This was a big birthday for this California girl and I wanted to spend it in Savannah with some of my best girlfriends from all over the country! This house seemed perfect and in many ways it was. It had 7 en suite bedrooms and was a stone's throw from all the important sites. But it did not earn a 5-star rating from me because of several shortfalls, some of which truly impacted our full enjoyment and satisfaction with the property and our overall visit to Savannah.
1) There were surveillance cameras throughout the house - big privacy violation!!
2) There was no "welcome kit" as promised containing essential dishwashing liquid, paper towels, sponge, etc, and our repeated calls to VRBO went unheeded until late on the second day with a promise to deliver on the 3rd day of a 4 day visit. However, NO ONE EVER DELIVERED ANYTHING. There wasn't even a broom in the house.
3) It was chilly at night and temperature controls were hidden behind framed wall art requiring us to call VRBO. Initially, no one could tell us where the controls could be found.
4) It wasn't cool that we had to kill several cockroaches.
5) Calls for a change in the front door passcode went unheeded (we feared the code may have been compromised, unwittingly).
6) Two of the upstairs television controls did not work, even with exchange of batteries.
7) We clearly had an 11 AM check out, but the cleaning people came at 10:00 AM. The cleaning lady challenged our staying until 11 AM, until I produced the written paperwork and the cleaner called someone, presumably at VRBO, to verify my claim.
8) A dangerous condition existed with the dishwasher not being bolted to the counter, so when stacking the dishwasher, it would fall out of the counter.
I am sure many of these issues about the house could be addressed with a thorough walk through of the property by VRBO staff PRIOR to check-in by guests. In any event, the presence of surveillance cameras was a gross violation of our right to privacy. Finally, the overall behavior by VRBO staff was insulting and negligent, falling below the customer service expectations that I had.
In discussion with the Area Manager, we were unable to reach a mutually satisfactory compromise. I continued to feel the matters outlined above were significant enough to bring to the attention of the consuming public and I hope to have a better experience should I choose to use VRBO as my vacation rental choice in the future.
