- Report: #977956
Complaint Review: MBVacation - Atlanta Georgia
Reported By:
tracy -
Jamestown, New York, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
MBVacation
8343 roswell road #304 Atlanta, 30350 Georgia, United States of America
Phone:
770-457-9168
Web:
http://www.sunset-red-condo.com
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
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MBVacation Sunset Red Condo, Andy Caldwell Scammed out of Security Deposit Atlanta, Georgia
My family and I stayed at this condo for a week. Initially the owner was very helpful and after speaking with him a few times I felt very confident we were going to have a great experience! When we arrived we immediately noticed that the condo wasn't as clean as we had hoped for. The floors were dirty to the point that I felt inclined to Mop before the rest of our family arrived. The furniture was also heavily soiled and seemed to have been that way for some time so I did not feel the need to take photos or report this. I figured no big deal as we planned on spending more time outside then in anyway. The first night we were there one of the pull out futon beds broke, and instead of calling the property manager my husband went to the home depot to get bolts and tools to fix it. Again...no biggie...we wanted to enjoy our vacation. The departure instructions were very simple...run the dishwasher and put the towels in the washer. Easy. There was no mention of having to sweep, vacume or dust. Since we had a 15 hour drive we decided to call the property manager to see if we had to wait for the walk through. Since she told me no, we left. A couple of weeks later I called the owner to inquire about the status of my $300 security deposit. He did not return my call. A few days later my husband reached him and he told my husband that the check was "in the mail". After a week, I sent him an email asking for the status when he told me that he was waiting for a bill from the "painter" to see how much he woudl have to deduct from our deposit. WHAT! His email went on to say that there was sand on the floors (it was a beach condo) and that there were nerf bullets found all over (yes, the kids were playing inside but there was no damaged caused by this). When I asked for pictures, he did send me some pictures but could not provide me with any pictures of the property before my arrival. Clearly the property manager was waiting for someone to not do the walk through to pin these damages on. I should have known that something was up when he insisted on cash as a security deposit. If a credit card is used you are protected against crooks and can dispute things. I will make a point to post as many reviews about this as possible! Do NOT STAY THERE!
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Andy
Atlanta,Georgia,
United States of America
The Other Side of the Story
#2REBUTTAL Individual responds
Thu, December 06, 2012
Id like to mention a few points for our potential future
guests to consider:
1.
During 2012 we have withheld 5.1% of security
deposits (so refunded 94.9%).
2.
Our security deposits are small and nearly
always do not cover the cost of damages, but are designed as a financial
incentive for the guest to respect the property. Renting out real estate and not operating
with a security deposit results in damaged and run-down property. Unfortunately this is a sad fact of the
industry.
3.
We try not to withhold security deposits as it
nearly always causes problems. 80% of
guests having security deposits withheld proactively try to harm us further.
These particular guests the Hultin Family (Tracy and Dan
Hultin):
Our instructions are very clear in that if a guest is
unhappy at check in to call the manager so that we have time to address any
issues. This group did not call at all
during their vacation. They did call
several times after their vacation and I took all of their calls but informed
them I would respond via email as to why their deposit was being withheld. I did respond and forwarded pictures to them
of the damage they had caused.
Why their
deposit was withheld:
The property is non-smoking.
The contract clearly states this and mentions the deductible should the
group smoke. This group smoked in the
property. They also spat or spilled
chewing tobacco dip down a bedroom wall that needed to be cleaned and touch up
painted as the paint wore off the wall when the cleaners tried to magic eraser
the mark off. This expense (smoking and
painting) alone exceeded this groups security deposit.
The group spilled purple liquid on the couches in three
places. They also attempted to hide the
spillage by turning over the cushions.
Fortunately we use removable covers so we could replace them with spares
for the next guest.
The cleaners charged a significant additional cleaning fee because
of the amount of sand left in the property; floors, washer, dishwasher and some
beds. The cleaners mentioned they had
never seen as much sand in the unit.
Interestingly, the group spokesman, Dan Hultin, replied to this comment
by saying that we should expect this.
Perhaps if they had exercised a little care, not smoked inside and kept their
children in check while on vacation they would have had their deposit
returned. 94.9% of our other guests do.
(Other notes on the Hultin family: They were habitually late with payments on
their payment plan for their vacation.
They also reduced their vacation from seven days to six days and were discounted
and refunded 1.3 times what their security deposit fee was. At no point were their calls not
returned. At no point were they told a
check is in the mail. We do accept credit
cards. The Hultins received extra
discount by mailing in payments, all be it late. Master/Visa /Discover do not honor loss,
theft or damage, so CC security deposits are not really a viable business option. We do however use them for our repeat guests
that have looked after the property).
Sincerely
Andy
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