Not what we expected.
Submitted: July 9, 2012
Stayed: August 2011
Our family stayed in this house in August of 2011. The owners greeted us at the ferry and led us to the cottage, where they announced the rules of the house before they allowed us to enter (wash off the sand, keep the door closed, etc.). Then they gave us a tour of the home which is completely filled with their personal possessions, including clothing and food. If you think you're going to use the dressers or closets, think again -- their food lined the cupboards, filled the fridge, and their clothes were in the drawers and in the closets. Imagine finding someone's dirty slippers under your bed, or a pair of someone else's bathrobes hanging on the back of the bathroom door? Or taking a shower and finding a used bar of soap? There are notes all over telling you what you are and are not allowed to use. The blender is stored in the area "off limits". Then there are the cats. Imagine our surprise at finding a cat sleeping on our bed in our room. The owners ended up taking their own cats, but there were feral cats we were asked to feed. One of our children has an allergy to cats and was very uncomfortable during our stay. The upstairs has a room air conditioner, but it is ineffective against the heat. The upstairs bathroom is a powder room only and the ceilings are not high enough to stand up inside, unless you are under five feet tall. The smell of cat urine is pervasive in the two downstairs bedrooms.
We can't leave the review without at least noting the positives: the house is nicely located on Fire Island. The owners left chocolate and wine for us, and the outdoor shower is nice. There are granite countertops in the kitchen.
After reading the nine other reviews left for this home, we noticed that eight of the profiles of the reviewers were created on the same day. This leads us to believe that they are fake reviews. In no way do the scenes depicted by these "reviews" mirror what we experienced. Rent at your own risk.
Owner's Response: It is very sad and disheartening to read this scathing review. Vacations should be wonderful and filled with special memories, and we try to contribute to those. And considering it has taken an entire year to comment is very strange.
There is so much dissatisfaction that we won’t try. However, for those of you who might think this is true, here are a few facts: We have been renting our home for over 25 years and this is a first. We get beautiful thank-you notes and many of our renters leave us gifts. We are always told what makes our home more desirable is the fact that we do have personal things. It has been a positive aspect. However, everyone’s desires and tastes are different.
The foods so "disparagingly" left in the refrigerator are staples such as ketchup, mustard, etc. and we encourage everyone to use them. We have everything one would need to spend a month, although most spend between 1 and 2 weeks. Fire Island is very expensive and we find that our tenants welcome this. We personally speak to everyone and apprise them of the oddities of our home, i.e. the upstairs bedroom being hot during the day, that we have 2 cats that live on our deck but never come into the house, that our NYC cat spends weekends with us and loves the privacy of her own little bed situated outside our bedroom.
We won’t even comment on the fake reviews. It is silly and as you can see, we have many repeat renters.
Yes, we have rules such as asking people to please be conscious of getting sand in the house. We own many sets of dishes and antiques and ask tenants not to use the special ones. There are so many other choices and tenants are always respectful of our favorite things. Perhaps the fact that the Vetters had traveled very far only to be bombarded by storms every day contributed to their severe displeasure. We would have hoped that being a broadcast journalist, communication would have been forthcoming
“Perhaps in 2012 you will find the vacation of your dreams and the sunshine for your soul!”
Helpful votes: 2/3
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