VACATION RENTAL PROBLEMS AND SCAMS

These college students encountered a gross vacation rental with rats in NYC. Can the Consumer Rescue team help?

This vacation rental has rats! Can the Vrbo host keep my $8,865?

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After a 12-hour flight from Israel to the U.S., college students Nadav and Odelia were eager to get settled. They grabbed their luggage and headed to the cute Vrbo in Queens, scheduled to be their home base for three months. But those plans quickly changed when they arrived at the vacation rental and shockingly found rats already settled there.

Then things went from bad to worse for the tired and bewildered United Nations interns. The Vrbo host refused to release them from the nearly $9,000 rental contract. Instead, he told the young ladies to go to a youth hostel while he evicted the rats from his vacation rental property.

Now, after several weeks of trying to reason with this Vrbo host, they’re asking for our team’s help. The college interns do not want to return to the basement-level apartment where the rats have been residing. But the owner claims they are in breach of contract, and he says he gets to keep the $9,000.

That definitely doesn’t sound right to the Consumer Rescue team. So can we fix this vacation rental fiasco? 

How did an Airbnb scammer book a trip to France with this consumer's account?

If an Airbnb scammer takes $1,942 from your account, can you get it back?

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Is your Airbnb account safe from scammers and hackers?

Berenice Anaya certainly thought so. In fact, the possibility of a criminal accessing her Airbnb account and causing havoc had not even crossed her mind.

However, this Airbnb user recently woke up to an unpleasant reality after a scammer successfully hacked right into her account. The Airbnb security team thwarted the thief and prevented him from completing his ultimate goal. But not before $1,942 was removed from Berenice’s bank account.

So why won’t Airbnb return the money to its victimized guest? That’s what Berenice is asking our team after repeatedly trying unsuccessfully to retrieve her cash from the company.

What’s going on here, and can we help?

If you find mice in your next vacation rental, should you get a refund? This Airbnb guest believes so.

My vacation rental has mice! Shouldn’t Airbnb refund me?

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If you book a vacation rental and it has mice, are you responsible for catching and disposing of the rodents? And if so, does the Airbnb host owe you a refund or other compensation for your troubles?

That’s what Gabriella Costanza wants to know after her recent unpleasant experience. She and her significant other had planned to celebrate the holidays in a clean, cozy Airbnb property. Unfortunately, soon after the couple arrived, it became clear they weren’t alone in the vacation rental. And although Airbnb allows shared-space rentals, these additional “residents” were of the most unwelcome and unapproved kind – mice.

But maybe even worse than the reality that mice were living at this Airbnb was the host’s response. This vacation rental owner expected Gabby to put down glue traps and spend her holiday dealing with the inevitable outcome, which the young traveler did.

Now Gabby is asking Airbnb for a refund for this vacation rental experience. But will the fact that the couple completed their entire stay make that an impossible outcome?

This Vrbo guest booked a vacation rental that doesn't seem to exist. Can we help?

I wasted $2,000 on a vacation rental that does not exist!

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Paul Trosclair says he just spent nearly two grand on a vacation rental that does not exist. To make matters worse, Vrbo sided with the person he believes is a thief disguised as a host.

Now Paul hopes our advocacy team can prove this vacation rental is nonexistent and get his money back.

But can we do it?