FeWo-direkt Reviews 

Scam apartments

We have booked an apartment via fewo direct / Expedia.

After booking the apartment it was clear that something was wrong with the booking as the landlord did not reach out and also did not answer my email.

Having reported this to the fewo direct team via the live chat I just got the Information that I can be sure that it is not a scam.

A few days later I still did not hear anything, I called fewo, was forwarded to Expedia and then again forwarded to the fewo direct team, who gave me the number of the landlord. After calling he confirmed me that this apartment is since 2018 no longer in his listing, however he had several Expedia customers ringing his door. Even though this was reported to Expedia, nothing changed in two years. Expedia tool the listing already off but obviously there is still one active interface between Fewo direct and Expedia which allows bookings.

I reported this to Fewo, who told me they first need the confirmation of Expedia that the listing is no longer valid.

After not hearing anything in 2 days, I again called the customer service, who literally told me it might be more efficient to directly reach out to the landlord, get a written confirmation that the listing is not available and forward this to Expedia (so actually doing the customer centers job). Once this is available, I was promised that a rebooking process to an apartment with the same standards will start.

Again, there were two days lost due to miscommunication between Fewo & Expedia. And in total 6-7 hours of mine being in calls.

Also a refund does not help because otherwise we have to pay the higher amount (due to the short notice change) for a mistake that was not ours.

So now, we will arrive in 2 days and don’t have an accommodation.

Of course mistakes can happen, but I would have expected that customers get proper help but more important acceptable alternative solutions in situations like this.

Additionally the accommodation can still be booked via Fewo direct. So also in future customers will make the same experience.

We are fewo-direkt partners as home (villa ) owners for 5 years now. In this period I recommended their service at least to 100 other property owners, but after my last experience I will not do that any more.

Las summer (2019) in September we had reservation which has been payed by guests but we didn't receive our money until now (Jun 2020). This is a problem of course but not so big and bad as attitude from fewo-direkt in this matter.

1. Until September we was receiving payments without any problems
2. We did't touch anything in our property owner area

so the issue was and is there responsibility...

Fewo-direkt lack of knowledge and/or luck of will to handle our problem is beyond of my understanding of serious business. I try to reach legal service and when I asked on chat some one in charge who can resolve issue they ignored me on chat.

We believe they violated terms and conditions that we have whit them and they are just ignoring that. We decided that we will not let homeaway - fewo-direkt guests in our villa before we receive this payment, when that happend there will be a lot dissatisfied people around.

And all this after 9 months of writing emails and waiting all I get from them "we will handle your issue, soon as possible".
Our worst experience whit online sales channel.
Best regards
Dean&Tanja

Dear Fewo-direkt team,

our payment bank account was ok in Jun, July but not in September???? Because we didn't change it!!!

So I guess story is a little bit different , second We did contacted payment company and we received answer "NO OPEN ISSUES" we forwarded this info one month ago to your department!

We do not have a contract whit payment company but with homeawy, fewo-direkt so in think resolving issue is your not our obligation (including payment company)

We canceled a booking in Honfleur, FR, well before the one month cancellation deadline--actually more like three months. I wrote to VRBO to get our deposit back, after being advised that we didn't qualify for a refund, which the contract clearly states is not the case. I was referred to the owner. I wrote to the owner, and she said she did't know the cancelation policies at VRBO, suggested I write to Homeaway.

So I checked my credit card statement, and lo and behold, the charge of $532.05 was made by FeW0-direkt, dab as a subsidiary of VRBO.

My next stop, after this runaround, will be Chase Bank, the credit card holder. The property in question is 1285547a, and I will provide the booking number if required. Our dates of stay were to be June 7 to 10.

These bookings it appears are unregulated, generate many complaints, and I would like to add our cautionary tale to what seems is a wild-west environment out there.

D Watson

I was quite happy with Homeaway, till they made new rulles for payments in 2019, the landlords don`t get payed unless the quest has stayed to the property already one day.
That makes it difficult to renew the house or give more comfort to the guests. If you ask Homeaway why they changed the payment conditions, the answer is that they have technical problems!! This with an internet platform for renting villas, it`s ridiculous!

the worst booking service you can ever try !!!!!
First of all, when we reserved a house they showed us the wrong address on the map and they didn't send us the address after 1 day when they sent us the address we realized that it's 100km away from where we want to stay! we called customer service and they said because you reserved for 5 days later you can not cancel that ! to avoid losing money we went there and it was the worst place! but it had 4 reviews with 5 stars in their web site !!! after that we tried to write a review on their websites but the login page always said the wrong password and once we tried to restart the password they won't send anything to my email address! finally, after a month I've tried again and "forget password" worked! but it doesn't let me rate anymore! Don't try them !!!

