Was this Grand Canyon vacation rental a grand scam?

Hey, where did my deposit go?
The rental cabin in Williams, Ariz., she found through VRBO.com had three bedrooms — the perfect size for her family. So last year, Trudi Wood sent the owner a $839 check for a deposit.

But everything wasn’t as it seemed.

“It only had two bedrooms,” says Wood. “We discovered the deception by reading the reviews posted after we sent our check.”

Good thing the owner had promised the deposit was “100 percent” refundable — a promise she’d gotten in writing. If he didn’t offer a prompt refund, then maybe VRBO.com, the trusted intermediary through which she’d found the rental, would help her.

If only.

When I asked for a refund of our $839. The owner refused.

VRBO.com was no help. They simply say they don’t get into disputes between renters and renters. My husband and I contacted the FBI’s Internet fraud division, who were supposed to contact local authorities.

We’ve heard nothing.

Here we go again! I’ve covered renter problems with phishing on VRBO and its parent company HomeAway. In those cases, HomeAway has been crystal-clear about its position: It’s not liable for any transaction that goes wrong; it’s just the middleman.

But this case is a little different. Wood alleges the cabin owner claimed to have three bedrooms when there were in fact only two. That’s false advertising, and I thought HomeAway would be concerned if one of its owners posted a misleading listing.

So I contacted HomeAway on her behalf. A representative agreed to “take a look” at her case on Feb. 29. I followed up with Wood last week to find out if there had been a resolution.

“No one from HomeAway has contacted me at all,” says Wood. “I’ve only had responses from them saying they did not get into resolutions with their renters.”

Wood’s Grand Canyon vacation is ruined, her $839 deposit is gone, and now she’s getting radio silence from HomeAway. What now?

Since her case has been referred to the FBI and local law enforcement, I’m not sure if there’s anything else she or I can do. Normally, when lawyers or law enforcement get involved, it’s practically impossible to mediate a case. (And that’s especially true if the lawyers come after, ahem, me.)

I think it’s best to let the investigation run its course for now.

The only question that remains is whether HomeAway could have done more to help.

I’m a big fan of vacation rentals and what HomeAway has done. It’s made the home rental product more accessible to millions of American travelers. I’ve used HomeAway, and I really like the idea behind the product.

What’s always set HomeAway and VRBO.com apart from Craigslist and other Internet classifieds, is that it offers assurances that you’re dealing with a reputable owner, you’re getting a real listing, and that at the end of the day, you can rent with peace of mind.

There’s also an implicit promise that HomeAway is endorsing these rentals and will stake its reputation on them. And here, I think, is where the disconnect between the renter and the company is happening.

HomeAway is saying there’s no such endorsement, and that if something goes wrong with your rental, you need to work it out with the owner. Renters are disappointed, because they thought they could lean on HomeAway when something bad happened with their vacation rental.

Who’s right? I can see both sides of this conflict, but my sympathies are with the renter. No one deserves to lose their deposit.

And while I’m not sure if Wood will ever get her money back, I think we can prevent this from happening again. HomeAway needs to either step up and be the service it wants us to believe it is — and stand behind its rentals — or it should stop pretending it’s anything more than an Internet classified service.

And customers like Wood? They need to stop renting from anyone who doesn’t accept credit cards.

(Photo: B. Rosen/Flickr)

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  • Lindabator

    If you are the intermediary, and the clinet did everything CORRECT (no wires, please!), then they SHOULD be standing behind their word, or they ARE just another Craig’s list. 

  • Jeanne_in_NE

    “And customers like Wood? They need to stop renting from anyone who doesn’t accept credit cards.”

    See my earlier comment, on the same subject, but phrased a little more nicely.

  • http://elliott.org Christopher Elliott

    This is me blaming the consumer: “This is all Wood’s fault.”
    This is me offering her advice: “Next time, use your credit card.”

  • Jeanne_in_NE

    Thank you to all the nice people who pointed out that there is no such thing as “too small to accept credit cards” these days.  I had no idea that really small businesses could accept credit cards so cheaply.  I’m going to guess that the same folks I do/have done business with only by check also had no idea.  That’s the point of forums such as this: to educate those of us new to emerging technology. when it comes to travel. 

  • Joe_D_Messina

    Thanks for posting that, Chris.  

    This puts this matter in a new light for me. First off, the OP’s story doesn’t seem to be 100% accurate because there’s a review from back in 2010 clearly describing how the debated bedroom area is a single large room broken up into multiple sleeping areas. (It must be huge because there’s a ping pong table and other things in the area, as well.) It sounds like they put a deposit down on the place without reading the reviews carefully. That’s a very risky move. That doesn’t mean a “fully refundable” deposit shouldn’t be returned to them, but it doesn’t sound like an outright scam, either.  

