The Villa Rental Company

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Hi all

Our family are travelling to Florida and my mum has booked a villa with The Villa Rental Company. She's beginning to feel a bit nervous about the transaction, and I wondered if anyone here had used them before and could confirm that they are trustworthy?

TIA

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bump!
anyone?

Threadhead

I've had a couple of PMs about this, so thought I'd update it.

Mum was offered an upgrade before we left, which she declined. We arrived at the villa to be unable to open the key box, phoned the emergency number (amazingly, the guy who answered was at the villa next door...). Were told this was the wrong villa, and were given the address/directions for another villa (amazingly, was the same villa they had offered us an upgrade to...)

The "upgrade" villa was lovely, however we were a bit annoyed that we had not been given the villa we wanted. However, it all worked out ok in the end - ie we had somewhere to stay for the fortnight.

vespasean

We paid around £700 for a 8 bed villa with this company last year. The villa was gorgeous but 'The Villa Rental Company' was a nightmare to deal with.

We booked the villa some time before going and basically had to beg for a receipt on the deposit, after which we had no communication whatsoever even when leaving messages. After paying the full balance and receiving similar treatment we rang to cancel the booking and were abused down the phone with four letter expletives, as well as being refused a refund on the basis that 'the villa is booked, have you got that into your thick head, c***?'.

We were then subject to a couple of months of non-communication whilst praying the booking was to be honoured. Two weeks before we flew we still had no confirmation of an address so we emailed the company to be told we had cancelled and he would need to rebook. Seven days before flying we received the ropiest details of where we were going to stay - I didn't feel confident until I had got through the front door of the villa.

I researched the company and apparently (at the time) was dormant which would restrict its ability to trade. Also, we had to pay through Paypal as he wouldn't take a card payment - something I wasn't keen on considering the expense. The customer service is non-existent and the man running the company is rarely available, rude, abusive and illiterate in his communication.

Like I said, I got what I paid for in the end but I would implore anybody to find a more reputable villa company for the sake of their peace-of-mind and dignity. Don't be fooled by the ATOL logo on their website, its for flights only.

vespa