ComplaintsforAMI Locals LLC

• Initial Complaint

  05/09/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  "spoke with our Operations Manager and she feels the items that you listed as complaints, although in need of repairs, should not have hindered your vacation. Several weeks ago, my family of 5 decided to go ahead and book a trip to Florida. Booking this rental was at no small cost to us. For perspective, 1 week was equal to several months of my house payment We found the AMI website and based on limited availability we booked the Garden Party for a period of 2/26-3/5 at a cost of approx. 3,500. It appeared in good overall shape and it seemed to meet our needs. As a side note, in addition to the overall fees, the taxes with the rental surprised me as well. We arrived late (approx 9 pm) on the scheduled date after dark. The instruction were vague and the home was not marked with address numbers. After getting into the home and unpacking, we started finding a multitude of items that needed attention. The one I found most frustrating was the fact that each bedroom had exterior door to the porch that we were unaware of. This was never disclosed. For a family with young kids, unknown exterior doors are an unwelcome surprise, especially when a pool is on the property. This information should have been clearly outlined in the description of the property. Following a frustrating night, we did find the house missing address number. It was written with a sharpie pen on a sturdy brown bag that hanging onto a post outside. It was attached by metal fish line. The list of differed maint was long. We called AMI, requested another home, they had no other options. They offered to do repairs, we declined as the list was so long it would have taken a crew of 2 an entire week to finish all repairs. Items in need of attention included a rotted door, long term wter damage to two levels, garbage around the property, broken furniture, etc. We tried to find an agreeable solution, they ignored us when we asked to speak with upper management. Some photos attached

  Business response

  05/23/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2022/05/23) */ I met guest at the property to do a walk through and he insisted that was not necessary. He mentioned the floors were dirty and we addressed that on Sunday immediately after my meeting with him by sending over housekeeping to address this. There was some minimal items at the property that needed addressing and he wanted to remind me of all of them on a daily basis; however, insisted he wanted no one there as it would interfere with his vacation. A few pieces of Poolside furniture were in need of replacement or repair. I got him access to the game room area below as he had young children and was disappointed there were no board games. Once inside, he proceeded to alert me on some water damage at the ceiling area, but again, insisted that it was not interfering, and his children were enjoying the game room area. He then left a day early, not sure why his exact reason was. He did inform us, he is an Insurance Claims Inspector by profession and these items were not acceptable; however, again, did not want them addressed during his stay as it would interfere with his privacy. Any items he would allow us access to the property were addressed by our Maintenance staff. Consumer Response /* (3000, 15, 2022/06/08) */ It is correct that we refrained from them doing repairs. The list I included to repair would have taken a 2 man crew an entire week. I'm not sure that would have been fair for us the customer. In addition, they have never made a meaningful concession for charging us the full rate for a property that should not have been in the rental program. To date, the operations manager that we requested call us has still not called us. The upper doors to

• Initial Complaint

  04/13/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  My family rented a home via VRBO for a Spring Break trip with our sons High School friends. The house advertised a pool/hot tub as one of it's best features (the first picture on the house description is of the pool/hot tub). The management company, AMI Locals, advertises that all of their property's have heated pools to a temperature of 82 degrees. This guarantee for AMI was the sole reason we chose this rental. We wanted the assurance that the pool/hot tub would we warm enough to use. Upon arrival, we encountered the previous tenants who informed us that the pool/hot tub were too cold to use and we would have to call the pool company, We immediately called AMI Locals and were assured that it would be fixed immediately. It wasn't fixed on Saturday (First day of vacaction) It wasn't fixed on Sunday (Second day of vacation) It wasn't fixed on Monday (Third day of vacation) It wasn't fixed on Tuesday (Fourth day of vacation) It wasn't fixed on Wednesday (Fifth day of vacation) Finally fixed on Thursday, so we could use it two days. AMI Locals was called every day and we were assured each time that the situation was being addressed. They told us that they "could not control their vendors" and they were at the mercy of the vendors response. I understand this, but this obviously is not our problem as renters. We've asked AMI Locals for a refund and they offered only a $500 inconvenience refund. I have asked to speak with management to discuss their reasoning behind offering such a small refund, and they don't respond. Please investigate these practices as it's obvious to all that they hope people will just go away.

  Business response

  11/11/2022

  We strive to provide a 5-star experience for our guests and are very sorry that this was not the experience these guests had. As per our Terms and Conditions, we are not always able to refund for issues that are out of our control, including, but not limited to, equipmental issues that are handled by our third-party vendors. This being said, we do understand the frustrations and often refund as we are human and want nothing more than a great stay for our guests. In this case, we did refund all that we were able. After this complaint, the guests did file a chargeback and won. We wish this guest the very best and hope to see them again in the future to provide them with our 5-star service. 

