Seeking advice on apt rental

Old Mar 27th, 2017, 06:54 AM
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Seeking advice on apt rental

Hello! We are a family of four traveling to Europe in a few weeks. A portion of our trip will be spent in the Alsace, and I have a VRBO reservation that has been booked since December. This particular rental has great reviews (14 in total, across several years).

So I requested a booking right before the holidays, and the owner did not get back to me within the required VRBO time period and the request was void. A few days later I received a private message, via my email, from the rental owner apologizing (I understood, it was right before Christmas) and asking if I was still interested. After I responded that I was, she sent me a contract along with her bank information and asked that I pay 60 euro to hold the rental, which I did so via Western Union. I did this outside VRBO, although she updated VRBO that our rental is reserved so it is showing up under my VRBO account.

Fast forward to now. I've sent two emails over the last week to reconfirm and asking her about the final amount due, and she has not returned my emails. I can see that she updated the VRBO calendar a few days ago so I know she has been on the website. I'm not sure what is going on or what to do. I've used VRBO for years and we have two other rentals booked for this trip directly through VRBO without any problems. This is the first time an issue like this has has come up.

I know...I know. I shouldn't have paid via Western Union because now we are not under VRBO's guarantee. To be honest I'm not as worried about the 60 euro as I am about making sure we have a place to stay when we get there. We will be there right before Easter. Obviously this is peak time and while there are some rentals still available , not that many that fit our requirements (price, bedrooms, location etc). I'm not sure if I should send another email and wait a few more days? Or if I should send a cancellation email, forfeit the 60 euro, and find somewhere else to stay.

FWIW We leave next Thursday (the 6th) and this stay was to start on the 11th. I don't feel comfortable not knowing what is going on with this portion of our trip.

Thanks!
Tracy
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Old Mar 27th, 2017, 06:58 AM
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Does she have a phone number? If so, call her.
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Old Mar 27th, 2017, 07:43 AM
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This has happened to me before too, but it did end well because the homeowner eventually contacted me. I agree with StCirq, call her. If no phone number, then message her through VRBO and Email both and wait a few more days. Sometimes European internet access is very expensive, and people only check their email once or twice a week. Good luck!
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Old Mar 27th, 2017, 08:03 AM
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Good advice above Tracy. Could you put the link to the listing on VRBO? I could see about 40 rentals in Alsace with 14 reviews.
I'm surprised to see she could get your email address as VRBO hide them on their website. Also Western Union is not very used among owners as it is often related to scams.
Internet is not that expensive in France Joan and she should have been more responsive.
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Old Mar 27th, 2017, 08:12 AM
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Email VRBO.

It may be ok, but you may be in :
- in a scam and owner doesn't even exist...
- owner wants to avoid paying fee to VRBO - not honest and not good for you, you lose potential help
- owner is totally dishonest, wants to avoid fee from VRBO and or pay taxes to authorities.

I'd pay attention.
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Old Mar 27th, 2017, 08:18 AM
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Thank you all.

Here is the rental https://www.vrbo.com/1153659a. My assumption, at the time of booking, was that the owner was trying to avoid the vrbo fees. I was just happy to book my first choice so I didn't really question it. I'm retrospect, bad idea. I have no idea how she found my direct email adress.

I'm looking for a phone number now. I imagine it's listed somewhere on the contract.
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Old Mar 27th, 2017, 08:20 AM
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I also sent her a message through VRBO this morning (my other messages were via email). She supposedly has a 100% response rate so we'll see.
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Old Mar 27th, 2017, 08:27 AM
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If you follow the link in the "owner info" section, to see more details, it brings you to the website of the owner, with two phone numbers listed...

