Florida Paradise Villas - NO PARADISE!

[otto]

So happy to be able to have this forum to give others a 'heads-up' to beware of using Florida Paradise Villas for their vacation plans. While Sherri Chasse (the owner and operator of this management company located in CT) had great reviews on TripAdvisor and on her own site, our experience was quite the opposite. After a very busy, rough year we were so much looking forward to some quality healing time. We only get one vacation a year, its only 10 days start to finish, and we drive 1600 miles one way. So, needless to say, I do as much research as possible to streamline and maximize our vacation time. We were unable to plan it until a little over a month prior. Sherri contacted us by email after we put requests on several sites. She said her featured home was not available, but said the Canary Palm Villa at Rolling Hills was available for around $1782.00 (all incl). I asked if they would take $1500.00 total, and she emailed that the owners said they would take the offer. In all I wired $1588.78 included the damage waiver.

We expected to start our vacation at 4 pm Sat. March 15, check the pool and hot tub temp, fire up the grill, etc. Instead, what we walked in to was a nightmare. The first thing you noticed was the smell -- very musty, moldy, and just plain stink. Then your attention was immediately drawn to the dirty carpets. Trying to stay positive, we walked through to the pool/spa area and we couldn't get the large patio doors open - they were bolted shut (as were the ones in the bedroom)! We went through the small kitchen door and were further disappointed to see the pool was also filthy, extremely cold, and there was absolutely no controls for the spa. The poolside bathroom door was ajar, because it wouldn't close properly, and we peeked in and about gagged!! There was a sanitary strip on the toilet, but it was a moldy, dirty, buggy, disgusting mess! We were just beside ourselves. We went back inside and discovered even more filth. Two of the toilets had urine drips on the front and on the floor- mind you, the sanitary strips (including 'hairs' on top) were neatly placed. The 'upscale' furniture was extremely discolored with big stains. My son sat down and was grossed out when he discovered he put his had on sticky mess--immediately rushing off to wash. It just continued to get worse as we explored the house.

This Rolling Hills place was so grossly MISREPRESENTED in the website pictures and narrative!!! This house was not just a little dirty, it was disgustingly filthy! Long term dirt - not a week or two. After about 20 minutes, we contacted Sherri and let her know the condition of the house: Overpowering smell upon walking in, all vents, fans, ceilings had substantial greasy looking dust, floor with lots of dirt & dust, carpets all stained and filthy, furniture was NOT upscale but very discolored with chunks of food and stains, bugs (not cockroaches) in front bedroom, knobs that fall off when you try to open closet, none of the big patio doors open (they are screwed shut) and the blinds covering big ones stop 2 feet short of bottom, screen ripped in two places, four neatly placed black hairs inside microwave that has food smears on front door, not One kitchen cupboard door was clean -- all had fingerprints or food smears, front of dishwasher was dripping with smears, inside was smelly and dirty, all counters were dirty - dust on every surface throughout the house, dishes in cupboards and placed out were dirty and greasy, walls and windows were smeared and dirty, light switches dirty, many door knobs did not work, hair on sanitary strips on toilet and dried urine on the seat and in front of each toilet, no computer, no Internet, no television, no radio- all were disconnected!- Baby's highchair (w/no foot rest) with significant amount of food smears on back, drips of food down legs, stains on bedspread, every coffee table with food and drink smears, broken pool table in game room, no puck in the air hockey game, beat up and dirty garage door, extremely dirty pool, thick film on edge of tile, and no controls for the spa, no heat for pool, no heat for spa, poolside bathroom disgustly dirty and door would not close properly, cockroaches in the silverware drawer and under the kitchen rug. She seemed so upset with the management company and concerned with what we were going through that she advised us to let her try to find a different place (although the week before Easter this would be difficult), and to put us up in a nice hotel (at her cost for all our trouble) until this other house could be readied for us the next morning.

While we were waiting for our call back, nothing could have topped it off better than to see a can of lice spray by the lamp on the end table!!! That was IT!!! We had not eaten since breakfast and it was now nearly 6:00pm, so-especially that- we thought the best thing to do would be to leave and find something to eat.

