VRBO, Steven Carter VRBO Listing #247238, Homeaway listing #256678, Owner Steven Carter wanted to steal our downpayment, VRBO did nothing after complaint, Rancho Cucamonga, California

This is an official complaint against California Real Estate agent Steven Carter AND Vacation Rental By Owner  - VRBO and Homeaway websites. Steven Carter rents his vacation property in Dana Point, California and advertises his property for rental on the above mentioned two websites.

Real Estate agent's name: Steven Carter

State: California, USA

Bottom line

We complained on the 'vrbo.com' website regarding Steven Carter's predatory and unethical refund policy (or lack thereof) and we received the following message from VRBO ('vrbo.com'):

"The review you submitted does nhot meet our guidelines and cannot be posted at this time for the following reason(s):

• It would appear you did not stay at the property being reviewed."

It seems that 'vrbo.com' guidelines protect the owner and not the renter. It would be advantageous and critical for a potential renter learning Steven Carter's predatory cancellation policy basically trying to steal our money without sufficient reason or providing value in exchange. Obviously 'vrbo.com' (VRBO) does not care if the owner's policy would short-change a renter - although they should.

Warning to potential customers: BEWARE and get the cancellation policy in writing BEFORE the booking or do not have any business with Steven Carter and VRBO.

Background:

1. On November 11, 2014 my wife called Steven Carter and paid him via PayPal $1,081 US to reserve his rental property in Dana Point, California. My wife asked Steven Carter twice about the cancellation policy and he said it should be on his website. His two websites are as follows:

           homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p256678 - reviewsPage2

           vrbo.com/247238

He also said that we could cancel by February 1st, which would give him enough time to rent out his unit by March 1.

We trusted Steven Carter and gave him the money via PayPal. I emailed Steven Carter telling him that we could not find the cancellation policy in his website and asked him to direct us to that information (this email has been saved). Steven Carter never responded to that email. Eventually we found that the cancellation policy was not on the website as Mr. Carter claimed.

2. On November 14, 2014 I was diagnosed with a heart condition. During the following 3.5 weeks I called several health insurance companies to see if they could insure us while we stayed in the US since we live in British Columbia, Canada. I found that no health insurance company would insure a newly diagnosed heart condition.
3. On December 03, 2014 my wife called Steven Carter and cancelled our trip for the month of March 2015. Steven Carter informed my wife that no refund will be given. His reasoning was that we reserved the unit and now he would be out 50% the rental amount if he can not rent his condo. We cancelled after three weeks of the reservation essentially leaving Steven Carter about three more months to re-rent his condo. We also sent a letter to Steven Carter requesting a refund.
4. On January 05, 2015 we filed a complaint with our financial institution PC Financial and attached our 'Jan 03 2015 letter to Steven Carter' document. .
5. On January 06, 2015 we emailed our reply to Steven Carter's January 03, 2015 response and outlined the consequences if he did not refund our $1,081 deposit.
6. On January 08, 2015 PC Financial refunded the Canadian equivalent of our $1,081 US down payment. In addition PC Financial contacted PayPal.
7. PayPal informed me on January 13, 2015 that they turned the case over to their fraud specialist (PayPal  Case ID is available if required).
8. On January 21, 2015 my PayPal web page indicated that Steven Carter reversed our payment to PayPal and the case was closed. I sent an email to PayPal asking what were the details of the closure. I received an email from PayPal which I summarized in a document titled 'Steven Carter - PayPal payment reversal - Jan212015'. This document is also on file.

The bottom line:

1. We received our down payment after more than two months of hassle, so we do not have any demand for monetary compensation.
2. Our bottom line is that both PC Financial and PayPal agreed with our complaint and requested Steven Carter to reverse the payment to PayPal, which he did, and in turn reversed the payment to PC Financial which in turn refunded our money.
3. We are submitting this complaint because my wife and I feel that Steven Carter's business practices are unethical, misleadingand predatory. He has deceitful tactics when renting out his vacation property. We want to ensure that other potential renters are warned to make sure they get Steven Carter's cancellation policy in writing. We would like to see Steven Carter change his practice of not showing his cancellation policy on his 'vrbo.com' website  and of burying his recently added cancellation policy (only after our complaint) on his 'homeway.com' website in a lower level web page in the "Instant Quote" section. In addition, we feel that his cancellation policy should be clearly visible on both websites at the highest level of the web page structure. When customers ask him verbally for his policy of 'cancelled bookings receive no refunds' he should tell customers. This at the time of the initial booking when asked so they can make an informed decision whether to rent or not.
4. In reality, Mr. Carter should not have such an unfair policy in the first place. He should not essentially take money from potential customers without providing any value, especially when the cancellation is made nearly three months before the actual commencement of the rental period. If Steven Carter's cancellation policy is so simple as 'cancelled booking will not receive a refund' why did Steven Carter not say it when my wife asked him on the phone before the booking and why did he tell her on another phone call that February 1st was the deadline for cancellation when he had no intention of refunding our down payment under any circumstance? Why did he say his policy was on the 'homeaway.com' website when it wasn't there? When we were in the process of booking his condo, I sent him an email asking him to direct me to his cancellation policy since it could not be found. He didn't respond to my email about where the policy was located. By the way, his cancellation policy still is not written anywhere on the 'vrbo.com' website, which advertises the same rental unit.

Warning to potential customers: BEWARE and get the cancellation policy in writing BEFORE the booking or do not have any business with Mr. Steven Carter and VRBO.