We had a group of 8 friends and family to celebrate my wife's birthday and we were very excited for this long weekend getaway. This home was adequate at best. Beds were hard as a rock, tv was a small 21" outdated non-HD non-flat screen piece of junk. The refrigerator and freezer both had leftover food in it when we arrived, God knows how old they were. A curtain tension rod and curtain to one of the front windows was shoved behind the closet door where the washer/dryer is, I had to hang that back up to give us some privacy from the busy street and sidewalk just 8' away. Beware of leaving any food or sugary beverages of any kind out on the kitchen counter and leave the house or go to bed. Thousands of small ants come out from behind the stove and covered the food and counter. Disgusting! I called the owners and their response was "Ya, that happens, I guess we'll have to call the exterminator again". Nice. My last comment about the house is regarding the stairs to the second floor. This house is advertised as a handicapped accessible house, true for first floor maybe, but if you have other handicapped friends or family with you, or even elderly or young children, access to the two bedrooms and full bath upstairs is by a set of rickety wooden spiral stairs. Parents beware. Also, the staircase takes up a big area of the living area downstairs, navigating from the master bedroom or seating/TV area to the kitchen you have to walk around these stairs and duck your head so not to get knocked out on one of the stair treads.
All said, we made the best of the accommodations as I didn't want to ruin my wife's special weekend. That said, what really made me angry was the complete lack of customer service from the owners. I originally reserved a four night stay, 9/9-9/13, but told the owners, Pat and Dave, before we arrived that we may need to leave a day early due to work schedules and travel arrangements (one of our couple friends flew in from San Diego). After speaking with Dave the week before he was fine with this possibility, and since we were going to stay for their 3 night minimum it was my understanding that we'd only get charged for the 3 nights we stayed and would get refunded the 4th night. BEWARE! After our stay when I asked when I could expect to receive my $500 damage deposit and $500 for the 4th night we did not stay, Pat replied that the one week notice was not enough time to rerent the house so she was going to keep my $500, and offered a not-so customer focused comment, "after all, we're running a business here". Nice! Multiple emails and phone calls to them went unanswered to further talk about this situation. They simply chose to ignore me. The cancellation policy in the contract I had to sign had no language about not getting refunded for cutting a stay short, it only referred to not receiving your deposit back if you did not stay for the 3 night minimum. We stayed for the 3 nights, gave the owners an early heads up that we likely will have to leave a day early. Furthermore, even if they did find a renter for that Tuesday, 9/13, they couldn't accommodate anyone as they already had a 3 night reservation starting Thursday, 9/15, thus leaving only a two day Tuesday-Wednesday window which does not meet their 3-day minimum. Bottom line, these owners are not customer service oriented and clearly are only looking to fatten their bank accounts, unfortunately at the expense of their customers. I will never consider staying at this home in the future, and warn any others considering staying here to strongly heed my warning of the owners and review of the home noted above. As far as giving a star rating, I'd give the home a 3 at best, and that's being nice, but I'd give the customer experience with the owners a 1, and that too is being nice! Beware! show more show less
Owner Response:
We received the following letter from the Renter, dated 9/13/16:
"Hi Pat and Dave: Thank you very much for your help in pulling off thjis special birthday surprise for my wife. She was completely surprised and brought to tears when she saw our kids and friends who traveled to the island to share this special gathering. Your lovely house was perfect for the 8 of us , very comfortable and "homey". Everyone had a great time.
I apoligise that we had to leave a day early. People's work, family and weather were the key reasons we had to depart early.. The 3 days and nights were fantastic!
I hope we left the house in good shape. I separated the glass plastic and cans....
Thanks again for providing the venue for a very special weekend for us."
Steve & Darlene
Please note: On 9/9 Mr. E certainly had no complaints. We do not rent on a daily basis, according to Renters' whims. The house was ready for four days rental. No other rental could be obtained for the remainder of the week.
I handle all the financing and scheduling. When Mr. E. called our NH phone to say he was leaving one day day early, I was in the ICU unit of Maine Medical Center, having had emergency brain surgery. My husband may have spoken to me of the call, but I have no memory of the next three days, and very little recall thereafter. My husband acknowledges the call, but made no commitment. Our next rental began on 9/23. The following weekend was open as well.show moreshow less