I don't like the new VillaRenters/RentalSystems terms and conditions
I wrote in January about using VillaRenters to advertise our french holiday home. At the time I liked their model of charging on the basis of results - i.e. they charge a commission on actual rental sales they make.
Although I received a VillaRenters booking only a week after listing our holiday home on their site, I found we didn't get any further enquiries, even after they relaunched and changed their name to RentalSystems.
So in May or so I decided to boost my 'RentalSystems index' (which is how they rank different properties) by putting all the bookings through their site, even the ones that had contacted us directly. This had the advantage of one central booking calender, it automated the process of requesting deposit and final payments, and provided a mechanism for customers to write reviews of the Gite afterwards.
This seems to have been successful, we've a much higher rating as a result, and we've had one further booking for this year (from Ireland) and another for August 2007 as a result.
Then when I logged in to RentalSystems a couple of weeks ago I found that they'd changed their terms and conditions. I emailed them on the way they did this before, but the same approach was used this time of simply listing a new set of terms and conditions on login, no details were given as to what paragraphs or points had changed, and I had no choice but to accept the new terms and conditions before I could login or do anything else on their site. Last time they changed their conditions they were minor changes so it didn't really bother me.
This time I find that they have withdrawn the option for renters to send payments directly to me (by cheque) and are instead insisting that all payments are made by debit or credit card through their site. Whilst I'm OK with this for rentals that they have generated as it makes it easier for them to collect the payment and to ensure that I pay the commision I owe, I'm not at all happy about this enforced change for rental bookings that I've collected myself because every credit/debit card payment incurs a 1.5% handling fee.
This change in terms now means that I have to make all customers that I put through RentalSystems pay by card which effectively means a tax of 1.5% on all my bookings. Although cheque payments mean a bit of extra legwork for us it does mean we get the customer's money straight away and in the 30+ customers we've had in 2005 and 2006 they've been happy with paying by cheque as well.
I've emailed RentalSystems again tonight to ask if there is any possibility of them re-introducing the facility for me to continue receiving cheque payments for my own bookings and we'll see what happens. If they stick to their new terms and conditions though I will probably have to stop using them as my "central booking engine". I did have some concerns about the wording in some of the emails their system produced (not being quite how I would have put it) and this new change for me is just a step too far.
Rant over!
Although I received a VillaRenters booking only a week after listing our holiday home on their site, I found we didn't get any further enquiries, even after they relaunched and changed their name to RentalSystems.
So in May or so I decided to boost my 'RentalSystems index' (which is how they rank different properties) by putting all the bookings through their site, even the ones that had contacted us directly. This had the advantage of one central booking calender, it automated the process of requesting deposit and final payments, and provided a mechanism for customers to write reviews of the Gite afterwards.
This seems to have been successful, we've a much higher rating as a result, and we've had one further booking for this year (from Ireland) and another for August 2007 as a result.
Then when I logged in to RentalSystems a couple of weeks ago I found that they'd changed their terms and conditions. I emailed them on the way they did this before, but the same approach was used this time of simply listing a new set of terms and conditions on login, no details were given as to what paragraphs or points had changed, and I had no choice but to accept the new terms and conditions before I could login or do anything else on their site. Last time they changed their conditions they were minor changes so it didn't really bother me.
This time I find that they have withdrawn the option for renters to send payments directly to me (by cheque) and are instead insisting that all payments are made by debit or credit card through their site. Whilst I'm OK with this for rentals that they have generated as it makes it easier for them to collect the payment and to ensure that I pay the commision I owe, I'm not at all happy about this enforced change for rental bookings that I've collected myself because every credit/debit card payment incurs a 1.5% handling fee.
This change in terms now means that I have to make all customers that I put through RentalSystems pay by card which effectively means a tax of 1.5% on all my bookings. Although cheque payments mean a bit of extra legwork for us it does mean we get the customer's money straight away and in the 30+ customers we've had in 2005 and 2006 they've been happy with paying by cheque as well.
I've emailed RentalSystems again tonight to ask if there is any possibility of them re-introducing the facility for me to continue receiving cheque payments for my own bookings and we'll see what happens. If they stick to their new terms and conditions though I will probably have to stop using them as my "central booking engine". I did have some concerns about the wording in some of the emails their system produced (not being quite how I would have put it) and this new change for me is just a step too far.
Rant over!
Labels: GiteAdvertising, HolidayHome, VillaRenters
posted by Geoffrey at 10:42 pm Permalink
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