unhappy

[genac2003]

hi I have been to florida and disney 5 times now as we love the people and the atmosphere its great we have always stayed in villas and we wouldnt have it any other way but it was bound to happen that we would have a bad experience one day and the las one in may 09 was it!!!!!!!!and has put us off using sites like these to book.we have never lost a security deposit yet until noe ,we look after every home we stayed in ,exceptionally well and never abused them and the owners have always been very greatful for that.but we got a list of things that we were not to do if we wanted to keep our deposit and we followed those rules as if our life depended on it and guess what we havnt had our money back yet and we have been back over a month so far!not only that when we arrived the pool was really dirty and had dead frogs floating on top it had algie all over it and we were told it was cleaned before we got there "i dont think so" it was not cleaned for over a week during our 3 week stay (we had paid an extra £150 for pool heat and spa heat when she knew the spa was broken)also we were not to scuff the walls or front doors and they looked like they hadnt been cleaned from the last 10 sets of tenants,there were bugs everywhere they hadnt had the bug man in,none of the games room worked properly.there was a rule of we musnt leave the house with out putting on the alarm we double checked this everyday to make sure it was on.we returned on many occasions and someone had been in the house which we didnt know was happening til our return to the house and they had left radios on blinds open and alarms off(it stipulates with many other rules you will lose your security deposit if this happens).which we have been blamed for!!!what?i hear you say put it this way we were not happy.and the owners way of dealing with this to ignore our emails,believe me there is more to this story and i am willing to tell it........This woman had no intention of giving us our £275.00 back please !


Still 36 days later and no money returned:(

[lynne]

I am sorry you encountered such a bad experiance. did you contact the management company on your arrival to tell them about the problems re the pool and the cleanliness of the villa?
I can honestly say in 17 years of owership I have never had to keep a deposit on one occasion the guest broke something but rang from the villa to ask how to get a replacement as we were following in after them we said we would get it sorted so they said to take the money from the deposit but when we got it sorted it only cost $15 so they got back there full money back.
I do hope you get it sorted out

[Shirls]

I'm sorry to hear about your problems. Like Lynne, I have never had cause to keep the security deposit.
Whilst I am not in a position to comment on your situation, I would always advise anyone renting a villa (or even on a package holiday) to read the terms & conditions carefully and if they have any problems or see anything they are not happy with, to report it straight away.
If you are having trouble contacting the owner and they have not shown you photo evidence of any damage they say you have caused, I would contact them by signed for mail to state clearly your grevience. The terms are there to protect both parties. From here you can consider whether to consult a solicitor or go to the small claims court.

[Steve]

Gena, I can tell you that we have received some more info about this owner and have decided to suspend her account on our rental site. We do not approve nor condone treatment like this from our owners to a guest. Even though you booked through another rental site with the owner in question we feel that this type of behaviour puts honest, hard working owners in a bad light. I can assure you that this type of owner you have come across is by far in the minority. In future please feel free to contact one of the genuine, conscientious owners you see on here.

[pbensur]

I'm so sorry too to hear of your bad experience! Please remember that you did have 4 great experiences prior to this one, so don't give up!!:)

[genac2003]

thanks for all your help and advice it has been helpful!

[jo-anne]

Thanks, too to Steve for taking a firm stand. The majority of owners love their homes and are so very proud of them. We take a personal interest not only in maintaining high standards in the villa but very high standards of customer service. It is upsetting to hear that one careless owner is risking the good name of others.
Please try not to let your experience put you off. As Patty rightly says, concentrate on your good experiences. We owners are here to ensure you have a fantastic time the next vacation you may take.:)

[Mary and Colin]

Thanks, too to Steve for taking a firm stand. The majority of owners love their homes and are so very proud of them. We take a personal interest not only in maintaining high standards in the villa but very high standards of customer service. It is upsetting to hear that one careless owner is risking the good name of others.
Please try not to let your experience put you off. As Patty rightly says, concentrate on your good experiences. We owners are here to ensure you have a fantastic time the next vacation you may take.:)

Jo Anne i agree totally and could not have said it better.
Remember the good villas and your good holidays.
Mary

[disneypalms]

Sorry to hear about your plight and it looks like it was a regular thing with the villa being suspended from this website.

Please please do not let it put you off booking a villa again - there are many concientious villa owners who work really hard to make sure that guests have a fabulous time for ALL the right reasons. Most of the owners I know take a GREAT PRIDE in their homes like us - we want ALL our guests to have the same high standard of holiday we would expect as a family absolutely nothing less.

Wishing you well in getting back your security deposit - you certainly deserve it with all the problems you mention.

Christine

[disneymanor]

I agree with what every one else has said, I would say 99.9% of owners would be shocked to hear how bad your experience has been, as folk have said most owners keep their homes in tip top condition, our villa is painted on a yearly basis, and new bedding bought twice a year for all the rooms to keep it in a high standard.
In saying that though there are bad rentors out there too [ in no way am I saying you were one ] , only 3 weeks ago we got a post departure report from our MC 2 hours after a family left to say that we had EIGHT panels kicked out and torn in the pool screens, as we had another family going in on the same day so our MC took photos of the damage totalling over $400 and sent them to me before the family even landed back in the U.K.
When we contacted the family a few days later , we were met with abuse at first, I told them that Neighbours, the Pool cleaner and pest control have all seen a football net erected in our pool area along with bladder style football [ this is despite have a note at the pool saying no footballs allowed].
They then said we called them Vandals [ we did not] in fact we said we understood it was hard to control children [even though they were 14 and 15] .
When I sent them the photos, they then said it was like that when they arrived, but what they forgot was we were actually in the villa ourselves on the day they arrived having been there the week previous to do fit a new safe in the bedroom. We were also able to show them photos taken on the morning of their arrival [timed and dated ] showing the pool screens intact.
Eventually we received an apology,but the refused to pay the excess over their security deposit.

This is the second time we had a problem with guests, the first 3 years ago had a party in our home and smashed all the lamps, fortunatley our MC were called and the police evicted them, but not before over $500 of damage was caused.
So us villa owners have to be as careful in who we allow into our homes, as you the rentor has to be in choosing a villa, those of us using sites like this to advertise our homes have a lot more to lose if a rentor turns out to be a bad one.:(

[ncmurray]

That is an awful story! It is truly heartbreaking when your home is treated like that. We had an incident last year when our pool controls were tampered with, causing $100's of damage, and our only recourse was to rely on the security deposit. Thankfully, that was the one and only time that I have ever needed to take payment from the security deposit!

However, as a villa owner, I completely understand the trust that a rentor places in you, and it is an terrible breach of trust when things go wrong for our guests. I think that most owners will bend over backwards to facilitate a guest's requirements, and try to make their holiday as fantastic as possible.