HomeAway
Reviews and Complaints

Similar to some others on this site, we were scammed and Homeaway refuses to accept any liability. My sister-in-law booked what we thought was a great long weekend. Nearly a month later, Homeaway sent a "sympathetic" email about how the home owner's email had been hacked, but how they are not responsible. My sister-in-law checked with the owner and sure enough they had no idea who she was (i.e. our money is gone and we have no place to stay).

Based on the info we've since dug up, this has been a problem for a couple of years, but other than a few "look out for phishing" notices on their site, they won't do anything about it. When my sister-in-law emailed the homeowners to reserve our spot, she had no reason to think the people who responded were scammers. This wasn't one of those Nigerian prince deals. This was a seemingly legitimate transaction. Homeaway is a big company with a ton of money, but they refuse to reimburse the supposedly small percentage of people who have been victimized. Nice customer service, Homeaway. Real nice.

I have made several calls to Homeaway regarding fraudulent activity on one of our listings and they have failed to respond. Whenever I call, they say that the person from the "security" department is unavailable and that they will call me back. This has yet to happen. Homeaway is providing its property owners an unsafe place to do business yet they charge the owners to list the property with them. We are now victims of a scam done on the Homeaway site and we have not been able to get any help from these people at all.

Homeaway's business contract states that a listing can be cancelled by phone.
Called last year to cancel my listing with Homeaway as I had sold the business. Was told that there were no refunds for the six months remaining for which I had paid. I accepted that as their policy.
Six months later they charged my credit card again, for over $300. I called and reminded them that I had cancelled six months earlier. They claimed that they had not received my call.
They kept saying that I would have been notified by email. I had sold the emails with the company, as they were legally the new owners, along with the website that went with the company... [protected]@... and [protected]@...
I told them I had sold the business six months before and had nothing to be advertising. They refused to refund my money even though the advertising was for the following year on a business I no longer owned and for which I had cancelled the listing.

I booked HomeAway.com listing #363323 " Jungle & Beach Estate" by KRIS GREVEN & partner SHAW WEN thru Homeaway.com website which banner itself as the "world's most trusted vacation rental website". Very far from reality. I paid deposit of the rental - 50% of $3, 050 - the deposit amount I found to be very unfair and unreasonable to renters but then the website doesn't police this as well. About 2 months after making the deposit here comes the advise that the property was taken back by the owners DICKSON GIL and ERICA GIL without regard to renters who paid deposits already. Evil modus operandi.. a) lease the property... b) collect deposits.. c) make it appear there is problem with the lease... e) blame the partner and owners (who for all we know may belong to scam ring as well) and run with the money. Great... just great... I wish there is justice somewhere.

Booked 3 months in advance "1 Acre 'Jungle & Beach Estate" - it is a HomeAway.com listing #363323 and paid 50% hard earned deposit amounting to $1, 575 USD. It turns out the advertiser, Kris Greven, is a SCAMMER and is actually not the owner of the place. She accordingly lost the lease and cannot pay back the deposits to renters. She points to the actual owners of the property, DICKSON AND ERICA GIL, who in her email description are "are the epitome of evil and scam. They are mailicous, phony and diabolical... and... are the ones sitting on everyone's money and my property. They are the dark hearted, lying two faced cons. . They robbed all of us, and they got away with it."

I have no means of verifying these allegations so I seeked help from HOMEAWAY.COM who purportedly is the "the world's most trusted vacation rental website". Turns out to very far from truth & reality. It turns out they don't do their homework to protect renters using their website and in my personal opinion only interested in advertising revenue. What do I get? -- an email from Donna of Homeaway.com that I copy pasted below. Be aware when you are planning of booking a rental from the website.. you will get no help at all when things go wrong. Here is the website's email - I replaced my actual name with my username:

Quad_12,

We understand your frustration regarding the events you experienced with this advertiser.

