Extremely negative experience from start to finish. Poor communication from the property owner. Warrants an investigation by VRBO to warn future renters about possible scam.
Booking: Changed from 5 nights to 4 nights and owner claimed they did not know how to refund the 5th night and planned to charge me the full price for 5 nights. Had to get VRBO customer service involved to teach the owner how to do a refund.
Arrival & check-in: Owner listed the incorrect address on property listing. Our group arrived at the wrong house and thought we were double-booked! Spent several hours thinking we were scammed out of several thousand dollars. VRBO was willing to issue a full refund and put us in a hotel, but quite disappointing to drive halfway across the country for a vacation home that doesn't exist. When the owner finally got in touch with me she corrected the address but claimed it was still VRBO's fault. Property manager of the other home was helpful, but was planning on filing a police report until I informed them of the VRBO error.
Accuracy of listing: Not accurate at all. On the morning of check-in the owner let me know that they had recently made several upgrades to the property. On arrival they were not all finished! The upstairs bunk room didn't even have the beds assembled...still in boxes! I paid for a 5 bedroom house, with a bunk room for kids. I got a 4 bedroom house. Several minors in our group ended up having to share beds.
I immediately notified the owner and asked her to remedy the situation by refunding me part of the total price for not having a 5th bedroom. Instead, her solution was to send handymen to the house while we were gone to assemble the furniture. She gave us virtually no notice, they handymen just let themselves into the house while we were gone, and they still only completed half of one bunk bed in over 3 hours time! I was very uncomfortable returning to the property to find the front door wide open and all of our possessions and valuables unsecured. I politely asked the handymen to leave in order to defuse an awkward situation. Later, the owner tried to accuse me of having my hand on a gun while talking to the handymen. That is an absurd slander. We did not have any firearms anywhere near the property.
After all of this, she still refused to refund me for the lack of a 5th bedroom. I would like to issue a formal complaint through VRBO and seek resolution. Numerous other issues, please see owner/renter chat in the app.