Beware owners direct!

LittleEm

I would definitely NOT recommend Owners Direct. I booked a villa back at the beginning of January and paid 2000 euro deposit by bank transfer (credit card payment wasn't an option).
A few weeks later the owner cancelled on me, as he had a better offer (someone who wanted to rent for the whole summer). This was a month ago and I have still no sign of recieving back the 2000 euro deposit I paid.
This is the response I got from Owners direct on requesting advice and help.... "It is your decision what your next step is with the owner. As we are purely an advertising site we cannot advise you how to proceed as we are not involved in the bookings or payments."

It is a shame, as I have booked a villa from their website before and had a great experience, but I guess it only takes one dodgy one to ruin it for everyone else. I'm still hoping to get my money back and will fight it all the way, but because of the worry, stress and the fact that I am unable to afford to book anything else in the meantime (yet have flights booked!)
I realise that Owners Direct are just an advertising site, but feel they should be doing more. The owner of the villa, and the property agent (which I wasn't initially informed was an agent) who also has properties on their website, are all still currently advertised on Owners Direct and could be collecting more deposits, despite my complaint to them. Surely, they should remove them from their site unless payment is returned.
Their indifference, lack of advice and general lack of interest in my case is appalling and is making my blood boil!!
I'll never use them again and wouldn't recommend them to anyone.

[Deleted User]

That's really bad news - I have booked througfh them before (once) with great sucess, and I was planning on doing this again.

Might think again now.

I hope you get your money back.

BoxerfanUK

Try booking with www.villarenters.com they have a much better set up where you pay villarenters and not the owner. You are much better protected as they hold onto your payments until after your holiday. They also encourage all property owners registered with them to manage their properties properly and this is done via a points system. The more points a property owner gets the higher up the rankings their property gets listed. Things like an owner cancelling on someone thats booked counts as negative and the property owner will lose points for this, as well as if they don't keep their calender and bookings up to date. You have far more security as a holiday renter by booking through them.

I am not associated with villarenters the company in any capacity other than that I have a property in North Cyprus that I advertise with them, so I know the set up and how secure it is both for owner and renter.

Villarenters are owned by the Daily Mail and Teletext holidays.

Hope this helps.

budgetflyer

Sorry ,of little use now. But I wouldn't touch anyone who only deals in "bank transfers, cheques or cash". Your money could just as easy go to a Nigerian Scamster as a villa owner , with no recourse to get the money back other than dealing through foreign courts.
Even Paypal has some limited protection, however even then Id empty all sitting funds so that I were forcing Paypal to make the full payment via CC to give me the proper fraud protection.

cclarke12

OK, what contact have you had with the owner since they have come back to you to cancel? The fact that they have actually bothered to come back to you and cancel may suggest they are disorganised about sorting a refund rather than trying to be fraudulent. If I was trying to defraud someone I suspect I'd just take the money and then have no further contact at all. The scenario may well be that they are 'waiting' for the other party to pay them a deposit before they send the money back to you. You may well find the other party hasn't paid up and you get an email sailing it was a mistake and you can have your booking after all. It sounds like a greedy owner to me! Whereabouts is the property and where does the owner live? If they are UK based I suspect you could go to the small claims court even if you paid into an overseas account. I have said this before, but for all direct rentals I think a contract is a good idea because it sets out what is agreed, and to me is a sign of an owner that takes their obligation seriously. There are loads of cowboys out their renting properties without the proper permissions, without paying tax on their rentals and with no proper insurance in places (e.g. public liability in case you have an accident on their property). We have a property and I mainly get an agent to deal with it (they do rental contracts) but when I was doing via Owners Direct I also have people a rental contract.

LittleEm

Thank you all for your replies.... there's some good info in there that I wish I had known beforehand and wish I had looked into it more than I did. But the advice will be good for the future, so thank you.

Well my updated situation is both good news and bad! I had an amount paid into my account today, however, there was a £550 shortfall! So I am very relieved to have 2/3 of my money back. I have no idea why I have not been paid the full amount, as I have been unable to contact the agent yet. I have also discovered that although, the villa I was renting was in Croatia, he is currently in Israel (which explains part of the hold up). So I will remain positive in the hope that I will recieve the rest of the money back.

As far as Owners Direct go.... I sent another email to them at the time I posted my original msg to expressing my disappointment in their lack of advice of help and now, 5 days later, I haven't received a reply from them. I feel really upset with them, so if I arrange a similar holiday in the future there is no way I would use them, however, I like the idea of villa renters they sound a much safer bet.

Ria

I sympathise with your situation and it's most unfortunate that you were caught like this by an unscrupulous owner. I really hope you get the balance of your money back.

However you shouldn’t tar all the other 33,000 owners who advertise with Owners Direct with the same brush by saying that you will never use the site again. Owners Direct is a good outfit and I can’t see how or why you think you can hold them responsible in this case. Most holiday sites work on the same basis and none of them can completely ensure that the owners are all going to do the right thing. I wonder whether the Viillarenters so called ‘guarantee’ has ever been put to the test & don’t forget they are in it for profit too, charging 10% of every booking they take for the owner. Surely like everything else in life, the onus should always be on the buyer to satisfy himself that he/she is happy with the deal before going ahead with a booking and parting with a deposit

I rent out a holiday home and always provide a contract for the renter with full terms and conditions clearly stated. I have never had a problem or been in conflict with any of my guests and many re-book year after year and I guess that that would apply to most other owners. The vast majority of us are honest and straightforward in all our dealings and work hard to make sure that guests get as much out of their holiday as they can by providing reams of additional information and patiently answering endless questions. This goes with the territory, as does picking up the pieces and costs after the occasional uncaring guest has done damage. At the end of the day, booking direct with the owner offers good value for money and thousands of people book this way every year without any problem; sadly you only hear about the exceptions. Most owners do their best, so please give us a break!

littlereddevil

If you don't get all your money back tell him you will be turning up to use the villa you have paid for

rgmann

Hi, I am on owner of an appartment that is advertised on owners direct. I collect a deposit and issue a contract for the appt rental. I wouldnt want your experience to tarnish all that advertise on this site as I have had nothing but excellent feedback from the guests that have stayed at my ski appt, as I also book my holiday rentals through them for the last 5 years or so without a hitch. My advice is to always get as much detail about the owner up front and look for owners who reside in the UK.

knightstyle

If you saw a small add in a paper and paid for a villa would you expect the paper to reimburse you in this situation?
Well Owners Direct do the same thing as the paper so you shouldn't expect them to get involved.
Sounds as if the owner does intend to refund you though.

JosieP_3

Hi Em - I really hope you get your money back, sounds like you've been really unlucky.

I've always had excellent experience with and thoroughly recommend Owners Direct, as you deal direct with owners, so can get accurate property & local information & negotiate best rates etc, you're not paying an agent whose never seen the property & just takes their commission.

I recommend anyone booking on direct sites such as Owners Direct & Pureholidayhomes.com look for owners who are ID verified as they have undergone financial & identity checks & are traceable property owners.

Josie