  • TonyA_says

     Jeanne, it does cost money for the vendor (aka merchant). First of all they have to qualify as a merchant (to the Service Provider).  Then for rentals like this, the merchant will be doing CARD NOT PRESENT transactions (most probably keying in the card number in the Servicer’s website). The merchant will easily pay a minimum of 3.5-4% plus a fixed fee for each transaction. That will eat up the merchant’s profit. The fee will be much less if the merchant can actually scan the credit card (less fraud).

  • bodega3

    In our business we alway recommend the use of a credit card.

    I do have a question.  Did they provide you with pictures of the house?  According to the VRBO and other listings on the net, this property has 3 bedrooms and a loft filled with several beds.  It would have helped in seeing the OP’s pictures for comparison to the online photos to know if the house shown online is the same one she rented.

  • TonyA_says

    Chris, in the reviews posted in VRBO’s site,   http://www.vrbo.com/259047/reviews     at least 2 customers (who stayed in 2010) complained that this house has only 2 bedrooms (and not 3 as posted by the owner). Seems to be VRBO does not bother to read the reviews to correct the postings.

  • tech_ed

    In much the same say Craig’s List is being required to vet their listings, I believe that  these rental by owner sites need to vet their listings as well…

  • Joe_D_Messina

    I saw that, as well. However, that also means the OP didn’t bother to read the reviews because they claimed there was no mention of that in reviews until after they’d sent the deposit “last year.”  I’m not a fan of letters misrepresenting the facts.

    Bottom line is that if the deposit was supposed to be refundable, they should get it back and VRBO should help with that.  The bedroom issue I’m willing to give a bit of slack because a large area cordoned off into separate sleeping areas and being called “2 bedrooms” is not nearly as bad as if they were outright lying and there actually was only one sleeping area. 

  • judyserienagy

    If HomeAway and VRBO claim no responsibility to the renter who is renting on THEIR website, they should be put out of business.  It’s ridiculous to allow this kind of fraud to go on … everyone knows that the cheated renter will eventually go away … so the game goes on. 

  • TonyA_says

    True the OP didn’t do their homework or did any due diligence except rely on the veracity of the posting. I can see that as important if the OP were to BUY this house. But to rent a place for a week, it should be reasonable to simply rely on a posting. It really should be no different that getting a hotel room or suite. There has to be some acceptable level of honesty, i.e. the real # of bedrooms. A loft or greatroom without a door and closet is not legally considered a bedroom.

    The home owner should have returned the OP’s money asap since the OP was expecting to rent 3 rooms and the owner’s rental does not have 3 rooms as they had posted:

    2700 + square foot 2 story log cabin.
    Full size kitchen, 2 bathrooms with 1 tub and a custom slate master
    double shower.  3 bedrooms plus loft with queen bed. 3 queens and 1 king
    upstairs, 2 sets of bunk beds for the kids,1 queen downstairs and 2 car
    garage.

    They lied (according to the OP).

  • rybashka

    Believe it or not, the renter has a fair amount of power in a situation like this.  The renter can go to her local small claims court and, because of the distance, the owner is unlikely to show up.  The renter then has a judgment that can be filed in Arizona.  

    She has a cancelled check so she knows the name of the bank where the owner keeps his money.  Unless he has closed the account, that money can be attached.  (Ideally, the bank has local branches in her state.)  If necessary, she can file a lien on the property, which may hinder the property from being sold or refinanced until she is paid off.  In the meantime, the interest on her judgment continues to accumulate.
    It is possible that the owner might try to contest the judgment when the renter tries to enforce it in Arizona.  However, unless he has access to free legal help, it will not be cost-effective to fight an $839 judgment.

    Admittedly, the renter might be throwing good money after bad.  However, given that she has contacted the FBI, it seems that a fair amount of emotion is involved here.  It might be worth it to her to see how far she can get with this.

  • Jeanne_in_NE

    I really hate beating this horse, but!  You’ve posted enough stories on your blog about people who have used their credit cards and *still* had problems.  I agree that a credit card transaction provides a layer of protection that a check doesn’t provide.  However, there are still people in this world who don’t take credit cards, or who don’t pay by credit card, each for a multitude of reasons.  The wording of your advice, “people like Wood”, struck me as blaming Ms. Wood for being naïve.  Your post does clarify your intent, so I apologize for my misinterpretation of your words.     

