My husband and I were planning a family reunion for Thanksgiving 2012 and trusted the Trip Advisor site to have a reliable vacation rental listing. We inquired using the TripAdvisor link requesting to contact manager. The manager was in touch with us, quoted us a price, etc. When we replied that we wanted the property, we were emailed a Flipkey signed contract listing an international account for the money transfer. We transfered the money, waited for the "Welcome Package" that never came. My husband followed up on his email and the manager/owner called us the next day (and well over a week after our payment) claiming that the contract we received was not hers and that the email had been hacked. We cannot know whether this is true or not, but she will not honor her contract and we are out $3,600. Moreover, TripAdvisor will not let us post a review on the property warning others not to wire money to the owner.
One last detail: the owner, who had all our info, including phone number, claims she knew that her email had been hacked, but, again, she did not call us or contact us to let us know that we may be receiving false information.
TripAdvisor has no remedie for us. Nobody is doing anything and we're out money. DO NOT trust TripAdvisor or any of their rental properties. Not safe.
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