  Customer response

  11/11/2022

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

• Initial Complaint

  04/12/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Regarding "On The Rocks": Property # XXXXXXX, Reservation ID: XXXXXXXX. *******, I am very disappointed in AMI VRBO and the response our group has been getting. We had a large group on spring break and chose this very expensive property based on pictures and reviews. We were grossly misled by the false advertisement of a pool and hot tub for this property. These were important details that helped our group decide to stay at the property called "on the Rocks". We were saddened to find out the pool and hot tub were unusable due to a broken heater. They were freezing cold. I was the first at the property on March 26th, 2020. The people leaving the property already reported the broken pool and hot tub so your company already knew there was an issue and did nothing to repair them. The company knowingly rented our families the property without mentioning this issue. I called 2-5times a day and took a significant amount of my vacation time trying to correct this issue for our families. When we finally got someone out to the property, he did not know anything about pools and could not repair it. I was promised a fixed hot tub and pool on several calls but they were not fixed during my entire stay. I was then promised adequate compensation for our time and lack of advertised amenities. Someone from the office suggested a paltry $500 for all families to divide when we paid over 30,000. This is unacceptable. We deserve fair and reasonable compensation for ruining our vacation. a 10-20% refund would seem far more realistic.

  Customer response

  04/26/2022

  I have still not heard from the company. Our group has called many times and have still not received any compensation nor have they discussed the complaint with us.

  Business response

  11/11/2022

  We strive to provide a 5-star experience for our guests and are very sorry that this was not the experience these guests had. As per our Terms and Conditions, we are not always able to refund for issues that are out of our control, including, but not limited to, equipmental issues that are handled by our third-party vendors. This being said, we do understand the frustrations and often refund as we are human and want nothing more than a great stay for our guests. In this case, we did refund all that we were able. After this complaint, the guests did file a chargeback and won. We wish this guest the very best and hope to see them again in the future to provide them with our 5-star service. 

• Initial Complaint

  02/01/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  We rented a home in Bradenton beach for 10 days 1/31/22 to 2/10/22. We prepaid the company $8,881 plus a $635 booking fee to VRBO. When we arrived at the property on 1/31/22 we found a significant amount of water on the kitchen floor. A freezer that would not close. Significant damage to the cabinets around the refrigerator. It was obvious this leak had been an ongoing issue. We immediately called the company and asked to me moved to another property. They wanted to send a repair person out to look at it. The repair person did show up within an hour. He removed ice buildup in the freezer so it would close and said everything was ok. We were still not comfortable with the repair. The amount of damage did not come from freeze buildup that thawed. We were also concerned about the possibility of mold due to the obvious long time leak. The repair man said he was not qualified to confirm the presence of mold and that a professional would need to come out. Within minutes of the repairman leaving the water leaking on the floor continued. We tried calling AMI locals again and only got voicemail messages. A text to the company was answered with "management would contact you during business hours" At that point we immediately left the property and were forced to find other accommodation's at 6:30PM. We initiated a text on the morning of 2/1/22 asking for a refund since the property was not safe and they were unwilling to move us to another location. We did find other properties on the company website that were available. We received a text that they were reviewing the property and previous communications and would get back with us. Per a phone call at from AMI at 2pm on 2/1/22 they were not offering any solution and were considering it as a customer cancellation with no refund unless the property is re-rented. This company is horrible to deal with and has no interest in reaching a solution to the problem. They have the money in hand and will not even be reasonable

