I mentioned in another recent VRBO thread that we booked a place in NYC but upon arrival discovered that they had misrepresented the apt. There were numerous good reviews. The listing mentioned that there were multiple nice restaurants and bars within walking distance, amongst other things that were untrue. The neighborhood is a war zone. People loitering everywhere drinking alcohol out of paper bags. 80% of every business is boarded up or had the roll up door pulled down already at 2PM. Over grown lots, bums, grafitti...you get the idea. We later checked crime reports and there had been 3 people shot in that neighborhood in the last week or two.
Anyway, the owner refuses to give a refund because we didnt cancel within 7 days. We didnt cancel because of any reason other than the fact that he obviously misrepresented his apartment and we would have little way of knowing that without seeing the area. We had to book a hotel on Hotwire from my laptop while sitting inside a pharmacy. It was so bad we never even met the owner or went to the actual apartment. The neighborhood was not safe to be in after dark. I wasnt comfortable being there during daylight and I was a cop for 24 years so I can handle myself.
At this point the only recourse I can think of is to dispute the credit card bill and let Visa do their investigation when a customer and merchant have a dispute. Any other ideas?
Obviously I wished we had looked at the street view on Google but its too late for that now.
Anyway, the owner refuses to give a refund because we didnt cancel within 7 days. We didnt cancel because of any reason other than the fact that he obviously misrepresented his apartment and we would have little way of knowing that without seeing the area. We had to book a hotel on Hotwire from my laptop while sitting inside a pharmacy. It was so bad we never even met the owner or went to the actual apartment. The neighborhood was not safe to be in after dark. I wasnt comfortable being there during daylight and I was a cop for 24 years so I can handle myself.
At this point the only recourse I can think of is to dispute the credit card bill and let Visa do their investigation when a customer and merchant have a dispute. Any other ideas?
Obviously I wished we had looked at the street view on Google but its too late for that now.