usvi-on-line
My experience with Caribbean Villas!
Woops - my bad - got caught at work and forgot to post which one it was!!!
http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/index.asp
This is the company we rented through.
http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/index.asp
This is the company we rented through.
Re: CV
I'm not a lawyer, but whenever I hear that competitors are meeting to discuss how to do business, the term "restraint of trade" comes to mind.Knolmom wrote:Anthony, Anthony where are you? Are you at all familiar with the "local accommodation council" on STT/STJ?
Can we really be "blackballed" for sharing our experiences on this forum? I certainly hope not. A very bad omen if this is true.
I realize that Beverly Nickolson must have her hands full with the adverse event on STT, but perhaps someone could related this "insinuated" blackballing to her.
JIM
Man it's like some dream we live down here....
Sorry to hear about your problems. I have rented from CV once before with no problems. That said, I appreciate it when people post information about any problems they had. When villas are costing $400+ per night, I expect a well maintained property and a responsive and reasonable management agent.
When these things happen, it starts to feel like the owners are just milking the tourists for money -- charge higher and higher rates, defer maintenance, and then when something goes wrong and is broken or damaged, really stick it to the renter on replacement cost.
When these things happen, it starts to feel like the owners are just milking the tourists for money -- charge higher and higher rates, defer maintenance, and then when something goes wrong and is broken or damaged, really stick it to the renter on replacement cost.
NCSue-
I wouldn't apologize, nor feel the need to defend yourself.
Your experience was absolutely intolerable on all counts!
To hell with worrying about "bashing local businesses." They not only didn't care about you, but also feel the need to make you feel WORSE after your crappy experience?!? Unbelievable.
Sure, maybe it wasn't the entire company that was at fault, perhaps just someone having a bad day. But- that's on them, not you.
I would have, however, made more than a few calls regarding the leakage issue while I was still there.- Bigtime!
I'm more than forgiving & patient, but calling them about something like that sounds like a no-brainer to me.
You spend your hard earned money for a (hopefully) seemless vacation. Something like this happens, feel free to vent. Freedom of speech rocks.
Good luck w/ the ipod thing.
Smiles-
MJ
I wouldn't apologize, nor feel the need to defend yourself.
Your experience was absolutely intolerable on all counts!
To hell with worrying about "bashing local businesses." They not only didn't care about you, but also feel the need to make you feel WORSE after your crappy experience?!? Unbelievable.
Sure, maybe it wasn't the entire company that was at fault, perhaps just someone having a bad day. But- that's on them, not you.
I would have, however, made more than a few calls regarding the leakage issue while I was still there.- Bigtime!
I'm more than forgiving & patient, but calling them about something like that sounds like a no-brainer to me.
You spend your hard earned money for a (hopefully) seemless vacation. Something like this happens, feel free to vent. Freedom of speech rocks.
Good luck w/ the ipod thing.
Smiles-
MJ
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Teresa_Rae
- Posts: 2053
- Joined: Mon Oct 09, 2006 5:44 pm
- Location: Downstate IL
The company at issue is called Caribbean Villas (with an 's') but their website address has no 's': http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/
This is their logo:
They have a local presence on STJ and only rent villas on STJ and Tortola.
The other company at http://www.caribbeanvillas.com/ is one of those companies that rents villas on a bunch of different islands and probably doesn't have a local presence.
This is their logo:
They have a local presence on STJ and only rent villas on STJ and Tortola.
The other company at http://www.caribbeanvillas.com/ is one of those companies that rents villas on a bunch of different islands and probably doesn't have a local presence.
Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.
- Mark Twain
- Mark Twain
Well, looks like I'm in the minority, so I just want to make a few additional points to clarify my opinion. Sounds like alot of problems with the villa, I'm not necessarily agreeing or disagreeing with the post...
The title of this post is highly negative...ie, say no to CV....I think I would personally make the post title less agressive. The issue I have is that this is a one sided conversation, and CV isn't represented here. I'm not doubting the problem, but I don't like to see only one point of view in anything I deal with, from politics to reviews of my beloved red sox. I'd really love to see more business owners from STJ participating in the forum to defend themselves. There're always two sides to every story, and the locals really should get involved in the forums because, as we see here, they can get slammed pretty easily, and maybe they have a different opinion. Why would they just want to be a pain in the butt and try to screw the renter? This is like business suicide in today's world. It doesn't make sense to me.
Here's another idea......the web site we use to rent our house in Rincon P.R. for the surf vacations is very cool. Reviews for each house are directly on the agency web site and very detailed. And, the owner can add comments to the posts. So, for the house we rented in P.R. last winter, all reviews except for one were very positive. The one negative review b+tched about everything, from noise at the church next store, to the roosters waking them up every morning from across the street. This would be similar to saying you hate your STJ villa because the donkeys woke you up. The owner responded to this negative review and had a totally different point of view about this situation, and about this renter. In my opinion, if you are prepared to trash a business in a public forum, be prepared to be trashed in response. This is something that the local STJ villa agencies should consider adding to their sites for sure, feedback should be directly on their sites.
