The following is my VRBO review w/updated information that VRBO would not allow:
Take $320 minus the $80 cleaning fee and $84.10 in tax (which we should get back anyway if we are cancelling) and that comes to $155.90....so out of the $500 we paid for the room all John is offering us is $155.90 refund for a house that we would have never set foot in....on what planet does that sound like an amicable solution for both parties involved?
5. The house is old and smells horrible it also does not cool properly
8. Property is not in the "woods" it is in a shady neighborhood at the end of town
Cleaning fee is $80
6. Plumbing is sketchy and signs warn if you plug it there is a $200 charge
Our problems with John and Annie began when we asked to cancel our reservation due to issues surrounding hurricane Harvey. We lost our main source of transportation when I tanked it in high water trying to get to my job.
So fast forward to the day we arrived. We vacated the property within 3 hours of our arrival after seeing this quality establishment with our own eyes. I sent Annie a text with our concerns as we left. She never responded!
Tax is $84
9. Pool was filthy (and supposedly just cleaned)
THIS IS WHAT VRBO WOULD NOT LET ME POST:
4. Notes all over the house about different rules
Service Fee $65
1. Cobwebs and critters EVERYWHERE! In the house, around the house, by the pool
The other 1 star review on VRBO is entirely accurate...FYI
3. Security camera aimed at the pool (This was suppose to be a romantic weekend for us)
$250 a night for the room is $500
Now $300 of that is immediately refundable if we cancel since we never set foot on the property.
Total= $1029.10
Damage Deposit $300
Here is the short list of problems (pics attached):
"Hi Daniel, Sorry about the car, because of the high demand on the house for weekends our written policy is no refunds within 30 days unless you opted for the cancellation insurance when reserving the house on vrbo." He offered to switch us to another weekend in October or later, however we only rented this house for the pool and hot tub which are useless once it is cold. (This is actually only a small part of the conversation. I offered the owners a chance to make things right and to date they have never responded to ANY attempts I have made to communicate with them.)
Rather than give him our money and get nothing in return my wife and I informed him we would be there come hell or high water, LITERALLY since Houston was submerged at the time.
VRBO has strict guidelines as to what a renter may include in a review...for example it is against their policy to allow any mention of rent paid or monies exchanged. In addition they leave NO option to attach pictures.
7. Renters must provide their own toilet paper after first roll is used up
So let's do the math on that real fast shall we?
His response was less than understanding:
VRBO deleted my review claiming I extorted the owner by threatening a negative review. That is 100% untrue.
2. Feces smell around the pool area that attracts mass amounts of flies
After I wrote him back and inquired as to where that cancellation policy was stated, and to this day I still do not see it in ANY of the emails I received from John or VRBO, he graciously (insert sarcastic tone here) offered to give me a partial refund ($320 which included the cleaning fee ($80) and tax ($84.10), as well as the $300 refundable deposit and service fee ($65) from VRBO). If, and only if, someone were to rent it out after we cancelled he said he would then give us a full refund.....SERIOUSLY John???
I've texted, called, and emailed the owners with absolutely no response, nor have we received a refund of any monies paid other than our "refundable" deposit. It was not refunded until I went to the VRBO website and left a review. The second I hit submit I received a notice that our deposit has been refunded. Isn't that odd?
UPDATE:
1000 Acres Retreat is a US Travel Agency based in Hot Springs, Arkansas. 1000 Acres Retreat is located at 122 Russell St, Hot Springs, AR 71901, USA.
Please contact with 1000 Acres Retreat using information above: Address, Phone number, Fax, Postal code, Website address, E-mail, Facebook. Find 1000 Acres Retreat opening hours and driving directions or map. Find real customer reviews and ratings or write your own review.
Find Travel Agency in Hot Springs