| Vacation Rental Complaints [Tag : Vacation rental] |
| 1. |
Manager Rented property to someone else, withheld $100 refund
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I rented a home from Vacaton Home Rentals (for 7/20/2007, secured it using a credit card. Before arriving to location, at the airport getting ready to get on the plane, I was informed that the home was rented, they did not expect US (a basketball team) until 7/21. The manager (Rod) said it was their mistake and they would put us up in another rental for the night, the move us the next day. Rod never went with us to the house, just gaved me the access code, (it was late in the morning Vegas time about 12:30 am) The house was not ready for occupancy and had roaches, a hole in the wall, the rug was dirty, the daybed was on the side, some blinds were torn. I called Rod immediatly to complain and let him know this was unaccetable. I was told that house in vegas have roaches. LOL. I then drove to the property I had requested and found people were in the home. I then decided to take the team, 8 boys and check into the Las Vegas Hilton for the night. I called the next day 7/21 and let them know how I felt and wanted a refund. I was told they would have the original property ready at 3. I had to call them around 3:30, of course they did not call me. I was told that he would have to put us in another house, I said no, you are in breach of contract, just give me my money back. I paid $2285. He agreed. I picked up the money, a cashiers check, for $2185, that was stuck in the door of the office. The information inside, was the credit card authorization form, that listed all the fees i was charged, and written in pen, a new fee of $100 for meeting us at the office late. LOL, LOL.
I had been in contact with this guy from the time I filled out the lease information until the time I stepped on the plane, he was informed that I would be coming in late, NO WHERE and AT NO TIME, did he ever MENTIONED a fee for meeting late. THEY are incredable. I have requested the $100.00 back. A basketball team does not have money. Plus we had to go above the budget when I had to get the boys rooms permanently at the LAS Vegas Hilton.
I was told; " You should be happy you got a refund"
Date Added: Jul 31, 2007
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| 3. |
"Arts & Crafts" House in Godalming, Surrey, UK
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Of the "sleeps 5" listed, two beds were in the attic, accessible only with serious effort, through a vertical wall-mounted ladder that led to a hole in the ceiling. (This was deceptively called "a cleverly designed stair" in the listing.) One of these beds was a trundle that could not have been pulled out without virtually dismantling the portable closet. This room was unsafe (due to unshielded hole in floor) even after we purchased multiple nightlights for it (no refund for those.)
HW boiler for dishwashing etc. worked very rarely throughout one-week stay. Promised Internet disappeared too halfway through, with no response from owner when help with both were requested. No refund offered; only "Discount off of future stay" (as if...!)
Property quite lived-in, full of owner's personal effects, aged stocks of food and well-worn furniture. The only room with double bed was almost entirely taken up by a large, projecting wall-mounted piece of martial arts equipment.
Owner stated that he would appear on premises 1st day to orientate renters; did not, also did not visit to refund security deposit on last day as stated in contract; we had to request several times after returning to US and then received expensive wire refund of less than we had paid.
All in all, a disappointing experience with an unsatisfactory property from very "tarted up" VRBO listing on a website that does not allow any truthful feedback; We have had better rental experiences in Europe from other sites and will not use this one again.
Date Added: Oct 12, 2008
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| 4. |
False Holding of Security Deposit
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We have been renting on Anna Maria Island for 4 years, 3-4 times each year without ever losing a penny of our deposit. We recently rented a property from Gavin Fraser in Key Royale on the island and were extraordinarily disappointed with his behavior concerning the security deposit. We didn't damage any property, cleaned the house (mopped floors, cleaned kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, living areas, and the outside), washed all but a few towels and the bed linens. This is our usually check out tasks, which we've never encountered a problem.
This guy withheld our entire ($500) security deposit! He sent a nasty email saying we had "abused" the house, completely disrespected the property and left it filthy with trash laying everywhere. Everything Gavin Fraser had said was completely false, it was like we were talking about two different houses!
Everyone in our party (10) was completely shocked by this, as we all worked very hard to leave the house clean.
Watch out for this guy! He won't send us pictures of the alleged mess and won't return our deposit. We will more than likely be taking this guy to court.
Date Added: Apr 9, 2009
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| 7. |
Don't Stay Here!!!
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BE WARNED!!! This establishment (if you can call it that) is the worst place we have ever stayed. They guy who owns these buildings, Adam Dash, is a crook. We rented out the Floridian, The Sunset, the Hammock, the Beach House, the Dolphin and the Oceanbreeze.
