I don't know if it's the property owner or the property management company, but this place is a potential fraud!
I booked a trip for our Thanksgiving with family in JAX with Nov 21st 4PM arrival time. At about 12PM on Nov 21st while we are driving toward the vacation rental, I received a message from this property saying they had to cancel my stay because there was a water leak in the house which would make my stay unsafe. And they'd cancel the booking with full refund. The message was not apologetic at all but I understood this was unpredictable so started to desperately rebooking for another place with holiday coming.
Here is where the shady practice began! After we returned home from the trip, I started to get back to things. I saw Vrbo fee refund received on Nov 22nd, but still no refund from the property as of Nov 28th. I thought it might just take some time but a bit strange that the time gap between Vrbo fee refund and this property cost refund was quite big.
After waiting a couple of days with no sign of the refund, I wrote an email to the property management (with no response) and I gave their office a call (with my call went straight to voicemail). I thought something fishy was going on, so I contacted Vrbo customer service. The first rep gave me a phone number to reach property owner directly. However, it was a google voice number that connected me with someone in VA who claimed I got the wrong number. So I called Vrbo customer service again, the second rep escalated to this to their higher department (Trust and Safety as it turned out) and managed to talk to the property management company directly.
The same person, who sent me the message saying they had to cancel my booking, said she never did that!!! When questioned by Vrbo rep, she said 'why would I do that? I have a family to feed.' The rep said they could see the message she sent in Vrbo system, and asked who sent the message then? The property manager said something along the line like 'send me the proof' and ended the conversation!!!
Thankfully, this rep was very professional and capable. She helped me opened a case with Vrbo's Trust & Safety team and sent all documents requested right away. I'm still waiting to get my money back, as of today writing this review on Dec 9th. There's no timeline once in Trust & Safety's hand, per Vrbo's third rep.
Please DONNOT book this place. It's a sam! I'd hate to see more innocent families falling this trap.