We will be traveling to Cannes in June and found a villa on VRBO.com
I emailed the owner and learned that the villa was available and priced within our budget.
The owner then emailed me a booking form and a request for full payment (as they require payment two months in advance).
On the booking form, I noticed that the full payment would have to be wire transferred to a Luxembourg bank account. There was also a Luxembourg phone number included.
We have never rented a European villa before, so I tried to call the Luxembourg phone number to ask the owner a couple of questions during local business hours. I tried to reach them a couple days in a row and left a voice message, but never got anyone or received a call back.
I began to have concerns, so I emailed the owner and told her that I was having trouble arranging the wire transfer and asked if it would be possible to use a credit card. She said that could not do a credit card transaction, but that they had a UK bank account if that would help.
I apologized for being unfamiliar with the process and asked her to send the UK account number. I waited six days and didn%26#39;t receive a reply. I sent the email again and waited two more days, but no reply.
Now I am really having concerns! Can anyone offer any advice? Could this be a scam or have I just managed to annoy the owner so much that they are willing to forego the rental?
I did a search of the owner’s name and the villa and saw that the villa is listed on several villa rental websites.
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I hope you get some good advice on this. We were scammed once in a Cannes Rental, not by the owner but by the a Fort Lauderdale Agency, which had listed the house.
We ended up having to check into a Citadine and were never able to recoup our money, because the US agency %26quot;disappeared%26quot;. The French %26quot;owner%26quot; was mortified. This is going back a few years ago.
Nowadays we rent from a Cannes based agency (they also have rentals in Santa Barbara) and we have the option of paying either to a French account or one in the US. Unfortunately, we%26#39;re not able to %26quot;charge%26quot; to credit cards either (which is a bummer ~ the rentals are hefty and would amount to quite a few points!)
This late in the day, it is probably not that unusal to require the payment in full. We normally pay a 40% deposit in January, to reserve it, and then the remaining, 8 weeks prior to our arrival.
It%26#39;s odd that they haven%26#39;t replied to you. I wish you lots of luck and hope someone here can better advise you.
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What, please, is the name of the Cannes agency? We%26#39;re going through the same thing, and it%26#39;s very discouraging to wait and wait to get information and then figure out how to do the payments in foreign currency.
Owners often list their rentals on a number of web sites for maximum exposure.
We are hoping to rent a villa or house (what%26#39;s the difference?) near Grasse, as we have friends nearby. I think I%26#39;ve looked at just about every potential rental in a 10-mile radius!
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The one I can vouch for (used 4-5 times)
www.johnandjohn.com
You%26#39;ll like their site ~ it has a lot of listings and it give lots of useful info. There are some lovely properties up in the hills too.
I%26#39;ll add a couple of others just so you can compare. Cannes is full of %26quot;agencies%26quot; and my impression is that they have to strictly adhere to the laws in order to keep their licences. Perhaps unlike the %26quot;rent-by-owner, who might not have to be as diligent. (Do go on-line and look for others, there are lots).
www.everythingcannes.com/
…angloinfo.com/af/212/riviera-vacations-rent…
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Soames,
Thanks for the rental agency suggestion. I have sent John and John an inquiry to see what%26#39;s available for our dates.
Seagrover
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I%26#39;ve used VRBO before for a %26quot;villa%26quot;/house. The place we rented was in Menton and the owners lived in Switzerland. They don%26#39;t take credit cards either and I had to wire transfer to a bank in Geneva. However, before I sent any money, I had long email conversations with the owner...and it was a private owner (thus the no credit card issue) not an agency. I have found that sometimes the emails get lost between here and there. Send your email again and ask for a phone number and the best time to call so you can talk in person with the owner. When you feel comfortable, then do the paperwork and wire transfer and not before. I%26#39;ve used another web-based rental site as well, FrenchConnections. I have seen a flat we rented previously on 2 different occasions on both sites so I agree with the previous poster. Many list their property on serveral sites to get a better shot at renting it. Take your time and be comfortable with who you are dealing with. Good luck.
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