Please understand that our site is a venue for advertisement; we are not involved in the transactions between travelers and advertisers. This dispute would need to be resolved with the advertiser as they are the party who took part in the transaction.

We're sorry again for your experience and that this situation was not resolved to your satisfaction. We encourage you to continue communicating with the advertiser.

Regards,

Donna
US Trust & Security
HomeAway® | VRBO® | VacationRentals™

Have used this website successfully for 10 years now. Booked my 2011 villa which looked like the best yet, early to secure it. Sent the enquiry through the website to the owner as usual, got an answer, a contract, bank details to transfer 50% deposit (2300 Euros), a phone call etc. Then, received an email mid December asking me to pay the final 50% by the end of the month. I emailed back saying that I couldn't and that in accordance with the contract, the final payment wasn't due until April. I was also asked for copies of our ID. I was suspicious and refused and asked if that meant that my booking was cancelled. No reply, gave it a couple of weeks, called the numbers I had been given, all unobtainable. Called Holiday Rentals for help. They put me in touch with the REAL owner who knew nothing about me. Had received one enquiry from me back in Sept, but one where my email address (as my contact) had been changed to someone else's email address. I have lost my money and my holiday. Owner been quite helpful. Holiday Rentals said it is not their fault and it is between me and the owner. Since then, I have left three messages and none of them have been returned. I have reported this to the police, bank etc. I have asked to speak to someone at holiday rentals who can reassure me as to using their site again - how can I be sure this wouldn't happen again to me? What can I do to protect myself? They are so uninterested in me, they have not bothered to even call me back. They may think that the users of their site are unimportant, but I would like to see what happens to the revenues if people stop using their site as they are worried about security and fraud.

The apartment I rented through Home Away was uninhabitable. There was black mold on the bathroom walls and floors and the apartment smelled like a sewer. The shower didn't drain. It made the entire apartment smell and closing the door to the bath did not help as the bedroom was foul smelling as well. There had been a leak in the bedroom and the wall was buckled and also smelled terrible. We we were charged for 3 days, their "minimum") and at a higher rate than the weekly rate we had agreed to. NO one should be subjected to this and also have to pay for it. This apartment is listed and reviewed as 5 stars. Because I asked for my money back from the owner after not being able to contact him for 2 days stay and said I would submit a bad review, the review I submitted will not be published and other people will be subjected to this place.

They are terrible at finding renters for high end homes that are $1, 000 per night or higher, all I receive are people thinking they should get a home that is 4X more expensive for the same price as a home worth a fraction of the quality, size and expense. I called to cancel and get a refund and they refused and were quite rude.
Wayne Gorsek

The apartment was uninhabitable. There was black mold on the bathroom walls and floors and the apartment smelled like a sewer. The shower didn't drain and heaven knows what I was standing in while I showered. It made the entire apartment smell and closing the door to the bath did not help as the bedroom was foul smelling as well. There had been a leak in the bedroom and the wall was buckled and also smelled terrible.The owner showed it to us and said the smell would go away once the apartment was aired out. It reeked the entire 2 days we were there despite the fact that we kept the windows wide open. We had booked the place for 9 days but we left after 2 because I was getting sick. I developed a respiratory infection and intestinal problems. My husband and I are 65 years old and don't speak Spanish--it was really difficult to make other arrangements and we were literally "out in the street." When we asked for our money back we were charged for 3 days and at a higher rate. NO one should be subjected to this and also have to pay for it. This apartment is listed and reviewed as 5 stars. Because I asked for my money back from the owner and said I would submit a bad review, the review I submitted will not be published and other people will be subjected to this place

HomeAway.com and their subisidary VRBO.com are engaged in false advertising. They want guests to believe that renting direct from owners will allow the owner to reduce the fee by eliminating professional managers. But owners who use the service want to eliminate the commission and get the money themselves. Guest and owner can't both get the same money. So that is the false premise.