Sherri called us at 8:39 pm to confirm that managers just arrived at the house and that they did see the issues mentioned (including the lice spray)and she gave us directions to the Caribe Royale. She reiterated SHE was paying for the hotel and that it was all taken care of, and that since the replacement house is smaller we would definitely receive a refund for the difference in size and amenities, again offering apologies for our trouble. She further explained that this RH house had not been rented in a while, that she rarely deals with this management company, and that she has insisted they do a 4 day top to bottom overhaul before the next rentors can come in the next week.

Caribe Royale was beautiful, even though we had four adults in one room (since my daughter and friend were to fly down on Monday), but by the time we checked in it was nearly 10 pm - no time to take advantage of anything they had to offer. I think we finally fell asleep sometime after 12:30am. What next, you ask?? Alarms and flashing lights at 3:30 am!! and a very stern voice saying "an emergency was detected, do not panic, go to the nearest stairway exit, you do not have time to get dressed, leave the building immediately!" It apparently was a false alarm, and they let us return after about a half hour. Pretty unnerving, but really an unfortunate coincidence.

The next morning we got up and called the management company to give us directions and meet us at the 'new' place. This house was 25 minutes south of Rolling Hills, and although it was clean, it had a substantially smaller pool, no Jacuzzi, full (instead of king) size lumpy, noisy beds, no grill (not even charcoal), very limited amount of cheap cooking utensils, pots, pans, which necessitated that we eat out more, which was more expensive, 12 inch television (only working one in house), No Internet (for the college kids to do a bit of homework due), 20 to 30 minutes away from all we like to do... and we had six nights instead of seven.

We have rented pool homes for the past four years (2 at Indian Creek and 2 at Formosa Gardens), and EACH of these rentals far exceeded our expectations (better than the pictures). So this was DEVASTING! My daughter and boyfriend cancelled out when they found out about the problems. They expected to come down and spend the week in luxury, not way out of town and in twin beds.

When I called Sherri back on Tuesday, she assured me not to worry that she would have it all figured out by the time we returned home. Guess what? When we got home she had left an email saying the best she could do was offering a refund of $139.75!?! That is beyond insulting! She even included the "free" ($201.75) night at the hotel when figuring our bill! The replacement house at the Westbury community was substandard (albeit clean, no bugs), just a 4 bedroom house we ended up in for SIX nights instead of the SEVEN day 6 bedroom luxury vacation home with all the amenities we thought we were getting. I did extensive research to confirm that the house we ended up with would have been between $700-$900.00 for Easter week (six days). At the very minimum we should been forwarding a Refund of $450.000 $750.00. Even further compensation for the amount of inconvenience we experienced would not be out of line.

I have since been trying to get Sherri to resolve this matter in a more professional, fair manner. Her replies have said since it was "our choice" (yeah, like there was a choice) to move to a different place instead of allowing the managers a chance to clean and corrrect the problems, there was no further compensation available to us. There is no way they could have fixed the problems in a few short hours, and Sherri agreed with us on that, but now seems pretend she didn't. She told us we were trying to 'take food out of her kids mouth' (even though she is listed on a business site as grossing over $250K per year) by asking for a refund. She even had the gall to say that, since we got a discount, we shouldn't expect anything, that the $139.75 refund offer is out of the goodness of her heart. Wow!! Talk about getting kicked in the guts! I learned my lesson. I will NEVER do business with a management company especially Florida Paradise Villas. Not only does it cost a lot more so, this one did not stand by what they promised. I will ONLY rent directly from the owners from now on.

3/2008-Florida Paradise Villas-Rolling Hills
3/2007-Formosa Gardens-
3/2006-Formosa Gardens-
4/2005-Indian Creek -
3/2004-Indian Creek -
3/2003-Westgate villas -
3/2002-Westgate Town Center -
3/2001-Cypress ?
3/2000-Isle of Bali -
1/1999-Disney Coronado -
1/1998-Disney Carribean Beach -
11/1996-Disney Dixie Landings
11/1995-Disney Coronado
11/1994-Disney Villas near marketplace
2/1992-condo in kissimmee

 

[SoonipiLady]

I am so sorry that your vacation was far less than expected! I used to work for a management company, and I must say that it is full of dishonest, greedy people. It makes it very difficult for the honest ones!

