Beware owners direct!

Tomby1

Best of luck getting your money back.

I've used Owners Direct before and had no problems. You clearly just found a bad egg.. I don't think it's the sites fault for this but it suprises me that their complaints procedures appear to be so poor.

newlandvalleylc

Really sorry you had a bad esperience with owners direct, i adveryise with them and only have good things to say about them.

Essentially they are an advertising point for indpendant holiday owners they are not agents and hold no responsibility for any bookings taken through referals.
You will find in there terms that customers are advised to take out holiday insurance especially when booking abroad as you could be sending your money to anyone. Some scams are specifically targeting holiday properties by advertising non exiting appartments and villas.

Did you recieve any terms and conditions and details from the owners or agents where you sent your money.

Your next step should be your bank not owners direct who just run an advertising website, i would however make them aware an advertiser was misleading customers as im sure they wouldnt want the bad press.

MobileSaver

LittleEm wrote: »

Their indifference, lack of advice and general lack of interest in my case is appalling

Thanks for the heads-up OP. I've used them before and was about to again but will look elsewhere now - very poor that they had no interest in taking any action, obviously they are more interested in taking fees off advertisers than caring about customers.

clarebear

My MIL has had an issue with Owners Direct - thought she had booked and sent a deposit for a villa next August for 17 of us. She had an email from Owners Direct saying they had been made aware the owner or property manager may have unknowingly and inadvertently had their email account compromised.

She then contacted them and the property manager claimed never to have heard of her. My MIL remembers having an issue with paying the deposit and made contact, back in October, to say there was an error with the bank details so she was given others.

Needless to say the person she has been in contact with (the supposed property manager) is now being evasive and not responding to any contact my MIL is making. One of the weeks is now booked and as our flights are booked, we are looking for other places. Owners Direct won't get involved and so we are now wondering how to go about getting her deposit back.

Any ideas?

kdband

Owners Direct may not be responsible for any loss the OP incurred, but it seems to me that they need to abide by the rules of the Advertising Standards Agency and if an advertisement on it's website isn't "legal, decent, HONEST, or truthful' then they need to take action to remove such adverts.
In that respect if no other, they ought to take the complaint seriously.

natbags

Does anybody know of or have a standard contract that owners could use?
Just looking at moving into this area, but not sure what a contract should/shouldn't cover
Thanks in advance

paulgarb

We use Owners Direct a lot as it is a very efficient way to browse many properties and their coverage is excellent. It is also very clear what they are - an advertising mechanism that outs owners & customers in direct contact. Unlike, of course, villarenters (who we have used with no complaint) who provide a different service that, no doubt, we customers pay for.

I would have expected a slightly more helpful response with regard to the issues detailed above but there is no substitute for normal care and attention. We avoid bank transfers because of the inherent risk, we only deal with owners who send a clear contract before taking any deposit. Sure this means we sometimes don't get the exact property we want but, as I said before, the range is phenomenal.

I really do hope that the OP got the rest of the refund and that Owners Direct consider the wisdom (or lack of it) of their response.

One last plea to any 'owners' reading this - plenty of photos please, make sure there are plenty of the basics (loo roll, etc.) and think carefully before you charge extra for linens, towels, fuel, etc. If you don't follow those simple rules we (and many others) will skip your property.

tamiami

It's nothing to do with Ownersdirect, they are just an advertising site that home owners pay to advertise on. The same as if you advertised in your local paper or shop window.

zaksmum

We were about to book an apartment in Tenerife last year with Owners Direct when things started to sound a bit dodgy. The owner said on the phone it was his dad's apartment, then in a later conversation, that it was his cousin's.

We found the same apartment advertised on Holiday Lettings but showing a photo of a completely different kitchen, so asked the owner about that too. His response was that as it was his friend's apartment (!!) he didn't know why the picture was different.

We said we would not go ahead with the booking and he hassled us via email for weeks, with increasingly lower "rock bottom" prices for the apartment rental.

Needless to say, we didn't book with him.

jackomdj

We have booked with owners direct, done everything we can to ensure it goes smoothly. However we have taken out their insurance which covers you for a fraudulently advertised villa.