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Our family stayed at the above mentioned property from March 7 to March 14, 2009. While we thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Tucson we wanted to make you aware of the problems we had with the home and its owner. I should mention we have stayed at several vacation rental homes in the past and have had nothing but pleasant experiences with the owners and rental agents.
I’ll start with the major items not working. The Dishwasher was literally falling apart: the front panel fell off and the control panel was hanging by its wires. My wife called the service number and eventually spoke to the owner. He said the dishwasher was being replaced the following week. My wife said we should receive a discount for a non-functioning appliance. He became angry and said we were actually saving money by not going to a hotel but did agree to look at it that evening. He propped the panel back up but it fell off the next time we lowered the door.
On Tuesday evening none of our bathroom outlets were working. On Wednesday morning I left a message with the service indicated in the house book. After no return call that day I left another message in the evening offering to flip the breaker or GFI myself (I believe the GFI was in one of the locked closets). Both messages were ignored. For the remainder of the week my daughters blow dried their hair in front of their reflections on the microwave oven in the kitchen. Not a hardship by any means but certainly not what you’d expect from a “luxury” rental.
The following are direct quotes from the house book:
“Please leave a message and your call will be returned during business hours”.
“We conduct scheduled home maintenance on a regular basis”.
“If, during your stay, any major appliances are not working please contact us”.
Other items not working properly:
Both back porch lights were not working, making it difficult to grill at night.
The gas stove continued to click as if we were still trying to light it and during the entire cooking process.
Some of the remote controls did not work due to missing batteries.
One bedroom didn’t have a remote control at all.
Kitchen drawers did not work properly.
“Gourmet” kitchen disappointments:
The absolute bare minimum of pots, pans, and bowls.
A terrible selection of cheap, dull, knives.
Misrepresentation: A photo on the website showed beautiful patio furniture for outdoor dining that was not there when we stayed. The photo has since been removed from the site.
The tone of the house book can be summed up this way: “Welcome to Tucson. Don’t screw up”.
On the last page is the aforementioned price per square foot as opposed to a hotel and how much money we are saving. A list follows with $50.00 fines for not performing certain tasks during the week.
One of those tasks is putting the trash out at 7 AM on Friday. I set my alarm for 6:55 AM only to be awakened at 6:40 by the garage door opening directly under our bedroom. I met him in the garage and we both put the trash out (some of the trash was from grounds keeping and not ours). Why weren’t we contacted and asked to put the additional trash out with ours? We would have been glad to, my wife wouldn’t have been needlessly wakened, and a trip up the mountain could have been saved.
This is our first experience with Ultimateluxuryhomerentals.com but we have had nothing but good experiences with the VRBO wed site. Hopefully this information can help you better serve your clients in the future. Please feel free to contact us with any further questions.
Sincerely,
Jim and Laura Hamilton
4/01/09
Postscript: I just talked with Laura (520-878-6114), the woman who helped us decide and recommended this rental. I tried to let her know about the things with which we were unhappy. Her response: Anger. “Don’t bother me, talk to Ron”. It fits perfectly with our entire experience at this rental.
Date Added: Jun 28, 2009
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