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Top > United States > Florida 
| Vacation Rental Complaints |
| 31. |
DO NOT TRUST SUNSET FUN VILLAS
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Beware of this rental home vacation website!Owner sends you email with lowest rate possible while keeping in line with similar rates. Sends u a correct MONEY invoice but what you may not notice is that the check in date/time is wrong or , or writes the wrong amt of people renting (even though its rent for the home not per person, he gets u in the end) then upon arrival to the home, he wont let you in unless you give him CASH because "you have wrong amt of people with you." He did that to us. He knew there were 8 people in my party and he rented us a home that slept 10. When we got to the house, he said "no no no, you have too many people, you give me more $$ and I give you home. (the guy barely speaks english thats why I wrote it as he was speaking to me) So we paid him extra money in cash because we were traveling with 3 children and 2 elderly parents. I was balling my eyes out in the driveway. Plus he misrepresents the square footage of his home. He told me it was 2500 sq feet when it was really only 1500 sq ft. He never had anyone come clean the pool or cut the grass in all of the 10 days we were there. He promised us a 300 minute calling card to use with the phone, we never got it. He charged us for internet service, but we had to tap into someones unsecured network so my husband could work on his laptop, he charged us for a BBQ that was rusted out and not usable at all!!! To top it off, the table that we should have been able to use for our dinners was on its last leg!! The entire table tipped when we tried to sit to eat dinner the first nite we were there. So we ended up having to eat around the 4 person table on the lanei and the kids had to sit on the floor picnic style to eat their dinners. I documented everything, took pictures and videos. When we left on july 4th I sent an email letting him know we cleaned the home, he sent me back in emal the next day saying it was in perfect condition and I will have my security deposit back within 7 days. Needless to say....I am still waiting. He wont answer emails and he wont answer the phone anymIore. The Oceola BBB has been notified and so has Rentalo.com which is where he saw my posting. He has 4 homes that he owns/rents. DONT RENT FROM HIM....... Plus not to scare you but the owner who is the one that you rent from, he would come at nite (it happened times) and not even let you know he was there. We would hear this rustling sound outside becuase we would be sitting out in the pool area and he would be sneaking into the garage to get something. The first time it happened we ran out to the front and we saw him leaving!!!! BTW--he ended up locking the spa timer so we couldnt use the spa tub anymore!!! even though we paid for it!!!!
Date Added: Jul 26, 2009
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| 32. |
Spotted Grouper, Alligator Point, Florida
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My family and I rented a beach home named The Spotted Grouper in Alligator Point, Florida for the last week of July 2009. The owner, Joel Whitworth, asked for payment in full before he would reserve the home for us. Upon arriving at the Spotted Grouper, we headed straight for the beach and were shocked by what we saw. The water had a thick, muddy look and there were some dead fish on the sand. It was clear there was something wrong with the water and we would not be able to swim. We went in and called Mr. Whitworth immediately to let him know that the water conditions were not acceptable. He advised my husband that it was best we leave right away and he would see about refumding our money. We ended up staying at Mexico Beach which was lovely, but on our return home when we contacted Mr. Whitworth, he denied saying anything about giving us back our money and told my husband he was nuts. We went on the internet to see if we could find anyting out about the water conditions in Alligator Point and found an article stating that the bacterial levels were unsafe and that it was among the ten worst beaches in the state as far as water condition. I would recommend to everyone to stay clear of Alligator Point and Mr. Whitworth.
Date Added: Aug 6, 2009
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| 35. |
www.key-largo-vacations.com BEWARE no deposit return
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This was our dream home vacation rental during July. I stayed at the property for 1 week and paid $5000.00 to do so. It is a beautiful property, with ocean front access, and a pool. We were nervous due to the cost, and sight unseen. We have rented thru VRBO before though, and it was always a great stay. We paid in advance a $2500.00 deposit, which was supposed to be returned to us by 5 days after our stay. We left the property in perfect condition, just as we had found it to be. At no point did we ever see or hear from the owner Byron Dafoe or the manager Scott Johnson. After two weeks following our vacation, we made every attempt to contact them. Finally, Scott returned our emails, stating how sorry he was that our deposit hasn't been returned to us yet; that the owner has been traveling and that he would be needed to approve the funds necessary, and that the check would go out on that day (8-25-09 which was almost 4 weeks late per their own terms). Well, it is now the last day of September and after stringing us along with emails and promises and excuses, we are finally fed up and understanding that they have no intention of returning our deposit. I will be contacting a lawyer now, to consider my options, and a possible small claims suit. If anyone has any experiences of dealing with either of these thieves, please let me know. This vacation home is also listed with HomeAway ID# 226743. I will update this information as it develops.
***UPDATE*** There has been over a dozen people who have contacted me with their own problems with dealing with this business. There are rumors of the house being taken over by other management, owners, or that it is for sale. I did eventually get my deposit money returned to me-- sorry it has taken me this long to update-- the money was returned 2 1/2 months after my trip. Other people have not been so fortunate. I was able to contact the owner's accountant, who was the person that finally got the check sent my way. I suggest that if you are having difficulty with this business yourself, that you post on this website as I have done, to maybe warn others and make contact with others that have been preyed upon. I do not have separate contact info for the accountant, I was lucky he read the email sent to key largo vacations. Another approach, contact the Monroe County Sheriff's department (others have done so). Good Luck!!!
