9/23/24 Update: VRBO finally stopped harassing me and demanding that I pay $216.25 because my guest canceled after VRBO attempted to defraud her out of $154 when she changed her reservation to leave a day earlier.
VRBO did NOT pay the $135 they owe me from another reservation.
VRBO paid for NOTHING.
Maybe one day I’ll have time to submit my complaint to the FTC:
https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/form/main
I just filed a complaint with AZ Utlitiy Commission after Unisource Electric debited over $150 more than I owed, caused an overdraft and REFUSED to correct their absurd mistake. Upper management then informed me that they would send me a check for about $330 and in the process updated my account to defraud me out of the over $150. Unisource now claims that I owe them over $330.
I also had to file a complaint with the CFPB after Citi sided with my former web host Greengeeks and refused to issue the $970 credit. I had canceled in chat with Greengeeks prior to renewal.
The STRESS is killing me.
I can only hope the VRBO / Expedia management, executives and shareholders get what they deserve. Evil thugs!
8/24/24 Update: Received another threatening email from VRBO.
Submitted this message at https://www.facebook.com/Vrbo
Please deposit $2,000 into my account for the stress you inflicted deliberately and viciously.
Not to mention the many hours in chats and on the phone regarding this matter, and of course having to prepare my VRBO FRAUD documentary and now having to post it all over social media.
Thank you!
[Link to this post]
Also posted a comment with this link in one of their posts.
— Joined the FB group VRBO/Expedia Bad Experiences & Complaints and posted:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/220641516813509
Great video of Ian Dicks contacting Expedia:
https://www.facebook.com/DitsyDoris/videos/976006930947178?idorvanity=220641516813509
8/21/24 Update: Yesterday I apparently received the VRBO management response I requested in chat on 8/14:
The following past due summary was prepared on 20/08/2024 and your account had total invoice balance of $216.25.
Sadly, they’re just one of HUNDREDS of thugs who defrauded me and many millions of hard-working Americans, leaving me with only $289 in social security.
I get so angry, so frustrated, so stressed. I hope they all die miserable deaths. Feeling the pain they inflict on us without any care for us, and with impunity.
I sure hope there’s KARMA!
8/14/24 Update: I was going to rewrite this post for clarification, but taking all these screenshots and posting was too much eyestrain and I’m back to wearing an eye patch. Can’t see well. Just provided the link to this post to VRBO chat for a written response by management.
8/10/24
EUTHANASIA!!!
That was my first thought when I received VRBO’s invoice for $216.25 because my guest canceled after VRBO attempted to defraud her out of $154 when she changed her reservation to leave a day earlier.
We only got FRUSTRATION and STRESS in many calls and chats with VRBO, day after day.
VRBO had reduced my payout by $154, but increased the daily rental rate instead of providing the refund she was entitled to and as approved by me. She had no option but to cancel her entire reservation.
Unfortunately, I committed to run this house as short-term rental for an estate until 2027 because I get only $298 in social security and I hoped to supplement my income. Instead, all I got was an enormous amount of EXPENSES, WORK and STRESS.
I am continually being defrauded by almost every company I do business with.
In January Airbnb deleted the threatening messages from a guest to prevent me from pressing charges with the Sheriff’s Office. Instead of assisting me and charging him for late checkout and the mess he left, Airbnb kept sending me messages stating they were “investigating.”
Airbnb did absolutely NOTHING and refused to answer whether the ADA allows guests to check out late without paying as the guest had claimed.
I could write a book about the crap these companies put me through!
In May I couldn’t take the Airbnb and VRBO lack of support, abuse, and dysfunctional platforms anymore.
The icing on the cake is that Arizona refused to accept my rental expenses and declined my Obamacare application. Medicare doesn’t pay for contacts, prescriptions, glasses, dental, supplements ….
Why work myself to death? My blood pressure is routinely 190/130 when stressed and I have the genes for 100% heart disease.
I blocked ALL dates on my Airbnb and VRBO calendars, but I did not cancel the existing reservations as I expected help with cleaning and maintenance in the summer.
