Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/09/2024

  Type:Service or Repair 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.

  We stayed at a property they manage in June. Within 12 hours of being there, the basement flooded, which housed half of the sleeping areas. We attempted to contact the owners through ****, but took a while just to get ahold of the property manager. For two days, we had to forego our vacation and wait behind for plumbers and other vendors. We had to figure out new sleeping arrangements, although we were paying to use the rooms. The owner asked us to move around fans throughout our stay and we had to clean, rearrange, tidy and try to fix something that was the owners responsibility. We had to give up two days of our vacation for this. All we asked for was a refund for two nights of our stay (we stayed for 7 nights, at approx $841.51 per night). The owners refuse to help or even give a reason as to why they wont. We have everything screenshot with time stamps showing us trying to get ahold of someone (VRBO, owner, property manager), responses (and lack thereof), pictures, videos, etc.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/11/2024

  Thanks for contacting me and letting me explain. We did everything we could to help the guest. The guest called our local caretaker at 5am in the morning, our caretakers are not available 24/7 as stated in our check in instructions. My caretaker responded at 7am and the guest told her it was cleaned up, my caretaker organized a plumber and sent someone with the plumber to the house to fix the issue. The plumber was never alone in the house. The guests did stay for the entire week, and we personally addressed most of the issues by Monday afternoon, with the exception of the damp carpets, which were still drying out with fans. I offered the guests a $500 refund for their troubles. However she insists on $1700 for 2 nights when she only spent $531 a night. Her reservation was from 6/1-6/8, 3 months ago. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/17/2024

   
  Complaint: 22263371
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Hello *******, 
  
  Thank you for reaching out to the business. I want to first start by saying, that is greatly appreciated. Especially considering that we have been in contact with both **** and the management company (once we found out who it was) for over three months and no one would bother helping us. 
  
  I wanted to address the response of the business, who seem to be trying to minimize and belittle our experience. 
  
  1) They did state in the check-in instructions that the caretaker was not available 24/7. This is completely expected and understandable, considering everyone has a life outside of work. However, in the event of an emergency, they did not leave any contact information for the rental management company or owners. When something like this happens, we want to make sure it is known about and taken care of asap, for our own due diligence and so we don't get blamed for something we had no control over. 
  
  2) The caretaker did respond once they woke up, but we did NOT say it was taken care of or cleaned up. In order to attempt to soak up as much of the water as we could, we used every single towel we could find (including our own). The plumber was there twice. The first time he was not alone in the house, as we had to leave part of our party behind, to stay back and show them what was going on, as well as keep an eye on our stuff.  The plumber left and came back a few hours later and that time, was alone. He did not tell us when he would be back, only that he had to run and get some supplies and it could take a couple of hours. Us staying behind, waiting on the plumber, wasted an entire day of vacation. The only time the caretaker came (she came once), they used ****** translate to communicate with us because they didn't even speak english. It is hard to explain something to someone who doesn't understand what you are saying.
  
  Mind you, we can provide any and all screenshots of the text messages exchanged between us and the caretaker, us and one of the owners (once we got that information), as well as the messages to VRBO. 
  
  3) The issue was not fully resolved by Monday afternoon. The carpets were damp and everything moved out of the bedroom, which rendered the bedroom unuseable. The area where the bunk beds were, also was saturated. We are paying to use all the beds, which is why we chose that rental in particular. We had to have the children sleep on the couches upstairs that night, while the carpets were drying. My sister and her husband couldn't use the bedroom until later in the week, as everything was pulled out and the carpets brought up (by the owner). The owner also texted us, asking if we could move around the fans throughout the entirety of our stay, to help the carpets dry. We didn't mind doing that at all, but having loud fans run all night throughout our stay was inconvenient, especially for when the babies were trying to sleep. 
  
  4)  Here is our breakdown of what we paid (I can send the screenshots of these as well): 

  
  $531.86 x 7 - $3,723.00
  Host Fees - $1,022.00
  Service Fee - $623.00
  Taxes - $522.01
  TOTAL: $5,890.58 (PER NIGHT: $841.51)
  
  We only asked for 2 nights refunded based on the two days and nights of vacation we essentially lost. The rest of the time, we made due and tried to help them when needed (ex: move the fans around, wash/dry/fold towels, etc). The $500 they offered is almost offensive, as it is less than a one night stay and doesn't give back the lost vacation and family time. If they had responded saying that the taxes couldn't be refunded, we would have understood and been fine with $766.94 a night or $1533.88. Heck, we would have been fine with $1,500.00 because it would at least have been some sort of acknowledgement that we lost valuable time. To some people, vacation is just about pleasure. For us, this is one of our only times we see each other as a family and we always try to make the most of it. 
  
  5) "Her reservation was from 6/1-6/8, 3 months ago." Precisely....we have been trying to get this resolved since this all happened, 12 hours into our stay. The only contact we had was VRBO, so we contacted them: June 2, June 12, June 19, July 8, August 2, August 9, August 21 and in September. We assumed they were in contact with Rental Advisor or the owners, trying to get this resolved. The last call I made, they finally gave us the number directly to Rental Advisor. Once I called, they told me on the phone that they could not help us with this matter over the phone, but that I had to email a specific address...which I did (again...this is all documented). I truly wish this could have been resolved months ago and it wouldn't have escalated to this. We could have asked for much more, based on this entire experience, but we are still only requesting two nights refunded. 
  
  6) Last notes: when we arrived at 4 pm (the check-in time they gave us and what is stated on the check-in sheet), they turned us away saying they needed more time. We had timed our drive perfectly for the arrival. After the long drive everyone had to make, with hungry and restless kids, we had to find somewhere to go while we waited for the caretaker to finish. Again, that was not a big deal, more of an inconvenience than anything. But, putting it in here since they mentioned the "check-in sheet". 

  Again, all we are requesting and would appreciate from this entire, drawn out, ordeal is 2 nights of our stay refunded (breakdown included above and attached). If you would like me to send you screenshots of any of the conversations (texts, emails, etc) or pictures/photos of the incident, I would be more than happy to. 

  Sincerely,
  
  ******** ********