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A couple people have suggested I write a review about our Villa stay. Before I rented Wyndcliff (which I found on vrbo.com), I did alot of research. It wasn't easy finding a Villa with at least 5 Bedrooms.
When I chose Wyndcliff I even contacted some of the people who had posted reviews on vrbo. The reviews were only put on AFTER I questioned why there weren't any. The 2 people I was able to contact told me that they thought I had made a really good choice. Views were great, Villa was "breathtaking" and big enough for our 9 people.
Wyndcliff is located in Mahogany Run. It's a gated community which was another plus. We would of never found the villa ourselves if our greeter didn't get us there first. In fact, when we went out to Red Hook to eat that night, we had a really hard time finding it again. That was actually pretty funny.
Here are some of the things that our party found was unacceptable. I wrote a letter to the rental company about these things...more on that later. I also wrote the email because I didn't want our party to be charged for anything that was wrong with the villa. They could of taken our whole security deposit and there wouldn't of been anything we could of done about it.
There is a crack that runs from the kitchen, through the dining room, all the way to the Living Room in the tile floor...obviously a structural problem
Chairs outside on decks and pool areas were broken.
Rugs all around were dirty - we threw them outside.
Dust on ceiling fans were, i swear, an inch thick
Water leaking in downstairs shower and bathtub ceiling
Toilet handle broken in downstairs bathroom, we had to take the lid off and manually flush it ourselves.
Living Room armchairs were cracked (wicker)
A/C broken in second floor bathroom
Sliding door on second floor bedroom didn't close all the way.
Bottom Bedroom handle on sliding door broken
Towel rack in second floor bedroom was broken and falling off the wall
Hot tub cover was ripped
Couple dead roaches in upstairs bedrooms
No handles to take a shower in very very top bedroom
A machete stuck in a tree....very dangerous for young children.
Rotted or not supported wood on deck outside bottom bedroom.
Grubbs in living room near television....alot of them
No phone service in the villa the whole time we were there...I had a hard time using our verizon phone. In case of an emergency we had no way of contacting anybody.
Old used bandaid in one of the upstairs bedroom.
I could go on and on...but I think you get the idea.
After sending the rental agency an email about these things I waited a couple days. Before we rented, they would always email me back immediately about any questions I had. After those couple days, I wrote another email confirming that they received my email.
I received an email back stating:
"Wyndcliff is priced according to it's overall general condition and is very competitive in the St. Thomas market. The owner is working on various upgrades to the villa and, if within the next twelve months your party chooses to return, he will give you a discount of 10% off the rental fee that you paid this year toward your next stay.
The comments you referred to were indeed, all made by "guests" such as yourself."
So....hopefully I can save somebody from making the same mistake I did. I did post a review on vrbo, but the owner vetoed it.
Thanks Blu. I don't know whether the review I posted to vrbo's site was reviewed by the owners or the real-estate company. I believe the owners know that the villa needs updating and cleaning. Maybe they just don't know how much has gone wrong there. Maybe the real estate company is hiding some things from them. I don't know.
Anyway, thanks alot!
HI there. I am very sorry for what has taken place for Connie and we had PM'd each other prior to her arrival several times. All I knew was that this was a vrbo rental and knew nothing of any agents being involved. I do not work for C-21, but am very good friends with the owner for many years and this is why I offered to contact them to see if I could help Connie out in some way. The good news was that Connie did get her damage deposit back promptly and finally received a response to her 2nd letter after she returned home and because of this I did not contact C-21. I have done escorts for C-21 in the far past and never had any issues with them at all. I have also been considering becoming a Realtor thru their company. I have a lot of thoughts and "opinions" on this issue, but feel I am not in a position to get involved so I won't, but I DO have some questions where vrbo is concerned.
First, I believe that there ARE some very nice homes rented thru vrbo, BUT.........
Can you be moved to another villa if the one you rented is not acceptable or not portrayed correctly?
Are you given contact numbers in case of not only emergencies, but for maintenance?
If you are not at all happy and wish to move either to another villa or a Hotel, will your money's be returned for the portion that you did not stay?
Just food for thought. I respect the owner of C-21 and I think I will contact her on the issue. She deserves to represent herself if she so chooses.
I work for McLaughlin Anderson and as most of you know manage my fiance's Villas which are rented thru McLaughlin and I am proud to work and represent them. With McLaughlin, I know that issues will be addressed not only for the owner, but for the guest and I feel this is important.