I now ALWAYS use a credit card to pay my rental fees, that way if there is a disaster, it's worth having the option of disputing the charges. I'd rather pay a 3% surcharge than try an go it alone later if there is an issue with the "service rendered".

I hope your next experience is better!

 

[dougsmom98]

Oh my goodness! Thank you so much for your review. This information is good to know. On our last trip, we didn't have cable for 4 days, the spa was not hot and the pool turned green in the middle of the week and I was so disappointed. I can't even imagine what you just went through!!

 

[isla bonita]

So sorry your vacation was such a disaster.

Just like our own homes things happen. It is how things are handled that can make or break a vacation.

Shame on that woman. With customer service like this she will not be in business long.

 

[JANNYANS]

I am so sorry you and your family had your vacation ruined in this way.Regardless of whether FPV does a lot of business or not with the managing company she should have made it her priority to visit the home she rented to you to check it was all in good order.I would consider a report to the BBB just to put things on record.
As Isla Bonita said -things can go wrong but it is how they are corrected that makes the difference .It may well be worth trying to track thew owners to tell them just what condition their home is in -they may not know.

 

[otto]

Thanks for the support and understanding. I did file with the BBB-not that I expect anything to come from it. I will make sure I use the credit card from now on. If this helps even one family to avoid ruining their vacation then it was worth my time!

 

[fpv]

