HomeAway Class Action Challenges 24/7 Customer Service Claims

HomeAway.com Inc. is facing a class action lawsuit accusing it of misleading consumers by advertising that it provides 24/7 customer service.

“In its marketing materials, including its website, Defendants misled consumers by advertising that by booking their reservation through HomeAway, they would receive ‘premium customer service that is available 24/7’ to help them with any issues regarding their stay or inability to reach the owner or property manager, which it does not,” plaintiff Karen Meyer alleges in the HomeAway class action lawsuit.

Further, Meyer claims that HomeAway refuses to adjust its five to 12 percent service fee, which allegedly helps cover the cost of providing 24/7 customer service, for consumers who cut their reservations short. According to the HomeAway class action lawsuit, this refusal to credit customers for reservation modifications is an illegal penalty under California law.

Meyer says she booked a reservation through HomeAway in February 2017. After booking the reservation, her plans changed and she informed the property owner that she would be staying at the guesthouse for one fewer day than she originally planned.

According to the HomeAway class action lawsuit, the guesthouse owner agreed to adjust Meyer’s bill but told her that she would have to contact HomeAway for an adjustment of the service fee.  Meyer allegedly attempted to contact HomeAway by phone and email several times but she was unable to get through to a customer service representative.

Meyer was eventually able to get in touch with a HomeAway customer service representative shortly after she returned from her trip, but the representative refused to adjust the service fee.

“Based on Defendants’ representations made on their website, Plaintiff  reasonably believed that HomeAway’s customer service would be available 24/7 as advertised and that it would not charge an illegal penalty for reservation modifications,” the HomeAway class action lawsuit alleges.

Meyer says she would not have booked her trip through HomeAway’s website if she had known it did not actually offer 24/7 customer service and that it would not issue a credit for shortened reservations.

According to the HomeAway class action lawsuit, Meyer is not the only one who claims to have been misled by HomeAway’s promise of 24/7 customer service. She points to numerous complaints posted online about HomeAway’s misleading customer service and fee claims.

Meyer filed the HomeAway class action lawsuit on behalf of herself and a proposed Class of California residents who rented a dwelling from HomeAway, and consumers who rented a dwelling in California through HomeAway’s website, since Jan. 1, 2014.

The HomeAway class action lawsuit asserts claims for violations of California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act, False Advertising Law, Unfair Competition Law, breach of contract, and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

Meyer seeks injunctive relief; restitution or restitutionary disgorgement; compensatory, consequential, actual and/or statutory damages; punitive and exemplary damages; prejudgment interest; attorneys’ fees and costs; and other relief deemed proper by the court.

Meyer is represented by Alexander M. Schack and Natasha N. Serino of Law Offices of Alexander M. Schack.

The HomeAway 24/7 Customer Service Class Action Lawsuit is Karen Meyer v. HomeAway.com Inc., Case No. 3:17-cv-02243, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.