Has anyone booked holiday accommodation through the website Homeaway.co.uk

[ihatethecold]

I'm thinking of booking an apartment in Sardinia in the next day or 2,
I will be paying the owner directly with a credit card for 25% of the amount.
I can't find much out online that's current as to whether they are a safe website to go through.

Anyone used them?

NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE - OWNERS BEWARE!!!!

We had a booking made through HomeAway with stolen credit card information for our apartment.

The traveller check-in and took away the keys when they left. We had to replace the locks at vast expense and repay the money and HomeAway fees. Home Away has been totally unhelpful in resolving the issues.

Home Away does not verified the traveller ID, credit card validity to the address and has no thorough checking process, unlike Airbnb and other booking websites.

HomeAway or Yapstone does not have any insurance to cover the fraudulent bookings. So we now have to pay back thousand plus hundred of £ for their not fit for propose no verification process. So owners beware!!!! Think twice before you sign up!

I have been waiting for 4 weeks to get a refund for a service charge as the Villa’s owner cancelled within 12 hours of the booking.

The customer service is poor and slow and has stated that they made the refund but 10 days later informed me they had a system problem and had made the refund. Still no sign of the refund.

I am concerned that they are in financial trouble and this is the reason the refund has not arrived.

We’ve just used them in NY, they were absolutely fine but we didn’t experience any problems that tested their Customer Services