Vacasa Homeowners beware - Vacasa will drag their feet listing your rental Cape Cod Massachusetts

I am so incensed by Vacasa's response to me, I can hardly see straight.  I own a tour company, and we provide customer service, I would never allow any of my employees, ever, to "throw a [customer] under the bus" in the way Vacasa just did.  Vacasa should be ashamed that they treat a client this way!  Customer Service 101 = you always apologize to the client, the customer is always right, you do not throw things back in the customer's face, or throw them under the bus.  Unreal.  I am in total shock.  They can keep their insincere condolences.  What a hoot.

To set the record straight on a number of false/incorrect things mentioned:

I did pay for the repairs, painting, floor repair and roof repair screen repairs and mouse extermination.  I did not pay Vacasa directly, I paid the young firefighter who works for Vacasa on the side.  I have copies of the bills and the checks, and I can attach them here if anyone wants to see them.  It costs me thousands of dollars.  Plural.  Thousands.  With an "s".  Plural.

The home was not "cleaned for two weeks".  They make it sound like they spent every day there, for 14 days, cleaning and cleaning and cleaning.  Untrue.  I had to BEG them to come and clean the house.  Repeatedly. It took them two, possibly three days to clean.  Not 14.  Give me a break. 

To throw the washer/dryer thing in my face is terrifically unfair.  The washer/dryer was in progress of being installed in the winter of 2015, before I got involved with Vacasa.  My plumber had to abandon the project because the house needed to be shut down for the winter.  The installation was 80% complete, but the plumber could not finish because the pipes would freeze.  This is a seasonal home in a very remote, volatile-weather location.  Since the Vacasa folks were in my house already, doing the aforementioned work, I simply asked if they would work with my existing plumber and help him finish the job.  I could have just as easily gone down there myself, but it seemed obvious to have them help him (I'm not sure he even needed their help, in fact), since they were on-site.  To throw this in my face, in an outright lie, is unconscionable.  Shame on Vacasa for trying this one on for size  That's just plain blatant abuse.  

This was not a carefree, hands-off, approach.  This was a stress-producing situation added to my already horrible situation.  I had to go to counseling because of this situation.  I have the receipts from that, too, and can get a affidavit from my therapist if you need one.

At my business, if we have a dissatisfied client or customer, we offer them an incentive to come back and try again.  I am so disappointed that Vacasa didn't try to mend fences with me, but instead chose to throw me under the bus and throw stuff in my face about my beautiful property on Cape Cod.  People go crazy when they see my house -- they love it.  For you to imply between the lines that it was a dump has the potential to ruin MY reputation as a landlord.  Not cool.  The house is located in a field on a beach.  It has no basement and no foundation.  Animals are everywhere.  It's in the woods. Everyone knows that seasonal homes exposed to the elements like that are subject to storm damage and mice during the winter.  There is always a 2-month "run-up" time every spring.  I had hoped that the Vacasa folks would HELP me with the run-up this year (which they did), but now to turn on me and act as though this property was neglected or something.... that's just wrong.  I have always taken excellent care of the property.  It is in a volatile location and needs constant repairs.

What I think is the most perplexing is their admitting that the deposit money for (any) reservations doesn't go immediately to the homeowner anyway.  The whole point of my complaint on this website was to say that I was told we woud start taking reservations in January, and was disappointed to find out, once I was too far in, that that was NOT the case.  Since the money is held in an account anyhow, WHY doesn't Vacasa let the reservations take place?  That makes absolutely no sense to me.  I know I'm not the only homeowner affected by this, as another homeowner weighed in on this as well.  What about considering changing their policy or modifying it slightly, to accommodate getting reservations while a property is being brought up to speed?  I don't get it!  I'm not a sleazy person.  I'm a nice woman who needed to rent out her house in order to help pay the mortgage after her husband died.  Thanks a bunch, Vacasa, for being unwilling to bend the rules.  As a business owner, I ALWAYS bend the rules for my customers.  It's why they travel with my company again and again.  

No, I haven't sold the house yet.  What planet do they live on?!  Would be nice if you could sell a house immediately after you put it on the market!  LOL!

I'm done.  I have nothing else to say.  I honestly can't even believe this response from them.  I've read it 10 times, and I'm still in absolute astonishment that a company would permit an employee to write such a response!  I'll be happy to give customer service lessons, apparently they need them.

P.S.  I posted this post anonymously, and how funny that they figured out right away who it was.  I guess Vacasa doesn't have very many properties for rent on Cape Cod.  Hmmmm.... wonder why!?

