Update 11/3 ~ Anyone else have an owner just cancel reservation?

[Thetruestory]

My name is Clive & my family & I am are the owners of the Villa in question : VRBO 129691.

We have rented this Villa for 2 years via VRBO and other sites, with no complaints and lots of happy, satisfied customers.

I happened to spot this thread during a Google search. It seems we have been portrayed very poorly, as bad business people who have let this family down for no apparent reason.

Please let me explain the true circumstances of this story, as concisely as possible.

We received an initial enquiry in May 2008 regarding a potenial 7 night rental stay at the villa for early December 2008. From that point on, we found the family enquiring to be a little "different" to every other guest we have rented to.

We have found generally that potential guests naturally have questions before they go ahead and book. We often find there are several e-mails exchanged between us, sometimes 7 or 8, including final payment confirmations etc. However this particular family practically bombarded us from the start with repeatative, almost daily, inane questions that were clearly explained in the VRBO listing. We in fact exchanged a total of 34 e-mails up to the initial deposit stage!

Then after we sent a request for the deposit we heard nothing at all for 2 weeks, we generally only hold a reservation enquiry for 48 hours, but were patient and were finally told : "I am so sorry you have not heard from me. The last couple of weeks have been crazy!!! Between computer crashing, terrible damaging hail storms, kids sick, you name it we have had it."

Then we were informed:

I was just notified that the airline we are flying with is charging>> $25.00 for each piece of luggage. With a family of 5 we are not>> pleased and are trying to figure out a way to save on the fees.

We wondered why we were being told this and expected a possible cancellation.

VRBO has always warned us to be very wary of potential scams involving deposits , payments etc. So when we received this message, alarm bells started to ring:

"Small problem. I was just trying to set up some travel insurance for our upcomingtrip and have been notified that in order to be covered I need topurchase the insurance within 14 days of my first down payment. Would you be willing to refund me my original first payment if I sent you another $200 down payment right away?"

This seemed very suspicious to us. Our assumption was that they were trying to back out and get their deposit back and back out of the rental.

We then sent a request for the final balance which was overdue, and waited, and waited, no response. At this point we became concerned at what type of people we were potentially renting to, definitely not reliable in our view. Would they damage our home? Would we ever get the final balance? Throughout this we were recieving enquires for these dates and turning people away.

In almost desperation I wrote offering to return the deposit and free up the dates for another family, there was still no response. Another 10 days went by and finally I felt we had lost all faith in these people and decided to return their deposit via Paypal and close the transaction. The payment was very quickly accepted by them and we heard nothing more, until this forum.

We felt that they could not be trusted to be recommended to another rentor as they had caused us so much hassle and wasted time to us already.

we have spent and invested close to $10,000 in the last 12 months at the villa on flooring, luxury games room etc. and did not want to jeopardise or risk any damage / theft from a potentially untrustworthy guest, so the full deposit (including charges) was refunded. In other words we had lost trust & faith in these people.

We then in fact decided as a family to now take these dates ourselves and catch up on some more villa improvements, hence the "work being carried out" as previously explained.

I hope this rather lengthy response goes some way to clear up this complaint and get closer to the actual facts and the true circumstances of the deposit return.

Kind regards,

Clive VRBO 129691.

 

[Thetruestory]

Duplicated the message accidentally

 

[Freyja]

My name is Clive & my family & I am are the owners of the Villa in question : VRBO 129691.

We have rented this Villa for 2 years via VRBO and other sites, with no complaints and lots of happy, satisfied customers.

I happened to spot this thread during a Google search. It seems we have been portrayed very poorly, as bad business people who have let this family down for no apparent reason.

Please let me explain the true circumstances of this story, as concisely as possible.

We received an initial enquiry in May 2008 regarding a potenial 7 night rental stay at the villa for early December 2008. From that point on, we found the family enquiring to be a little "different" to every other guest we have rented to.

We have found generally that potential guests naturally have questions before they go ahead and book. We often find there are several e-mails exchanged between us, sometimes 7 or 8, including final payment confirmations etc. However this particular family practically bombarded us from the start with repeatative, almost daily, inane questions that were clearly explained in the VRBO listing. We in fact exchanged a total of 34 e-mails up to the initial deposit stage!

Then after we sent a request for the deposit we heard nothing at all for 2 weeks, we generally only hold a reservation enquiry for 48 hours, but were patient and were finally told : "I am so sorry you have not heard from me. The last couple of weeks have been crazy!!! Between computer crashing, terrible damaging hail storms, kids sick, you name it we have had it."