I paid for an ad with misrepresented information and from the turn of events it actually shows it was a deliberate and calculated attempt and by the landlord on their platform. Worst part you get the same email from the customer care who send the same message as before like a programmed robot. They ask you to contact the landlord and it is left for you to handle.
First day of arrival, locating the keys to the apartment was like a treasure hunt. The location of the key was sent in a message by the landlord which involved going to other tenants bell for them to open the apartment door and then going through another round of clue finding to locate the box where the key was kept.
And then getting in the apartment, requested the wifi code and detail from the landlord, told me he will look for it. I registered some general observations in the house including items left by previous occupants and reminded him about the internet details, and he said he was in a meeting and blocked my number on whatsap, which explains why he doesnt make a call number available so once he gets paid he blocks you and the rest is your business. If am not mistaken I called the customer on this over 5 times and was told they had left a message for him to respond to, and he cunningly unblocked me again and sent anoda series of messages asking to meet other neighbors to give us the wifi code, which had been tried earlier and we were told the apartment belonged to different owners and we should contact the owner of the particular apartment we had booked. Then he sent another message which was not following our line of discusion and also did not correlate with his earlier statement of looking for the code. this time he told me that if we get the code we should send to him that other tenants are asking for it, and I am sure he did this to have it on record and present it as a general problem which is infact false. I called the so called number he gave me and the person told me he was not available until the next day from 10 o clock. And when I reverted back to the landlord I told him the occupants were leaving the apartment as they could not stay such a long time without means of communication and suggested he finds some understanding and consider a part refund claim which he did not respond to but blocked me instead. Apparently the landlords are more protected than the clients, customer service extremely poor and the worst decision I have ever made so far was making that booking.
Stay away from this creepy organisation, "air b and b" or booking dot com better choice. They basically help the landlords collect money from you and push you over to them. Service rating: 0.

The expensive support does not understand the problems to be solved! They refer to any AGB paragraphs that have nothing to do with the problem or contribute to the solution. Then they simply block the advertisements and no longer reply to messages. Without refund of the fees! This company has become the very last! Hands off. AirBnB is happy!

What a lovely friendly host again who offered us to stay in her completely renovated house in the historical village of Giez. The house was absolutely clean, well maintained and cosy. Nothing is missing. The kitchen is well settled, all you need is there. The rooms are lovely decorated, the beds very comfortable. WiFi works well. Natalie the owner welcomed us with lots of charme and was there for us in case we would have needed her. I recommend that home to all who like charming, cosy, very well maintained and beautiful decorated homes. I felt like at home. the Golf Course Giez in in walking distance with a great restaurant.
Thanks to Natalie from Anne and Peter

wow! the villa is as stunning as the phots promised. the house, the views and the whole atmosphere are absolutely incredible. when spending the evening there you never want to leave - or at least - to come back as soon as possible. the villa offers a great lay-out, is very tastefully and top-quality furnished and superbly maintained. the quiet and secluded property with pool and sauna - all with sea views - is a real luxury retreat for travellers with the highest standards. the kind service by the housekeeper was greatly appreciated. we will come back asap with more time to enjoy this very special place.

What a shoddy service we receive as home owners all the time!
We cannot contact Fewo-direkt, if you try, you are directed to a jungle of pre-fabricated answers until one gives up. The link for the contact form in the e mail never comes up, this is just to shut the customer down and make him/her go away. When we finally went ton the expense and called the german so called helpline from South Africa, a very unfriendly and uninterested agent refused to answer our questions about commission taken by Fewo-direkt and finally just put the phone down in my ear... Fewo-direkt seems to have forgotten that we as customers pay their salary with our commission, fortunately there are other platforms like Airbnb who despite all problems at least have the decency to speak to you on the phone. My advice: Stay away from Fewo-direkt, there a much better ways to advertise your property, especially if you need assistance! We certainly are done with them, good bye! You lost another customer to Airbnb...

I sent a cancellation in time. No reaction, no phone number to call, money still collected. Guideline: Make service poor via Internet.

A peaceful retreat!
We were happy to find this lovely mediterranean old villa. A real surprise, truly hidden away, just around the corner from Monte Carlo. A house just above the beach is a rare pleasure. The fresh salt air, the murmur of the waves, direct access to the beach…
Comfortable and clean rooms, beautifull terrasses, lovely garden, great views over the sea.
The kitchen is old-fashioned but really well equipped.
Much charm. Good service Nice owners.
The train, that passes from time to time is not a problem at all. It´s part of the romantic setting. The only thing we didn't like is that we had to leave!
I would not recommend staying here without a car.
The area is just too beautiful.

