Misleading Advertisement
Submitted: July 12, 2010
Stayed: July 2010
I answered the ad for Condo 78638 on Golf and until receiving the contract had no reason to believe this might not be the unit we would rent. I complied with the owner's request, putting down the requested deposit, received the contract that said 'I would be assigned one of the units upon receipt of the second payment towards the week's rent'. When originally talking with the owner very early in the season, I told him I answered ad 78638 with few steps because we were older and being closer to the pool would be great for the grandchildren. He gave me no indication we would not be assigned the unit we wanted. After the final payment was made, my daughter noticed there were two days availability the week we were to occupy the unit. I again called the owner, he said the availability showed because he still had availability in the other units at that time. Still thinking I had the unit on Golf, I called two days prior to our check-in to see if everything was a go for us to check into the unit on Golf. At that time, I found out we were assigned VBRO 93659. Calling him again, he said I never indicated to him that I wanted the Golf unit, and he was running a business and assigned units as if they were hotels, and that he had a mortgage to pay and if I had requested a certain unit it would be to no avail as he didn't operate that way. We could either take the unit assigned, or leave it it - two days prior to the schedled arrival time! Our unit did NOT have a view of the fairway. You see the tops of the roofs of other units. The NEW gas grill he said was in the unit was so greasy and dirty the someone had written their name on cover. I cleaned it inside and out, and still the grill smoked so badly that smoke trailed along the celing of the screened porch and into the master bedroom. The scariest part is that the smoke alarm in the master bedroom did not sound when smoke was thick in the room. We used the grill only one time as we were afraid of it. Carpet tack strips were coming through the matted carpet preventing us from going barefoot in kitchen/dining area and the place overall needs a thorough cleaning - thick dust on ceiling fans, foodstuffs stuck on the kitchen countertops when we arrived, plumbing in 2 showers in disrepair, diseased evergreen in the front of the unit with bagworms dropping and crawling on the entryway. We are in contact with a Stonebridge board member about our experience with this misleading owner.
Owner's Response: We are very sorry for any confusion on behalf of the guest. Our main method for ensuring no misunderstandings is our contract that states "A 3 bedroom 3 bath unit will be assigned at check in". We have also added notes to all our VRBO listings to help ensure no future misunderstandings. All of units have the same floor plan, number of beds and no flights of stairs to the main floor. They are also located within a radius 500 ft of each other on two streets. We are fortunate to have a on-site welcome center with a dedicated housekeeping and maintenance staff. Unfortunately, the guest did not contact the welcome center staff or us so the cleaning and maintenance issues could have been addressed during their visit. My wife Cheryl and I take great pride in providing a high quality guest experience and have a loyal following of repeat guests and make every attempt to build on this base of repeat guests.
Helpful votes: 3/3
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