Anyone had any problems with vacationrentals.com? I have and need help!
 

We rented a house through vacationrentals.com. Its like VRBO (vacation rentals by owner) where you rent directly from the owner. The lady who rented us the house will not send our deposit back. Every time we call her, she says she already mailed it and then when we don't get the money, we call again and she says she forgot. She misrepresented the house but that is the least of my problems right now. I am out $300 and am looking at a small claims court suit if we don't get it back. I filed a complaint with the website but they just forward the message to the owner. Big help. They don't tell you that when you are writing the complaint but they say once they get a complaint it usually works out in the renter's favor. We'll see. Suggestions anyone? Most of the posts I've seen regarding renting directly through the owner have been positive so I decided to try it. Never again.

Others may disagree, but since you have her phone number, I'd start calling each day. I'd be sweet and kind, but just say that since she forgot before, you thought you'd remind her this time. Then the next day call again to make sure she has sent it. And the next. I wouldn't make threats, but go out of my way to "kill her" with kindness. Meanwhile keep track of the calls and her comments.

Thanks Neopolitan. That's what we have been doing but not sure how long we can continue to do that. She won't like the complaint I wrote about her either.

What state was this in? In MA the law is that the deposit must be returned within 30 says. I'm not sure what happens then but here with 93A one can probably get triple damages. Perhaps you could check to see if anything like that applies in the state the rental is in.

Gomiki: California

Well, I don't know about CA. Do you know anyone in real estate who could answer that question? Perhaps a search on the state gov site could give some info. It would sure be helpful to mention the legal consequences to her if there are any.

Good idea gomiki. Thank you.

Hi beetkekat, owners of rentals in CA have 21 days to return a security depost in CA unless they can produce statements that show the rental property had damages that are above and beyond normal wear and tear, rent was not paid etc. But I honestly do not know if that applies to short term vacation rentals.

May I suggest that you Google what laws are applicable for short term vacation rental deposits. And I would also send a Certified Letter, Return Receipt Requested, to the owner of the propery. Do let us know how this works out for you.
Best regards.

Please let us know what happens. Good luck!

I like your screen name. Here we have a type of boat called a Beetle Cat. It's a 12' wooden sailboat. A lot of kids learn to sail using them in protected harbors. If you're not familiar with them you can google it and see some pix.

I would simply tell her - via registered mail - that if the money is not in your hands in 10 days you will file in small claims court. (I once had a problem with an ebay seller - why I will now use nothing but PayPal - and the written threat of small claims did the trick.)

Beetle,
One suggestion to keep it offical if you need to move forward with a small claims case or work with an state attor. general is to send the owner a certified letter stating past discussions and your complaints. Send a copy of this to the VRBO. Phone calls are to easy to blow off but a certified letter will let the owner know your serious.
Best of luck!

How about threatening to tell everyone you can, for example, everyone here?

Normally in CA Small Claims Court you must file in the county where the defendant lives or does business. Do you live near where the owner of the property lives or where the rental you rented is located beetlekat? If not, do research this but it probably wouldn't be worth your time and effort if you do not live in the general same area. Which is probably exactly what the owner of this rental property is relying on.

Please do tell which location it was. I have been searching this site as well as other sites and would appreciate knowing which house might be not as it seems (abbreveated?). Thanks!

If you have a friend who is a lawyer, you can ask him/her to send the certified letter on their firm's letterhead. Might help...

beetlekat, what did she say yesterday when you called her? And again today?

i rented through vrbo this summer for the first time. i must admit that it was very unnerving to send a cheque off to some stranger that you hoped was "real" and that when i showed up, there would actually be a property there. thankfully, it worked out very well for us. i agree that you need to do the kindness route first but then, i would remind them that there is this forum, lonley planet and many, many others that you will post messages at advising people NOT to rent from their property. good luck and keep us posted.

Thanks everyone for all of your suggestions. Its actually my 81 year old mother's deposit. We rented the house for a family long weekend. We had just lost my dad in June and thought it might be good for my mom to get together in the desert like we used to as a family.

The house is in La Quinta, California. It is #12266 on Vacationrentals.com. The house was really beautiful however there was no butane for the bbq, (we had to buy it and used it only once), only 2 lounge chairs, pool was not clean and was too warm. There was no hose so we had to borrow one from a neighbor to cool off the pool (this was in August so it was really hot down there). We called her the second day we were there and left a message asking for instructions on how to use the pool and she finally called us back in the evening to explain. My family had gone down to the house on Friday morning and my husband and I went on Friday night. The owner called me at work on Fri morning and wanted to know when they were arriving so she could explain how to use the pool/jacuzzi as it was "very complicated." She said she would be there until noon. I think my family got there around 11 and she was gone without leaving any written instructions on how to use the pool.

There is no place on the website to post comments about this house so I will warn all of you here. Its a nice house but just a few things were inconvenient such as no butane, too few lounge chairs and of course the big problem--she won't send our deposit back!!

