| Vacation Rental Complaints |
| 2. |
russian river rentals
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Beware of Russian River Rentals (russianriverrentals.com)! They ruined
my weekend! I had decided to use their company to book a cabin I found
on the internet as a surprise weekend getaway for my husband. I
talked to an employee names Tosha and gave her all my information,
requesting 2 nights, no pets, etc. and she said she would be sending
me the final booking agreement via mail and even offered a 3rd night
free if we wanted. A few days later, Tosha calls me and says she
messed up and was told by her partner that she needed to get a 3 night
minimum booking from me because it was President's Day weekend. I
tell her I have not budgeted an extra $150+ into my trip, and she says
since it was her mistake, she would "rectify" the situation. So, I am
thinking she is going to take care of the problem and get back to me.
Well, a few days later I get an email from her partner, Star. Star
basically says sorry but Tosha is in training and wasn't aware, but
wants to know if I still want the cabin. I let her know that I still
want the cabin for the 2 days, but not if I am required to pay more
than what was originally agreed upon. She sends me the RUDEST email
back saying they are not "requiring" me to pay for the 3rd night
because I can find other accommodations! And, that it "isn't as if
we've been stringing you along for weeks", and that other guests are
willing to pay for all 3 nights! She did offer to split the 3rd night
with me, after originally offering a pitiful 10% discount, but she was
so rude and seemed so inconvenienced by my business that I didn't want
to give them a single dime of my money. I had stopped looking for
other options because I THOUGHT I had secured a nice, romantic
getaway. I couldn't believe that any professional business would
screw up and then expect me to pay more for it, and then suggest that
I just go away so they could get more money from someone else!
Perhaps Star shouldn't have allowed someone "in training" to be in
charge of bookings in the first place! I sent her a scathing email
saying I would not recommend their business to anyone! So, beware of
Russian River Rentals and the rude, unprofessional, inconsiderate
employee named Star!
Date Added: Feb 7, 2008
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| 5. |
Big Bear Vacation Rentals
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I am writing to inform you of my dissatisfaction with the services of Big Bear Vacations and the house I rented on August 15-17, 2008 in Big Bear Lake, California at 885 Andrews Lane [Reservation Number 113362].
At the time the reservation was made, I asked the agent at Big Bear Vacations specifically whether internet service was available and working. I was told that there was internet service and that it worked. However, the internet was not working when I arrived at the house on Friday afternoon, August 15, 2008. It took several hours of work by a service operator to restore services. On Saturday morning, before the internet service went down again, the agent at Big Bear Vacations credited my credit card $200 as compensation for the first day without internet service. However, the internet stopped working early Saturday afternoon. Two service persons visited the house for several hours, but nothing could be done. The internet didn’t work for the rest of the weekend.
This was a significant problem for me and, as I explained to the agents at Big Bear Vacations, I rented this home on reliance of express assurances that the internet worked. The service didn’t work and I was inconvenienced by workers coming in and out of the house throughout the weekend trying to make the service work. This was not my idea of a weekend vacation. Further, I learned that the owner was aware of these problems. This, of course, proves that material misrepresentations were made to me the owner and Big Bear Vacations. Aside from the inconvenience and mess it made of my weekend for which I paid a lot of money [over $2700 for 3 days], this conduct is a violation of law. See California Civil Code Section 1571 et seq. and Sections 1709 and 1710. See also California Jurisprudence, Fraud, Section 1.
I wrote to Big Bear Vacations a few days after I returned to request an additional credit of $400, consistent with the credit provided to me for the first day without internet service, as compensation for this misrepresentation and the inconvenience of workers coming in and out of my vacation home. Big Bear Vacations offered only to provide a credit for a future rental. This is not satisfactory. I want to be compensated presently for my present loss, and certainly not reward Big Bear Vacations for its misrepresentation by working with them again.
Date Added: Oct 5, 2008
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| 6. |
Bigfoot Resort
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The house is not a resort in my book:
-the house had a "motel" smell of old cigarette smoke and was generally run down. when you come up the driveway, there are old couches and other junk piled beneath the house.
-there is literally a 14' high stuffed big foot replica in the living room, next to the t.v. this was not on the website!! the bigfoot theme is taken to an extreme in the decor.
-someone (the owner?) lives behind tarps on the ground level, making it a bit creepy. the property manager had mentioned that the owner lived "on the property", but somehow i didn't imagine it would be in the same building, behind tarps.
