I get one reservation a month through VRBO and I like it because I get money upfront.
Few days ago we got reservation request from a lady booking upcoming weekend due to her “kitchen remodeling”.
I felt for her and accepted the reservation, and after I did something told me to google her phone number.
She was a local call girl, $100 an hours.
I canceled reservation right away and refunded her in full, saying “I am sorry we could not verify your identity”. Of course I mentioned a full refund. It was just 15 mins after I accepted the reservation.
The refund went through and two days later I got another charge from VRBO for the same amount ($645) plus 2х of $25 (called fees).
I am frustrated as I talked to VRBO, Yapstone and my bank, none could help.
I was told “the guest” filed unauthorized charge and now I have to dispute and wait up to 30 days for financial institution to make a decision. VRBO asks me for proof. Proof of what? I canceled, I refunded in full. They can see it in the system, everything was done through them.
So, another $645 were taking from my saving account, my own money, without any autorization from me and nothing I can do but wait. I went to my bank, explained the situation and they said if I dispute back what I could do I won’t be receiving future payouts from VRBO, and we got another booking for Dec that did not show up on my account yet.
I am furious! Did anyone have similar experience and what the best way to deal with it?
Try the email address below: I used to correspond with a girl named MoNae who worked in the chargeback dept. at YapStone. I have never experienced a chargeback, but I had many discussions with her regarding the issue.
Explain that you already refunded the amount in full to the cardholder, so YapStone has no right to withdraw the funds again. Note all the details, dates you refunded, etc. Tell them that you need this issue escalated immediately.
This is the contact info I have for the chargeback dept. I am NOT sure if it will lead directly to the chargeback dept. but it was in the information that was always at the bottom of MoNae’s emails.
YapStone Chargeback and Bounceback Team Lead
Phone: 925.954.6872
Fax: 866.290.4622
Thank you dear @cabinhost! Will do. Also seems like the dispute department doesn’t work on the weekends but I will send the email asap.
Thank you for your help! 
When you spoke to YapStone, was it the front line reps., or did they transfer you to the chargeback dept.?
Chargeback dept., and it seemed like they fully understood the situation, still saying they will represent my side to a financial institution (not sure which one, but since the guest filed chargeback, probably her bank). They said it depends on her bank, how quick they will make a decision on the claim.
The question is what to dispute when I took nothing from her.
Also, why VRBO allows this to happen.
Oh no. I am so sorry you were already corresponding with the chargeback dept.
In my opinion, there is nothing to dispute and YapStone should be correcting this error in a swift manner. I believe this is a YapStone error, because they are the ones who withdrew the money without notifying you, and first verifying the situation. VRBO allows this to happen because they say your agreement is between you and YapStone.
Sounds like something crossed… The girl filed a chargeback just as you canceled the reservation and issued a full refund? Hopefully it gets fixed… The whole chargeback thing is scary!
Why can’t these 'ho’s take their clients to the No-Tell Motel!
And if the local call girl was using a stolen credit card then it makes sense that the cardholder had no idea Anastaia did a full refund.
I know if someone accepted my booking, and then sent me an email canceling and saying “here is your refund in full” - I am not going to go through the hassle of fiiling a chargeback with my bank. Then again, humans are crazy.
Not sure! Probably she was gonna stay with us, work, and THEN file a charge back, so she would stay for free! Scary!!!
Exactly. I canceled 15 mins after she booked and notified her in a proper, respectful manner. She filed chargeback another 3 days after - not sure what was she trying to do
Yeah…either she got impatient because YapStone can take around 5 business days to process. So possibly after 3 days she just went straight to the bank.
Or the real cardholder discovered the fraudulent charge, and went to her bank to say she did not authorize them.
I wonder if it was the actual cardholder’s chargeback filing? Assuming the card was stolen?
You know what? If my memory serves me correctly - there were a couple of times where I refunded the guest right after they made payment on VRBO. They were supposed to pay by E-check but they sneakily chose to use the credit card option AFTER I told them not to.
So I went right in and refunded - but I do believe I still had to wait for the funds to my bank account, and then the refund was processed. I think that is how it worked then.
If that’s the case, have you checked your bank statements to see if the $645 ever did hit your bank account.
And why are there two $25 fees. Does it say they are both chargeback filing fees?
That’s another good question Kona! Maybe it was not her cc, but on VRBO you can see the name of the cardholder, so not sure how scammets do it.
The fact that my savings are exposed to this makes me unhappy)
Yes, 645 did hit my bank account- twice, and $25 also did twice. Its not pending, its gone. I plan not to use VRBO ever again, I am not sure how other hosts can deal with them lol.
Just sent YapStone another email.
Going to wait for response now - hopefully on Monday I will know more
Yes, could be that she is not the owner… Oh God…
I just tested as a traveler and it looks they do require the billing address to be entered. So if the call girl was using a stolen card, she would have to know the billing address too.
I meant to ask if the $645 was ever put into your bank account at all.
I believe some hosts on this Forum had a chargeback issue, bc cc was stolen. It means the scammers either can trick the system or really know the owners address…
Got you! Yes, it was!