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| Horrible Customer Service, Slow Pay Of Rentals |
For some unknown reason, Flip Key is now slow paying homeowners even after taking full payment from the guest. The homeowner is then left with a choice, evict the guest who has already paid, or sit tight and see if Flip Key will eventually remit the money.
Of course, you can't call Flip Key personally to bitch about their poor payment service. Instead, users are forced to refer to a help page where the following question is posed by Flip Key, with the attached answer:
"I still haven't received my payment. When will I get paid?Over the past month, FlipKey has been working on merging systems to take greater advantage of TripAdvisor's world-class vacation rental expertise. These changes have temporarily impacted the automatic disbursement of funds, and some payments are not arriving to you when you normally expect them. We are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, in order to make sure that we are sending the correct amounts to the right people, we are taking some extra time to make sure that things go smoothly. We are working to get your money sent to you as close to its expected arrival date as possible. However, this short delay might continue for the next few weeks.
We appreciate your patience as we address the issue."
Really, it must be the owner's fault for choosing Flip Key in the first place. If they had read everything there was to know about Flip Key, they would have found Flip Key's own notice about slow payment.
Usually. slow payment spells one thing: financial trouble. We don't know if Flip Key and Trip Adviser are having financial rough times, but they sure act like it.
Use Flip Key at your own risk.
charles vermeersch @charles_pat
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#flipkey not reachable by phone for customers, doesn't answer emails and does not release payments to its customers. Any help? @flipkey
8:43 PM - 29 Dec 2014
https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.flipkey.com/54a310cd0000640002c0f68b
ReplyDeleteTim Paynter @immigrants2bfre 31m31 minutes ago
ReplyDelete@abcnews #Breaking @NBCNewsTravel @FoxNews @CBSNews .@TripAdvise .@flipkey @WSJ #slowpay #owners http://tinyurl.com/nw23tol
ReplyDeleteLost customers and funds because of Flipkey
22 of 29 Flipkey Reviews
Issue not resolved
Jan 23 Anastasia.dishlitash 163 VIEWS 5/5 REVIEW RATING Istanbul, Istanbul Real Estate Apartment Lease
I leased an apartment through this company from 19/01/2014 to 01/19/2014. Guests came in time, and they liked the apartment they were living in it. I was waiting for the transfer of funds from my account flipkey in paypal. but no funds were received up to 21.01.2014. then I decided to see whether I did the right thing and found that the data did not request to send funds are not sent. Then I decided to send it again, but it turned out that the system of flipkey not so perfect that despite the fact that the guests sent me all the money I can not get their way! request can not be more than the date of 01/19/2014 to enter, remain to enter the current number 21.01.2014. old but my request was canceled! And I lost my fund! I was asking flip key to help, but they canceled my listings and freeze my account !!! But why????
ReplyDeleteAnne L
Cleveland, Ohio
posts: 49
reviews: 51
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4. Re: Flip Key payment SCAM!!!!
Jan 02, 2014, 3:20 PM
Actually, their BBB rating of an F suggests that I am not ludicrous, and if you review other Flip Key reviews on here and the internet, it seems as though this is certainly not a one-time "glitch" or mixup. Complaints are from both travelers and rental owners.
We are lucky you speak your mind Anne, but you are telling it like it is!
Deletescam flipkey WARNING http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294226-i7220-k5600525-o40-Scam_flipkey_WARNING-Bali.html#63205760
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ReplyDeleteRotterdam, US
1 Review
trustpilot starstrustpilot starstrustpilot starstrustpilot starstrustpilot stars 19 hours ago
IF YOU ARE AN OWNER, AVOID!
PROBLEMS contacting them! Something is up with these people. I think they are going bankrupt. Owners do not get the money the guest already paid to Flipkey - and Flipkey themselves are totally unavailable by phone or email. I have a booking coming in the day after tomorrow and I expect payment problems from Flipkey. I can smell a rat here!