-the "waterfront" is the san lorenzo river, which was not very attractive in september. don't expect to be lounging by a lovely running river.
-way overpriced (they charged $480 for one night, which included cleaning and pet fee). i noticed the price was cheaper on the vrbo site, even though i found the place on craigslist.
on the bright side, the beds were clean and seemed new, the interior was reasonably clean despite the musty odors, and there were good games. the guestbook did record a few happy renters, so some might like the place.
i really think, however, that the vrbo site exaggerates when they call it a resort. our group agreed that this was the worst rental we had ever experienced in california.
Date Added: Oct 6, 2008
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| 7. |
Fraud and misrepresenation VRBO#198942
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The owner failed to refund us for 9 out of 10 days that we spent at the property, and kept the security deposit, a total of 2850USD. And a USD 500 security deposit for the other property was not returned.
We rented twice from the same homeowner on one trip, we were upset by the condition of the other property, when we arrived to this one, we staid for one night and moved to true 5 stars of luxury at the Fairmont for less money and amazing view, service, beauty and you name it!
About the place:
xii. House is in a seedy area of Nob Hill, situated in an alley facing shabby houses with broken windows ( we witnessed a prostitute providing sexual favors to a gentleman right in the alley of the house)
xiii. There is no “gorgeous city view”, it’s an abstracted view of some city from only one window. The rest are facing windows of the other house on a very short distance, the building is in a bad condition.
xiv. Windows were so dirty that we could not bare to look at them
xv. Garden – dead plants, dirty, not usable, windows that lead to the garden are covered with bars, so much for the safe area. (Valerie promised a wonderful garden to spend time in)
xvi. Closet space – there are no closets at the property or shelving, there are hooks attached to the wall in one room, nothing else, we could not unpack
xvii. Bathroom – nice, but there is no storage at all, we had to lay everything on the floor, taking a shower is not convenient, shower was barely working as well
xviii. No dressing mirror
xix. The phone is out of service
xx. Cleanliness: dirty windows, dirty counter tops, a pack of over 30 flies in the living room, bad smell in the house
xxi. Plants and flowers? There is a small, dead tree in the living room.
xxii. There is nothing luxury or comfortable about this apartment aside from the Viking stove. It needs work and care to get to acceptable level. Overpriced for the value and badly managed, the neighborhood is not nice, the nice part starts a block up from there.
Mainly upset with how the owners dealt the refund and security deposits, this is true fraud.
Date Added: Sep 8, 2009
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| 8. |
Complaint against Brian Harp BLH
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We rented this property in April of 2008 through vacationrentals.com. Since then, the broker for the property, Brian Harp, BLH Property Management, PO Box 3160, Brewer,ME 04412 (also has an address of PO Box 474, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254), has repeated ignored requests to return our $500 deposit and made numerous excuses for not sending it (been travelling, can't find papers, .....). We also found that he has done this to other renters in Maine. We are in the process of filing complaints with the Better Business Bureau, sites like this and any other state or local agency that protects consumers from people like this.
Date Added: Feb 5, 2009
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| 10. |
Not returning deposit
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Owner will not refund deposit claiming that a shutter in guest room was broken. There was no broken shutter in guest room. I did notify owners via email that there was a loose plank in shutter in Master BR. She claims they will have to get a brand new shutter which I guess we are paying for. Owner also claims that we had more than our family of 5 (this she heard from neighbor). We had friends staying at Rancho Las Pamas and sometimes we were over there and one day they visited our condo. This is a vacation after all. We spent more time away from condo visiting friends, going to Joshua Tree overnight. I feel like they are keeping our deposit under fraudulent claims. In addition owner claims that cleaning service had to stay beyond the 3 hours they were scheduled. Again, we stripped the TWO beds as we were told to do, and no pools towels needed to be cleaned because we brought our own. The house was spotless when we left including vacuuming. Again, this is all fabrication in order to keep deposit. Lastly, upon arrival, I had to purchase tp, paper towels, dish soap, windex, dishwashing soap and Tide. There were no placemats for glass table top which I went out and purchased. And while not the owners fault, the elderly neighbor across the green was very rude to us. This is not a kid-friendly place. This condo is perfect for older couples with no kids, who love to golf.
Date Added: Apr 30, 2009
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