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| Vacation Rental Complaints |
| 51. |
Definitely Not a 5 star cabin
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We wrote this letter to the company's owner after returning from our Big Bear Lake vacation:
We feel compelled to write this letter after staying in your “Cobb” cabin last week.
We weren’t upset because most of the walls desperately needed spackling and a coat of paint. Or that the window screen in the upstairs bedroom was attached with duck tape. Or that there were cobwebs on the light fixture in the upstairs bedroom. Or that the incandescent light in the downstairs bathroom was partially dropping from the ceiling. Or that the coffee maker was broken. Or that the front yard hasn't been landscaped in months and was so very different than your website photo. Or by the ants in the kitchen. Or that the screen door wouldn’t lock. Or that the cabin was around 85 degrees when we arrived but there was not even one single fan to cool the air. (We had to purchase two fans at Kmart.) Or that the faucet could only be shut off in a certain position, otherwise, it leaked. Or that the family room lamp had some kind of electrical short. Or that there was only enough TV seating for four people – three of us had to sit on the same couch. Or that the lower kitchen cabinet was barely hanging on its hinge. Or that the long benches in the kitchen table doubled as a sea-saw (By the way, three out of four of us fell off, landing on the floor). Or how embarrassed we were when our guests walked in and said, “This doesn’t come close to matching the photos or video on the website”. Or that you sent a maid to hear our complaints. Although very nice, the maid had a limited command of the English language. But she did bring light bulbs.
No, we are upset because I told you that we wanted to rent a five star cabin. It was on my bucket list. I told you I was dying from a bad heart and wanted to take what may be my last vacation in a five star property.
Instead, you misrepresented the property. You said you were there last week? We find it hard to believe that you didn’t notice at least half of the problems we identified. In case you forgot, we took pictures. Lots of them. You also said you received no complaints from others who rented this property. Maybe they didn't expect five star quality. Maybe they weren’t dying.
This is not about the money, although we’re grateful that we didn't pay $400 a night, that you offered us a “special deal”, otherwise, we would have stopped payment with American Express. This is about one thing and one thing only – you took advantage of a dying man’s wish. How pathetic.
Maybe now you have a better understanding of why we’re so upset and why we will never rent a property from you again or refer you to anyone we know. Whether I will be able to take another vacation is in God’s hands. But if I do, we won’t stay at any of your properties - in Big Bear, Laguna Beach or anywhere else.
We will not cancel our American Express payment to you. We don’t need any more aggravation. But we will end any type of future business dealings with your company.
PS: We stumbled across your stun gun in the sticky cabinet above the stove. Maybe a renter left it there, maybe not. It’s too big to be used on ants, and too small for bears, so we couldn’t help but wonder if this is how you deal with irate renters.
Date Added: Sep 1, 2011
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| 56. |
Security deposit on house rental
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The property was nice, as expected, for the fee we agreed to pay.
Unfortunately we had to bring many issues of concern to the owner during our stay. Walls near a light switch were very hot to the touch, indicating a potential fire hazard, hot tub not heating up properly, hot tub draining twice until it could not be used for the last few days of the holiday. Water pooling in the bottom of the fridge leaking out on to the kitchen floor. Second bedroom listed as a queen bed was really an uncomfortable double pull out couch! House listed as able to accommodate 10? 12? yet we were charged an additional exorbitant fee for 'extra' towel laundry. We left the house in excellent condition. We even purchased a bed to accommodate our group. Still, they kept almost half of our security deposit. Mysteriously they claimed there was a smell on the couch, when there was absolutely no smell when we left the home. We were charged for upholstery cleaning which cannot be proven now that we are back in Canada. VRBO was NOT WILLING to help at all, even though they are supposedly committed to customer service. The owner was contacted several times and didn't have the decency to respond to us. It felt like being robbed. They took our money and that was that. We had no recourse. Very disappointed in VRBO and this owner.
We would not stay here again. With this lack of customer service from VRBO, I doubt we would feel confident using their service again.
Date Added: May 9, 2012
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| 57. |
DO NOT RENT from So Cal Hot Properties!!!
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We rented a home located at 226 Colton Street, Newport Beach, CA 92663 from 12/31/11 - 1/3/12.
I will first preface this by saying that my wife and I own and manage 4 furnished rentals here in Scottsdale. We have been staying in furnished rentals for about the last 8 years. This was BY FAR the worst rental experience that I have ever had.
We love the area, but the condition of the home was completely unacceptable and blatantly misrepresented. When we first arrived at the home on the evening of Saturday, December 31 we were greeted by a garage that had been altered with some type of homemade storage facility that occupied over 50% of the space that was meant for parking.This property was advertised as having a 2 CAR GARAGE. If I had known that this house had only parking for 1 car, we never would have rented it. Our friends were forced to park over 5 blocks away and walk back to the house.
We brought our dog with us, and paid additional fees in the rental agreement. After staying the first night in the house, we noticed that our dog was extremely uncomfortable and itching very badly. Upon further inspection, we discovered that she had roughly 20-30 fleas on her. We are extremely vigilant in caring for our dog. She has NEVER had fleas and is bathed every other week and professionally groomed every month. Later that evening, my wife, as well as, the wife of the couple that was with us noticed that they had several small, red, itching bumps on their skin that they had not had prior to being in the house. After some discovery, we learned that they had also been victims of the flea infestation. We saw over 100 fleas in various places in the house, mostly on the carpets upstairs and downstairs. When going out to the garage, I noticed that the owners of the home had several "do it yourself" treatments for fleas, from treating the floors to actually treating their pet. This home is suffering a major flea infestation (as obviously the owners are aware) and needs to be treated professionally, not with "do it yourself" products. We have already had to spend over $100 at the groomer to have our dog treated because of this, hopefully, she won't have to go to the vet and incur additional expenses.
Having a relaxing vacation was made even more difficult as the two major bedrooms have no window treatments, so the bright California sun wakes you up, whether you want it to or not. There is not even an option of sleeping past first light. In ALL of our rentals and all of the rentals that we have been to, there have been at least curtains to keep the sun out. This is unacceptable.
To further compound things, the bedrooms are either freezing cold or burning hot. We were forced to go to sleep wearing long sweatpants and sweatshirts as the temperature in the upstairs bedroom hovered around 65 degrees. In the middle of the night. The heat would decide to kick on and the temperature would soar to 80 degrees. There is only one thermostat for the whole house and it is located in the kitchen, right next to the garage door, where the makeshift A/C unit constantly blows hot, humid air.
There is no railing on the stairway or the upstairs loft area. This home is extremely dangerous for children.
As a result of all of these malfeasances, we were forced to abandon the house and cut our vacation, on the week of my birthday, short.
I have a great deal of experience with this business and I know that "things happen" and not everything will be perfect, but this experience has far exceeded those reasonable considerations.
After speaking with owner, Mike Hermanns, he personally promised me a refund for the nights that we didn't stay. Up to this point, all he has given me is a slew of excuses. So Cal Hot Properties has an abysmal customer service record with the BBB with a letter grade of "F". They also have multiple customer complaints against them on several consumer websites. This seems to be "business as usual" for this company.
Date Added: May 9, 2012
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