Recently, We had an a/c problem with one of our places- One of 2 a/c units were out. I brought it to the attention of McLaughlin and they brought it to the attention of the guest PRIOR to their arrival! We were fortunate enough to be-able to move them to our other villa upon their request and they were very happy. Had our other villa been booked then I am more than sure that McLaughlin would have moved them to yet a different villa. So this is the kind of "security" I am talking about.
Again, my Sincerest apologies goes to Connie.
Hi Sherri. All valid points!
Something to consider...
As a renter who has used VRBO, my response is that I expect the trade-off to be in the price. No, I don't expect my VRBO renter to move me to another villa if I am not happy. But, my pleasure is in the fact that my VRBO villa may be up to 50% less than a similar villa through an agent. And, I like working with the owners directly so that I can negotiate my own deals. If I couldn't do that, I'd probably never be able to come down...or I'd stay in a hotel. I can't afford to spend $5k per week for 4 weeks per year on STT.
Things like this.....on my last VRBO rental, I found a need to add more night to my stay. I contacted the owner and he threw it in at no additonal cost....even after I offered to pay for it. Would an agent have done that?
So, there's always a trade...and it works both ways. Some renters need or want assurances and guarantees of everything.....and they're willing to pay more for that. Other renters need or want lower rates, and they're willing to trade guarantees for that. For some renters, they may want guarantees one year and lower rates the next....depending on their situation at the time. It is nice to know that options abound for everyone.
Blu,
You make valid points as well! There is a trade off!
I am the owner of Century21 and I have been reading all of your messages in regards to the Wyndcliff rental by Connie. I have had this Villa on my rental program for at least one year and I have never had any complaints of this nature by renters.
I have an excellent reputation on the island and I am well respected both in the rental business and in the sale of real estate. Having heard all the problems, of which I was not aware of, I immediately forwarded the email from Connie to the owner. I was aware of the phone situation and have called several times to the phone company to come and fix it, but I am at their mercy. Because the phone was not working, I sent the maintenance man, who has maintained the property for years, to check on the guests, which he does as a normal course of business, to see if everything was ok. This was days after Connie arrived. At no time did anyone mention any issues to him. If they had we could have done something immediately, repaired items, whatever needed to be done, it would be done. In the past, not in this villa, things happen that the cleaning lady or the repair person does not mention to the rental company, and then the renter calls us to address the problem and I have sent the entire family to a nice restuarant for dinner, or a trip to St. John, so that they would not be inconvenienced during the time the repairs we being completed.
I am sorry that this has happened and I wish that I had the opportunity to correct these problems at the time, the owner is a serious and very nice person. The house was for sale and is now as of three days ago, been pulled off the market and will not be rented, until all the items are addressed.
Hi Rosemary,
I'm sure Connie will respond via PM or otherwise.
I am of the opinion that since this villa was in poor enough condition to warrant a pull from the market until things are corrected, Connie shouldn't have to be forced to pay the same rate as someone who has rented it at a much lesser point of deterioration. Of course, there's always a gray area...where the renter is just renting at the wrong time, but pays full rate. That happens....
If a villa will continue to book at the same rate, it must be held close to the same standard as time moves along....with minor and major improvements being done along the way. If it slides, so must the booking price. I've had an owner tell me that I'm catching him at the end of his season and he will, thus, offer a discount since I am the last guest prior to annual renovations. That can work for everyone involved.
I'm sure you and Connie can work this out. You sound very concerned and it's nice that you took the time to come here and openly communicate on this issue.
Rosemany...i can't believe what I just read. Especially your last paragraph. Says it all doesn't it.
"House has been pulled off the market and will not be rented until all the items are addressed."
I totally can't believe that you have not had any complaints....nor that you aware of any problems with that Villa. The things that I mentioned that were wrong with the villa were not made up. We had 9 people with us and everybody saw what I saw. I believe you when you say that you are well respected on the island but your company or you or a representative of the company should inspect this property on a regular basis. If somebody did damage to Wyndcliff, how could you tell who did it?
Also, if you were aware of the phone problem, then we should of been notified immediately. We found that out after we got there. What if somebody got hurt? What if somebody had a heart attack? What if there was a fire? We're all luck that none of those things happened aren't we. What would we do? You have to know what a secluded place that is and if something happened when we were there, or anybody else for that matter, we wouldn't have a a chance.