Thank God a wonder client of mine has seen this slanderous post and let me know about it. I am the manager of Florida Paradise Villas, and let me plead my case on this. I am appalled at the things that she is saying, and simply hurt by the replies by people that don't even know me, and seem to think I am greedy and a terrible person or something, I'm very hurt by that, personally, however I have kept this professional no matter how much she has personally attacked me. This guest arrived to a clean home, however she did call to complain on the evening of arrival. Within 60 minutes we had a manager on site to review any of her complaints with her (the evening before Easter Sunday), she had gone out to dinner, and refused to go back after dinner to go over the complaints so they could be rectified. (Please understand that only a few days later, another guest arrived to the same home, and raved about how immaculate and spectacular the very same home was.) She was very pleasant on the phone, and I felt bad for her, taking her at her word that there were some issues, I asked the manager to take care of anything they could see (since we didn't know what the issues were, the guest didn't want to go over them with the local manager to show them), and then I took a few hours searching high and low on a Saturday evening (when everything was booked for the holiday) to find them something nice. I found them a suite at the Caribe Royale, a very nice hotel. So, they had a place to stay that evening, and did not want to go back to the home, so we had no other option, aside from telling them to find their own place to stay and simply refunding for that one night, however I took it upon myself to find her a place, because I did not want her to try to find something that last minute in a holiday week, nothing was even open in the vacation rental industry and all previous hotels I had called were booked! Unfortunately, there was bad timing, even though she loved the hotel, the had a fire drill at 3 am. Of course, we had nothing to do with that, but I felt terrible for her because of it. At this point, she was still being quite civil and pleasant. Then, the very next morning, we offered her the only home we had left. We had a 4 bedroom home with no spa or game room, it was 15 minutes instead of 5 minutes to Disney. I told her all of that before she went to the home, she agreed to take it anyway. I also told her that the price difference would not be much, because we had already priced the 6 bedroom as a 4 bedroom due to the last minute vacancy. She accepted. We had the manager walk through the house with her to make absolutely sure that it was sufficient, as if it had not been, she could have gone back to the 6 bedroom, shown us the problems, and if there was a sufficient reason (which honestly there was not) for her to leave, we could have then offered a refund, but she refused to go back to the other home, and she accepted the home directly from the management. I followed up with her by phone on Monday, to make sure everything was ok, and it was, aside from "smaller TVs" and no spa, but she already knew that when she was left with the home, as I said, she walked through it with them. Upon her return, we discussed the refund. I told her I could give her back $135 and change, which was the small difference in cost between the 2 homes. The only reason I even offered that, was because I felt bad for her, even though the price of the 6 bedroom was already the price of a 4 bedroom (which she knew when she booked it). After her return, she then had tons of issues that she didn't like about the 2nd home. At that time, we couldn't do anything about it. It was the location, the smaller rooms, smaller TVs, even though in her words it was "clean" she didn't like that it didn't have a game room, spa, BBQ, etc. I could have offered her a BBQ had I known she would like it, however she never called to ask for anything of the sort. I was very polite and professional to her the whole time she was making personal attacks on me, and it only angered her more. Unfortuantely, in this case, I was unable to make this guest happy, she asked for a full refund AFTER she stayed for the week in the 2nd home, and I just couldn't afford to do that, as there was first of all not sufficient grounds for any such offer, and second of all, I had to pay my manager, and I can't afford to pay for her vacation. Anyway, anyone reading this review, please read all the others, this one is a very unique occurrence, a guest that just couldn't be made happy barring a full refund, but did not have grounds to even ask for such a thing. If this had been a hotel, she certainly wouldn't have been as nasty to me as she was, and she would have called the front desk demanding to be moved/refunded so she could leave, but she waited until she came back, when none of her complaints could be documented. Regardless, we are still waiting for her address, so we can send the refund as promised, however she had refused to send them. Here are just a few replies to what she commented on in her review: the only smell was cleaning products, maybe she didn't like that smell, but that is what it was, it was not dirty, we had a manager check it immediately and they did not report a spec of dust, the next guest was off the charts thrilled with the clealiness, as every guest prior had been, the home is NOT offered as an executive home with upscale furnishings, not at all, internet was not diconnected, there had been a storm that day that triggered the circuit breaker, so both the cable and internet just needed to be reset, which would have been solved the same evening had she stayed to tell us that problem, the water was sparkling in the pool, no scum at all, and the temperature is cold because anytime between November and March the electric pool heaters do not heat the water well when there are cold nights, and this week was cold, that information is in our contract, the Jacuzzi is fine, the controls are on the outside of the home, and only accessible to our staff, the manager was available immediately, they were 60 minutes away, but rushed right over, I never said anything about it being too busy for them to get there, in fact they stayed there and began to clean again areas she had mentioned until we heard from her that she refused to go back, so then they went over to the replacement home (which had not yet been cleaned after the prior guest) and began to clean that one, mind you this is all happening Saturday night before Easter! We believe the lice spray was not in the home prior to this guest, as the home was cleaned thouroughly by the cleaner, and then checked with 2 managers once after the clean and AGAIN just prior to this guest's arrival, if a can of lice spray was just behind a coffee table, it would have been seen for sure. When the manager arrived to the home that evening, the bottle was on the clean kitchen counter top out in plain sight and was definitely not there or anywhere else in that home during the clean, or during either of our detailed inspections. We do not have any problems with bugs in the home, and it is treated with pesticide frequently, all linens are cleaned thouroughly between guests. We can't prove it, but we do believe the guest put that there, as it was a full can, and if it was used by a prior guest, it wouldn't have been full, and again, we would have seen it! They wanted a refund, and they probably considered that a surefire way to get one. In reference to the price. She agreed to $1500 with pool heat for a 7 night stay in the 2nd highest season of the entire year, with her refund it will have been $1365, which works out to $142 per night!! Most of you looking at vacation homes, know that this is a very low rate during Easter week even for a 3-4 bedroom home. This was a one time VERY low rate offered, and the regular price of the 4 bedroom should have been closer to $1800+, the 6 bedroom (originally booked) would have been over $2200 anywhere else! Yes, there are the occassional owners out there that don't advertise well, and might have it open, or simply have lower rates because they have no mortgage, but you have to take their chances on the management, it might not be clean and well-maintained. And, if you read our other 30+ reviews from the past 3 years, you will find that our homes ARE ALWAYS CLEAN and well-maintained. We still don't know what this guest considered "dirty", but we did rush someone out within an hour, to see what it was and rectify it, they could not find anything wrong, but still were taking the guest at her word and being civil to her, we offered her alternatives for her lodging, SHE refused to go back to that home, we would have gladly had the home cleaned thouroughly again and she could have had her bigger bedrooms, spa, game room, computer/internet, BBQ and would have been 5 minutes to Disney, but SHE refused to stay there. I never said anything even remotely like she was "overreacting", I kept it very professional, just told her that I wish I could be of further asisstance, but due to the circumstances, there was nothing further I could do. We own our "featured homes" as mentioned on our site, and we only work with local managers we can trust with previous experience. I never claimed to be local, I do rent the homes from 1200 miles away, however I have seen them, and I work closely with all my managers, and am on the phone with my clients in the evenings and on holidays, if nothing else, this situation even proves that! I do everything I can for my clients, and make sure the managers on-site do the same. They did not leave and go "elsewhere" we placed them in another home, even though there was not grounds to do so. Most other management companies, in this case, would have offered to take care of the issues at the home, and then if the guest was still not satisfied, and was there to show the manager the issues, THEN they would have been offered a refund and sent on their way to find their own accommodations, or if everything had been resolved, then the guest would have either had to stay there, or no refunds would have been available, and if they chose to leave they would have been on their own to pay again for another place to stay. We took it above and beyond for this client, we found her a place for that night, offered her an alternative, walked through the home with her to make sure it was ok, and then even offered her a small refund, even though there were not any funds available to do so, it was the best we could do. I have never had an issue with a client of this magnitude, and all of our other clients have always walked away extremely happy, and have come back several times, sent referrals to us, etc. Please read our other reviews on TripAdvisor, we have been #1 for 3 years, and this lady is trying to single-handedly destroy me, only because I would not offer her a full refund. She accepted the replacement property, our management walked through it with her, and she had no complaints until after the trip. We offered her a partial refund, but she hasn't given us an address to mail the check to. I am actually at a loss in this one, as we had given her a huge discount from the start, and then since the other home was smaller, further from Disney and did not have game room/spa, even though the cost to me was the same, I still refunded her everything I had in it, because I FELT bad for her. However, this really is slander, 90% of everything she said here is untrue, the other 10% this is the first I am hearing of it, so how could we have corrected it, if we never knew. She also should have waited at the home, because within an hour, our local manager was there, and could have gone over every detail with her. I spent 6 hours on the phone on a Saturday night before Easter, with her, the local manager and hotels in the area, trying to find her a place to stay while we rectified this situation for her, and if she had gone over any details with our manager on-site, we could have had it all cleaned again and had her back there the next morning so she could have had her game room, spa and better location, but she refused. She wanted a full refund, and I simply couldn't give it to her, if she had refused the second home, and went to the first home to show the management the problems, we might have been able to do a refund then, and then she could have found another place to stay, as we had nothing left, but she didn't do that, she wanted to stay in the 4 bedroom, and now wants a free vacation, and to drag my name through the mud, when I have always been ALL ABOUT GREAT SERVICE AND DOING WHAT IS RIGHT! Ask any of my hundreds of clients before her, I have never had an issue of this magnitude with any of them, not ever.