The constant stress and screentime gave me two corneal ulcers and almost left me blind in my left eye. It is still extremely sensitive to cleaning vinegar and eye strain. Just recently I opened up the calendar again because I now have help.
[8/25/24: I blocked the calendar till October. Am too stressed, still don’t have the health insurance I need and it’ll take all my energy to fight these bastards in AZ who strive to kill us. I don’t have the money to install split ACs in the bedrooms as I had planned after the central AC died in July and I installed a window unit for the living area. The portable ACs in the bedrooms need the water emptied daily, trip the electric circuit breaker when the TV is on and take up a lot of space. Too much stress! And my eye is still so sensitive.]
Today, 8/10/24, I got the $216.25 INVOICE from VRBO after the guest who didn’t get her refund had no option but to CANCEL the reservation.
VRBO attempted to DEFRAUD her after she changed her reservation to leave a day early. VRBO took my $154 out of my payout and increased her daily rate accordingly. She canceled the entire reservation.
Dear Christine Baker,
Your invoice INVMOR00239099 is available and ready for payment.
This invoice was generated due to a recent cancellation as outlined in our partner-initiated cancellation fee policy. If you believe your cancellation should be exempt, please contact Vrbo support to fill out a waiver request.
Invoice Due Date: 08/09/2024
Invoice Total Amount: 216.25 USD
Balance Due: 216.25 USDPlease follow the secure link to add credit card details and complete payment.
Note: The credit card used will be stored and placed on file for future automated payments. Non-payment after 30 days may lead to Vrbo suspension until payment is complete.Thank you for your business,
Vrbo
Vrbo Partner Help
VRBO increased the nightly rate instead of sending the guest the refund in the notice to the guest but took the $154 out of my payout.
VRBO claimed not to be able to find the guest’s reservation when she called them for assistance with changing the dates for their stay. VRBO demanded that the guest call ME for support!
For a while we had daily phone calls, including on the 4th of July. Ruined out holiday.
I had changed the reservation and approved the refund.
Incredibly, VRBO deducted $154 from my payout but increased the nightly rate for my guest to $192.50 so she got NOTHING!
For the record, I messaged the guest on the VRBO website the new Payment Summary and I documented her inability to get ANY help at VRBO as they could not find her reservation:
Let’s do the MATH:
Nightly Rate: $154
5 nights: $770
4 nights: $616
VRBO increased the nightly rate to $192.50 so that 4 nights were $770 and the guest got NO refund at all:
From the above VRBO Payment Summary
Nightly rates (4 nights) 770.00
More MATH: $770 / 4 = $192.50 per night!
VRBO attempted to defraud the guests!
Do most people not notice or give up? I suppose many guests are busy working and hope they will eventually get the refund and then forget, or they value their health more than the money and opt not to get stressed after already dealing with countless VRBO imbeciles.
Additional issues with the revised Payment Summary:
- When a guest’s rental charge is reduced, the TOURIST TAX (over 5% of rental) must also be reduced.
- The VRBO service fee “should” be reduced.
When I changed the reservation from 5 to 4 days, all these figures should have been changed accordingly and I knew right away that there was FRAUD by VRBO.
I messaged the guest on the VRBO platform to document the VRBO FRAUD and INCOMPETENCE:
The guest was extremely frustrated because VRBO refused to issue the refund, we had several phone calls and she finally realized that the ONLY way to get the refund for that day was to CANCEL the reservation.
She was unable to cancel the reservation.
I messaged the guest on the VRBO platform about my failed attempt to assist her by contacting VRBO through chat:
Of course, I did NOT call VRBO because:
1) I didn’t want to die (190/135 blood pressure when I get severely stressed by scummy corporations defrauding us with impunity)
2) It is so much work to transcribe recorded calls to prove the VRBO fraud and incompetence.
I had another call with the guest and it seemed that her only option was to dispute the charge with her credit card. However, she called VRBO again and while VRBO couldn’t find her reservation, they found her payment and then processed the cancelation.
I then received the guest’s request to cancel:
Details:
Our nightmare was finally over — I hoped. But, it wasn’t so.
