Complaint Review:
Shara Stamler
Shara Stamler SECURITY DEPOSIT FRAUD South Lake Tahoe, California
This complaint concerns Premier Tahoe Vacations in South Lake Tahoe, CA. This company conducts business through their website, premiertahoevacations.com, and communication is based primarily through email and/or cell phone. The company is run solely by Shara Stamler, who from my experience (and a number of others), is in violation of state law regarding security deposit refunds. Contact with Shara is usually easy PRIOR TO securing a rental. After the rental is complete and it's time to receive your security deposit back, good luck.
My experience:
I rented one of Stamler's properties (the "Eco House") in July 2009 and didn't get my deposit back for several months. During that time, I sent numerous emails and left numerous voice messages for Stamler, but she failed to respond to any of them. Per our rental agreement, she was required to return the security deposit within 2-3 weeks, after a clear inspection of the property. Well, the property was left in perfect condition and all of a sudden, she wasn't even available to answer a phone call or email. Fishy, right? Well it continued like this for months.
When I was finally fed up with the whole thing, I sent one last email threatening to come up to Tahoe and contact her in person. I also threatened to file a report with local law enforcement and/or file a lawsuit since she was in violation of the rental contract. To this, Stamler finally responded (email only), claiming she was as "surprised" as I was and that her "credit card company" was having issues she didn't know about. She had taken my $1000 deposit through my VISA so I demanded an immediate refund. Claiming problems with her "credit company" (what does that even mean?), she said she would send a certified check instead. Want to guess what happened next? You're right - no check arrived. I emailed one last time and told her I was filing my report with the Sheriff if I didn't hear from her within 24 hours. One more email response was received, a check was finally sent, and I received it a week later. Needless to say, although I finally received MY money after several months of hassle and fraud, I'm still not satisfied that Stamler is conducting business. It appears many others are experiencing this with Stamler and that's just from reports people have made online. Who knows how many have been victimized and haven't posted online about it?
In all honesty, I think Stamler is holding onto deposits as long as possible with the hope that some customers will give up because they're too busy, don't notice, or give up the fight after receiving no responses. That, or she's floating our money for several months to finance other personal expenses. Either way, this is definitely a pattern and not problems with her "credit card company." Her excuses are utter crap, her business ethics are nonexistent, and her actions are criminal. Had I not been persistent and threatened criminal action myself, I don't think I would have received my money. I just hope others read this and avoid Shara Stamler. I also hope she loses her business license and would be happy to testify in support of that.
Check out this recent story about another family who was victim to Shara Stamler:http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/7_on_your_side&id=7204822