Ok, nuff said, again, maybe I'm in the minority here. Everyone have a great weekend.
The title of this post is highly negative...ie, say no to CV....I think I would personally make the post title less agressive. The issue I have is that this is a one sided conversation, and CV isn't represented here. I'm not doubting the problem, but I don't like to see only one point of view in anything I deal with, from politics to reviews of my beloved red sox. I'd really love to see more business owners from STJ participating in the forum to defend themselves. There're always two sides to every story, and the locals really should get involved in the forums because, as we see here, they can get slammed pretty easily, and maybe they have a different opinion. Why would they just want to be a pain in the butt and try to screw the renter? This is like business suicide in today's world. It doesn't make sense to me.
Here's another idea......the web site we use to rent our house in Rincon P.R. for the surf vacations is very cool. Reviews for each house are directly on the agency web site and very detailed. And, the owner can add comments to the posts. So, for the house we rented in P.R. last winter, all reviews except for one were very positive. The one negative review b+tched about everything, from noise at the church next store, to the roosters waking them up every morning from across the street. This would be similar to saying you hate your STJ villa because the donkeys woke you up. The owner responded to this negative review and had a totally different point of view about this situation, and about this renter. In my opinion, if you are prepared to trash a business in a public forum, be prepared to be trashed in response. This is something that the local STJ villa agencies should consider adding to their sites for sure, feedback should be directly on their sites.
Ok, nuff said, again, maybe I'm in the minority here. Everyone have a great weekend.
CV
Regardless of whether the renter was charged erroneously or not, or outrageously or not for the damage to the linens, the fact that is of interest to me here is that CV had the nerve to charge them without prior discussion for such an incident when the fact was the house was UNINHABITABE owing to both a BURGLARY and SERIOUS FLOODING ISSUE.
These are the things I want to hear about on this forum.
A review of the villa and, trip reports and vacation photos are very nice to see but how one was treated when trying to resove a maintenance issue or being the victim of a crime perpetrated by a rental management compamy's "agent or employee" is something I really want to hear about on this board, "accommodation council" be damned.
These are the things I want to hear about on this forum.
A review of the villa and, trip reports and vacation photos are very nice to see but how one was treated when trying to resove a maintenance issue or being the victim of a crime perpetrated by a rental management compamy's "agent or employee" is something I really want to hear about on this board, "accommodation council" be damned.
It is sad to hear how the vacation of one of our Forum freinds was ruined or at least seriously diminished.
As for the one sidedness of this thread, I must respectfully disagree with surfnh. Is this any more one sided than the way that the demand was made for the cost of new linens? Is it any more one sided than the landlord/host/villa agency has the right to charge the guest's credit card for an unjust charge? This method makes it the guest's responsibility to contest the charge and try to recover the money. Is it any more one sided than the villa agency threatening to blackball the guest? What is wrong with turning the blackball threat back on the bully?
Why would a company do this kind of thing, screw the renter as you put it? I don't think they believe they are screwing the guest. They probably believe they are protecting thier business. They are not but that is what they may believe. The business world is full of businesses that act in a way that is in opposition to their own best interest. We are also well aware of businesses in the States and the VI that were so mismanaged that they are now out of business.
A forum like this is one of the few ways where the individual has the ability to balance the business's ability to control the situation. Perhaps threads like this will cause businesses to rethink their own behavior. It might make them realize that they don't operate in the dark. We are watching. It might make someone take a moment to reconsider before they react like this agency did.
JIM
As for the one sidedness of this thread, I must respectfully disagree with surfnh. Is this any more one sided than the way that the demand was made for the cost of new linens? Is it any more one sided than the landlord/host/villa agency has the right to charge the guest's credit card for an unjust charge? This method makes it the guest's responsibility to contest the charge and try to recover the money. Is it any more one sided than the villa agency threatening to blackball the guest? What is wrong with turning the blackball threat back on the bully?
Why would a company do this kind of thing, screw the renter as you put it? I don't think they believe they are screwing the guest. They probably believe they are protecting thier business. They are not but that is what they may believe. The business world is full of businesses that act in a way that is in opposition to their own best interest. We are also well aware of businesses in the States and the VI that were so mismanaged that they are now out of business.
A forum like this is one of the few ways where the individual has the ability to balance the business's ability to control the situation. Perhaps threads like this will cause businesses to rethink their own behavior. It might make them realize that they don't operate in the dark. We are watching. It might make someone take a moment to reconsider before they react like this agency did.
JIM
Man it's like some dream we live down here....
To address your point surhnh, NCSue told the management company that she planned to post her side on the forum.
