We paid a premium for this lovely midtown Manhattan apartment. Our first clue that things wouldn't turn out as we hoped were the signs posted around the lobby and elevator when we arrived saying the water would be turned off the second night we were there. Surely our host had a solution for this problem, we thought.
Nope. When questioned if no water really meant NO WATER (no toilet, etc), she answered, "Omgoodness!?
So sorry. Most likely. Maybe it’s due to the new water mains being put into the street."
And that was it. No solutions to the problem. No offer of a refund so we could go elsewhere. Just too bad, so sad.
Needless to say, I scrambled and found 3 last minute hotel rooms to replace the 3 bedroom apt we had rented. You can imagine the expense this added to our trip.
"Would you reimburse us for half of the cost of what we're paying for one night so we can grab a hotel room ?" I asked. Note - the refund I asked for was 1/3 the cost of renting the hotel rooms for that night.
"Sure. I can’t get to it now but I will call vrbo in the morning."
I'm sure everyone knows exactly what happened next. That was Friday. It's now been over a week and still no refund.
I had four days in NYC. I spent way too many hours finding hotel rooms, moving all of us there, moving all of us back, trying to track down the host. What's especially galling is that she had to have seen those signs herself--she picked up her things AFTER we arrived, and it seems they were up for quite some time before we ever came. To not even give us a heads' up so we could have found somewhere in our budget to stay--that's just mean. I was there for an important work conference. My daughter and her friend were there on a once-in-a-lifetime trip they'd been planning for two years. Even a couple of days' notice would have allowed us to find another equivalent place.
Oh, and here's the real kicker - after I told the host about our problem, as I was waiting for some help in solving it, or at least some kind of refund to help offset the huge extra cost of the hotel rooms, she messaged me, "Btw, pls remind your guests that Renting an apartment on vrbo is not legal in New York , so you are an old “friend “ if anyone asks. Thanks." !!!!
If I'd known the rental was illegal, I would have never booked the place at all! Shame on VRBO and everyone involved.