Then we were informed:

I was just notified that the airline we are flying with is charging>> $25.00 for each piece of luggage. With a family of 5 we are not>> pleased and are trying to figure out a way to save on the fees.

We wondered why we were being told this and expected a possible cancellation.

VRBO has always warned us to be very wary of potential scams involving deposits , payments etc. So when we received this message, alarm bells started to ring:

"Small problem. I was just trying to set up some travel insurance for our upcomingtrip and have been notified that in order to be covered I need topurchase the insurance within 14 days of my first down payment. Would you be willing to refund me my original first payment if I sent you another $200 down payment right away?"

This seemed very suspicious to us. Our assumption was that they were trying to back out and get their deposit back and back out of the rental.

We then sent a request for the final balance which was overdue, and waited, and waited, no response. At this point we became concerned at what type of people we were potentially renting to, definitely not reliable in our view. Would they damage our home? Would we ever get the final balance? Throughout this we were recieving enquires for these dates and turning people away.

In almost desperation I wrote offering to return the deposit and free up the dates for another family, there was still no response. Another 10 days went by and finally I felt we had lost all faith in these people and decided to return their deposit via Paypal and close the transaction. The payment was very quickly accepted by them and we heard nothing more, until this forum.

We felt that they could not be trusted to be recommended to another rentor as they had caused us so much hassle and wasted time to us already.

we have spent and invested close to $10,000 in the last 12 months at the villa on flooring, luxury games room etc. and did not want to jeopardise or risk any damage / theft from a potentially untrustworthy guest, so the full deposit (including charges) was refunded. In other words we had lost trust & faith in these people.

We then in fact decided as a family to now take these dates ourselves and catch up on some more villa improvements, hence the "work being carried out" as previously explained.

I hope this rather lengthy response goes some way to clear up this complaint and get closer to the actual facts and the true circumstances of the deposit return.

Kind regards,

Clive VRBO 129691.

Interesting
Can´t wait to read the OP´s response.

 

[thehails]

It just goes to show there are always two sides to a story.

It's good to hear from both sides.

 

[Camilo]

It just goes to show there are always two sides to a story.

It's good to hear from both sides.

So true.....
It always helps when you hear both sides of the story.

 

[Freaky]

Thanks to the property owner for posting - gives a whole different perspective on the matter. Just goes to show that everything may not be as it seems.

 

[dis-happy]

Well, thanks for posting, as someone stated there are always two sides. But the way things stood there was definitely some confusion left on the part of the renters (otherwise they would not have posted here). I think it would have been better all the way around to have been upfront with them. "You have missed the deadline for paying the balance of your rental as stated in the contract. I am therefore returning your deposit and cancelling your reservation." Much better to tell the truth than say the unit will be out of commission for 4 months then continue to rent to others. JMHO.

 

[barbarah]

I am glad there has been an opportunity for the owner to reply and would also be interested in the response from the poster.

This does look like a lovely house and with a very reasonable rate too. I wish I had found this on VBRO before I sent my deposit for another rental. I have saved this villa in my favourites for future use.

 

[Thetruestory]

Well, thanks for posting, as someone stated there are always two sides. But the way things stood there was definitely some confusion left on the part of the renters (otherwise they would not have posted here). I think it would have been better all the way around to have been upfront with them. "You have missed the deadline for paying the balance of your rental as stated in the contract. I am therefore returning your deposit and cancelling your reservation." Much better to tell the truth than say the unit will be out of commission for 4 months then continue to rent to others. JMHO.

There were several reasons we felt we had to cancel this reservation, the late payment was not the deciding factor. When we were asked repeatedly to return the deposit by the customer, apparently to be immediately returned to us, this made us wary and suspicious and as I'm sure you would agree there is no business or company using proper practices who would return a deposit once paid.
As I noted in my main post this customer repeatedly e-mailed with trivial questions which were clearly explained in the VRBO listing, a total of 34 messages were exchanged. When renting and trusting people you have never met with your home you have to form an opinion of them by how they e-mail you, and this persons odd messages made us doubt their integrity, especially the request for deposit return.
My final point to note is that we did not state the villa was unavailable for 4 months, the customers dates were 7 days in December '08, we stated the villa was not lettable after their dates until January '09.

 

[dis-happy]

There were several reasons we felt we had to cancel this reservation, the late payment was not the deciding factor. When we were asked repeatedly to return the deposit by the customer, apparently to be immediately returned to us, this made us wary and suspicious and as I'm sure you would agree there is no business or company using proper practices who would return a deposit once paid.
As I noted in my main post this customer repeatedly e-mailed with trivial questions which were clearly explained in the VRBO listing, a total of 34 messages were exchanged. When renting and trusting people you have never met with your home you have to form an opinion of them by how they e-mail you, and this persons odd messages made us doubt their integrity, especially the request for deposit return.
My final point to note is that we did not state the villa was unavailable for 4 months, the customers dates were 7 days in December '08, we stated the villa was not lettable after their dates until January '09.

