TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE
Submitted: September 27, 2012
Stayed: September 2012
My husband and I were extremely disappointed in the lack of professionalism, customer service and dishonesty by the owner. Every time we would go on the balcony, it would reek of bird poop. There was even laundry left in the dryer. We were told we only needed to bring our bathing suites, and this this unit had beach chairs; however there were no beach chairs. There were only "chairs in bags", like we would use camping. No beach chairs, so we had to purchase beach chairs and an umbrella.
The owner failed to uphold a verbal contact of a $300.00 refund due to a misunderstanding in booking process. Upon searching VRBO.com for the perfect vacation condo, we called in regards to VRBO listing number 271765, (which has ironically been removed in the past couple of weeks). Apparently this owner also is/was the listing agent for another unit in the Beach Cottages I. We discussed pricing and dates for VRBO listing number 271765. Upon arriving at the unit, we discovered this was not the unit we intended to booked. We called the owner and initially she stated she should credit us $300.00 for the misunderstanding, or provide a refund, if we wished to make other arrangements. Upon my husband and I discussing, we decided we would make other arrangements, and take a full refund because we are not bird lovers, and we wanted a full ocean front view. At his point, the owner's husband took control of the situation and stated that we signed a contact for VRBO listing number 34810. This was true, after booking what we through was a different unit, I received the contract, signed, and sent back, thinking we were booking VRBO listing #271765. The owner and her husband stated they would no longer give us the refund, so we settled on the $300.00 credit for the misunderstanding. After returning home from our vacation, I called the owner to follow up on the verbal agreement of the $300.00 refund, and the owner was argumentative, rude, disrespectful, and hung up on me. She then failed to return my e-mails and phone calls.
My husband I worked very hard all year to go on vacation, relax and be stress free. I've never been disrespected so badly in my life, as we were by this owner. I was even afraid to leave this feedback until we received back our deposit check, in fear the owner would cash, and not refund, since the owner failed to be a woman of her word.
This overall experience was very unsatisfactory and unacceptable.
Owner's Response: The renter initially called us during late May 2012, inquiring about a reservation for September 2012. We explained that unit #1305, which is VRBO #34810 was the ONLY unit available to rent for the period of Sept 1 to Sept. 11, 2012 (10 nights).
We offered an excellent rate of 10 nights for the price of only 8 nights, which included the long weekend of Labor Day. She later called us back to book the reservation.
We sent the contract to the renter during early June 2012, and received it back signed on June 17, 2012. The contract clearly stated that the reservation was for Unit #1305, VRBO #34810.
Three months later, on September 1, 2012, the renter arrived at Unit #1305, VRBO #34810, and called us saying we had assigned the wrong unit to her.
We explained to the renters that we needed to review the paperwork and reassured them that IF the error was ours, we would return their money or extend a $300 credit to them.
Upon reviewing our file; however, it was evident that the contract signed by the renter three months earlier clearly stated that the unit they had rented was in fact Unit #1305, VRBO #34810.
We tried to explain to the renters that, under the circumsstances, we could not extend a refund or credit, since
they had ample time from the initial date of the reservation back in May, until their arrival date, on September 1, 2012, to review the information contained in the contract, and confirm it was the same information contained in VRBO.
The information and pictures shown in VRBO depicted EXACTLY the same unit the renters had been assigned, Unit #1305,
VRBO #34810.
We have enjoyed repeat renters every year, who are satisfied with our unit and customer service; and we sincerely strive to act fairly and honesty with all our renters; regretfully, in this instance we feel this was an error on the part of the renters.
Helpful votes: 1/1
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