The owner also keeps insisting she left an extra key on the counter (which we never saw) and she wants it back. We've told her each time she brings it up to please deduct the cost of making another key from our deposit but she won't send the deposit back!

I meant to explain that she lives in the same county as I do so I would serve her with small claims court papers at her residence if necessary. Hopefully it won't be.

here's a link:

http://vacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/12266.html

beetlekat, Have you been calling her daily? Mayne all of Fodorites should give her a ring? :-)

A replacement key will probably cost $1.86. I would refuse to pay it and then scream at the owner. Afterall, the customer is always right.

Pilates: Yeah that would be annoying if everyone on this board called her! Ha!

Neopolitan: I haven't called her every day. The last time my mom called her, which was last Friday, she said her friend was supposed to mail the check and she would call my mom back after speaking with her friend. Well, of course her friend did not send the check but she would Friday. This is after she told me she had mailed it the previous Sunday. She also told my mom last Friday that she left a message for me and I never called her back. This lady is a liar all the way around.

beetlekat, if this woman is untruthful I hope she doesn't say that she needs to change the locks because you didn't return one of the keys. That would cost a bundle.

I would file in small claims court to get this problem solved. I hope you have documented everything including the dates, times and conversation regarding the phone calls.

If you county is like mine it will take some time to get a date for Small Claims Court so I would get on that this week.

Once she is served she may "decide" to refund the deposit rather than go to court. She will probably have to pay your court cost also. Best wishes.

Update on calling this crazy woman. She insists that her time to get the key made in worth something and she intends to deduct it and the cost of making the key from the deposit. I asked her why she was lying about sending the deposit earlier and she said that she wants her key--my mom told her my sister found a key in the bottom of her purse and she wants it even though we told her that the key was not to her house! I will have to send her a certified letter before suing her in small claims court.

My goodness. That lady is a mess. If it's her stupid (non existant) key that she is waiting for, just send her any ol' key. When she sees for herself that it isn't hers, maybe she'll get her butt in gear and make one.

What a shame. As far as VRBO is concerned, I've never heard of a problem like this. It's too bad that this experience has soured you on private rentals, but I sure as heck understand why it would. Good luck to you. If you ever get it back, let us know.

We rented through Vacationrentals.com--not VRBO--just to clarify.

Yes its a mess and has indeed soured us on ever renting through an owner again. Will always go through a rental agency unless I know someone who has rented from the owner before and has had a good experience.

Well, I have rented though VRBO, which works the same way as vacationrentals.com so far as I can tell. You deal strictly with the owner. My experiences have all been perfect. I've actually had more problems (all minor, thankfully) when renting through agencies. They usually don't know how to deal with specific problems with the apartments as well as an owner.
I think you just got the world's worst (or most dishonest) owner, beetlekat. I don't think it's the system, just the luck of the draw.

By the way, this week there was another thread by a woman who has rented throught two different agencies -- her problems literally make yours look like minor details!! So you don't necessarily avoid problems by using an agency.

I would have an attorney call now, and forget about calling yourself. Ask an attorney friend to make a quick call and set a date that the check must be in your hands and if not, file a complaint with the court.

Since she is in your area, you might also write a story for a local paper on what happened. That kind of story is always interesting to local press.

Thanks so much for all of your responses. I really appreciate it. My mom has a friend who is an attorney who was going to write a letter, however, my mom got the check today. The owner said that she wasn't obligated to send us the check until 2 weeks after she received all of her property. We had inadvertently taken one of the gate openers and mailed it back to her return receipt requested immediately upon finding it in my mom's car. The owner received it on Sept. 9th but insists that she received it on the 15th even though we have a receipt that says otherwise. She enclosed a note with the check that said she was not obligated to return the money until 2 weeks after she had her property which she claims was today. She also noted, again, that we stole her keys which we did not. Why would we do that!!! If she had just calmly explained the above to us instead of lying about sending the check and then saying she was going to send it and changing her story every time, it would have been a lot less stressful.

Neoplolitan: Do you know the thread of the other person who had trouble with an agency (or the name of the poster)? I would like to read it. Thanks.

http://tinyurl.com/pk2r5

After you read the confusing story, click on the name of the original poster there to find the other stories from the past couple of years.

There have been many reports here of problems getting deposits back from agencies as well as many other problems with agencies -- including renting the place to some one else and the renter gets there to find it not available, for example.

Hi BK. Well good for you. I'm so glad you didn't have to go through the pain of small claims court.

I knew you had gone through vacrentals, but what I should have written was, "As for VRBO they have a good reputation. You might consider them, but I understand why you wouldn't."

The owners we have contacted through VRBO always seemed like super nice people. Did you pick up any good or bad vibes when booking your house with this woman? She just seems so unreasonable. Especially the lying.

Is this complex listed in Trip Advisor? Now that it's over, have you considered sharing your story there?