ComplaintsforCollins Vacation Rentals

• Initial Complaint

  12/27/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  On December 24, 2022, we checked into our rental thru Collins Vacation Rentals on St George Island. Within hours of checking in we alerted CVR that we did not have hot water. Today is Dec. 27th and we STILL do not have hot water. We have been without any water for a time yesterday and were offered a place to shower, not today though. We have 12 people that want to shower or even wash dishes in warm water. We got $255 credit on an almost $6000 rental from CVR. This is not how you treat customers. Yesterday when we had no water we had to go out to eat and that bill was almost $400. And that is also out of our pockets. We can't afford to go someplace else. CVR and taking terrible advantage of us. This looks so bad on them and Florida tourism. Your immediate attention is requested.

  Business response

  01/06/2023

  This was an unprecedented natural event, and we took every precaution to prevent pipes from bursting and causing inconveniences. However, with the below freezing temperatures even with water running the pipes still froze and burst in some cases. All plumbers in the area were backed up for days working through the Christmas holidays to ensure everyone was taken care of.  Please accept our sincerest apology for any inconvenience during your visit to St. George Island and although we realize you did have running water, but not hot water and we opened another home for you to use shower facilities it was an inconvenience. We have credited the card that was on file an addl $255 which is a total of 10% discount on your entire stay not just for the 3 nights without hot water. Thank you for your patronage...

  Customer response

  01/07/2023

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 18643109, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  **** ******

• Initial Complaint

  09/10/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We rented a vacation property (Birdwatcher). While there, we began to experience multiple issues with the phone, internet, and television. All of which were advertised as being fully functional. The property was rented based upon reviews and statements of guarantee that all of the above mentioned services were available. We rely on internet for work, and television to assist in entertainment for two small children. These services failed multiple times during the trip. Which resulted in lost time at work and being curved to upgrade personal cell phone plans for wireless hotspots. We both work in essential services which require internet access and phone service, regardless of vacation status. This caused great burdens and undue stress and hardships.

  Business response

  09/30/2022

  Please accept my apology on behalf of Collins Vacation Rentals for any inconvenience during your stay. However, just because a home is equipped or has access to phone, internet and cable there is no way possible to guarantee service will never be interrupted. These services are all provided by outside utility companies. We are in a very remote area (located on a barrier island) and we have no control of interruption in service just as if it were in your personal home. Every effort is made to ensure that it would be restored in a timely manner but again is beyond our control. (according to our maintenance workorders the internet outage was reported to our after hours emergency number at 7:56pm on Sept 8th and internet was restored by 11:40am the following morning) Our policies (which are posted on our website and the rental agreement signed by the guest) do state the following: " Power, cable, internet and water outages. We occasionally experience outages which are beyond our control. No refund will be given for any of these outages." Again, sincerest apologies for any inconvenience.

  Customer response

  10/03/2022

  (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
  While outages are expected, it should not be such a common occurrence that the maintenance professional that came to the home commented on the need for a work order to be submitted by Collins and their refusal to do so. This issue is so frequent, per maintenance, that outages occur during the regularly occurring thunderstorm. This, along with the refusal of Collins customer service representatives to assist in fixing this problem show just how much they choose to neglect their responsibilities as professional vacation property managers.

  Business response

  10/07/2022

  Again sincerest apologies for any inconvenience during your stay. However, as stated before these are utility company issues and we do not control the outages nor can we fix or guarantee service. (same as if you were at home and the service went out you would call whatever provider services for them to come fix the outage) We in no way can work on any utility company equipment or lines beyond powering off and back on, scan for channels on cable box, etc.. We always have to refer outages to the proper utility company and submit workorder/ trouble ticket (which is standard practice not a refusal to fix) for them to send a repair tech out for service. In this case the internet outage was reported after business hours (8pm) and service was restored by (11:30am) the next morning by resetting the modem. We have been in business for almost 50 years and founded on honesty, integrity and professionalism. We strive to make sure every guest enjoys our piece of paradise as much as we do. Again please accept our apologies for any inconvenience and understand this was beyond our control.

  Customer response

  10/11/2022

  (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
  If there was a repair request made with the service provider, please explain why your maintenance tech was the one who came, unannounced, and commented about the frequency of the afore mentioned issue? I am not trying to be difficult, however, if you are going to make claims of outstanding customer service and amenities, please back those claims up. I was throughly disappointed in the service that we received both from the call center tech and those that responded on here.

*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. ↩