I also believe there are now two tiers for listing with VRBO, one of which is cheaper and you pay for the subscription, not for individual rentals. However the downside is that you fall to the bottom when potential renters do a search. If this homeowner pays only for the subscription, then the email is available and she can correspond directly with you without violating their policies. (My sister in law manages our family rental home and this is how she explained it to me. If you have a popular place with repeat rentals, then you would naturally go this route with VRBO)
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Old Mar 27th, 2017, 08:36 AM
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As they have a website (with a phone number) it is surely a genuine rental. You should be fine
Thanks for the explanation joan!
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Old Mar 27th, 2017, 09:47 AM
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A good friend of mine paid a rental, fine with a genuine site and a phone number.
Well the apartment didn't belong to the 'owner' who had a website though.
She only lost 1500 €. not a big deal but still ...
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Old Mar 27th, 2017, 02:41 PM
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Dominique S. wrote many of those reviews. I would be emailing VRBO. I only use paypal for holding an apartment. It seems a little off and would be worried about accommodations at this point.
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Old Mar 27th, 2017, 02:58 PM
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Dominique S wrote 9 of the 14 reviews. She has no other reviews.

And if you look, there is a reply from owners to one of the reviews:
"Owner response:
Merci pour votre gentil message. A bientôt peut-être.

Catherine & Dominique"

Tracy,
I would find someplace else. This doesn't sit well with me. Sorry.
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Old Mar 27th, 2017, 03:03 PM
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I just looked again - it is POSSIBLE that dominique copied those reviews left by actual renters and posted them to VRBO. I see that 2 have names in them of people who might have written them but I would still walk away from this rental.
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Old Mar 27th, 2017, 04:25 PM
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FWIW I find apt owners often think there's no need to respond till a few days before the rental period. I once nearly gave up on a Normandy rental, even sent her a message thru LinkedIn, no reply to that or emails till a couple of days before. She thought nothing of it.
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Old Mar 27th, 2017, 04:47 PM
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For a loss of 60 euros I'd walk away and start again. I couldn't handle the not knowing.

What a nuisance.. no more western union for you!!!
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Old Mar 27th, 2017, 05:00 PM
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She may not think she needs to send information until right before our trip, but I wish she would respond to my messages. So annoying! I had a specific question to ask her about how to pay the final payment when I sent the first message, last Wednesday. Then when she didn't respond I sent another on Saturday just reconfirming. And then yet another through VRBO today asking, once again, to just reconfirm. I also tried calling, but I got voicemail and as I don't speak French I felt too self-conscious to leave a message. I know that sounds silly.

She did give me all of the details (call about an hour before we are going to arrive, the address to the apartment, directions on where to park, etc.) in the contract she sent, so it did seem legit.

I'm just too organized to sit around waiting. I book reservations months in advance to keep last minute issues like this from happening. It's stressful enough traveling with two 7 year olds on their first trip abroad...I don't want to show up and have no place to sleep. And now that the seed has been planted I'm paranoid. If she doesn't respond by evening tomorrow I'm going to send a cancellation email and book elsewhere. I will be really bummed if she eventually responds, as I love the look of the rental, but I need the comfort of knowing that we absolutely have reservations.
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Old Mar 27th, 2017, 10:41 PM
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Tracy I'd be happy to call myself and let you know what's going on. Feel free to contact me (details in my profile) with your exact dates and names (and nationality). A week with no news from them looks suspicious.
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Old Mar 28th, 2017, 05:37 AM
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60 € is awfully cheap for a deposit. And the fact that you used Western Union may well point to a scam. VRBO and other listing sites are not secure and are often hacked.
If you are concerned about having a place to stay and need apartment services, I'd start looking for apart'hôtels or family friendly hôtels.
You really won't have much time to find someplace else if you keep hoping that this person will respond. I'd get busy and find something soon.
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Old Mar 28th, 2017, 05:42 AM
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Look, it's a well-known fact that French (and most other Europeans) aren't tied to their emails/computers the way Americans are and think nothing of letting a few days go by without responding. Just the way it is. But a week with no response is unusual.

I'd be happy to call for you, too. I'm at StCirq at aol dot com.
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Old Mar 28th, 2017, 05:48 AM
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Very nice of those who've offered to call!
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