I understand, you were trying to work within the situation and be nice. But I bet this thread would have never even existed if you had been more upfront. "You have violated the terms of the contract and we are returning your deposit". Saying it was unavailable until Jan. 9th confused this renter; she posted above that she thought it meant from now until Jan. 9th but you were still continuing to rent to people (not to mention you are now using the condo for a personal stay on those same dates). I've managed condo and house rentals for several friends over the years and while you do get a feel for certain types of people, it's still best to be upfront; if you are going to cancel a reservation do so with neutral facts (ie. missing the deadline); it can save a lot of headaches later on--not to mention possible legalities. If it makes you feel any better, this renter wasn't out to smear your name; the original post did not mention the actual condo at all (that was added later). It's a gorgeous condo though!!!

 

[BETTYDISNEY]

Funny I have a similar story please see my thread, only my owner/management company was not as polite.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1968756

 

[barbarah]

Seems like the poster is not bothering to respond, so I guess the owner of the property was right to cancel their booking.

 

[Frothy]

I've stayed on Sunset Lakes and it's a wonderful community. It seems to me that the owner has been messed around by the renter and I personally don't blame the owner for deciding to refund the money. There comes a point where the renter has to perform and the late payment along with a host of excuses gave the owner due reason to be suspicious of the renters intentions.

Dis-happy, you say the owner should have been more upfront. Replying to 34 emails is pretty "upfront" IMO. The owner also tried to work with the renter but seemed to get nowhere. I think we as renters have to understand that we are fortunate to be able to rent such lovely houses and that each owner will act as they see fit. Personally I rent from a management company as we have developed a good relationship with them. This saves me from hunting for a house each time and then wasting yet more time negotiating with the owner.

 

[aljjgfamily]

Bumping for all future villa renters.

 

[Momto3Girls&Max]

My name is Clive & my family & I am are the owners of the Villa in question : VRBO 129691.

We have rented this Villa for 2 years via VRBO and other sites, with no complaints and lots of happy, satisfied customers.

I happened to spot this thread during a Google search. It seems we have been portrayed very poorly, as bad business people who have let this family down for no apparent reason.

Please let me explain the true circumstances of this story, as concisely as possible.

We received an initial enquiry in May 2008 regarding a potenial 7 night rental stay at the villa for early December 2008. From that point on, we found the family enquiring to be a little "different" to every other guest we have rented to.

We have found generally that potential guests naturally have questions before they go ahead and book. We often find there are several e-mails exchanged between us, sometimes 7 or 8, including final payment confirmations etc. However this particular family practically bombarded us from the start with repeatative, almost daily, inane questions that were clearly explained in the VRBO listing. We in fact exchanged a total of 34 e-mails up to the initial deposit stage!

Then after we sent a request for the deposit we heard nothing at all for 2 weeks, we generally only hold a reservation enquiry for 48 hours, but were patient and were finally told : "I am so sorry you have not heard from me. The last couple of weeks have been crazy!!! Between computer crashing, terrible damaging hail storms, kids sick, you name it we have had it."

Then we were informed:

I was just notified that the airline we are flying with is charging>> $25.00 for each piece of luggage. With a family of 5 we are not>> pleased and are trying to figure out a way to save on the fees.

We wondered why we were being told this and expected a possible cancellation.

VRBO has always warned us to be very wary of potential scams involving deposits , payments etc. So when we received this message, alarm bells started to ring:

"Small problem. I was just trying to set up some travel insurance for our upcomingtrip and have been notified that in order to be covered I need topurchase the insurance within 14 days of my first down payment. Would you be willing to refund me my original first payment if I sent you another $200 down payment right away?"

This seemed very suspicious to us. Our assumption was that they were trying to back out and get their deposit back and back out of the rental.

We then sent a request for the final balance which was overdue, and waited, and waited, no response. At this point we became concerned at what type of people we were potentially renting to, definitely not reliable in our view. Would they damage our home? Would we ever get the final balance? Throughout this we were recieving enquires for these dates and turning people away.

In almost desperation I wrote offering to return the deposit and free up the dates for another family, there was still no response. Another 10 days went by and finally I felt we had lost all faith in these people and decided to return their deposit via Paypal and close the transaction. The payment was very quickly accepted by them and we heard nothing more, until this forum.

