Please heed this warning & do your research. Spotahome has very questionable business practices and has a history of fleecing customers.
I recently booked a 2 bedroom rental apartment in Lisbon using their search criteria specifically for 2 beds. The photos presented had an angled duplicate of the main bedroom and there was a random photo of a desk and chair facing outward to the window. In summary, after uploading my information, the landlord reached out and said that she just wanted to give me a heads up that one of the bedrooms had been converted to an office. This is AFTER I left the summary, explaining that I was travelling with spouse & child. This is where the nightmare begins.
I reached out to spotahome in an attempt to cancel or change the booking and the customer service was atrocious. They then supplied me with alternate photos not matching the ones on display, and said that the photo clearly showed a bedroom converted to office & that I would lose my deposit because it was less than 30 days.
I was already in comms with the landlord who while disappointed, understood my need for a refund (minus spotahome's non-refundable $650 "service fee"). I asked them to reach out to her to initiate the refund which they said they would do. Didn't happen.
Once I realized I didn't have the bandwidth to go back and forth and couldn't afford to lose my $1800 Euro, I told the landlord I would keep the reservation and attempt to ship an air mattress before my arrival. I explained that as a disabled military veteran with medical issues, I couldn't sleep on a floor for a whole month. The landlord said that she had been trying to call and send messages to spotahome but no response.
I wrote a detailed complaint to the econsumer.gov, once I realized that their Trustpilot reviews appeared to be bulk purchased with an average of 4.1 out of 5. On every other review site, their reviews were 1 out of 5, with overwhelming complaints stemming from false or misleading advertising without any recourse, unreturned deposits, false claims of property damage and additional hidden fees.
I am 2 weeks out from using the property, and despite a confirmation, spotahome is asking for my debit card information for the security deposit and the fine print says that I'm agreeing to whatever they charge my bank. Here is the note in detail:
By saving your payment information, you allow Spotahome to charge you for future payments in accordance with their terms.
"By clicking Set up direct debit, you authorise (A) Spotahome and Stripe, our payment service provider, to send instructions to your bank to debit your account and (B) your bank to debit your account in accordance with those instructions. As part of your rights, you are entitled to a refund from your bank under the terms and conditions of your agreement with your bank. A refund must be claimed within 8 weeks starting from the date on which your account was debited. Your rights are explained in a statement that you can obtain from your bank. You agree to receive notifications for future debits up to 2 days before they occur."
Based on what I experienced, I am not comfortable giving and authorizing them direct access to my funds. Any ideas on how I navigate this without them taking the money I already spent ($2600) for failure to accept a "recurring payment" in their words? I am reaching out to my bank to explain my predicament, since I think it's too late to get the money back but I would like to prevent future fraud or fiscal abuse from a very unethical company.
If anyone has experience dealing with this, I'm all ears.
I recently booked a 2 bedroom rental apartment in Lisbon using their search criteria specifically for 2 beds. The photos presented had an angled duplicate of the main bedroom and there was a random photo of a desk and chair facing outward to the window. In summary, after uploading my information, the landlord reached out and said that she just wanted to give me a heads up that one of the bedrooms had been converted to an office. This is AFTER I left the summary, explaining that I was travelling with spouse & child. This is where the nightmare begins.
I reached out to spotahome in an attempt to cancel or change the booking and the customer service was atrocious. They then supplied me with alternate photos not matching the ones on display, and said that the photo clearly showed a bedroom converted to office & that I would lose my deposit because it was less than 30 days.
I was already in comms with the landlord who while disappointed, understood my need for a refund (minus spotahome's non-refundable $650 "service fee"). I asked them to reach out to her to initiate the refund which they said they would do. Didn't happen.
Once I realized I didn't have the bandwidth to go back and forth and couldn't afford to lose my $1800 Euro, I told the landlord I would keep the reservation and attempt to ship an air mattress before my arrival. I explained that as a disabled military veteran with medical issues, I couldn't sleep on a floor for a whole month. The landlord said that she had been trying to call and send messages to spotahome but no response.
I wrote a detailed complaint to the econsumer.gov, once I realized that their Trustpilot reviews appeared to be bulk purchased with an average of 4.1 out of 5. On every other review site, their reviews were 1 out of 5, with overwhelming complaints stemming from false or misleading advertising without any recourse, unreturned deposits, false claims of property damage and additional hidden fees.
I am 2 weeks out from using the property, and despite a confirmation, spotahome is asking for my debit card information for the security deposit and the fine print says that I'm agreeing to whatever they charge my bank. Here is the note in detail:
By saving your payment information, you allow Spotahome to charge you for future payments in accordance with their terms.
"By clicking Set up direct debit, you authorise (A) Spotahome and Stripe, our payment service provider, to send instructions to your bank to debit your account and (B) your bank to debit your account in accordance with those instructions. As part of your rights, you are entitled to a refund from your bank under the terms and conditions of your agreement with your bank. A refund must be claimed within 8 weeks starting from the date on which your account was debited. Your rights are explained in a statement that you can obtain from your bank. You agree to receive notifications for future debits up to 2 days before they occur."
Based on what I experienced, I am not comfortable giving and authorizing them direct access to my funds. Any ideas on how I navigate this without them taking the money I already spent ($2600) for failure to accept a "recurring payment" in their words? I am reaching out to my bank to explain my predicament, since I think it's too late to get the money back but I would like to prevent future fraud or fiscal abuse from a very unethical company.
If anyone has experience dealing with this, I'm all ears.