  Business response

  02/23/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 10, 2022/02/17) */ Dear Guest, Thank you for your feedback. Resolution to the freezer was handled timely and appropriately. Based on our standard cancelation policy I am happy to inform you we were able to rebook part of your stay and have issued a refund accordingly. Consumer Response /* (3000, 12, 2022/02/18) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Again AMI Locals is only interested in responding to one of the issues. The repairman did remove some of the frost buildup in the dirty freezer with dead cockroach. He also wiped up the significant water on the kitchen floor. AMI locals has no interest in addressing the major concern of water continually leaking on the kitchen floor. As we stated they would not even take our phone calls as we were moving in to discuss the problem. They also obviously lied when they said they had no other option for us to move to. There were several available properties on their website. They say we received a refund for time someone occupied the property. We never moved in and we checked the availability daily. It was never listed for rent for the time we were scheduled to be in the unit. We therefore still expect an additional refund. AMI Locals collects your money up front and has no interest in working with you. We have never had a worse experience with a hospitality company. We didn't try to get out of our rental we just asked for a safe clean property. We were forced to find alternate accommodations at 6:30pm during a busy season. AMI Locals had other listings available but would not accommodate us. We have daily photos of the listing showing unavailable. We will continue to do everything we can to get a full refund. Business Response /* (4000, 14, 2022/02/18) */ Dear Guest, We pride ourselves on not only our portfolio of accommodations, but also the level of luxury service that we provide to our guests. We regret that the experience you describe was less than what we strive to achieve and as a result have issued a full refund to you. We will consider this matter closed at this time and wish you all the happiness in your future travels. Regards. Consumer Response /* (2000, 18, 2022/02/23) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) AMI Locals did refund 100% of our payment. However the way the handled the issue was totally unnecessary. We would have had a much better opinion of the company if they would have reasonably addressed our issues as they arose. Based on our experience we would never do business with AMI Locals again. I would recommend anyone save themselves much aggravation and look for accommodations elsewhere.

• Initial Complaint

  11/16/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  These people are a complete joke! Do not waste your time or money on AMI Locals. We booked Walking on Sunshine for 11/7-11/13. Upon check-in had broken pool heater and immediately texted them. They told me the issue will be fixed and someone will call back "tomorrow" only to never have either promise fulfilled. After enough nagging phone calls, text messages, and finally showing up to their office on day 3 looking for answers will someone attempted to assist us. We thought the problem was resolved by them accommodating us and moving my family to a different property, but we were so wrong. We arrived to Blue Pearl to find it infested with rodents and snakes, and flies all over the bed. My entire family including young kids and an elderly grandparent witnessed said snake kill and devour said rodent in the middle of the kitchen floor. Catch the entire thing on video, and when I call the after hours phone line in fear asking for help they will tell us to catch them ourself. And then they expect us to sleep peacefully in that house for the rest of your stay after being traumatized by what you saw, kids are afraid to sleep, with no follow up from pest control or anything. So with nowhere else to go, we spent the remainder of the sleepless nights finding new rodent droppings throughout the house all over the floor and even kitchen counters. When we called to complain again after checkout they will further insulted me by offering an additional night stay at no charge. You couldn't pay me to stay in any of their properties. STAY AWAY!! AMI Locals knows that I have photo and video evidence of all these claims but still doesn't care and to this day I am still waiting for a return call from this awful company.

  Business response

  12/21/2021

  Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2021/12/01) */ Dear Guest, Thank you for submitting your concerns. Precautions are made at each of our properties to ensure that our guests are able to have a seamless and relaxing stay. It saddens me that your visit fell short and for this I extend our deepest apologies. We do our best when issues are identified in our homes to rectify them as quickly as possible, but with these unprecedented times of COVID it is sometimes difficult for our vendors to be able to either acquire the parts to correct the situation or have the staff available to make house calls. Regardless of these circumstances, your concerns were addressed in a timely manner and considerable compensation was offered as a gesture for your frustrations, which you declined. We hope that you will give us the opportunity in the future to host you again and give you the experience that you and your family expected. Consumer Response /* (3000, 11, 2021/12/02) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I am STILL waiting to speak to an owner or General Manager since 11/13. On 11/20 when Jeremy called me with a rude attitude, he told me I was wrong and that the Operations Manager will call me later that day. She nor anybody called me. Your "considerable compensation" of half refund(laughable) was offered to me ONLY if I deleted my reviews on social media. That, Jeremy, is WRONG. So in that regard, YES, I declined to remove my reviews which means I refuse the compensation. All of my reviews will remain and I will not be pressured or forced to remove them. I even sent a detailed email on 11/20 and nobody from AMI Locals responded to that either. Seems like a one-man show operating over there ran by Jeremy with terrible leadership since the owner/general manager/operations manager completely refuses my countless requests to contact me. AMI Locals has a total lack of accountability and have been nothing more than a waste of my time. Business Response /* (4000, 13, 2021/12/09) */ Dear Guest, Our accounting department has confirmed that you have initiated a chargeback for the entire amount of your stay. Understanding that you stayed the full 5 nights at the property and felt comfortable enough to do so, makes requesting a refund for the entire amount unreasonable. Every effort was made to try and make sure you were able to enjoy your time here, and appropriate compensation was offered. Unfortunately, just like in your personal home, when after hour vendors are unavailable, there is not much that can be done and is outside of our control. At this point we consider this matter closed. Regards.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