Unsafe for children, Fire hazard, Not clean!!!
Submitted: August 5, 2009
Stayed: July 2009
When we walked in the door, there no welcome letter, contact information for the owners, and the place was disgusting. The kitchen cabinets were sticky to the touch, there was fir from a black animal and urine smell all over the carpeting and sofas, one of the beds had sheets that had clearly not been changed, and the bunk bed was so wobbly we had to lower the top bunk to the floor. When we did this, we saw that 2 of the connector pieces were missing, and one had been replaced with a spent gun cartridge...nice. The windows and doors were all smudgy and dirty as if they had never been cleaned, and there were cobwebs in almost every corner. The love seat on the back enclosed patio had a large wood piece of its frame broken and sticking out just waiting to seriously hurt someone. I spoke with the owner about the cleaning issues, and he was very friendly and said he would send a cleaning lady out on Monday and would call to see that everything was all right. No cleaning lady every came, and neither did the call.
On Wednesday the owner came to pick up some sporting gear. At this point I confronted him about the bed in the downstairs bedroom that has a mattress that sags so far in the middle, you literally sleep at a 20 degree angle. The owner again was very friendly and said he would send someone out with a new mattress the next day, and that when you were on vacation, "you should at least be able to expect a decent bed"...I completely agree, however the mattress never showed up, and the owner went camping with his kids and was unavailable for the rest of our stay.
This cottage is advertised as newly renovated, but nothing seems newer than 5 years old, except the whirlpool...which was quite nice and even clean.
The sandy beach is mostly dirt mixed with twigs and small pieces of garbage. The lake itself seems to have clean water if you don't mind all the algae. The boating equipment was very nice, and we did enjoy spending time kayaking and canoeing.
What makes the house a fire-trap, is the French door to the deck that you can see in the pictures. The sloping of the foundation makes it impossible to completely open this door. I am tall and thin and could only go through moving sideways.
This cabin is certainly not worth the money we paid for the week and is quite dangerous for children under the age of 5. This was only aggravated by the dirt and the poor treatment we got from the owners.
Owner's Response: We are very sorry that our cottage did not meet the needs of these guests. They are European; German, and came with an entirely different of expectations of what a weekly rental cottage is here; more in line with what they are used to at home, which apparently are more of structured resort hotel type operations. Their comments are so grossly exaggerated that it’s difficult to give them creditability. An example is the complaint about the cottage being a “firetrap.” Building Codes here requires that doors exterior open inward, not outward as in Germany. There are four exterior doors in the cottage, one other in the same room they complained about.
This is our eighth summer of renting the cottage and, if it was presented to our guests as described here, we would never have had the many repeat guests we have and, indeed, been out of business long ago. We have the house cleaned thoroughly each week, fresh linens (even the bedspreads laundered) weekly, and replace many household items annually so they are fresh and new.
We try to be very responsive to the needs of our guests and provide a vacation home just as we look for ourselves when we travel. We give a detailed description of the cottage, the lake, and the neighborhood to avoid any confusion over what is being offered. These guest were demanding a discount almost from the moment they arrived and in spite of a number of attempts to satisfy their complaints, it became apparent to me that I was going to be unsuccessful.
This cottage is our summer home, a place our family greatly enjoys, and are proud to offer for your vacation. We want to make sure that you enjoy it as much as we do and work hard to offer it to our guests clean, well furnished, and ready for a memorable week’s fun.
Helpful votes: 14/15
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