We felt that they could not be trusted to be recommended to another rentor as they had caused us so much hassle and wasted time to us already.

we have spent and invested close to $10,000 in the last 12 months at the villa on flooring, luxury games room etc. and did not want to jeopardise or risk any damage / theft from a potentially untrustworthy guest, so the full deposit (including charges) was refunded. In other words we had lost trust & faith in these people.

We then in fact decided as a family to now take these dates ourselves and catch up on some more villa improvements, hence the "work being carried out" as previously explained.

I hope this rather lengthy response goes some way to clear up this complaint and get closer to the actual facts and the true circumstances of the deposit return.

Kind regards,

Clive VRBO 129691.

I'm glad to hear the owner's side of the story. It just goes to show you that there are always two sides to every story. A vacation home is a huge investment and sometimes you have to trust your gut feeling where renters are concerned.

 

[aljjgfamily]

please delete

 

[barbarah]

I originally posted a reply to his post but now have decided there really is no need to defend myself against such horrible lies.

The only word that comes to mind right now is "KARMA".

What a shame it had to come down to this. I was trying to help out other future renters and for some reason I have turned out to be the bad guy. I am sorry Clive that I asked you too many questions. I really did not know there was a set rule.

They say everything happens for a reason and I truly believe that!!

Disers.... if anyone has any questions at all please pm me anytime!

Adding...

I am sorry but I cannot let this one go. I was looking at previous posts where everyone assumes I ignored his request for the final payment. He never asked me for a final payment, PERIOD!! I would have gladly sent the payment. We loved his villa! He is using that as an excuse for what he did to me. Shame on you!!! KARMA!!!

I would say it is shame on you actually. You have not responded to the detailed information from the villa owner on 2nd October!!!. Along with mentions about emails he also details fully several emails about problems you had and why deposit was not sent etc. I find it hard to believe he would detail them if they were not true as he I assume can prove it. I am not a villa owner but that would make me nervous. Several posters including myself commented on your lack of response from 2nd October. Nobody was unkind to you. In fact one poster although understood the villa renters actions thought he should have explained the situation better.

Also I would say it is your job to ensure that you pay balance at the right time according to contract not for owner to remind you even though he says he did.

To bump the thread to top yesterday which is over 1 month from response from owner with no other details smacks of spitefulness and does your original posting and cause no service. Asking people to pm you if any queries means you do not want the villa owner to see what you are saying and again is not the actions of a open person in my opinion.

 

[aljjgfamily]

I would say it is shame on you actually. You have not responded to the detailed information from the villa owner on 2nd October!!!. Along with mentions about emails he also details fully several emails about problems you had and why deposit was not sent etc. I find it hard to believe he would detail them if they were not true as he I assume can prove it. I am not a villa owner but that would make me nervous. Several posters including myself commented on your lack of response from 2nd October. Nobody was unkind to you. In fact one poster although understood the villa renters actions thought he should have explained the situation better.

Also I would say it is your job to ensure that you pay balance at the right time according to contract not for owner to remind you even though he says he did.

To bump the thread to top yesterday which is over 1 month from response from owner with no other details smacks of spitefulness and does your original posting and cause no service. Asking people to pm you if any queries means you do not want the villa owner to see what you are saying and again is not the actions of a open person in my opinion.

No I did not respond immediately when he responded since I was not aware he responded. I have a family to take care of and I truly believe that is a little more important than checking my thread on disboards.


I mentioned if anyone wanted to know anything more I will be more than happy to pm them any information. I did not want to start more drama like you are doing.

If you would like to see the actually emails from myself to him I will be more than happy to post them on this thread. They will be the real emails not a cut and paste of what he thinks makes him look like the better person.

You believe what you want. I know the truth as well as Clive.

This will be my last post.

 

[Camilo]

No I did not respond immediately when he responded since I was not aware he responded. I have a family to take care of and I truly believe that is a little more important than checking my thread on disboards.


I mentioned if anyone wanted to know anything more I will be more than happy to pm them any information. I did not want to start more drama like you are doing.

If you would like to see the actually emails from myself to him I will be more than happy to post them on this thread. They will be the real emails not a cut and paste of what he thinks makes him look like the better person.

You believe what you want. I know the truth as well as Clive.

This will be my last post.

I'm not trying to start a drama, but if you truly believe he lied with his explanation on why he canceled your reservation, I do think you should clarify and post the facts here.

It seems you are willing to help people via PMs. If so, you might want to show everyone that Clive is the wrong one here. After reading his explanation (and not seeing any defense from you), I need to say I actually believed that he was the right one on this situation.

Thanks, Camilo

 

[aljjgfamily]

please delete