Several years ago HomeAway raised $450 million dollars to buya nd buildng VRBO.com, CyberRentals.com, A1Vactaions and others. This has has been a disaster for advertiers (Owners and Managers). By overloading their sites with listings, the sites become unusable. Ad rates have sky rocketed but guest inquiries and guest qualifications have plummetted.

The only goal the HomeAway managers have, is to build up the thing big enough, go public, and cash out. They are not in it personally for the long haul. They are Internet geeks who don't understand the basic business premise that they must produce economically for advertisers. Hey even teenagers working at McDonalds understand it better than that.

Stay as far away from this company as you can.

I rented a property advertised on homeaway.com. The services provided by this property owner were not as described. The property was not cleaned before arrival and the pool was not heated(heater was turned on the same day of arrival). Many other problems with Internet, Electrical, Jacuzzi 's not working. I requested a credit back of $850 and the owners gave me $250.
The property reviews that were shown by homeaway.com were Five Star's. I questioned homeaway.com's process of checking submitted reviews(they never responded). I have subsequently written 2 reviews that homeaway.com will not accept or publish. I will never rent from a homeaway client again as their only concern seems to be the property owners.

I rented what was advertised as a lovely vacation rental on homeaway.com. The site displayed beautiful photos. The fee was $1, 400.00 plus a $100.00 cleaning fee and a $500.00 security deposit. I arrived 30 minutes past check in and Corine Milne, the owner and her son were still there packing up their things.

The house was filthy, The chairs and couches were covered in cat fur.
The sink leaked, the bathrooms had not been cleaned. She was in the midst of renovating and that was never mentioned. There were large carpenter ants in the house, and a hornets' nest on the inside of the bedroom screen. Many windows could not be opened. The temps were in the high 90's all week! There were many safety issues. Many of the amenities listed were not provided. I could go on and on... According to the Board of Health the owner did not have the required Certificate of Occupancy. The Homeaway site is still featuring this woman, even though I have told them of these complaints and have sent them a slide show. The photos here just give you an idea. It seems my only option is to go to Small Claims Court. Not convenient when you live out of state.

in May 2010, I arranged to rent a vacation cabin from Roy Howard in December 2010, and made a deposit. No contract or terms were provided. Soon after I had to cancel my reservation, and requested a refund of my deposit. Howard did not reply to more than 6 email messages sent over a period of 6 weeks, including additional messages sent through the Homeaway site. Finally Homeaway was able to intervene directly and get a reply, at which time Howard announced that his policy was "no refunds" because he had done so much "work" sending a couple of emails and cashing a check. Astonishingly rude and unprofessional. He also appears to have written his own "review" of the cabin/

Avoid this rental.

Yucca Valley Vacation Rentals, Property 223493

I have had my listings with homeaway for many many years...and now I am currently with 4 listings. I have asked them to change one home from a 3 bedroom to a 6 bedroom, changing one listing in their database. They will not do this unless I purchase a new listing. They were so kind to offer me $50 -- leaving me to pay an additional $279 for a new listing. I understand that they do not want to "surprise" people with the new bedroom status of my home, and would like to have a new listing -- I am in agreement, but not at the cost of $279. No exceptions have been made for what I thought was a valued, long-term customer.

Homeaway permits false listings on their website and refuses to let travelers warn others on the comments section.
Twice I rented a unit and when I got to the place it was not the unit listed.
The first time I traveled to Vienna overnight and was tokd the unit was not available but I could have and identical flat. It was not. Had paid more for a better kitchen and furnishings. What do you do with bags in hand and no place to go? The listing was showing the owners property and renting another flat.
Second time the listing was for two different units again. The one I got was not maintained and had a dangerous stove. Many little things that did not work. I found out the owner uses the listing for more than the unit shown.
Both of these times Homeaway would not let me post comments to warn other potential renters. Homeaway policies stop accurate feedback. Homeaway did not reply when I emailed to ask I got way my comments were rejected.
Renters beware of Homeawy!