 

[fpv]

I just realized another personal attack that is also untrue:
"(even though she is listed on a business site as grossing over $250K per year) by asking for a refund. She even had the gall to say that, since we got a discount, we shouldn't expect anything, that the $139.75 refund offer is out of the goodness of her heart. Wow!!"

I don't know where she saw something about me making $250,000 per year, I am lucky to break even, I own several homes and work as an agent for reputable (and clean) managers and owners. I have never had a problem like this with anyone. Also, I did not word anything even close to the way she says I did here. I said, that because there was such a huge discount on the 6 bedroom (we requested a 4 bedroom rate on that at her request, and the manager was flexible enough because there was a recent cancellation leaving it open for a holiday week), I didn't have any more room to go down on the other one, because the cost was the same to me, but I was refunding her everything I had, because I felt bad for her situation (that was before all this). I will still honor that, but she has to give me her address. Anyway, I just thought all of you should understand there are 2 sides to everything, and if you knew me, you wouldn't be so quick to believe this slander. She is trying to single-handedly destroy me. If this had not been Easter week, I could have put her in another home, and we likely wouldn't be having this conversation, but unfortunately, nothing was open. That fire drill was unfortunate, and she didn't tell you how bad I felt for her for that, or that I called her on Monday to make sure everything was ok, or that the manager walked through the replacement home with her to make sure it was ok. If it was not ok, we could have looked WITH her at the other home, and if she pointed out the things (in person) that she didn't like, and if they could not be rectified, we could have THEN refunded her and let her find a place to go, but she decided to stay in the 4 bedroom, thus why we said it was her "choice" in fact it was her demand, she would not go back to the other home even to show the manager what was wrong. And, to sum it all up, before we put her in the other home, again at her request, we told her that it was smaller, did not have a spa, game room, etc, and that it was further from Disney and that "there would NOT be a large refund in price because the other was already priced as a 4 bedroom, but that I would do what I could" exactly as stated, only after she found that I would give her back less than she wanted, is when all of these complaints came out--which did not exist prior. If we had been made aware of any of these issues, they WOULD have been rectified, when our managers looked at the home, they saw NONE of the issues she mentioned, AND might I add a guest just a few days later LOVED the house! (the one she says is uninhabitable and disgusting was apparently gorgeous to the other guest and all of those prior). We may need to seek legal action in this, as this guest has tried to single-handedly destroy 3 years of hard work building a very professional business ALL ABOUT great customer service, and every one of our clients prior and at this very moment, would agree that's just what we are!

