VRBO stepped in to prompt a refund from the property manager after he moved our party to a less equipped listing without receiving our explicit approval. The PM was unprofessional and unpleasant to communicate with throughout.
Context:
The PM moved our party from a Sleeps 9/2ba to a Sleeps 9/1ba without receiving confirmation that was OK. I contacted him after checking in, and he said the move was due to construction at the facility, and that while the listing had one fewer bathroom, it “had an extra vanity.” He had previously emailed that there may be construction and we might need to be moved to a similar listing, which we were OK with. However, to my knowledge, we didn’t receive communication about this change as the PM consistently sent emails outside of the VRBO messaging platform. We didn’t OK the actual change, and VRBO agreed that the listing wasn’t similar, so they stepped in to request a refund from him.
After a few weeks of back and forth over email regarding the agreed upon refund amount, I called him so that I could understand a perceived discrepancy with the deposit and resolve it. We spoke for a short time, he appeared to get frustrated, and said, “I’ve refunded more than enough. You had a place to stay. If there's a difference, consider it from the time you've taken,” and ended the call.
I’m sure if we didn’t have any issues with our original booking or had a reason to contact the PM, we would’ve had a great stay. Since we did, we’ll avoid booking one of his listings again.