Review by Anonymous (date: 25-Apr-2008)
Subject: RENTALO.COM - ADVERTISERS BEWARE !!
Comment: We have had an unpleasant experience with Rentalo.com. This is still not resolved and want to use your portal to report what has happened as a warning to all other potentail owners who might be drawn into advertising via this website. We received many, many spam emails over several months inviting us to trial their site on a free trial basis. We resisted because of the need to give credit card details for a supposed Free Trial. However we were given written offers and verbal assurances that such trials were FREE and enticed into giving it a go on the basis of if it works fine, but if it doesn't it has cost us nothing more than some of our time. We allowed ourselves to be talked into doing your sponsored listing by their Sales people as they said this is more eye catching. Although we realise now, the way Rentalo operates this would have made little difference....so another red herring. You need to understand that on Rentalo, most enquirers make a destination enquiry rather than specific property enquiry, and from what we were seeing, they were mainly last minute type enquirers looking to pay minimal money. Our sponsored listing was to cost $399 for 15 months which we understood to be 3 months free trial plus an annual subscription once it was proven and working, with a editing fee within this of $75. Our unsatisfactory trial which we moved to end prematurely leaves us $200 out of pocket. I did all the edited text and picture work so spent hours getting it ready. Then it was all loaded up, but not as we sent.......so I had to go back and re-do editing work. A service which Rentalo charges you a premium for. Then when the quality of enquiries was poor and not in our market segment I was told they had not set the filter settings correctly for enquiries. Additionally I spent a great deal of expense calling long distance on about 5 occasions trying to sort out the manner of the listing presentation, the problems of text and rates and then finally having made the decision that Rentalo was not providing a suitable return decided to cancel the trial. At this stage it became clear that by entering into a sponsored listing with them, they do not then honour the basis of the free trial arrangement that they lured us into running the test with them in the first place. Tucked away in their small print they state they are entitled to keep 50% of the annual fees paid for one of their sponsored listings. There's little wonder they try so hard to persuade you to have a sponsored listing then, after initially trying to hook you with the free trial marketing blurb. They did not make it clear that by agreeing to a 'sponsored listing', we as new advertisers were in any way altering the basis by which our initial period with them was then not still a free trial. BEWARE - when this is all pointed out to them, they choose to hide behind their terms and conditions rather than doing the right thing ! They even acknowledged their failings in displaying the advert. The website of this organisation is given credence by approvals from Internationally known brands such as the New York Times, Travel & Leisure, National Geographic, but these are related to functionality for the traveller, not for the sharp practices experienced at the hands of Rentalo.com as a disappointed new advertiser/customer. YOU ARE WARNED - best thing to do is delete their spam emails and not give this organisation the opportunity.
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