Vrbo - Service Fee Rip Off
We have a property that we list on both AirBnb and VRBO (although we a have removed it from VRBO now ). On our first ( and last ) rental through VRBO we had a guest book for 5 nights.
A couple of weeks beforehand the guest contacted us and switched it to 2 nights. No problem, I edited the reservation to change to 2 nights. Oddly the website did not recalculate the rental amount and the service fees. I searched help and forums and the best suggestion was to cancel the 2nd of 2 payments that the guest was required to pay.
When the guest arrived VRBO released the payment to me less the original service fee for the 5 nights which made the total service fee charged to be 27% of the rental amount. Back and forth with customer service they acknowledged that the fees were not correct but said that they could not issue a correcting payment to me because I had not edited it properly and their "system" won't recalculate after the fact. They also sent me instructions on how to do it properly in the future. So I asked the customer service representative that if the opposite had happened and the guest had booked for say 1 day and increased their reservation to 7 days would the "system" automatically recalculate so that VRBO would get an appropriate increase in their service fee?
His answer: "OF COURSE!" My conclusion: VRBO attempts to maximize their profits at the expense of customer service.
Purposefully creates and allows "errors" in their "system" in their favor. When I said I would be cancelling my listing he said "maybe you should try HomeAway" !!!
Reason of review: Poor customer service.
Vrbo Cons: Service fee fraud.
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Comments
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vrbo has become a den of charlatans. you pay them your subscription they in turn want to rule you rental contracts....bull!!
You said the representative suggested that you use HomeAway instead of VRBO....that was a slap in your face....it is one company with cross over ties...
I will be leaving them upon my next renewal date....I joined as the 1500th member way back when the founders of the site lived up to the agreement to be just a forum to exchange rent agreements....
It is turned into what feels like a 3rd world gov. They are gone from me.