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/2NZAJ6KPWUWJV23TTE3TNBMJZI Trudi

    Hi, I’m Trudi Wood. I’d like to clarify that when we sent earnest money to hold this Williams home there was only one review posted and there was no mention of only two bedrooms; it specifically said 3 bedrooms. To me that meant a room with a door – not a game room with a ping pong table. After the owner’s divorce she changed the posting. However, I have written proof of a guaranteed refund, but a guarntee on the Internet is only as good as the paper on which it’s printed. Please understand that I really like the concept of HomeAway and VRBO. I have rented 9 homes/condos from them, and I will continue to use their service – with caution and no trust in their assitance beyond a listing. I’m much wiser and at the tune of $839, I’ve learned an expensive lesson. I just wish they’d at least tried to help me get my promised refund….. Many thanks to Chris for listening because no one else seemed to care at all.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/2NZAJ6KPWUWJV23TTE3TNBMJZI Trudi

    Hi, I’m Trudi Wood. I’d like to clarify that when we sent earnest money to hold this Williams home there was only one review posted and there was no mention of only two bedrooms; it specifically said 3 bedrooms. To me that meant a room with a door – not a game room with a ping pong table. After the owner’s divorce she changed the posting. However, I have written proof of a guaranteed refund, but a guarntee on the Internet is only as good as the paper on which it’s printed. Please understand that I really like the concept of HomeAway and VRBO. I have rented 9 homes/condos from them, and I will continue to use their service – with caution and no trust in their assitance beyond a listing. I’m much wiser and at the tune of $839, I’ve learned an expensive lesson. I just wish they’d at least tried to help me get my promised refund….. Many thanks to Chris for listening because no one else seemed to care at all.

  • Dave_Z

    Your own due diligence, albeit it’s not always sufficient.

  • http://twitter.com/travelingiraffe Crissy

    I can understand VRBO and Home Away not wanting to get involved with disputes, in terms of you can get a lot of little petty disputes where either no one is right (or wrong) or of such a small scale – it costs time and money.

    However, if someone is misrepresenting a property on your website, you have an ABSOLUTE duty to take action, if for no other reason then to protect your companies name.  I’m sure somewhere in the fine print of the contract to post a home/apt there is something about misrepresenting.  Once VRBO knows about the issue they should pull the the unit off their site and contact anyone who is in the process of renting the unit to see if they still want it and to facilitate a return of what they have paid.  

    Having said that, I do think the unit owner should be allowed 24-48 hours to show that the unit is as advertised, to prevent people from making complaints just to screw the owner or get a free trip.

  • lorcha

    Nothing VRBO can do?

    How about this:

    Dear Property Owner,

    Your listing in VRBO for 123 Main St. has been deleted, and future listings for 123 Main St. will not be accepted. 

    This action was taken due to several customers’ complaints that your listing materially misrepresented the property advertised. Specifically, your listing advertises the unit has having 3 bedrooms, however, several customers have complained that the unit contains only 2 bedrooms. 

    We take accusations of misrepresentation extremely seriously, as the integrity of the VRBO brand depends on it. The reason that you have received so much business from VRBO is testament to our branding efforts. 

    We recognize that, from time to time, false allegations can be submitted. If you wish to appeal this decision, please order, at your cost and expense, an appraisal of the property by a licensed appraiser in your property’s state which shows that the unit has 3 bedrooms, as originally advertised. 

    Best Regards,
    VRBO

    I’m willing to bet that after they send out a few of those letters, owners will have far fewer “typos” in their listings.

  • Chris Romm

    VBRO seems to want it both ways and get it as well. I rented a unit in Maine last year after finding a place in VBRO. All seemed well until we arrived. The place was much smaller than we had anticipated. WE should have known as we had contact from the owner but they were sort of cold and unwelcoming. The place was FILTHY. Besides not being as clean as we expected. the main bedroom has a bed that had blood stains on it. This was not murder type blood stains if you catch my drift, When we contacted the owners they had no response and VBRO also had no response to my attempts to email and call them. I made many attempts to contact the owner and they never bothered to return my emails or phone messages. This is a buyer beware world. You get what you get. Being exceptionally careful is the only thing you can do. I was going to contact Chris on this one but i knew it would be a waste of his time as well. My issue was at Point Sebago in Maine. All i can say is be very aware.

  • Pamela Bonaventura

    I’m a rental owner from Europe; I list on HomeAway.  My small vacation apartment is only for two people and while I fully understand that paying by PayPal or credit card gives the potential guests the assurance they are looking for, I do not accept credit cards or have a PP account as it’s too expensive for my small place & income.  I ask for wir transfers but should the guest prefer to pay by cash on arrival this is also OK with me.
    I am so sorry this had to happen, sadly it does, but please do not place us all in the same boat.  I am proud of the service, albeit on a small scale, that I offer my guests.

  • Raven_Altosk

    PayPal does not cost you. You can pass the fees onto your renters. Only scammers demand wire transfers.

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