• DO NOT EXPECT TO GET YOUR DEPOSIT CHECK BACK

  DO NOT EXPECT TO GET YOUR DEPOSIT CHECK BACK

  • Guest NAIVE IN TEXAS
  • Date of stay 07/28/12
  • Review Submitted 08/13/12
  We rented this property in July 2012. There were four of us. Two smokers and two non-smokers. We stayed at the property for two nights. The owner created a sense of urgency by having us Fed Ex checks for the rental, the cleaning fee and the deposit prior to releasing the condo location and information. The website indicates that the owner accepts credit cards but he did not give us the option of paying this way.The owner indicated that smoking was permissible out on the patio of his unit. My sister has terminal lung cancer and has always been a non smoker, I do not smoke. My nephew and his wife are smokers. They smoked only on the patio. Even if smoking were allowed inside the condo no one in our party would have done so in deference my sister's condition. We had our small dogs with us and we did leave the patio door ajar so that they could join us on the patio or go inside the condo with my sister. I suppose some smoke would waft in each time we opened the patio door to go inside for a snack or beverage. This was beyond our control. Upon leaving the condo we did all the laundry--sheets, towels etc. We folded the sheets and left them on top of the dryer and placed the clean towels back in the bathrooms. We windexed all glass surfaces, dusted, cleaned the commodes, swept and mopped the floors, cleaned sinks, counters & microwave, washed and put away the dishes and took all trash down to the dumpster. Upon returning to Texas, I noticed that the deposit check had been cashed. When I contacted the owner as to why, his wife told me that her husband had e-mailed me concerning why the deposit check had been cashed. I did not receive an e-mail from him. (I checked my spam folder too.) The owner indicated that his cleaning crew smelled smoke in the unit and that the unit had to be fumigated. When I asked him what he meant by fumigation the owner would not respond and questioned me whether we even stayed in the condo. At first I didn't understand what he meant by this, then I realized he was trying to imply that we had sub-let the condo, which according to his contract would have been grounds for keeping the deposit. This was a very sad way to end our vacation, which very well could be the last one for my sister. We trusted this individual and he was bound and determined to keep the deposit one way or another. This owner needs to make this a non-smoking unit if he is going to allow people to smoke on the patio and then penalize them if a smoke odor blows inside.

  Owner response: We are sorry this renter had issues with our property. We have used VRBO since 2008, with many different renters using our condo at the lake. We have never had to cash a deposit check. Our agreement is once the cleaning crew goes in, and give us the ok we either send the deposit check back, or shred it (renter choice). This is the first one we had to cash because the unit was smoked in. We received this feedback from our cleaning crew. We have used the same crew since we purchased the condo. We believe them 100% that it was smoked in. Our agreement that was signed by this renter says NO SMOKING (In Caps). Again, sorry this renter had issues, this is our first non-successful rental ever.

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Apr-Sep .. $150/night plus $60.00 cleaning fee
Oct-Mar .. $125/night plus $60.00 cleaning fee
Rent 6 nights and get the 7 night free

Note: Until confirmed, rates are subject to change without notice.