De-activated Account after Withholding Portion of Guest's Deposit
uncheval Aug 30, 2018 3:38 PMI was replying to a post regarding a 1-star review, and the good suggestion was made to start a new thread on this issue. Has anyone else had their account de-activated after withholding a portion of a guest's deposit while HomeAway continued to demand receipts, pictures and other proof of every penny withheld? Things got so bad with this first-time renter I had to call the police. This was back in July. I have nothing but 5-star reviews for 2 years, yet HomeAway continues to demand that I jump through these hoops while keeping my account in a de-activated status! My current and future guests alert me that when they try to get instructions about checking in, my page is blank!
They won't tell me what he said, although in an email that appears should have been sent to the renter, HomeAway says the following: "We have provided the vacation rental owner or property manager an opportunity to resolve the dispute by sending them the details of your complaint." No, they didn't! I disputed refunding the entire deposit and named each item that was damaged and how much it was going to cost to replace it on 8/2/2018. It's right on my page on HomeAway's website. I assumed HomeAway wanted me to justify those expenses, so I did, and we've been going in circles ever since.
I sent pictures of the damage, receipts for what I'd spent, and changes I've had to make to my rental contract mid-season because of this guest, and the attachments were too large. I compressed them and sent them again. Still too large. I divided them in 3 and sent them again. I was told to respond to the original email with text only, no attachments, so I did. Two hours later I was asked for the attachments. I sent them. Nothing. Finally Sunday I called and was told my account would be re-activated day before yesterday, 8/28. It wasn't, so I called and was told at 11:00 it was re-activated and I'd be able to see it in 20 minutes. At 11:20, I could see it and thought it was all over. I can't see if the guest gave a bad review so I can't respond to it either. There's no way of knowing how much money this could be costing me, all so HomeAway can make sure this horrible renter isn't mistreated by HomeAway?
Today, less than 24 hours after it was re-activated, they've de-activated my account again! I called and was told to respond to another email from JJ with the Guarantee Team, which said that until I provided receipts and documentation that matched what I itemized to the guest, my account would not be re-activated. I explained that I did the cleaning myself, so I don't have an invoice for the $50 I charged for the 2 extra hours at $25 hour to clean the wall their children had drawn on, etc.
My account remains DE-ACTIVATED SINCE 8/14. This is so unfair. Anyone else have this happen? I'm very tempted to tell HomeAway to give the guest back all of his deposit. This is so not worth it. If my account ever gets re-activated, I'm never withholding a guest's deposit again for any reason.