Let me first communicate that I have been coming to Maui 5-7 times a year for the past five years and have never had such a frustrating experience. However, the owner was not helpful during my stay and clearly doesn't have a stong business ethic. For starters the first time I spoke with Elaine she told me I could save VRBO processing fees if I paid her directly. I had made the reservation for the next day, and I don't think she understood this, so she redacted the offer since there was not enough time to mail her the payment. I don't think it is very honorable to bring up the option of paying less by avoiding the VRBO payment site if she was only going to remove the offer upon closer examination. This type of business practice does not follow best business practices at best and is very unethical at worse.

Upon check-in I soon discovered that the wifi was not working and the network name given in the framed instructions did not show up at all in the listed wifi networks. I promptly communicated this to the owners who instructed me to call their service provider to fix it. I explained that I was on business/vacation and did not have time to fix their internet issues. After three days without the internet, I realized that they did not intend to remedy the situation. I proceeded to spend 2 hours on the phone with their provider only to discover that the internet network and password had been updated many months before my arrival yet there was no mention of this in any of the guest paperwork, the condo framed instructions or in the lease contract. Upon getting the summary of my findings, the owners predictably blamed past guests for changes to their network name and password and not notifying them of the changes, but more importantly, this was all information that the owners could have acquired on their time rather than at my time and expense!

I own two business and understand first hand the pitfalls given that we have 50 employees and are responsible for the customer support on a daily basis. However, Elaine and Don withheld merchant processing fees out of my security deposit. I was not notified nor did I agree to these charges. Like any other business owner, there are hundreds of expenses that factor into the cost of the services I provide to my clients. THAT IS THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS! Never before has any other business owners in Hawaii withheld merchant services fees from my security deposit.