We would like to begin be offering our deepest condolences. We appreciate you allowing Vacasa an opportunity to work with you during such a difficult time in your life. We are sorry that your experience with our service did not leave you satisfied and you chose not to continue listing your home with us.

We offer a simple solution for homeowners that would like to have a carefree, hands-off approach to managing their vacation rental property. Vacasa does manage all aspects of renting out a property. This includes taking photographs of the home, creating the listing and amenity information, advertising the home on various platforms, helping guests create reservations by phone or online, providing full guest services services and covering post stay cleaning and regular maintenance.

In order for Vacasa to begin listing a home it is important that the home be hospitable and ready for guests. We have reached out the the local property manager that worked on the home and they shared that the home was not fit for rental. In hopes of helping to expedite the listing, Vacasa repaired two sections of the roof, repaired the floor, and had a team of housekeepers and our property manager cleaning the home for two weeks. A member of our staff developed a harsh medical condition from the rodent and insect infestation. Even after all this work, which included repairing the screens on doors, installing a washer and dryer, and painting -- all of which was done at no charge -- we were still unable to reasonably rent the home to our guests.

We are committed to offering our guests a clean and comfortable stay in a home that is safe and will provide lasting memories for years to come. This home was not yet in the condition to meet that goal and we hope you can appreciate that we chose not list it until we could ensure that it was. Vacasa’s professional photographers take photos of the homes we rent so we can show our guests an accurate and up-to-date depiction of home they are renting.

We apologize for the confusion with the employee you were communicating, who is no longer with Vacasa. We have a very low attrition rate and a high level of employee satisfaction, so it is not a common occurrence to lose an employee. The curtains, bedspread and pillows were left in the home and Vacasa paid to have a new set of keys made. We appreciate your patience and are happy that you had a good experience with the new manager for your home. We take pride in hiring great talent and plan to continue to do so.

We hope you were able to sell your home successfully and are in a better financial position now. Vacasa pays our homeowners on a regular date the month after a reservation takes place. Rent for a reservation is not paid to our home owners immediately after the reservation is created. We are sorry if that was not clear and caused any confusion. It was certainly not our goal.

We strive to provide the easiest and most successful experience for vacation rental home owners and guests and will always continue to work toward that goal. We understand that we were not able to rent your vacation home out and we wish you the absolute best going forward.

The online form for filing a complaint with the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office [AGO] lets you request "Assistance from the AGO and possible mediation of my complaint" from a pull-down menu beneath the line "What do you seek from this complaint," and a box beneath this menu lets you state in a max of 200 characters the "resolution" you seek. The form also allows you to specify that you made a payment, how you paid, and how much it cost you [actual dollar amount, which requires proof not speculation]. The form also allows you to describe in a max of 1,000 characters the aspects of your dealings with Vacasa that you consider to be "unfair and deceptive" business practices. Cite only facts, e.g., unfair and decetive inducements to sign the contract, pressure tactics, bait-and-switch acts, oppressive contract terms, oral promises and failures to perform, etc. In addition, because Massachusetts considers senior citizens to be especially vulnerable to slick inducements and pressure tactics, the form has a box for people over 60 to check.

If you choose to file an online complaint via this webpage, the MA AGO's online complaint form is at: https://www.eform.ago.state.ma.us/ago_eforms/forms/piac_ecomplaint.action. State facts, not emotions. The Attorney General's Office automatically knows that you're upset. What it doesn't know and needs you to specify are facts that you believe amounted to unfair and deceptive business practices.

In Vacasa's defense, for it to list your home for rent, your home must first meet standards of habitability and safety set by local ordinances. If your home didn't meet those standards and Vacasa rented it with deficiencies, the renters would have cause to file a complaint with the AGO against Vacasa.