I was a fewo-direkt.de client since 2004 when i first listed my florida property. I payed my annual,listing fees and managed all communication fully in control with my prospect guests. I made the rules. We discussed payment options. I was owner of my property with all rights. And now...after years I joined them , after years and new ownership under home away logo, with a New Mexican home in cancun As owner everything is different. My New home was set up All,in German.all Looked ok. But...a lot of. Changes. They make the rules.
The home away group has many International Clients and partner networks. But all within the same home away group,get . German language text. Now a great mess happened. A usa customer in VRBO booked and never followed up with second payment. With cancellation from my side 2 weeks before and after several,warnings, Mr. Guest,due to missing payment, I got reimbursed with portions of the first payment he did, automatically on my German bank account. As if he would have performed with payment. That was a surprise. I thought they debit ...and they credit the same client immediately if a cancellation occurs. But....the Client was debited on His credit card. I got money 4 months later on my German bank account. Now guess what... the us client does not want to,give me his account details to reimburse him. Private data...etc. He wants a check. But in Germany we have no,checks any more for,a decade. And no USD. We make Euro online bank transfers. Also,internationally. I only have a Euro,Account that they credited. Now...because I can not pay... fewo- direkt .de cancelled my advertisement until,i repay . They offer help to,repay through their legal department...guess that is expensive!,, all This is totally wrong. If home away with all,it’s portals Like VRBO, alugatemporada...can not guarantee a reimbursement of funds, the same funds they have collected through an affiliate company...than in case of a cancellation, than us and Canadian clients who booked and especially home owners with listings are sorry...are furious...f...!

Clients...be aware...international listings sources determine payments. In Germany we receive Euro and we have no,check books any more to,reimburse you. Owners...if other than same country bookings occur...better deny it! Lots of mess and legal,issues Ahead.
I strongly advise....be patient... and in case of doubt...do the right thing...

Ps. My advertisement is online again. After 7-8 days

Unfortunately I meanwhile have to agree to all the negative ratings from home-owner side. The so-called "support" is completely useless.
They don't even deny that in their smartphone apps the descriptions are not displayed correctly/completely (like "small details" as "optional for additional fee" is not shown in the offer and booking confirmation), but then they start turning around the meaning of some simple words to the opposite - claiming that "linens provided" does not mean that it is provided for free - and of course the guest might be charged in addition on arrival.
Sure, it is completely normal that a rental fee someone pays for a house is "naked", and so additional cost for all Items (like bed, TV, chairs, ....) might apply.

Same for any other issues, they only have two standard answers: "Please try again later" and "I'll forward this internally". Of course without any further actions.

Not to mention that you are forced to use their payment system, which of course means an additional money-transfer fee, and they keep all payments until the guest already arrived.

This site was great for German customers before they became part of home-away, but now it is handled as pure cash-cow without any customer orientation.

A convenient interface. The following improvements are desirable: Make it possible to search within a more narrow price interval (than, as present, 25€), and show the property numbers as well, in the immediate search result.

Cosy property, a nice Place to relax and enjoy the Lovely sunny weather.

Fewo is keeping Guest and the Host from each other in hope to full them completely.. And it works: Guests trust the payment to Fewo, as no other possibility exist on this scammers website.. And for what exactly the Guest pay to Fewo then? For doing the bad work against both: the Guests and the Hosts. And it works!. So the people using this platform may be stupid. Or they are powerless against such a big scammer who is keeping money with themselves.. so the horrible experience for both: Guest & Host is just waiting to the arrival day! The naive Guest who gives all his money to the Fewo arrives to the Host as unpaid guest!: So the Host is calculating: should I open the holiday home for this unknown guests who probably did pay their money to somebody else (Fewo) but not to me? My answer is: No, you should not! In my case I keep the door closet to the unpaid guests who are feeding the scammer Fewo and trying to do it on Hosts expense. There is no Hotels in the world you can get the key before you make payment.. So dear Guests, be aware! If I was you, I will see if the Host get the payment before arrival..

easy booking, fast response from owners, clean homes

We arrived 19th December from England & sadly leave on 27th February.Ideal long term rental .everything & more in a comfortable immaculate one story house in quiet village. Friendly people living 1000ft above sea level. Warm climate, good hikes, plenty of beaches, even a naturist beach for those who love the sun.
Many lunches of avocado & orange juice for breakfast picked from the garden with the willing help of Lucia & Lucas the owners.
It does get chilly after the sun goes down so a warm top is necessary . Overall , more than lived up to expectations. I do not hesitate to recommend Casa Lucia to anyone.