If you knew the phones were down...why didn't anybody check on us? We saw nobody all week. We didn't see a maintenance man at all. And if there is a maintenance man, then why wasn't the Villa check regularaly and the repairs made? We saw the cleaning ladies, but told them not to come in because there will still people sleeping. Even if we saw a maintenance man it would of taken ALOT of time...maybe even days to fix the problems with Wyndcliff. We saw ONE person when we were there. Granville...Once when he met us at the airport and once when he met us to take us back to the airport.
I don't want a nice dinner or a trip to St. John. What I EXPECT is a clean, reasonably furnished and maintained Villa. I wasn't asking for the Taj Mahal.
I'm sorry to everybody now..but that post really got to me. I didn't lie. I told the truth and all i have gotten is excuses of what I should of done when I'm on a vacation for 7 days....and a 10% discount if i rent again in 1 year...
.
Another note that my husband wanted to make. Wyndcliff was pulled from the market because the owner was planning on making upgrades. Not because of the number of things that I mentioned once I got back to the states. We were told that directly from the greeter when we were leaving the villa at the end of our stay.
Hi,
It is pulled off the market because I need to evaluate what you said, I am not acknowledging that the problems exist.
Rosemay...i hope you typed that wrong. I know that it is being pulled from the market because of upgrades that are being made. Enough said about that....but I know. Those problems exist and in due time, you will know too.
One more thing about the cleaning. I have ceiling fans in my house. In fact, I have 6. I'm not going to say that they are sparkling clean. Ceiling fans COULD be cleaned every single day because of dust. But nobody does that. When dust gets to be so thick that you shouldn't turn them on, then that's a problem.
You're not acknowledging that the problems with the Villa exist? Take a ride down to the Villa and see what we saw.
It's not just myself. It's the other 8 people in our party.
Connie,
Don't get me wrong. I think you and your group were mislead. There is no excuse for a rental property to be filthy and in serious disrepair. You are entitled to some refund of your rental fee a not a 10% discount on a future rental. Who would want to go back. All I am saying is that if it were me I would have stopped by the C-21 office to let them know about the place. No one wants to waste vacation time and you handled the problem in your own way. Unfortunately there isn't much recourse available to the renter except to do what you correctly did and that is to let the rest of us renters know that you were ripped off. I for one thank you for letting everyone know. Thanks to you I know one villa I will never rent.
Hey Dave....
I wasn't even going to write a review until Blu asked me too. Believe me, I did my homework for a year...looking for the right Villa to rent for a couple in our party who are really tough to please. If and when we go back next year, I'm having nothing to do with anything. I did the flights, the car rentals, the villa, the boat trip to BVI's...i did everythins, so next year, i'm taking off.
It's not that when we were there that we were constantly b**** about what was wrong with the Villa, but it was certainly on our mind. I'm just not going to go out of my way when i'm actually trying to relax on vacation. With 9 people I was stressed enough. If C-21 is being paid to keep up with the maintenance on the villa, then it should be in decent shape.
We were going from morning until night. Even though you have 7 nights, you really only have 6 full day vacation. I had their address, but had no idea where they were. Plus, I was done with organizing anything.
I seriously was not going to post anything more then a short report about Wyndcliffe...but when the owner of C-21 questions the things I mentioned about it, then that's when I take offense.
Anyway...we still had a great time and if he does the things he says he going to do to Wyndcliff, then we may give it another shot. We'll see.
Connie, This truly sounds like it was a nightmare villa rental. Yes, you all had a great trip because you were in a Paradise location, however it's obvious that the management company of C21 you went through was lax and that the lady Rosemary did not seem to give a hoot how nasty and run down the villa had become as long as it was being rented and somebody was footing the bill. I am hopeful the owner repaired the obvious damages as they could result in loss of life. I've seen those homes on the side of cliffs being held up by toothpicks...LOL, Not funny sorry. Your palty offer of a discount is just that. Palty and insulting. 5K is a lot of money for a week vaca. Not to be taken lightly. Now the villa has been renamed and offered again though the SAME management company. I say...Enough. If you didn't write a review for the "other" USVI website, well now is the time. No time like the present. Prevent others from being ripped off like you were. We've been down to the USVI countless times, hotel, villa and condo rentals. Nothing like you have experienced and we have paid ALOT less. If I'd paid that, like a few others have said...yes I'd have spent valuable vaca time tracking down that management company. However the past is the past...would just hate to see others taken advantage of like you were.
Berlin, there's an newer thread on Wyndcliff/Ocean Villa that you may want to check out. Basically tells you where I stand now with the owner.