In this light, let me now guess what the basis of your unfair and deceptive business practices complaint to the AGO would be in general, based on what you stated in your original comment to Ripoff Report: – Vacasa through its employee or agent, understood your widow's plight and financial pressures and, exploiting that knowledge, induced you to sign its unfair Standard Owner Agreement with promises of substantial rental income [how much per day or week?] and of assistance with fixing the deficiencies in your home so it met local standards of habitability and safety that must be met to rent it to vacationers, but after you signed, Vacasa failed to fulfill its promises in a timely manner [you must not be at fault for any delays], causing you to be squeezed by time and financial pressures into authorizing over-priced repair work from which Vacasa made a profit [Did the fireman do a good job at a fair price? Did repair payments go directly to Vacasa or the fireman?], where timely would be understood by any Cape Cod home owner as being before the big Memorial Day holiday weekend that launches beach season on the Cape. – Is this guess factually correct? If not, correct it. You must supply dates and briefly describe events such as your first contact with Vacasa, unfair and deceptive inducements to sign the Agreement, where you signed the Agreement, subsequent requests by you for Vacasa to assist you with getting the deficiencies fixed, being squeezed by time and financial pressures to authorize over-priced repair work, and your termination of the Agreement. Be factual, specific, and brief, as your statement is limited to 1,000 characters [AGO form counts characters for you!].

You can't fit every fact into 1,000 characters. Focus on the ones most likely to convince the AGO that you were the victim of unfair and deceptive business practices and to motivate the AGO to contact you with an offer of help and a request for more information.  

Wow, thanks so much for your feedback.  By your description, I know you met with the same woman as I did.  I actually took her up on the offer of the firefighter who ended up doing all of the repairs on my home, and made a nice profit for himself.  Meanwhile, I'm out even more money and they're sittin' pretty.  Lesson learned.  They even warned me that "people will take advantage of a widow".  Gee, ya think?  I didn't know they were talking about themselves!

Thank you also for pointing out about the attorney general's e-file system.  I didn't know about that.

I signed the contract, so there's probably no recourse for me to recoup any money, and truthfully the repairs needed doing, so SOMEONE had to do them, might as well be the firefighter guy, he was cool and did a good job.  But, I think homeowners need to know what the actual scoop is on Vacasa.  They do not look out for the homeowner, only the consumer who is renting.  And even then, their BBB reputation has countless complaints about the condition of properties by tenants.  I had the opposite experience, but perhaps that is becuase they're trying to fix their reputation by forcing homeowners to have a "perfect" home.  It's unrealistic when you own a waterfront cottage that sits locked up all winter long.  Of course there are going to be constant repairs to me.  They just don't get it that life on Cape Cod requirest a little bit of "roughing it".... it's not luxurious.  It's hard living!

I am another Cape Cod home owner who has concerns about the way Vacasa conducts its vacation-rental property management business. I submitted the complaint quoted below to the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General [MA AG] today, 20 June 2016, on its webpage http://www.eform.ago.state.ma.us/ago_eforms/forms/piac_ecomplaint.action.  The complaint was limited to 1,000 characters.  I could have exceeded 1,000 words documenting sections in Vacasa's Standard Owner Agreement that are unfair to home owners.  

Complaint to MA AG:   "Vacasa's 'Standard Owner Agreement' is an unfair business practice. Vacasa is a vacation-rental management company that began an aggressive campaign in 2016 to get home owners on Cape Cod and the Islands to sign a contract for Vacasa to manage their homes as short-term [day, week, month] rentals.  Vacasa mailed me a solicitation. I spoke with its Cape Cod Property Manager by phone and in person at my Falmouth home. She made enticing promises regarding services Vacasa would perform for me in renting my house to vacationers. She made many confidence-inducing comments, e.g., all employees must pass drug tests and she was hiring only firemen to do property maintenance because they were so handy and trustworthy. She said she could rent my home for almost twice what local agencies get. The contract omits Manager's promises, binds Owner to rentals beyond contract termination, bars contract and tort claims, limits damages to Vacasa's fee, and potentially gives Vacasa 7 free days of home use." 

Vacasa would not neogtiate more equitable terms.   So, I refused to sign its 'Standard Owner Agreement.'  A home owner should not sign a property management contract that does not fairly and impartially protect the interests of both parties.  

Home owners, before signing Vacasa's 'Standard Owner Agreement,' read all its sections carefully; understand their meaning, scope, and risks regarding your home and interests; and if you do not fully understand their meaning, scope, and risks, hire an attorney to advise you.  

The following Industry Comparison Charts are from the third pop-up link labelled Chart  on the Better Business Bureau of Oregon webpage https://www.bbb.org/oregon/business-reviews/property-management/vacasa-in-portland-or-22666675/complaints/.   These charts show that Vacasa has vastly more complaints than its peers in Oregon.  That s why a homeowner contracting with Vacasa needs an Owner Agreement that protects owner interests too.  

INDUSTRY COMPARISON CHART

Your server picked up the name of my business somehow.  Passports, Inc. isn't supposed to be there.  This is a complaint about Vacasa.