If CV wanted to ensure that their side got equal time with the same audience then they could have signed on and presented it.
For purely selfish reasons I'm a bit relieved to hear that the collective experience from dealing with CV from the members here hasn't been universally bad. I got what appeared to be a great deal on a property for our fall trip through them, so naturally I want it to go smoothly.
But I'm glad that NCSue posted, as a result I'll likely pay a little more attention to some details that I may have otherwise been a little more cavalier about.
If CV wanted to ensure that their side got equal time with the same audience then they could have signed on and presented it.
For purely selfish reasons I'm a bit relieved to hear that the collective experience from dealing with CV from the members here hasn't been universally bad. I got what appeared to be a great deal on a property for our fall trip through them, so naturally I want it to go smoothly.
But I'm glad that NCSue posted, as a result I'll likely pay a little more attention to some details that I may have otherwise been a little more cavalier about.
Come see us!
Many good points made....
I'm quite sure CV is aware of the forums. In this case, we can see how many people have had very good experiences with CV....but one negative review brings the opinion on line that they're all a bunch of bums. Things can go viral very quickly. All I'm saying is we need to be careful. Hopefully CV has learned from this as much as we.
I'm quite sure CV is aware of the forums. In this case, we can see how many people have had very good experiences with CV....but one negative review brings the opinion on line that they're all a bunch of bums. Things can go viral very quickly. All I'm saying is we need to be careful. Hopefully CV has learned from this as much as we.
I have to chime in as I am in the vaca rental business and rent my own home weekly. It is not always the rental company but the agent, owner and rental company who is handling the booking. We should shop when booking our villas to book through agents and owners who care about what they are renting. Some owner's suck and it's not always the agemts fault if the owners suck.
I'm not tooting my own horn but want to make a point, I have a 2 week booking and the first day their kid kicked a soccer ball and broke the window! They called us and I went out and fixed it. $9.58 for glass,etc and a bit of sweat and i still have to paint it.But I'm not going to take it out of there damage depo.It was a their first day of vacation! Why would I, my goal is to give them the most I can offer! They gave me x grand $$! I hope they rebook next year! there are bad owners and there are bad agents and some times bad agency's. I think that realtor's being independent contractor's open's up alot of room for them to not follow up when there tenants have problem's if the broker of the company isn't committed and a quailty business
Do your homework and if you get burned,post negative on who deserves it. It's not always the company but some agents or owners can be.....Hmmmm Alright enough said
I'm not tooting my own horn but want to make a point, I have a 2 week booking and the first day their kid kicked a soccer ball and broke the window! They called us and I went out and fixed it. $9.58 for glass,etc and a bit of sweat and i still have to paint it.But I'm not going to take it out of there damage depo.It was a their first day of vacation! Why would I, my goal is to give them the most I can offer! They gave me x grand $$! I hope they rebook next year! there are bad owners and there are bad agents and some times bad agency's. I think that realtor's being independent contractor's open's up alot of room for them to not follow up when there tenants have problem's if the broker of the company isn't committed and a quailty business
Do your homework and if you get burned,post negative on who deserves it. It's not always the company but some agents or owners can be.....Hmmmm Alright enough said
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stjohnjulie
- Posts: 570
- Joined: Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:34 am
- Location: St. John VI
dctac, you have a point. I did a brief stint with Destination St. John about 10 years ago and learned a lot about what goes into such a business. We had a ton of houses with a ton of different owners/personalities. Some people were very very difficult to deal with. Some owners didn't want to spend ANY money. They didn't want to replace outdated or worn furnishings. They complained about charges for landscaping and maintenance. It was hard for me to book these villas with a clear conscious. Other people wanted to use their own people for cleaning, landscaping, etc. This really puts the villa company in a spot because they don't have the control they need. Destination St. John, way back when, actually had to drop some of the villas because they had a reputation to protect. I think this was the right thing to do.
Personally, I am dying to know who the landscapers were that rooted through your villa. This is so completely wrong and just crazy. If I were CV, I would have marched my butt straight down to the police station and filed charges. They must know which two people were at the villa that day.
As far as the leaky roof...well, a lot of people found out about leaks they didn't know existed with the heavy rains we had. In both my business and home we discovered several leaks that were never a problem. CV could have handled the situation a little better, but I am glad they removed the charges for you. I suspect St. John roofers have a lot of new business right now.
Personally, I am dying to know who the landscapers were that rooted through your villa. This is so completely wrong and just crazy. If I were CV, I would have marched my butt straight down to the police station and filed charges. They must know which two people were at the villa that day.
As far as the leaky roof...well, a lot of people found out about leaks they didn't know existed with the heavy rains we had. In both my business and home we discovered several leaks that were never a problem. CV could have handled the situation a little better, but I am glad they removed the charges for you. I suspect St. John roofers have a lot of new business right now.