Can you please answer some questions so we can attempt to help you?

You mailed him checks? Were they cashed? Did you put a stop payment on them? Did you actually speak to the owner before you mailed him money? Why did you mail him more money 2 weeks if you hadn't heard from him? I admit that this doesn't sound good. Not having a contract is the first red flag and I would suggest to anyone that they NEVER rent without a contract.

I know it's difficult to never want to work with these sites again but please know that 99.9% of owners are upstanding and devote all of the time and energy into running their vacation rentals and making their guests experience the very best they can possibly have. Here are some tips for renting in the future:

1. NEVER rent a property without a contract. If an owner says he doesn't do contracts, run the other way. It doesn't matter how amazing the property or price is, it's not worth the risk. It shows that the owner is serious and runs his rentals like a business.

2. Pay with a credit card or paypal if possible so if they cancel, you have recourse with the credit card company to get your money back.

3. Pick up the phone and call the owner. You can get a good feel for the owner and his practices by speaking on the phone. Do this BEFORE you sign a contract or transfer money

4. If you have a hard time having an owner call or email you back before you have booked, best to pass that property by as you will undoubtedly have issues later on.

5. Keep in touch with the owner if you book far out so you know they are still in business and haven't skipped town.

If you file a complaint with homeaway about this owner, it does go in their file and once they get a certain amount of complaints, they are kicked off.

There are other places you can leave a review if they are listed. www.tripadvisor.com or try slowtrav.com.You are also free to post on the forum for the particular city on Tripadvisor. There are tons of people that read the forums and you can actually put the property # and name on tripadvisor. You can do this even if they aren't advertised on that site. You can also try fodors.com on their travel forum.