8 Replies Latest reply: Dec 8, 2011 3:53 AM by candi.baker RSS

    Are Sales Calls Abundant on vrbo?

    New Member
    xtinad Aug 20, 2011 5:57 PM

      I just joined vrbo.  Within an hour of making my listing (although it won't be showing up in the actual search engine for a day or two) I get a call from some guy who was trying to set me up with tenants from Ryan Air.  First off this seemed fishy to me because Ryan Air doesn't fly to California!  He kept referring to my place as an apartment, where its actually a house and asked a few questions that were clearly answered in my listing, so did he even really read my posting?   Then he went on to say multiple tenants long term, which just made no sense to me.  By then I was getting really confused and my scam radar was going off.  Then he told me to go to alwaysonvacation.com.  I asked, um why are you making me go to this website?  And he said, oh this is where your tenant will finalize their rental with you.  But then I went to the site and it was a vrbo competitor..and I was like..woah woah woah wait a minute..is this a freaking sales call you are trying to get me to pay to post my listing on your site?  He finally admitted the runaround and said yes.  And I said, hey I don't appreciate your wasting my time on a sales call, and pretend for the first 3 minutes that you are an inquiring tenant.  He was very persistent in trying to sell me his site until I just hung up on him.

       

      I joined vrbo, which surely isn't cheap, to avoid the bs, and to avoid having to sift through all the scammer/weirdos that I was getting on craigslist.  Have others truly been happy with the vrbo service, or should I be expecting a lot of weirdos to sift through on this site as well?  I would hope for 450 bucks a year that I'd have a little less headache this time around. 

       

      What really confuses me though is this...HOW did he get my listing when its not even approved to show up in the vrbo browser yet?  I am under the impression unless you have the exact listing number it cannot be found yet.  I asked him this, and he said he typed into yahoo 2 bedroom Berkeley rental...which I did and I did not show up..he flat out lied.  This worries me, is VRBO or homeaway somehow being hacked so as soon as you sign up with them salesmen are getting your posting before its even available to the public, or they are getting a phone list from vrbo since it doesn't even seem as if he read my posting!

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        • Are Sales Calls Abundant on vrbo?
          anja Senior Contributor
          anja Aug 21, 2011 4:53 AM (in response to xtinad)

          Hi xtinad. I have a couple of rentals. The rental portal, AlwaysOnVacation.com are obnoxious and I will not list with them. They call me several times a year...the last time was just a couple of days ago...and the guy tried to trick me by asking if my accommodation was available. I thought he wanted a reservation. I asked him a few standard questions {how many need accommodation...how many nights...dates} ....he dodged answering...and it took just a few seconds more before I realized it was another "sales" call. I actually asked him if he was calling from A-O-Vacation...and he admitted it. For the 40th time I said that I wasn't interested and said, 'Goodbye"....but he said loudly...WHY NOT? I told him to tell his bosses that disceptive cold calling is not a successful marketing model...with me, at least.  Honestly....I just hung up and didn't wait for a response. I punched their number, again, into my "caller blocked" but their call center usually uses different numbers....so they always get through to me.  You will hear from them again...be ready.  They are obnoxious!   We will never know but don't be surprised if VRBO sold your name and  contact info.  And, if so...that is also obnoxious. But, it seems to be common practice these days....nothing is sacred any longer.  However, I have listed my two cottages on VRBO for many years now....and although it is not the same as VRBO was originally before HomeAway took it over [it  was better, IMO earlier], it's still a good accommodation portal.  VRBO is asking us for more and more money ....especially for the photos [it's ridiculous how expensive the images are].  But, they produce the inquiries consistently. There are more competitors now that do just as well [FlipKey...which is partnered with Trip Advisor are also expensive but effective].  So, you'll see how you like it.  All the best.

          • Are Sales Calls Abundant on vrbo?
            Contributor
            csdircks Aug 21, 2011 8:22 PM (in response to xtinad)

            I actually get calls from a company TravelEhome. here are some f the things they claim:

             

            Our site

            guarantees

            increased exposure which results in more serious inquiries. When you are successful, we are successful and our team objective is to gain you as a lifelong client.

             

            however my husband and i did some research about travelehome and sent him this email:

             

            Shawn:

            My husband and i took a look at the ranking for your website it is in the 93000 place, the sites we are on are listed in 2600 place approximately.We can not spend money on a website that do not have good hits or search engine rank.

             


            He however did not get the message and still called, tryng to convince me that they were better thna VRBO/HA, ect. even though my husband is a web developer.

             

            Just be on the constant look out for people like these.

            • Are Sales Calls Abundant on vrbo?
              vincentvent Contributor
              vincentvent Aug 21, 2011 9:00 PM (in response to xtinad)

              I completely agree xtinad. I got several calls from the same company and others. HomeAway should put phone numbers in images and have better robot crawler protection.

              I wrote about the lovely calls from India in my blog

              • Re: Are Sales Calls Abundant on vrbo?
                Active Contributor
                laura Aug 22, 2011 11:07 AM (in response to xtinad)

                Hi everyone,

                 

                I'm sorry to hear you've been receiving solicitations from third parties that have pulled your info from your VRBO.com listing. Rest assured, we do not sell our customer's information. For more detailed information, you can read our Privacy Policy.

                 

                I'd like to emphasize that use of your information is in violation of VRBO.com’s Terms and Conditions. The Ts&Cs  specifically state, “You may not … use the Site other than to advertise  and/or research vacation rentals and to make legitimate inquiries to our  members.” The Terms and Conditions continue to explicitly forbid use of  the Site or the content on the Site for “any commercial use.”  Such commercial use includes using telephone numbers to solicit services.

                 

                HomeAway drafted these Terms and Conditions with your privacy in mind. If you receive a solicitation from a third party who informs you that they  received your contact information from your VRBO listing, please report  the third party to the HomeAway Legal Department at legal@homeaway.com.

                 

                VincentVent, I'll pass along your recommendation to HomeAway re robot crawler protection and putting phone #'s in images.

                 

                Best Regards,

                Laura

                • Re: Are Sales Calls Abundant on vrbo?
                  New Member
                  hakkaboy Dec 1, 2011 2:32 AM (in response to xtinad)

                  DO NOT list with AlwaysOnVacation.com!!

                   

                  I signed up more than a year ago and they talked me into adding a few listings. I was new to the business and wanted more exposure. Over the last year I received almost no inquiries, and the strange thing was when it was time to renew, I suddenly had a bunch of inquiries but none turn into bookings.

                   

                  I did not renew with them and till this day they still call me for renewals.

                   

                  STAY AWAY!

                  • Re: Are Sales Calls Abundant on vrbo?
                    New Member
                    candi.baker Dec 8, 2011 3:53 AM (in response to xtinad)

                    I have beeen w/VRBO since 2005. In the last year or I seem to have gotten alot of folks wanting me to sign up to thier sites. After awhile I got tried of picking up the phone while working. (we have a coffee farm in Hawaii) So I am basically just say no & hang up. I have posted on my listings no sales call but they get the number & run w/it. I would really like to have more ideas on how to stop them from calling me. But will leave my phone numeber up as alot of guests call first.