Date Added: Sep 30, 2009
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| 36. |
Disgusting Villa in Naples Park
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On Friday 21st August 2009, after a 9 hour flight (from Europe) and 3 hour drive from Orlando we finally arrived for our first time in Naples. We had rented this villa from the VRBO website and were in direct contact with the owner, Yuri Khazanov, who arranged for the keys etc for our arrival. This was our first time in Naples and were really looking forward to it. However, as soon as we stepped inside the front door we were shocked, speechless, in fact. The details and photographs on the website were totally misleading. The place was dingy, filthy dirty, the sofas were stained and obviously had not been cleaned since time began! The bed linen was brown nylon and would not have been fit for a dog to lie on. The walls were grubby, the pool...well, one could only imagine what could be picked up if one swam in it...the television was sitting in the middle of the floor...We spent all of 10 minutes in the property and left. We had paid this dreadful man several thousand US Dollars for a 2 week stay in a property that was totally misrepresented. We have sent Mr. Khazanov several emails and he is totally ignorning us. Thankfully we had the means to get in the car, find a realator and, in turn, a super condo. We are thousands of dollars out of pocket and this man is just getting away with it. Our advice would be DO NOT EVEN THINK OF RENTING ANY PROPERTY FROM THIS THIEF...THAT IS ALL HE IS.
Date Added: Oct 7, 2009
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| 38. |
MISREPRSENTATION OF PROPERTY
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My wife & I had rented a beach house in Fort Myers Beach, FL for the month of Sept. I spoke to BytheSeaRentals, Karen Nichols, and agreed to rent a beach house by the canal. She assured me that the house had been professionally cleaned, with linens, dishes, pots & pans etc. She also told me the 2 TV’s were cable ready and had DSL connection for my computer. We also had access to a washer/dryer. She said the house was in a great location on a canal.
We arrived at the beach house and found it to be very dirty and unsafe, certainly not professionally cleaned. In fact, there were cobwebs in the corners with dead bugs caught in them. All the windows and glass doors were very dirty. The kind of dirt that has been there for a while. The electrical outlets came out of the wall when a plug was pulled. The livingroom furniture was dirty. We had to soak & wash the dishes and cooking utensils in hot, soapy water over night to get them clean. We had to sweep and wash the kitchen floor. The TV’s weren’t hooked up and we attached the cable, they still didn’t work. We complained to her and she sent her handyman over to fix them, he made several attempts to program the remote, but it still didn’t work. I suggested that he should put new batteries in the remote. He didn’t have any so I offered mine and then the TV went on! The remote didn’t turn the TV on or off - we had to do that by hand.
The stove (which I tried to clean) was so dirty with old food & grease that when we tried to cook the smoke detector went off. The next morning I tried to make some toast, again the smoke detector went off. I called her and she said that she would send her handyman. He came over and raked leaves, then left. The bedroom door that led outside had a large space between the door and the floor and lots of gecko’s had “Carte Blanch” into the unit. The house was hard to keep cool because of the space. I used a towel to block the opening. The canal couldn’t be seen from the unit, you had to walk around the littered property, go by someone else’s unit (very uncomfortable) to get to the canal. The so called patio & furniture was located on someone else’s area and not usable because of dirt. The grass & weeds were so overgrown & dirty it was hard to safely walk to the canal. Yikes!! It was the end of the canal, there was sludge caked all around it, old tires, etc. In general the house was filthy dirty not to mention the large dead bug in the bathroom. The shower was filthy as was the bed. We did have clean linens - so wrinkled we did not to use them. We found it to be to intolerable a place to live. I called her and told her we had to leave. I informed her again of all the problems and asked her for a portion of our $1,000. rent back. I feel that she grossly misrepresented the property. It was not habitable. I sent her the money (1,199.00) in good faith and did not get what I expected.
All she returned to me was the $250.00 security deposit/cleaning fee in two separate payments which I had to ask for via e-mail several times.
Beware of these rentals from Karen Nichols, By the sea Rentals, Ft. Myers, FL
Date Added: Nov 21, 2009
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| 40. |
Fraudulent Advertising
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This home was listed as having covered parking, garage, hot tub/jacuzzi, open air with vaulted ceilings, telephone, heated pool and many other amenities.
When we arrived, the front door jamb was split where someone had kicked it in, the pool was stone cold and water level very low, no hot tub or jacuzzi, no telephone, no vaulted ceilings, not open & airy, but actually very dark inside and no covered parking or garage. We did not feel safe in this hom and the neighboring house's front yard was piled high with debris. Many light fixtures didn't work or were broken, there were many exposed nail/holes in the walls with pictures on the floor, no television on the lanai as shown in the picture. In general the home was quite dismal.
The owner offered us another home she had nearby, which we did agree to try, but after multiple calls to her property manager with no replies, the pool is too cold to use, there is no hot tub or jacuzzi in this home either, the beds are extremely uncomfortable and need replacing. There are no kitchen towels or dishrags, no washcloths or hand towels for the bathroom, lights that need bulbs/don't work. She refuses to turn the pool heat up past 80 degrees, which in the winter months is entirely too cold to use. We have asked her to refund our remaining balance $800 so that we can find other accomodations, which she refuses to do.
Date Added: Dec 4, 2009
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