7/16/24 VRBO SUSPENSION for “canceling” this reservation
I immediately had a VRBO chat, and thought the issue was resolved — until I got the 8/10/24 INVOICE for $216.25.
VRBO defrauded my out of $135 for early arrival on the previous reservation.
As I was looking for the VRBO email regarding the suspension, I found their email regarding a payment for the previous booking when guests contacted me the day before their scheduled arrival and asked whether they could check in a night early.
As so often, the VRBO platform was not functional. I had sent the reservation change, but the guests could NOT pay. I was not worried about getting paid because VRBO promised by email that they would resolve the issue:
… Rest assured, we are currently working to resolve this issue promptly so that the guest can proceed with the payment without further delay. …
… Once the technical issue is resolved, we will notify you immediately, and the guest will proceed with making the payment. …
As so often with VRBO support, they LIED.
I received no notification and I was not going to pester my guests during their vacation.
And then I forgot. Our brains are wired to forget and avoid thinking about major trauma and pain. The stress will kill us. VRBO counts on us choosing life over death and that we’ll just let it go so they can reap the profits.
How many MILLIONS has VRBO stolen from guests and hosts?
Only a full audit of all reservations, charges and payouts would show how much fraud VRBO commits. A CLASS ACTION would have to be filed against VRBO.
The VRBO terms require MANDATORY ARBITRATION and prohibit class actions.
Corporate fraud has been legalized in America.
Just about every corporation has a mandatory arbitration clause in their terms.
https://www.vrbo.com/lp/b/terms-of-service
20. Disputes; Arbitration.
Please read this Section carefully. It requires that any and all claims be resolved by binding arbitration or in small claims court, and it prevents you from pursuing a class action or similar proceeding in any forum. …[emphasis added]
And:
Small claims court matters
… Notwithstanding the foregoing arbitration provisions, either you or we may bring, or remove, any claim in small claims court if the claim is within such court’s jurisdictional limit; provided that such court does not have the authority to entertain any claims on a class or representative basis, or to consolidate or join the claims of other persons or parties who may be similarly situated in such proceeding. Further, if the claims asserted in any demand for arbitration is within the small claims court’s jurisdictional limit, then either you or us may elect to have the claims heard in small claims court, rather than in arbitration, at any time before the arbitrator is appointed, or in accord with the AAA rules, by notifying the other party of that election in writing. …
For answers to your questions or ways to contact us, visit our support page here. Or you can write to us at:
Attn: Traveler Support
Expedia, Inc.
1111 Expedia Group Way W.
Seattle, WA 98119
Small claims is a JOKE.
No punitive damages. It would cost thousands just to file the lawsuit, serve VRBO, attend mandatory mediation, … Since attorneys fees are not provided for in my small claims court, it’s thousands of dollars in work, not to mention the stress.
I’m on a mission to put Sunnova Solar out of business and to send their executives to prison for systemic fraud.
One of my old clients got scammed by them and she has been paying me since last fall to assist her and to document how Sunnova refused to repair her system and uses fraudulent production guarantees for undersized solar systems.
The Biden administration decided to REWARD Sunnova for their fraud with a $3 billion loan guarantee:
I’m not delusional and fully understand the power of Corporate America as they finance the legislators’ campaigns but it gives me hope that the Republicans on the Energy Committee are claiming to be concerned with consumer abuse. Quite likely they are merely trying to undermine the Biden administration and we’ll publish what happens when I request their assistance.
The corrupt Houston BBB changed the Sunnova rating from F to C+ and our complaint finally got them to repair the system, but Sunnova refused to provide a single answer to our questions and continues to defraud my client by using lower guarantees than in the contract for credits due to the constant underproduction.
We’ll be moving on to submitting our complaints to the Energy Committee, the Dept. of Energy and the Texas Attorney General.
SOLUTION: PROHIBIT all Mandatory Arbitration clauses in consumer contracts.
What to do about VRBO?
It is a business activity. I cannot wait for 2027 when I can quit this SHITSHOW — if I live that long with so much stress and only $298 social security.