 

[otto]

Sherri Chasse went to great lengths to deny a situation she KNOWS to be factual. Claiming to be hurt by my comments and contradicting her own emails and phone calls to me does not change the facts. I am not single handedly trying to slander or ruin anyone's reputation. We were truly devasted by this and our treatment by Sherri. Instead of admitting (not just to me on the phone) that, during a busy time and despite her many successes, she brokered a house that was very much sub standard and definitely was not clean, she chooses the route to deny this ever happened. (It was the weekend BEFORE Easter weekend, not the night before Easter.)

Honestly, after driving 1600 miles WHY would we make all this up to get moved to a much lesser place further away, losing a whole day of our vacation?!?! Where the heck would we find a can of lice spray? That is a TERRIBLE accusation! WHY would we want to leave if it was as clean and good and beautiful as you claim? AND the only issues we had about the second home were the comparison of what we were originally supposed to get to what we ended up with and only being offered (via email after we returned home) $139.75 for the difference. I didn't ask for a full refund, I asked her to be fair. I quickly realized after her response that we would receive nothing, that this was something that we needed to learn from for our future vacations.

We value and look forward to our family vacations SOOO much! To have it go so badly (after so many rewarding wonderful ones) really hurt. As I said before, if this helps just one family avoid having their vacation ruined, then it was worth my efforts.

 

[farhana]

good to know! we know where NOT to stay!!
and i can't believe they would come on here to post in there defense no offense but in your defense rectify the situation (customers are always right!!!) not debate it!

 

[Canadamom]

OP, I feel for you and how this must have overshadowed your family holiday. What I can't figure out from the manager's response is why they don't have your address. With all the information required from management companies when booking these accommodations, surely an address was provided that they would have on file (?), yet the manager mentions this several times. I would question the business practices of management that doesn't get a home address when taking a booking/payment.
Thanks for your review. It helps others to know what's out there and what's good and what's not.

 

[Booknut]

Sorry to hear your vacation was ruined. We've been lucky with villas we've rented but we've rented privately from individuals. Perhaps try www.vrbo.com next time, lots of great villas and condos on there.

Or if its possible look into staying onsite next time, you will love it and it just makes the holiday a bit more magical

 

[dizneefamily5]

Wow, I'm so sorry to hear about this as well. Thank you for posting so we all know who NOT to rent from. We love staying at rental homes and this is my worst nightmare! I'm so sorry for you. Thanks again for alerting us all!

 

[cey]

Thank you for posting this review. I too appreciate your candid posting. What rings warning bells with me is why the management company would have to re-clean the house after your phone call if the home was clean in the first place! It seems to me Sherri Chasse should be having a chat with this management company about their practices, instead of blaming the renter! Naturally the next renter had no complaints, because by that time the home had been cleaned!

Something here does not add up with the fact she based her rebuttal on what the management company told her instead of viewing the home herself. Unfortunately we all know that there are management companies that have a history of doing the bare minmum and are not very reliable!

Cheryl

 

[tinaluis]

Thank you so much for posting your review. I'm sorry your vacation was ruined. I'll be sure to stay away from Florida Paradise Villas and warn everyone I know to do the same. There are far too many great places with great reviews and great management companies, to take a chance on this one. I hope you follow up with the Better Business Bureau. And I agree, $139.xx is an insult. Be sure to post your review on Trip Advisor too.

 

[Mainebound]

. We may need to seek legal action in this, as this guest has tried to single-handedly destroy 3 years of hard work building a very professional business ALL ABOUT great customer service, and every one of our clients prior and at this very moment, would agree that's just what we are!

