Could be a lot better!
Submitted: October 5, 2012
Stayed: September 2012
At first the owner appeared to be providing adequate customer service. And per the owner's listing, WiFi was included. It was not, and the owner promised to reimburse us $70 - I have her email stating so. Subsequently, she's decided NOT to reimburse us, listing her service to recommend a cooking class to us as a "concierge" service! She imagines that to be worth $70.
She's taken WiFi off her ad, so be sure to bring your laptops, as she has some sort of internet cable coming out of the wall. To be fair, the townhouse was mostly as promised; the two queen beds were very comfortable, and the place itself is very spacious. Lovely kitchen, well appointed. Great towels and linens. Very tiny TV - there was a larger one in a closet; guess it didn't work?
However, as far as it being well-maintained, I would take exception. A very large and heavy sliding glass door blind was not secured, and fell on top of me. I'm glad it didn't happen to a child! When I told her of us, she had a handyman come in to put it back in place and, according to her, he charged her $86. However, not my fault, as I did not cause this in the first place.
The photo you see in the ad is misleading - there was NO furniture on the patio deck; we went down to the garage, found an old card table, and 3 rather scroungy plastic chairs and one other chair. The deck was a huge selling point for us when we arranged to stay here; we wanted to be able to enjoy the gorgeous NM sunsets - we were not disappointed.
Other somewhat annoying but much less dangerous problems: a microwave that had a dinner plate in place of the glass plate usually found in an MV - there was a note attached to the MV informing of us. The washer/dryer combo worked well, if exceedingly noisy. Impossible to have a conversation in the LR when it was on. We had to buy our own toilet paper as the TP provided was something one would only find in a gas station rest stop.
This place does NOT sleep six comfortably. The two queen beds are suitable for two couples; the lumpy couch does not pull out to be a bed, and there was queer sort of foam chair that unfolded, and in a pinch would do for a small child.
I've rented HomeAway vacation homes in France and the UK, and came away exceedingly satisfied with them and their owners. Not so in this case. I could not recommend this property to a friend or relative. The owner has been deceitful and somewhat foolish, I'm sorry to say.
Owner's Response: First, this is my first review below 4 or 5 stars. This guest gave me a 5-star review and then withdrew it and replaced it with a 1-star review when I told her I would not rebate her the $70 for the Wifi. The blind repair was $76. I do not collect a damage deposit because people usually do not break anything. It's very difficult to tell who is at fault when something breaks.
Other perks received included the following. I arranged a cooking class with a Santa Fe food critic who is a friend of mine, and accepted her party's payment in 4 separate checks/credit card payments, at least one of which was late.
I had forgotten to take the Wifi off my ad, but spent at least 5 hours with Comcast to get Wifi installed. Comcast agreed to install it the day before the guests arrived, using my lockbox key to get in. I made it clear no one would be there. I have this in writing as I engaged Comcast in the form of a chat with a Comcast representative. About an hour before the install, I got a call from Comcast confirming my appointment. I reminded them at this time that no one would be there and there was a lockbox key to get in. However, when the tech arrived, he called and said he could not go into my property without someone being there. If they had informed me of that in the first place, I would have arranged to have someone there. In fact, my handyman had just been there about an hour before the Comcast tech arrived, which was in the last minute of their promised time period.
I was also confused about complaints about the sleeping arrangements. My ad says, "2 BR, 2.5 BA; sleeps 4; with comfy couch, sleeps 5." There were only 4 guests. They knew ahead of time there were 2 queen beds and that the other 2 sleeping spots were a couch (which I have slept on many times very comfortably, and a pull-out chair. (I have found that couches that pull out to be a bed are never comfortable anyway).
I was unaware that 2 of the deck chairs were falling apart. I know there were at least 2 other ones that were usable. If she had let me know about this problem, I would have gotten 2 chairs delivered to her by my handyman immediately. The harsh sun destroys everything left out on the deck so I choose, for financial reasons, to not buy expensive deck furniture. I have since added 2 new deck chairs.
TV size is shown in photo.
2 of the other guests wrote emails to me, telling me what a great condo I had and what a good time they had, especially with the cooking class. No complaints.
Helpful votes: 1/1
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