I had a very hard time with flipkey. Finally had to get active on social media so trip advisor and flipkey know they can't disrespect clients and get away with it. They promise payment of money they hold in a constructive trust in a fixed amount of time, it is not their money to hang onto, and slow payment is something clients need to know about.
DeleteUnethically Hold Funds Meant for Owners
ReplyDeleteI have been a Flipkey client for several years and now find myself quite alarmed at their recent business practices. I have taken two bookings from guests who used Flipkey's online booking feature and, despite Flipkey's policy of releasing funds to owners within 24 hours of check in, I have received no funds for a booking for which the guests have already come and gone and now I have a second guest who has checked in and I have received no funds for this booking either. Posted dates of funds transfers have come and gone and calls and emails to Flipkey go unanswered. I note on this site that some of the recent glowing reviews speak to properties rented by guests through Flipkey whereas I understood this to be a forum for reviewing the company itself. From perusing the web, I find that I am not alone in my experience and read that another owner has already filed a complaint with the Massachussets attorney general. The Better Business Bureau gives Flipkey a D-. I will not be using the online booking feature any longer and will surely look for other alternatives for marketing my rental. This is highly unethical and grossly negligent.
We have been listing our Barbados property with Flipkey for a year now and all payments have been late- received always after the guests have left. I now have two payments outstanding even though they have flagged them as having been sent, they are not in our bank account.
ReplyDeleteI have another booking scheduled for 19 January and am seriously considering not accepting them on arrival. I am also going to remove our property from their listing.
Not accepting a tenant because you may not get paid is a pretty good reason to not accept that tenant. If you elect to go that route you should let the tenant know in advance.
DeleteHere is what I did to get paid:
ReplyDelete1. I wrote an article on my legal blogsite, You are welcome to add your comment to that site, or you could write a review on your own blogsite: http://tinyurl.com/flipkeyslowpay
2. I pasted the above URL http://tinyurl.com/flipkeyslowpay on my twitter account:
3. I tweeted about my experience:
Tim Paynter
@immigrants2bfre
Tim Paynter's Justice Corner: Flip Key, Trip Advisor Slow Paying Clients http://ln.is/blogspot.com/3Hkim … via @immigrants2bfre
0 replies 0 retweets 0 favorites
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6:11 PM - 29 Dec 2014
You are welcome to re-tweet the above, which lets flipkey know you are creating conversation about their slow payment. Search for "@immigrants2bfre" and "flipkey" and you should be able to bring my flip key tweets right up; then friend me and hit "reply" and send me your own message about flipkey.
4. I searched twitter for and sent messages to travel writers including the url to my blog review about flip key. First, friend the travel writer, then reply to their post about flipkey. Here is an example tweet:
NY Times Travel @nytimestravel
A sneak peek at one of our Places to Go destinations, coming next week. http://nyti.ms/1x1uovI
Tim Paynter @immigrants2bfre
Follow
@nytimestravel @nytimes Be careful about #tripadviser and #flipkey http://timpaynterjusticecorner.blogspot.com/2014/12/flip-key-trip-advisor-slow-paying.html …
7:18 PM - 30 Dec 2014
5. I posted on this site: http://flipkey.pissedconsumer.com/
6. After I did all of that, I filed a complaint with the better business bureau;
7. FINALLY, >>>>>>> After all this work, I called flip key and waited for 45 minutes of messages about please consult our website, please leave a message, we are not taking calls, and kept waiting on hold and finally, someone answered. I told them about how unhappy I was with their not answering the phone and slow pay method. I explained in detail what I was doing to inform people. I asked for a contact number with Trip Advisor.
>>>>>>>> I told them I was going to evict my tenant since I had not been paid.
ALL OF A SUDDEN, THE CUSTOMER SERVICE PERSON SAID, "OH, HAVEN'T YOU GOTTEN OUT EMAIL? WE WILL BE "RELEASING" FUNDS TO YOU TOMORROW.
Releasing funds means they have not paid you, it just means they have you on a list to pay you.
8. They friended me on twitter, so I knew they were taking note of my efforts to let people know about their slow pay and horrible customer service.
