Complaint Review: Waters of Tahoe Properties - Tahoe Vista California

 July 22nd 2010

1.)    This vacation rental is a dog friendly h*ome dog friendly means that the owners allow well behaved dogs to stay at the h*ome. As far as the location goes, if your dog is a water dog this is a great dog location the h*ome is right on the shores of Lake Tahoe. I do not state on my website that a h*ome is a dog friendly location I refer to the h*ome as dog friendly or not dog friendly. My dog fee is $30 per dog per stay and I usually only allow a maximum of two dogs in the Sells case I made an exception and allowed 4 dogs.

This is an updated rebuttal to the complaint filed by Carla Sells regarding a July 4^th 2010 vacation rental reservation.  I have a small vacation rental company on the North Shore of Tahoe - I handle the office personally and I take pride in my professionalism.  My h*omes are all well maintained, clean and accurately represented on my website. I do not have deceptive or substandard renting policies. I stand behind my decision in not granting Carla Sells a refund for her stay at vacation rental because of her complaint that is was very crowded, not a dog friendly h*ome, the refrigerator did not work properly and the Wifi was not operable. I will respond to each point of the complaint in detail.

2.)    Sells quotes my website never more than a few minutes awayetc Im not clear what her point is.  The sentence that Sells quotes is a correct statement Im not being dishonest in how I describe this vacation rentals location.

3.)    On this vacation rentals webpage it states that the h*ome is next to Garwoods Restaurant. I also discussed this with Sells on the phone when she was booking the property. I always make sure that the renters are aware of Garwoods, I have found that some renters see this as a bonus, some renters will not stay next to a restaurant and some renters could care less. I do not deceive renters regarding the location of the h*ome and surroundings of any of my properties.  

4.)    The 4^th of July weekend is very busy up here in Tahoe, for example we have about 10,000 people living on the North Shore of Tahoe, and for the July 4^th holiday we go up to 100,000 to 130,000 a very large increase in population. Where the crowds are most concentrated is at the Lake because of the boaters, swimmers and people walking along the shore.

5.)    Regarding the refrigerator issue. The first I heard that there was an issue with the refrigerator was on Friday afternoon July 9^th 4 days after the Sells family left the h*ome, after I informed them I would not give them a refund because it was a busy holiday weekend. The Sells called me a few times during their stay with questions regarding the pier, the buoy, the metal bear box and the internet problem - they had ample opportunity to let me know there was an issue with the refrigerator. If they would have informed me of the problem, I would have explained the following to them - when the refrigerator goes from being empty to being filled all at once with lots of groceries the internal temperature will reset automatically and sometimes in this process condensation will appear, the refrigerator will normalize after about 12 hours. This is a common problem with vacation rental refrigerators, which are in good working order, in the warm summer months.

6.)    Regarding the internet issue. When the Sells made the reservation for this vacation rental on March 15^th 2010, Wifi was not advertised on the website. The owners decided to add Wifi and placed the order with AT&T at the end of April/beginning of May, the Wifi was installed May 13^th, and the Wifi amenity was added to the vacation rentals webpage sometime in late April/early May. The Sells family is putting a lot of emphasis on the Wifi problem if it was so important to them why did they reserve a h*ome without Wifi. Even though the Wifi was an extra bonus, I did try to resolve the issue. I called AT&T three times, and I also called and e-mailed both owners of the property and the past renters to see if they had reset the modem with a new password. AT&T was not able to send out a technician until after the July 4^th holiday. I stayed in contact with the Sells letting them know my progress I called them 3 to 5 times regarding the internet issue. By making the phone calls, writing the e-mails and staying in contact with the Sells, I made a concerted and genuine effort in trying to resolve the problem. It is stated on my website that I cannot guarantee things beyond my control. I will always try to help, however sometimes Im not able to fix the issue. This is my policy as started on my website. Disclaimer: We cannot be held responsible for circumstances beyond our control such as any type of noise pollution including construction, public or private functions, and events. Wildfire smoke, interruption of services or utilities including power, water, phone, internet, gas, cable TV or unexpected appliance breakdowns, weather conditions and road closures are all beyond our control.

