more felt like being watched by a bunch of perverts. I certainty do not want indecent images of being posted on PornHub.

More over, this villa is not English competent. You will find significant language barriers, as communication is not always effective as to the standards it claimed to be. The housekeeper that attended on on occasion could barely form a constructive sentence in English, let alone reach toddler developmental milestones. A 12 month baby could communicate much better!

Also, the speakers to the hi-fi sound system were temporarily satisfactory. However, the owner claimed to have received one noise complaint. When we returned to the villa (after locking up of and as mentioned earlier we hired the entire villa) we found a man working on the sound system. He claimed to be the owner’s brother. Since he touched the sound system it was not working. It actually reads “system disabled”.

To our surprise, half-way through our stay the owner instructed us through WhatsApp Messenger that we needed to hand over our passports & we would get it back at the end of our stay. We were very reluctant to comply due to high risk of identify fraud/theft and it goes directly against the advice given by the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office. We asked the owner to put this in writing through official means, however, the owner was very reluctant to do so. He arrived the following day unannounced and entered the property claiming that we needed to complete the form by 9am the following day as it goes to the police. However, we did complete the Passenger Locator Form (PLF) prior to entry into the country as this was a requirement. I feel harassed and targeted.

Likewise, as this is a self-catering accommodation it was fundamentally essential to have a fully functioning cooker. We found the cooker to not be functional and safe. This resulted in us having to go to restaurants for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Moreover, the washing machine inscriptions were not in English nor were there any meaningful translations. After a period of time, we found it not to be operational. The villa was advertised to have a gym with sauna room. However, we have found that the treadmill and sauna was not working.

Further, the villa did not come supplied with toilet paper despite being advertised to come with basic necessities. Also, the villa had poor internet connections, no board games and no games console. There was no appropriate bedding and was not child friendly.

Finally, we confronted the owner with all of the issues we had hoping that they would provide a reasonable solution; they then become very defensive, antipathetic and ill-disposed to the point where they disconnected the electricity. We feel that we were sold a dream, but was delivered a nightmare. In the end we all left the villa and found alternative accommodation elsewhere.

We are currently seeking legal advice in respects to our overall experience with this villa, as we strongly feel this may be the best cause of redress.

We were using Airbnb for a while and thought to try another site as well, so we signed for HomeAway. It is a complete joke. First guest stayed 7 days, and trashed the flat, sawing the toilet, breaking the wooden dining table in two pieces and driving a motorbike inside the building! Breaking the building stairs at the bottom floor! Calling HomeAway for support she said she cannot do anything and asking for her manager she said she won't be able to get us to talk to anyone else, all she said, just rate the person on the site. After long discussion asking for anyone to talk to, she agreed to send us an email to attach the pictures but nothing else. I even asked her to block this guest or even investigate him as he is dangerous and she said just give him a rating! That is a complete joke!

We have already submitted a 'feedback' on the HomeAway website 10 days ago with no response! We have already sent the email with the pictures to the customer services, 10 days ago with no response! This is what you get when you deal with HomeAway!! I am not even exaggerating but this is a complete joke if they are thinking this is how to do business!

John and Sue M. August 2020
Great apartment with fantastic views. Very clean. Owner was very helpful. Good clear instructions to get to apartment. Great peaceful location. We have visited on two occasions and will be going again next year!

My wife booked a short break on Anglesey, Llanerchymedd “Little Mountain View.”
Sat, 22 Aug - Tue, 25 Aug 2020

Reading the previous reviews it’s hard to believe this is the same company, however I can only post a review based on my personal experience, ours was far from negative.

I have to say as we got out of the car and walked to the caravan we were met with impressive outside facilities.

On entry to the caravan we were greeted by a very well-appointed interior, tastefully decorated and furnished, we had everything we needed for an enjoyable stay.
Having suffered from two blonde moments that required contacting staff/management, I was very impressed with the ease of communication and speedy resolve to my problem, a degree of professionalism and personal attention rarely encountered these days, everyone was very happy and eager to assist, my issues were dealt with in very short order and to our full satisfaction.

We really enjoyed our stay at “Little Mountain View,” a booking here Is highly recommend, we will absolutely book again.
Mr & Mrs, J.T. Knowles.

I have used Homeaway several times before without problems. I doubt now if I'd use them again. Several offshore conversations polite but confusing and unhelpful re service charge elements.Hopelessly confusing payment system via indirect payment system to another agent with no tracking or recording by Homeaway of any payments made. The small print box stating that one may be contacted by a third party insufficiently clear as to the purpose of such contact. Finally a UK service person and the Advanced team as helpful as they could be but system still obtuse. Trying to clarify in principle the actual amounts of the service fees and whether returnable within cancellation periods hopeless especially with two booking parties involved. If airlines have to clearly declare all fees upfront before any payment is made why not booking agencies?

I have had hundreds of guests stay in my holiday apartment over the last 15 years, mostly with very little problem. We look after our guests and they look after our holiday home.

However, I just had a guest that booked via with Homeaway / VRBO and THEY STOLE FROM US!

To add insult to injury, Homeaway / VRBO took the side of the traveller without even asking if they had stolen from us. They refused to allow us to claim for the theft against the traveller’s security deposit and they even cancelled our listing when we tried to make a complain to Homeaway / VRBO about the way our claim was handled by their Customer Support staff.

If you want to use a booking site that will look after your interest DO NOT USE HOMEAWAY / VRBO!!!

We have rented our apartment for 15 years with Holiday Lettings, that became HomeAway, that became part of VRBO. Never had a problem with guests until now. Our last guest STOLE FROM US. HomeAway REFUSED TO DEDUCT FROM THEIR SECURITY DEPOSIT, leaving us severely out of pocket. HomeAway (so called) CUSTOMER SUPPORT REFUSED TO ENGAGE WITH THE GUEST ABOUT THE THEFT, they REFUSED TO ANSWER ANY OF OUR QUESTIONS about why they would not withhold the security deposit, THEY BULLIED US by cutting the 14 day period to discuss deductions down to 7 days, THEY CANCELLED OUR LISTING (that we had just paid for) and THEY REFUSE TO ACCEPT A COMPLAINT against them! All in all, the most SHOCKING AND APPALLING CASE OF CUSTOMER NEGLECT I have ever encountered.

I put an enquiry on their system when looking for an appt for Aug 2020. To do this I had to enter my mastercard details, so they would handle the enquiry. We received an reply on the website saying there was NO availability. So we booked a different appt through a different company. Unbelievably, we have been charged in full for the 1st appt, despite being told it WASN'T available. I have been told it's too late to cancel, as they sent a subsequent email, telling us the appt WAS available after all! I'm sorry, I don't read evert single junk email that comes our way, so missed it. TBH, why would I open a email from a company we aren't doing business with, anyway? I have contacted their customer service which was absolutely useless to say the least. I have contacted the owner who says it's too late to cancel.
You need to be very careful when using this lot, you may get your fingers burnt! I've passed the thing over to my credit card company, who said this is not an isolated case.
My advice: Don't send enquiries to companies who ask for your credit card details up front!
I have put one star as ZERO isn't an option.