Vrbo hosts- have you dealt with chargebacks?

Im am going thru one right now. The guests did not like that there were people loitering outside on the street and that caused them to go for a full refund based on circumsatantial evidence and weak findings.

I’m sorry to hear that ​@rivkah ! What has your experience been like so far trying to resolve the dispute with Vrbo?

Sorry I never faced  this type of problem with Vrbo.

I had 1 chargeback recently, and was my first over 3 or 4 years on VrBO. I did not get an explanation from VrBO at all. I sent ring doorbell footage of the driveway showing the guests license plates just in case it was some stolen credit card situation, and I never got any response about that either.

I had my first Vrbo chargeback a few months ago after over 3 years of hosting. There were no problems during the guests' stay. They completed their stay, gave me wonderful compliments about their stay through the Vrbo messaging, gave me a five-star review, and I gave her a five-star review. I was shocked when I received the chargeback notification 3 weeks post check-out. I immediately checked out the guest's background and discovered I was dealing with a very dangerous person with a criminal record. I was able to relay all of this to Vrbo and after reaching out 2 additional times and waiting several weeks, they were able to reverse the chargeback (they split the reimbursement on 2 separate dates). You have to over communicate with Vrbo and be very proactive in receiving answers as they do not update you on how things are going. It was very frustrating! 

Only dealt with chargebacks where a guest wanted to cancel outside of the cancel policy. VRBO was great and won our chargeback with the CC every single time

Thank you all for your feedback! 

Fortunately, I never had. But I have heard from other hosts who have had problems with chargebacks and VRBO.

Hi Abby

Great to hear that you’re looking into the topic of chargebacks - does the investigation also include Airbnb as well as VRBO? I have been concerned about their apparent recent changes in policy...               

‘Airbnb is no longer solely responsible for chargebacks; hosts now bear the financial risk.’

‘Hosts are exposed to potential losses from fraudulent bookings, stolen credit cards or guests disputes’.

Thanks

Dan

The only place where Airbnb explicitly mentions chargebacks against hosts in the legal text is in the Virtual Credit Card (VCC) section of the Payments Terms. 

If a host improperly uses or overcharges a VCC, or if the guest is due a refund, Airbnb can request the host to refund the VCC.

If the host can’t support the charge with documentation, Airbnb has the right to initiate a chargeback against the host (and/or recover the amount by other means permitted under the Payments Terms).

After actually reading the Terms, I don’t see what all the fuss was about regarding the update to the Terms. That being said, if you are deeply concerned about chargebacks, then it makes the most sense to focus on Direct Premium as a major channel.

Hi ​@Abby Grous - we had ONE attempt of a chargeback on VRBO after we had to have guests escorted out and their reservation canceled mid stay (due to multiple house rules being broken). 

I was pleased that when we got the chargeback we had strong supporting evidence to refute (including written comms in the platform, a fully executed rental agreement with ID, images of damage & noise monitor levels. We won the first time and they didn’t try it again. 

We never let a guest arrive without a signed RA, full-stop. Once Hospitable allows for additional guests and more customizable fields in their RAs we will joyfully skip over to using HSPTB for RA automation. 

​@Andrew Schorr ​@Tim Parry - any updates on such requests? 

See this thread from 3 months ago outlining the details we would need. Yes, we’re asking for a lot, but if it’s going to protect you from such chargebacks, is it worth it? ​@Eli Stoughton ​@Daniel R ​@dana.barber ​@MoniqueD  ​@Phil_C ​@Sanjida55 ​@rivkah - what do you think??