I don't think posting an honest review on designated review forums such as this one or Trip Advisor constitutes trying to ruin a business.

After several good years renting offsite, my family also experienced a bad stay this year, and that owner also chastised us for posting true and accurate statements about the subpar conditions in her condo (which we can document with digital photos). She said, as you do here, that we must be impossible to satisfy since there are so many good reviews from other renters. Well, although the OP cannot make the same argument, my long history of posting glowing reviews on the DIS belies that assertion, and in any event, I humbly suggest that one poor review will not ruin anyone's business.

I'm sure it is frustrating if the claims are untrue, although like the OP, I doubt there are many renters who would bother making up false accusations about owners (what would be the motive?). Owners obviously have much greater incentives to cast doubt on the truth of negative claims. But you can answer the critics here as well, as you have. However, if owners want to enhance their bottom line and fill their booking calendars by showcasing glowing reviews on VRBO and trip advisor and the DIS, they also need to brace themselves for the occasional dissatisfied guest.

Thanks to the OP for the post, and to the owner for presenting another version of events.

 

[chris7]

Boy, the lesson I'm learning from this thread is to document w/ photo's and get things in writing. If you can post a photo of urine stains on a toilet it's kind of hard for the owner to deny it (although they could say that you pee'd on the toilet to ruin them).

When you subcontract out your reputation to other people by representing their properties you run the risk of being stained if they do not do their job well. Calling someone a "respected manager" does not guarantee that his hourly workers won't drop the ball and do subpar work.

We ate at a restaurant where we live, and had eaten many times before and loved, and there was a dead mouse under the table that I stepped on. They had fumigated the night before and obviously missed one of the little corpses. They were extremely apologetic and comped our meal and did everything they could have done to make it right. We've never been back. Not because they didn't handle it well, they did. But, because of the gross connection my mind subconsciously made with dead mice and that restaurant.

I don't blame the OP for not wanting to go back. Once my mind made a connection between a place I was staying and lice, or urine stains, or sticky patches on furniture, I don't think theres any way I could enjoy a stay there.

 

[otto]

Thanks to you all for the great supportive words. It makes a difference to know that people understand and sympathize with our experience. Even though I haven't posted a lot, I have been using this site for years. What a valuable resource!

 

[CarolA]

WOW! The "management" response.

Honey, you just cost yourself business. That's your response to a complaint? Regardless of if you think it's right or wrong your response was unprofessional and if that's your method of operation....

Pay attention folks. It doesn't really matter if you believe OP. The response is key (AKA the customer is always wrong) If you have an issue (big or small) don't expect good treatment LOL!

 

[otto]

Just thought I would let you all know I received a reply from the Better Business Bureau today. Pretty much what I thought would happen - did. Her response to them (which they forwarded to me) was even more incredible than her retort on this site. On top of that she forwarded a copy of my trip report on this site and on tripadvisor to the BBB as proof that I am "just out to get her". And, of course, she is still saying she is considering legal action. They list her as "made every reasonable attempt to resolve". She is a paid member of the orlando BBB.
If they would have really read her 3 page (plus copies of emails) reply they would have noticed how she contradicted herself several times and she has us renting on the wrong date. The icing on the cake is that she stated we planted the can of lice spray so we could get a free vacation, that we had demanded that from her. Pretty harsh!
I read an FPV review from another family on tripadvisor where they stated they were unhappy to have their last day of vacation ruined with pool problems. Again, she did not let it go, and again, she would not admit that something went wrong. She responded that the customer absolutely loved the place and the only problem was the four hours they couldn't use the pool, that it was for their own safety, and on and on.

I know that we have no recourse on this, and I knew as soon as we arrived home and read her email. Sharing this experience on sites you are a member of does not constitute slander. Contacting the BBB is a logical step, as well, one most people would take. I am sure Sherry's business will continue to be very successful, despite my sharing.

Throughout this experience with our vacation, and especially after -- encountering the "wrath of Sherry" -- I learned alot. I would like to offer these words for those who come up against something like this:

• TAKE PICTURES
• DO NOT LEAVE until the management company gets there so you can show them the problems
• DO NOT leave until you resolve with the management
• DO NOT accept promises verbally or via phone -- get it in writing