HouseStayReviews of housestay.com

They are the worst. My rental contract ended a month ago but they haven't returned my deposit back. I've been trying to contact them via their AI service, via email, and phone calls but I get no replies. It sounds like a class action law-suit waiting to happen because apparently I'm not alone in this situation.

My tenant has been in the cottage for two weeks and I still have not received a payment. There is no email stating the payment amount. Chris claims they have been trying to pay me but they need payment information. That has been provided and still I have no money. Square doesn't have my money although that is who Housestay uses. I am beyond upset and thinking it is time to hire a lawyer as there has been no response from Housestay.

Be careful. They are scammers. I spent a month looking for a place to live. It would be better if they cancelled it. / Secondly, every time the owner writes that his apartment is 3-5k more expensive, then you rent it for 5, he says I will rent this apartment for 8k. Just don't waste your time with them.

I found this company to be incompetent, frustrating, and a bit creepy. I had multiple issues with them from the start- when I rejected a request the first email I received was questioning that and pointing out that the listing was showing available on my airbnb page. Since I had never provided my airbnb link, I found that creepy and invasive and just weird that they had gone out of their way to find it. Round 2 someone inquired about renting and asked to see the place. I immediately replied and told them yes- I was available that evening and the next day- since I was leaving for a work trip Sunday. two days later I received an email from the same guy who sent the creepy "I'm watching your airbnb email" saying I needed to respond to the request. To which I politely pointed out I did. Through this process, I learned that unlike airbnb, its not direct messaging. Both mine and the renters' messages were going straight to the "representative". And he chose what to pass along (or didn't even notice there was a message to pass along...) When we finally (after an entirely unnecessary amount of back and forth with a middle man) decided on a time for them to come see it, I was informed a representative from Housestay would meet us there. What? To babysit? To make sure we didn't make any secret deals on the sly? The best part was, apparently the renters were planning on coming at 11am and then were told the time was changed to 1pm- which wasn't a time the wife was available. When I met the husband and he apologized that she wasn't there and said she had planned her day around the "original" time of 11, I was dumbfounded- since I told the company anytime between 10-3 worked for me. Basically, the timing was all arranged for the convenience of their representative. Who was then 20 minutes late and missed the whole thing anyway. There were a few other weird things, but really the highlight of their gross incompetence and invasion of privacy came after I deactivated my account (the moment the 30 day lease was up!). It came to my attention today that my account had be "reactivated" and not only was my home now available for rent, BUT they altered my profile, added my photo, and basically decided my house for for rent. When I emailed them, this was their answer- "We had launched the new HouseStay site on 3/1/19 (and sent out an email to hosts), upon the launch of the new HouseStay site if hosts had previously provided us with their Airbnb listing link(s). Their listing and account information was updated: listing photos, listing description, availability, etc. so that it contained the same photos and descriptions as the property link provided" Oh- Ok. You relaunched and just decided that since my home was available on Airbnb, that you get to list it too? And change the content of the profile I created? And add my photo? And just email me to inform me of what you've done... so not ok. It didn't even occur to me that after I deactivated my account (and I also deleted as many photos and as much information as I could when I deactivated it) , I needed to worry about someone randomly putting it back up. I figured the "we launched a new site" email was only applicable to people who had active accounts and listings. Silly me. As far as I can tell they aren't associated with Airbnb in any way except stalking their clients and using the information publicly listed there to enhance their own website. There's a chance I'm wrong, but I can't find anything anywhere that indicated a business or financial link between the two. And if this was an Airbnb company, I can pretty much guarantee they would have the basics down- like being able to transfer money into my account and not have to go to the bank and fill out a deposit slip and hand the teller an actual handwritten check. (true story). Everything about them feels desperate, unprofessional, and invasive. I highly suggest staying away and using one of the other, established, reputable companies for short term rentals.

HouseStay has kept my deposit for more than 45 days and counting despite acknowledging it is due. Also, they told me my credit card fees would be refunded and then said the person left the firm who responded via email and phone approving these fees therefore they wont refund them. At this point they have just disappeared with my deposit.