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NEITHER POSITIVE NOR NEGATIVE REVIEWS CAN BE TRUSTED ON THE VRBO WEB SITE.
In the VRBO guidelines it says that "All Content must be truthful and not misleading" but Nadia from VRBO Cusomer Support says "VRBO DOES NOT INVESTIGATE THE TRUTHFULNESS OF REVIEWS"
Eligibility Guidelines to post a Review from the VRBO web site
- To review a property, the traveler must meet the following requirements:
All content must be truthful and not misleading.(read policy here-VRBO-Vacation Rental By Owner-Review Policy
Dear David,
VRBO does not investigate the truthfulness of reviews since they are the subjective opinion of the guest who stayed at your property. You can respond to the review before it goes live on the listing. There was a glitch in our system that caused a delay to owner responses. * Your response is being moderated for compliance with our guidelines and will post if approved.
Best Regards,
Nadia
Customer
Support Agent
VRBO.com Customer Support
* it is interesting that my response is moderated, but the client is allowed to post untrue statements which directly contridicts VRBO guildelines to writing a complaint.. |
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There are two issues here: 1) The renter posted a negative review that is untrue after we had met and come to a settlement and 2) That VRBO is allowing an untrue review to be posted, even though it is against their guidelines.
The review was posted even after the renter complained to VRBO, I responded and VRBO accepted my explanation and wished me luck on further rentals. When I complained about the review being posted after VRBO cleared me, I was told that VRBO doesn't investigate to see if reviews are true or not. I explained that the had already investigated and cleared me so they know the review is not truthful. VRBO would not remove the review and I pointed out to them that means that they are allowing an untruthful review to be posted even though they know it's untrue. VRBO claimed that not investigating reviews made them more credible. I explained that it was the opposite because they are allowing untrue reviews to be posted. If they are allowing my untrue negative review to be posted, how does anyone know that the un-investigated positive reviews are truthful. I suggested that the they take the "Reviews must be truthful" out of the Reveiw Policy and was told they would consult their attorneys... so far it's still there... so the reviews have very little credibility....
Here are some recent reviews...
THANK YOU! This was our first visit to North Carolina & to Carrboro to visit our son Nick. We had a great trip here! We loved seeing the cardinals - a bird that doesn't live where we do, in Washington State!.... Thanks Again!
P & T A.
May 3-7, 2012
Hardly an email from someone who would prefer to sleep in the woods with his 4 and 6 year old sons!
Hi David,
Thanks for everything this past weekend, the place worked out fine.
If all was well, my deposit can be sent back to my address here in AL:
let me know if any other info is needed,
MH
Feb 16-20, 2012
Previous VRBO rentals with no complaints...
January 16-February 11, 2011
March 14-16, 2011
April 8-15, 2011
May 5-10, 2011
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I have been renting my apartment for a year and had no complaints until Ms. Vanda came to stay in May 2011. In August 2011 she wrote a review of my place that was inaccurate and untrue. VRBO recognized that the complaints were not founded and absolved me of any wrongdoing yet they refused to remove the review despite the fact that it doesn't meet their requirements for reviews. The main clauses she didn't follow, and yet VRBO allowed the review to be posted are:
- All content must be truthful and not misleading.
- Content may not be posted for the purpose of trying to force a particular response or action from another person in an unlawful, abusive or otherwise inappropriate manner. For example, a traveler may not post a negative review for the purpose of trying to make a property owner return a deposit.
VRBO only gave me 250 words to respond and when I pointed out that part of her complaint to me stemmed from the fact that she was overweight(She complained that the double bed and easy chair were too small and that she would have trouble getting up from the Futon- all of which were in the photos of the rental and are comfortable for a 6 foot 200 pound man, like myself and one of the earlier renters), I was not allowed to mention her weight problem in my review so I will take the time here to respond to her complaints and give you a chance to see that I really have a very nice place which all previous renters have enjoyed.
The Background
In February of 2011 Ms. Vanda booked my apartment for a six week period in May. She had a daughter in town who she was coming to visit. Her daughter lived about ten minutes from my house.
Upon arriving I welcomed Ms. Vanda, her husband and her daughter to the apartment and gave them a key. I went into my house and about half an hour later Ms. Vanda told me that she didn't want to stay at the apartment giving me the following reasons(with my response in parenthesis):
1. The bed was too small(The bed was a double bed and advertised as a double bed with a photo of it on the VRBO web site)
2. It would be too hard for her to get up off the futon.(There was a photo of the futon in the VRBO ad)
3. The easy chair was too small.(There was a photo of the chair in the VRBO ad. I'm 6 foot tall and 200 pounds and the chair is comfortable for me)
Her daughter lived less than ten minutes from here so I asked Ms. Vanda why she didn't ask her daughter to look at the apartment since her daughter knew her needs and tastes better. She replied that her daughter didn't have time.(She had six weeks to see the apartment and it would have taken 20 minutes of her time).
Ms. Vanda wanted a full refund. I explained to her that I couldn't give her a full refund because I had just turned down another renter who wanted the apartment for a two month stay which coincided with her stay and that by contract I didn't have to return the deposit. I suggested that we both think about what was fair and come to an agreement.
We met the next day and had a very amicable discussion and agreed that I would refund $1400 and keep $800. I told her I was not happy with the settlement either but that it was an unfortunate situation that would cost both of us. She said that she felt better knowing that I was not happy either and we spent another 15 minutes talking about Carrboro, England, Greece and Iran.... I thought the matter was settled and over.
The Complaint to VRBO
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