Hello,
I've just gotten back from holiday with a place booked by OwnersDirect. The major fault of OwnersDirect for me is that the user feedback isn't actual user feedback and not calling out that it isn't actual users. Since they can't check all of the owners, who knows if the 'feedback' is genuine. I would have to say the comments from the property we rented, that I would need to question its validity and because of their T&C's they can't even let you know what happens between them and the owner once you file a formal complaint.
For those of you who are Pro-Owners Direct I would warn you against the owner we just used. www.ownersdirect.co.uk/greece/Gr623.htm#contact (please note the date this was posted as the listing could change)
When searching on the site - we looked for properties with heated pools as we were going to be on holiday in early April. When we booked for 5 days there was a surcharge of £150 since we were booking under 7 days. To us this wasn't unusual so we went ahead. Once we arrived at the property - there were no instructions about the property, nearest amenities in town, etc. So we just started to settle in and went into town. The next morning we woke up and didn't have any hot water. We called the property manager because we also realised the pool heating wasn't on. His response was 'here is how you turn on the hot water, as for the pool it wasn't mentioned to us that it would need to be turned on and you'll need to talk directly to the owner about that since it takes 3-4 days to heat up and we don't have it running all the time as it is really expensive.'
While I appreciate that it is expensive to heat the pool - that to me seemed as something that should have been factored into the price and was similarly priced to other heated pool properties. We contacted the owner and it took her two days to get back to us and stated 'everyone asks specifically for that to be turned on. For it to be turned on will be £550 on top of the rental costs. I can turn it on however, it does take 3-4 days to heat up.' From a renters perspective, it is false advertising. No where on the profile or with emails with the owner was the extra charge called out, or was it asked if we would want to have the pool heated. The ad said that there was heating so we assumed it would be there.
I want to warn others against this owner since OD doesn't have a feedback system that shows what the actual users are saying. I wish I'd found this out prior to our booking as we weren't able to enjoy the feature that we'd paid a higher price rental charge for the 5 day holiday to enjoy some sun.
We currently haven't heard back from the owner as we've mentioned that we believe she has violated Consumer Protection Law and the local Trading Standard. As we haven't heard back I'm just trying to warn others as I know this owners has at least 4 other properties in Crete and wouldn't want anyone else to miss out on a great holiday experience.