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Hoping to book a villa in France through owners direct, however owner wants payment direct to their bank as it is only 5 weeks time. I have asked if they will take PayPal but is there any more secure means of transferring money? They seem legit and have copied in the OD client service team on their reply to me, but I'm hesitant to part with a chunk of cash... Am I being paranoid!?
We've been using bank transfers for Gite bookings for years and never had an issue.
We rent out a house in France using Owners Direct. We've probably done 100 or so rental periods over the last 8 years.
Only about 1 in 10 bookings ever thinks to call us and do some sort of background check on us.
It always surprises me that people happily pay up without checking us out first.
You can do some Internet digging on the owners if you have their email address/Facebook/twitter etc. If we have potential renters who want some assurances that we are legit I always tell them that they can contact our accountants or solictors for a reference.
At the very least you should phone the owners and ask them some questions about the house and the area - that will give you a good idea as to whether they are genuine or not.
There have been a few tales in the press this year about fake property ads on sites like OD.
hth
Thanks. The wife called OD who couldn't get hold of the owner but emailed them, who then contacted us by phone, so I am slightly more reassured. He doesn't have PayPal so bank transfer it is... Is my holiday insurance likely to cover Potential issues ???
There was a story on the news today about a hen party all losing there money , booked through OD . Advice given if asked to pay by bank transfer be wary ?
Definitely worth being wary. My boss had someone copy their listing on a similar site, but with much lower prices than the real ad. At least one poor family paid them via bank transfer and I suspect lost their cash. I'd give them a call or maybe even look to see the property is on another listing site with a secure payment mechanism.
Paid for villa in florida by BT no problems at all. As always do your research about owner etc