To begin with we booked these units, among others in his compound and his manager on duty totally double booked us and when I addressed this issue with Adam, he acted like it was our fault and there was nothing he could do for us. He definitely has an attitude and should not be in the hospitality business. He did remove the people who were in there to make space for us, but definitely made sure to let me know he had to go through a lot of work to do this (even though it was his screw up to begin with). He tried to make it up to us with gift baskets in the room, which was nice, but the rooms were filthy, there was dog hair and pubes on the floor. He grossly over sold the rooms b.c. the price we paid was higher than what is listed on this site and he crammed us into our rooms like sardines.
When we got there the rooms did not have enough pillows, sheets, or towels. In the rooms like the Floridian and Beach House he told us we would be comfortable on roll-away beds - these were not rollaway beds...they were cots that were from 1920 and the legs were broken, so we had people sleeping on the floor which was disgusting (mind you we were in Miami for a business meeting). When we addressed this through email b.c. HE NEVER ANSWERS HIS PHONE, he was agitated with us. He basically said he thought he was being nice by giving us gift baskets, but he did that b.c. he screwed up in the first place and we obviously wanted a clean place to stay with beds that weren't on the floor.
The pullout bed in the Floridian is broken ( he claims you can sleep 6 in there, but there is no way b.c. there is only one bed. Also, there was a mouse that crapped all over the counter in the Floridian and ran across the table one night while we were having drinks.
There is no one on site (except a guy who doesn't speak english) to help with anything, so if you need something no one will help you, plus Adam will not answer his phone and his voicemail is always full. On top of everything he didn't refund us our full security deposit that he had been holding on to for 2 months..... he claimed that he had to replace locks b.c. some people took their keys with them on accident and when asked if they should send them back, he said "don't worry about it, I won't charge you" and then he charged us $50 per lock. He should of refunded us some $ b.c. there were people sleeping on the floor and we had some people who couldn't make it on the trip at the last minute, and thank goodness for that b.c. there was no where for them to sleep, but we still paid for these people - he should've refunded some of our $ b.c. these places were such crap holes.
Here are tips for booking if you dare stay there:
The Floridian only sleeps two (not 6)
The Dolphin only sleeps two (not 4)
The Ocean breeze is a studio that has a bed and futon, but comfortably should only sleep two
The Hammock only sleeps 4 (if the pullout bed is not broken)
The Beach House only sleeps 4 (not 6-8)
Adam Dash is the most dishonest, unprofessional liar and I would never do business with him again. IF you want your money back, DONT give him a security deposit. When we called him about the sec. deposit he won't talk to us and hangs up on us - WHO DOES THAT?!?!?!
Date Added: Mar 3, 2011
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| 8. |
Refusal to return booking deposit
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We booked a vacation villa in Cozumel called "Casa Ballena" for a week for our wedding. They required a 50% deposit ($1176.00) paid by check. Their contract has no cancellation policy in it. Unfortunately, we had to cancel our wedding. This was on March 15, 2010 and our reservation was for July 20, 2010. This was more than 4 months in advance. 127 days in advance, to be exact. In desperation I tried to negotiate applying part of the $1176 to a 1 bedroom property instead, since the wedding was canceled and no guests would be attending. The owner of the company, Ron White, said that was not possible. He said we will lose our entire $1176 unless they are able to rebook the same exact villa during the same exact week (which happens to be during Cozumel's low season). He also refused to give me the contact information of the property manager or owner, who according to him had control of our money.
I would NOT recommend doing business with this company. There are plenty of other rental companies that operate in Cozumel, do not take a chance with Sherrie and Ron White if there is even the slightest chance of an unforeseen circumstance that could cause you to cancel. It would be understandable to have a small cancellation fee(even though we canceled over 4 months in advance), but absolutely no refund?? Over $1100 for nothing? That is completely unethical.
Date Added: Mar 24, 2010
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| 10. |
Security deposit not fully refunded
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This past May a group of family and friends went to stay at the Sandpiper House near Gold Beach, Oregon. The house was nice, though not as clean as we would have liked. The hot tub was fine, and the beach was a short walk away. The website said the deposit would be refunded if the house was left as found, with a load of laundry started and a few other things.
My friends cleaned the house and left the laundry for me, since I was leaving later. The instructions said to start a load of sheets but because there were two loads of sheets, I put the ones I washed in the dryer, because I was afraid they'd get musty. I couldn't start another load because there was only enough detergent for one.
The friend who paid for our stay was not refunded the deposit because the manager said that some sheets were missing. Or not exactly missing, but not matching the sizes that should have been there.
This is ridiculous as well as insulting. If I needed sheets, I would spend less and get new ones that would fit my bed. Years ago, a business owner in that area told a dissatisfied customer (my dad) "You should have known better." Well, now I guess we do.
Date Added: Jul 21, 2010
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