Reply to VRBO bait and switch

Forum Index » Travel Discussion

Reply to "VRBO bait and switch - WWYD?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We have a property on VRBO and only now did we update our summer rate for next year with our beach house.

The owner just has nit updated their winter rate for next summer.  [b]But OP knew that because the rate was likely too good to be true.[/b]

I would have done the same thing.  Tell OP that this is our summer rate which we just updated and give her the chance to book at correct rate.  If she doesn’t want to, she can cancel the booking.  If she doesn’t cancel within 1-2 weeks, then I would as the owner.

BTW, full payment was likely not made by OP if it’s VRBO. It’s a despot which would be refunded.  And the owner likely won’t see any if the money until after OP has actually checked in.[/quote]

OP again - I did not know that. Why would I know your seasonal rates if you haven't posted them anywhere for me to see. YOU are the offeror of your property for rent. This is basic contract law. Legally this is a bait and switch under most deceptive trade practices acts.

When I was irritated with the whole issue but was fairly resigned to being practical and letting it go, but the people dogpiling on me for something a mistake that wasn't at all my fault makes me want to sue this host just to make a point. God.[/quote]

Go ahead, sue VRBO and the host and waste your time and money.  You won’t win.

Neither VRBO or the host intentionally mislead you.  Nobody sets sumner rates 9 months before the season starts.  It’s a clitch in the system that automatically carries the winter rates forward.  The host responded right away and offered you a refund and the property at the correct market rate.

Sounds like you should just book a hotel if you can’t deal with something like this and typical online vacation rental stuff.  [/quote]

This is nonsense, any rental site lets you set the dates your property is available and the rates the property rents for on those dates. [b]Even if for some strange reason it doesn't let you set variable rates in advance and forces you to only have one rate at a time, then it's the owner's responsibility to delist their property for the dates they don't want to rent it out at those rates. This is 100% on the owner for being too lazy or stupid to properly manage their bookings. If it's available for booking at an advertised price, that's the price.[/b] [/quote]

This. It's like at a store, if the wrong price tag is on the item, the store honors it because it was their mistake, not the consumer's.[/quote]

The owner made a mistake no doubt. But he/she is not a store, and I highly doubt they are going to personally lose thousands of dollars over this. The “penalty” for cancelling on OP is minuscule. The posters on here stomping their feet about this just seem silly. [/quote]

The only people I see stomping their feet are the rental owners saying it’s OP’s fault. I don’t disagree with you otherwise, which is why no one should use VRBO or AirBnB. They have zero customer service or guarantees, and you might as well send money to a random listing on Craig’s List.

I recently read a Twitter thread by a woman who had her home destroyed by a renter and has received zero support from AirBnB, so I don’t think I would want to rent my home through them either, for that matter. [/quote]

I read that woman's tweetstorm too - I kept thinking, how could you have an airbnb and not have those little alarms that you can put next to your toilet detect water? Also didn't she have regular homeowner's insurance? was she actually counting on the airbnb policy as her ownly coverage, yikes! [/quote]

I have read about it too. She does say she has regular homeowners insurance and that they have been good to work with, so it’s unclear and she isn’t forthcoming about what she wants Airbnb to pay other than “other financial implications”.  I assume it’s loss of income. I think the situation is further complicated by the fact that she lives in the bottom unit, so she probably just had homeowners insurance for the entire thing and not the kind of insurance that covers loss of income. She also would have to pay her deductible.

I had a washer machine flood my basement that costs $40,000 in damage and Chubb covered everything in excess of my deductible. They paid the contractors directly and never argued with me whether I needed a service pro team to come in and drill the walls, remove base boards, etc for mold prevention (which costs $$$$) and then would need a carpenter and painters and new flooring to repair what service pro had done ($$$$).  They just said pay your $1,000 deductible and send us all other bills. Done deal. I write about this because unless she had crappy homeowners insurance hers should be similar and she suggests as much when she says they’ve been great (or lovely) to deal with in her situation. And she’s not forthcoming about why the work hasn’t been done and why she can’t move back in 6 months later. It took me 4 weeks to get my basement fixed and it only took that long because I had scheduling issues on my end with work being able to meet contractors. Her story doesn’t seem logical at all. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics