owner lack of responsiviness and issue with receiving full deposit back. Never would rent again!
Submitted: November 14, 2012
Stayed: September 2012
The condo is very nice in a bldg which is approx 10 years old. Great location and directly on the beach. Furniture is also nice and condo is as described. Bldg is smaller then many nearby bldg's meaning views are not perfect. Yes, great ocean view from the Condo but not the best view in the bldg. .view is from the side, not direct frontal view like some others. A great place! But, for the money one could do better. First, the owner didn't provide me the Wifi password so I was offline for many days until her representative told me where to look in the condo for the password, (hidden in a box in a droor). Second, the drapes from day one would not open. What's the point of an ocean view if one can't view it? I had to pay $25 to a bldg workman to fix the drapes. But, the owner refused to reimburse me even though they were broken the minute I arrived! Also, the thermostat wasn't working properly and was broken. I informed the owner and her representative quickly after arrival. The temp set did not match the temp displayed on the thermostat. I had the handyman come over to fix it. He put tape on the thermostat to keep it in place since it was moving and broken. He said a new thermostat was needed and I relayed the info to the owner. The owner was non-responsive. The owner deducted $135 from my deposit citing I broke her thermostat even though from the begginning I told her there was a problem in writing many times, (I have the emails to prove my accusations). This wasn't appreciated whatsoever and was questionable at best. Everything else was ok. The main issue was the owners non-responsiviness too numerous problems. Her representative wasn't able to make any decisions without first obtaining the owners ok either. This was a real problem. While the condo and location were great I would never rent from this particular owner again due to the reasons described. She owes me $160 for her own broken thermostat and the handman needed from day one. I guess the thousands of dollars paid to her in rent wasn't enough? I have to work for a living, am not rich, and money doesen't grow on trees for me.
Owner's Response: This traveler is the ONLY complaint we have ever had from a tenant in the 8 years we have rented our condo. We routinely have satisfied repeat renters. This gentleman checked in and informed us that the drapes wouldn’t open and that the thermostat was not calibrated exactly. He later contacted building maintenance and told us they "could replace our drapery rails and the thermostat at about $200 each" and that we owed him $25 for the service call. We had just stayed in the apartment and the drapes and thermostat were working fine. We are the penthouse unit so the ceiling is high and the drapes are high quality heavy fabric. They require the use of a pull cord on a traverse rod as opposed to simply pushing them back with your hand. Maintenance told us that when they went to the apartment, the drapes were functioning fine when the pull cord was used. This tenant preferred to push them with his hand.
The thermometer read 73 degrees when the tenant set it on 72 and this did not meet his calibration requirements. He attempted to dismantle it to see what could be done to make them exactly match. Maintenance was called to try to put it back together but it was broken and could not be reassembled. We found it taped together after this tenant checked out. He did not mention any of this to us and only admitted to breaking it after I told him I had talked to the maintenance man.
This tenant states that we are not direct ocean front and that one could do better for the money. We are the closest 2 bedroom condo to the ocean in this direct ocean front building, one unit from the front. As he states, our view is excellent. The front condo on each floor is a 3 bedroom unit which rents for almost twice the price. He could get closer by doubling his rent. A comparable 2 BR for less money would be quite difficult to come by and a 2 BR unit closer to the ocean in our building does not exist. We have always provided impeccable maintenance so this has been a unique experience for us to have a complaint come from two issues which truly were not issues. The wi-fi password is written on the modem box in the top drawer of the desk and is usually the first thing people see when they sit at the desk. The password was verbally related to this tenant when he called on his first day of check in. He wrote and told us our condo was “awesome” and that he was having a wonderful time. Only when he had to pay for his damage did he become dissatisfied.
Helpful votes: 1/1
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