9. I got an email from Vanessa at customer service asking me not to evict the tenant since the slow pay was not the fault of the tenant.
No, it was not the tenant's fault, it is fault. But I didn't have the money and that is not what they promised, and I, too, am a victim. If flipkey fails to pay then I was the person who was going to pay the penalty. I am flipkey's customer. That is a pretty bad way to treat a customer.
10. A day or so later, I got an email telling me flipkey had "released" the funds for payment, and the money finally showed up in my account.
has a golden reputation, but can do a lot of harm by the way they treat their customers. This is a lot of work for something flipkey should have done all along.
ReplyDeleteThis phone number for flipkey finally worked, but it took a lot of effort: (877) 354-7539. But just calling and bitching does nothing. They have know we consumers will talk about our experience with them, so the social media part was critical in my case.
Interesting, flipkey is not sending me any more prospective bookings, I would not accept them anyway, but they probably moved me to the bottom of their list. Who needs bookings with slow payment problems?
Plus, this might have an ultimate benefit for me, I am thinking about not renting anymore and moving into my place.
FlipKey can not pay a debt of $ 640!
ReplyDeleteI flipkey client. I am the owner of the property. The company's debt to me is $ 640. For a month, almost every day, I am negotiating with customer support. Support service on my circulation is not responding. And if you respond that responds not to the point. The answers do not come immediately, but after a few days. Make promises that are not fulfilled. And again, I promise. Confused in answers or repeated answers, though to different questions. Manifest incompetence. Do not know how the system works. Shame company, blowing a non-existent problem. Contribute to downgrade the company. Scare away potential customers. Steal my, my and your time.
After paying me very late for my December rental, Flip Key held onto the dough and funded me in early January. Now, I have a 1099 from Flip Key for 2014, even though they paid me in 2015. This company is HORRIBLE.
ReplyDelete54. Re: scam flipkey WARNING
ReplyDeleteFeb 26, 2015, 6:01 AM
Hi
This is still going on and it is appalling. I recently made an enquiry about a property in the USA (I live in UK) and I believe my enquiry was intercepted. I received what appears to be a genuine reply giving details of the price for the dates I had enquired about, I exchange a few emails was sent a contract, I paid them the money and that's when it all went quiet. I have contacted Flipkey and their customer service is appalling they do not care that I have lost $2000 and have no where to stay. I am not going to give up and will email them everyday until I get a satisfactory response. It is obvious to me that the website is not secure. More people need to know about this!
52. Re: scam flipkey WARNING
ReplyDeleteFeb 25, 2015, 10:17 AM
I got phone calls from someone who wanted me to post my house on FlipKey.com. As I was talking to him I Googled FlipKey scam and found this site and quickly ended the phone call.
THANKYOU!!!
34. Re: scam flipkey WARNING
ReplyDeleteAug 24, 2012, 4:31 AM
As a villa owner in Bali who successfully advertises on flip key, I'm very sad to hear about these stories which are making life difficult for both ourselves as owners and those who stand most to lose, the clients.
I would recommend , having identified a place you would like to book, taking the time to look at their website, checking the Address and email address on the site and contacting the owner/agent directly through that email address rather than using the flipkey automatic response button.
These days any reputable villa operation will have their own email facilities and in our case all of our emails are encrypted in order to avoid these scams.
Having become aware of this issue I'll now be asking our guests to correspond only through our private email.
We do use a personal bank account but the address of the account is the same as that of the villa. I guess that is rarely the case but I hope it gives an element of security/trust to our clients.
If there is a phone number then call it. It will cost 5 bucks but will possibly save you from these scams and get you the peace of mind you need when you want a good holiday.
Personally I'm always happy to have a chat with guests before they commit to booking and that's a good time to double check account details.
This is our link WWW.thelane-seminyak.com
Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic. If possible, as you gain expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more information? It is extremely helpful for me.
ReplyDeleteNorth Georgia cabin rentals & Blue Ridge cabin rentals