7.)    The last item is regarding the amount of people the Sells family had at the h*ome. The maximum occupancy of this vacation rental is 8 people as stated on the rental agreement. One of the owners of this property drove by the h*ome on the afternoon of Sunday July 4^th. There were 8 cars parked in the driveway and the owner was not able to see if there were cars parked in the garage so there were 8 to 10 cars at the h*ome there is a possibility that the Sells family are in breach of the rental contract they signed. I say possibility because everyone at the h*ome could have driven their own car and there might not have been two cars in the garage.

I regard this complaint made by the Sells family as unwarranted. When I spoke to Carla Sells on the phone Friday July 9^th, the Sellss main complaint was that I should give them a refund because Tahoe was so much more crowded and busier than they expected. When I informed Carla Sells of my policy of not giving refunds because of a busy holiday weekend, that is when she added her other items of complaint. I have tried to address every point logically and clearly.

Mischel Sable

Owner of Waters of Tahoe Properties

This is a rebuttal to the complaint filed regarding a July 4th reservation made by Carla and Tracy Sells at one of my vacation rentals I represent at North Lake Tahoe. The three points of the Sellss complaint are: that it was a busy weekend and how this interfered with their dogs, lack of internet access, and refrigerator problems.
I pride myself on being honest and straight forward I do not misrepresent my vacation homes. This is the first complaint my company has received in 6 years of being in business.
I feel that this complaint towards my company is unwarranted and I will explain my reasoning. The Sells family came to Tahoe and did not have a good time. They asked for a refund because Tahoe was busy over the July 4th weekend and I explained it is not my companys policy to give refunds due to busy holiday periods.

North Lake Tahoe has a population of about 10,000 residents for the July 4th weekend this number goes up to about 100,00 to 130,000 people a very large increase so yes July 4th is very busy and crowded on the North Shore of Tahoe, especially down near the lake. In addition, between Lake Tahoe and up to the high water mark is public access, this means anybody legally can walk in front of your home along the shore of Lake Tahoe and people do.

Yes, this Tahoe lakefront property is next to a restaurant and this is clearly stated on my webpage and I always go over the location with the potential renters as well. I have found some renters love to be next door to this restaurant and some do not. It is important to me that the renters using my vacation rentals services know what they are renting I discuss with potential renters the exact location and surroundings of all my homes.

This is a dog friendly home which means that the owners of the property allow renters to bring well behaved dogs with them on their vacation. It is beyond my control if people walking by want to pet the Sells dogs. The action of other people walking by does not make the home not dog friendly.

The internet issue was caused by AT&T. I called AT&T three times to try and solve the problem. I also called and e-mailed both owners of the property and the past renters to see if they had reset the modem with a new password. AT&T was not able to send out a technician until after the July 4th holiday. By making the phone calls and writing the e-mails, I made a concerted and genuine effort in trying to resolve the problem. It is stated on my website that I cannot guarantee things beyond my control. I will always try to help, however sometimes Im not able to fix the issue. This is my policy as started on my website. Disclaimer: We cannot be held responsible for circumstances beyond our control such as any type of noise pollution including construction, public or private functions, and events. Wildfire smoke, interruption of services or utilities including power, water, phone, internet, gas, cable TV or unexpected appliance breakdowns, weather conditions and road closures are all beyond our control.

The refrigerator works fine. What happened was, when the refrigerator goes from being empty to being filled at once with lots of groceries the internal temperature will reset automatically and sometimes in this process condensation will appear. While the Sells family was at the home, they did not call me and complain about the refrigerator. I would have explained to them what caused the problem and that it will normalize itself. The first I heard of this complaint was when they wanted a refund.

I run a small vacation rental company and I work hard to insure that my vacation rental customers rent a home that is well represented on the website, is clean, well maintained and comfortable. This is the first time I have received a complaint. Here are a few examples of guest reviews that are posted on my website that pertain to the vacation rental in question.
Everything was wonderful at ***** Mischel was so helpful in getting our reservations, making a slight change, answering questions, bringing trash bags when we couldn't find them, and returning our deposit! The home on the lake in Carnelian Bay is small, but very homey and a great place to meet family from the East. I would strongly recommend this company and this property. I only wish we could have spent the whole summer!
Another great time at ****** too bad we are going home. We will miss our morning swims, jogs on the beach, boating to East Shore and watching our dog, who cant get enough of jumping off the pier! Until next summer.

I do think it is very disconcerting that anyone can post a complaint on a public website and the complaint does not need to be proven or verified first. This complaint is a gross misstatement and misrepresentation of my professional business practices.