Disenchanted but disillusioned...
Review Submitted: February 8, 2008
Date of Stay: January 2008
I rented this house wanting to have a "locals" experience which it indeed provided. The location was perfectly situated on a charming residential street in historic Old San Juan. It is an easy walk to great restaurants (I highly recommend Mira Buena) and plenty of shopping. There is a wonderul free trolley that can take you to the historic fort and the grocery store will drive you back to your house for a nominal tip to the driver.
The house itself was a bit less accomodating than I had expected. Our television was not connected to any form of cable. When I commented to the manager, I was informed that the add for the house said there was a TV but never mentioned cable. In that case they may have well put up a card board box if you can't get a single channel! The closet door fell off in the master bedroom, a ceiling fan light had no cover...just a bare bulb, and we were informed the dining room table was about to fall apart upon our arrival. My understanding from the manager however is that all of these items have been noted for repair or replacement as the house was a "new" acquisition. Unfortunately I reserved the house a month in advance and was not told it wasn't completely ready for inhabitants. I must say however that the manager did try to make amends and provided us an adjustment to the charges. She also took the time to review our concerns and suggestions for future guests comforts. Provided these concerns are met and improved, a future renter can have a wonderful experience at this location.
Our overall experience was pleasant but I have rented many houses in the past in other countries and have had much nicer furnishings and more complete amenities. The house is probably fine for younger people but the middle aged set and older might prefer a few more comforts...like a TV that works.
Owner's Response: To all our future tenant! We are truly embarrassed for the things that went wrong this time and deeply upset, that after all we did our clients couldn’t leave happy.
The moment we were informed our tenants are unhappy, we started to work for them!
We offered them various solutions such as an upgrade - to move to a way more expensive location at no extra charge or to refund the full amount of rent if they wish to leave the agreement or to fix and replace the TV and Dinner Table as well as all the other issues the same day.
Our tenants refused all our offers and asked for a discount. We accepted to refund 40% of their rent!
After all 4 tenants stayed in a “2 bed room, 2 bath room, 2 patios HOUSE” for less rent than what 2 persons would have to pay for a tiny hotel room.
It is true that the TV didn’t have cable by than, because we couldn’t get an appointment to install it on time – now this issue is fixed and with the cable came the new flat screen for better quality TV – see updated living room picture.
Indeed the dinner table was old – please check our pictures and see yourself that there is a brand new wooden table to enjoy your meal.
The old one is still usable and went to the patio - so now out door dinning is possible. We also installed two hammock hooks – so if you want to chill the tropical way you can “hang out” in your private patio.
The closet door didn’t fell off it went out of place which was fixed in a second.
Well, what more can we say – please come and stay with us and be sure that we will be there to take care of your needs and fix whatever needs to be fixed in a heart beat, but please don’t asked for discounts – since that doesn’t seem to be the way to make tenants happy after all we won’t do it anymore.
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Helpful votes: 9/10