Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/18/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I am requesting a refund from Benchmark 30A Property Management Company and/or owner of A Lovely Day where we stayed on May 11-15, 2022. The original reservation was made on **** through ***** ************ management ******** That company cancelled the reservation two weeks before our trip. The new company never created a new reservation through VRBO as they were suppose to do. They have been horrible to deal with, all grievances are listed below. When we arrived: - Toilet brush in toilet bowl in bathroom by the kitchen - dirty tissues in sink on 2nd level king bedroom bathroom - air at 78, very hot in house - mildew in downstairs shower(pictures attached) -black mold in vent in room on floor with kitchen (picture attached) - no blender after being told there was one two days earlier Things we were told we would have and then had no access to: -bikes, golf cart, garage(game room) and elevator(all of which we were expecting to use)I have attached my initial paperwork from royal destinations and highlighted all those things that we were told we would access to Misc: - Friday afternoon there were bees in the downstairs apartment bathroom -cleaners showed up at 9am on 15th when check out is 10am - when speaking with royal destinations a month before our trip when we found out our flight changed to have us arrive 2.5 hours earlier than planned they told us we could probably check in earlier on may 11th at no extra cost since there was no one booked to leave the day we arrive. We were told to call again a week before, but the management company had changed by then. It was HUGE inconvenience for us to not be able to check in early. When voicing all of this to Benchmark management they offered a 10% credit to stay at another one of their properties. That is the last thing I want. I would like to warn others about this company and possibly get a partial or full refund.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/15/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/05/26) */ Better Business Bureau of Northwest Florida, Inc. RE: Complaint Activity Report Case #XXXXXXXX ******* ******** Confirmation# MDBL9 Arrival: 5/11/2022 Departure: 5/15/2022 Unit: A Lovely Day To Whom It May Concern: This letter serves as Benchmark Management's official response to the complaint (XXXXXXXX) filed by ******* ******** (RES-XXXXX). The vacation home that Ms. ******** booked sold to a new owner and during the sale, the new owner decided to choose a different management company. It was at that time that the previous management company transferred Ms. ********'s reservation to us, Benchmark Management. This is a common practice in our industry and is done to avoid being forced the cancel the guest's vacation. Ms. ******** called in after-hours the evening that she checked in and expressed frustration that the elevator was not accessible for her stay. She stated that this was the 3rd thing that had gone wrong since check-in but would not elaborate on the other issues. Unfortunately, the elevator wasn't accessible during her stay due to the owner of the home not allowing us to provide the elevator as an amenity, which we as the management company must honor. We were not aware of previous arrangements made between Ms. ******** and the previous property management company for elevator usage. As Ms. ******** stated in her complaint, she did report bees being present outside on the 2nd floor balcony and we did immediately hire a bee removal company to address the situation. In conclusion, since we did offer Ms. ******** 10% off a future stay with us at any property and we addressed her concerns upon being notified of them, we have made the decision to not provide any additional compensation. Thank You, Angie Stults VP - Operations Consumer Response /* (3000, 8, 2022/05/28) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I do not accept Benchmark Managements response for many reasons. The first being that as a the new management company they were suppose to create a new **** reservation to honor the reservation that I made through ***** as a premier host on **** they are required to do so and they didn't. They created a new reservation through their own company. (currently have a case open with **** regarding this issue as well) Another reason is because the bees I complained about were INSIDE the house, not outside, they were in the downstairs bathroom which the maintenance man did handle, NOT a bee removal company(we were there when he came). However, just the fact that they must not have even read my BBB complaint before responding represents what a horrible, unprofessional company that they are. They said the bees were outside in response to my complaint, NOT true. They also told us two days before our arrival that there is a blender in the house, which was not true. I realize that between me making my reservation on **** and actually arriving for our vacation the owners and management company changed. But, that is completely out of my control and Benchmark should have completed a more thorough process before our arrival of preparing the house. Benchmark also should have requested the contract from me or the previous management company BEFORE my arrival to make sure they could honor everything in that contract, that I had signed, and paid for that the previous owners had available. If they had done that then they would of realized the new owners had different policies and they could have called me and told me we did not have access to the bikes, golf cart and elevator anymore (three things that helped us choose this house initially). I would have chosen to cancel my reservation at that point and hopefully use benchmark to create a new one with a house that met our needs. If they had taken notes while talking to me, or fully listened to my complaints they would have been able to help me in a better way. To summarize: 1. Benchmark went against **** Premier Host guidelines by not creating a new reservation for me when they took over. 2. Benchmark does not listen to their customers, they don't even read what their customer writes in a complaint, this is evident in this string of responses as well as what I experienced multiple times while on the phone with them. 3. Benchmark was not professional in the transition of my reservation, they did not prepare the house well in advance and did not acquaint themselves with the contract that I had previously signed. If they couldn't honor my **** Reservation they should have proactively helped me make my vacation the best it could be. I NEVER want to stay at a property managed by Benchmark ever again, neither do the other 10 ladies and their families that were with me, so the 10% off on a future stay is not an acceptable compensation for me.