Guest: Cindy (-)
Date of Stay: 07/24/11 Review Submitted: 08/01/11

My husband and I just wanted you to know we had a wonderful time in your beautiful beach home. It is so convenient to everything and we loved the spaciousness. Thanks for the well equipped kitchen also. My husband has decided that he loves Charleston and this needs to be our new destination for close vacations. Again, thank you so much for the use of your beautiful home. We hope to be able to go again next year. Cindy S.

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Family Vacation Disaster

Guest: Rodney and Mandy (Alum Creek)
Date of Stay: 07/03/11 Review Submitted: 07/10/11

Upon arrival, it was noted that the exterior of the house could have used a fresh coat of paint particularly on the white railings. The interior of the house was fairly clean; however, the walls needed painted and the family room furniture was dirty. The kitchen and the family room rugs were very dirty. We were also greeted by a very large live roach on the wall of the master bedroom. The kitchen was poorly furnished with only one dishtowel, one dishcloth, very few glasses, and worn-out pots and pans. The downstairs of the house would only cool to 72 to 76 degrees during the day and that was if we kept the lights off and the blinds closed. If the lights were on, or the blinds were open, the downstairs was hot. We spent most of the week without lights downstairs in an effort to keep the area cool. We accidently damaged the stovetop by breaking the ceramic glasstop. Unfortunately, the owners do not have damage insurance to cover accidents such as this as reported by the owner herself. Please be aware of this fact when renting this house. The owner had not asked for a security deposit and we were required to pay $2000.00 for a new stovetop even though the existing stovetop was scratched and in poor condition. The house did have some positive attributes. The house was in a great location and the beach was very nice and clean. The pools to which we had access were also very nice. The bike rental shop was very close to the house and the children really enjoyed riding their bikes on the bike paths in the area. The food at the pool was good and we enjoyed spending the evening at the pool. There was a nice shower in the basement of the house which was very convenient to use when coming in from the beach. The listing photos did accurately reflect the rental's appearance. We would not recommend this rental to a friend or a relative.

Owner response:I have owned our home and been renting for 13 years and have many happy vistors that come every year. When the guest who made the comment first arrived at my home they called and mentioned (not very nice) that the air didn't seem to be cool enough. Within 5 minutes of their phone call I had called my HVAC repairman and realized that the regular houskeepers had already called him about the probelm and that it had been fixed at 3:00 before they arrived. I told him that it may take overnight for it to cool down since it had been 94 degrees that day. I told him that if it did not cool down my Monday AM (July 4) to please call me again. I never heard anything more about the air but guest did call me back Monday morning to tell me his wife had set a bag of ice on my 5 year old downdraft cooktop and busted it... He said he would text me pictures and be happy to take care of the damage. I asked him if the air was ok and he said it was fine. In fact the person who came to the house to measure and replace the cooktop was the HVAC man who also checked the temperture in the house and it was at 72 degrees. The following day I found a replacement cooktop and called the guest and at that point he was not very nice, telling me my insurance should cover his damage. I explained to him that my insurance would cover damages that I made but not something that he had done. This is standard in most inusrance policies. Eventually he did the right thing by reimburising me for part of the cooktop and installation cost. I guess by him doing the right thing and paying for his damages he decided to be upset and try to say things that are unture about our home. If he would have had a problem with cleaning he should have called me about it and at least given me the opportunity to make him happy. The pictures of our home are current, just made a couple months ago. Yes during the summer touch up paint in required by the end of the summer but this certainly didn't effect his vacation. I had just been at my house 2 weeks before and know that many things he said in his comment just aren't true. Our home is a great place to vacation. I'm sorry that some people use these responses just because they are upset for having to do the right thing. Also anyone that rents from me always has my cel phone for any issue that may come up...

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