USVI-On-Line

I e-mailed the owner the in-depth villa review posted on TA. This was her response to me:

Jan,

This is unbelievable. Thank you so much for sending this. We decided to switch to Carefree Getaways from VIVA because VIVA had been making many mistakes and this is what it is all about. We've been booking ourselves, successfully, and this is not making them happy. It is so outrageous, but it will do damage and that was the itent. Only part that sounds familiar is everyone knows I work at the clinic.

For you though, please contact Carefree Getaways if you have any concerns or doubts and we will both send you true responses and e-mails.

Best,

Chris

It does sound like a very weird and unsettling experience -- a stranger in a child's bedroom? That would be horrible.

Her experience with the owners sounds awful, but I wish the poster didn't advise against staying at any house with owners on site. I would guess that most owners are working hard to keep their homes in good shape and their renters happy. We've all read reports in which a villa is managed by an off-island organization, so problems don't get fixed in a timely manner because no one is there to fix them. You wouldn't have that problem with owners nearby.

I am very confused.

Are the owners saying or guessing (?) that VIVA is making up this particular review with the intention of damaging the villa's reputation?

Personally, not sure what to believe...

chicagoans wrote:Her experience with the owners sounds awful, but I wish the poster didn't advise against staying at any house with owners on site.

If everything that she said is true, I would not blame her for saying that. It would leave a terrible taste in my mouth.


I suspect that we will never know every detail. The renter has told her side and the owner is completely denying it ever happened. That is far too strange for me.

what? are you serious they're saying this post is not true? i'm so confused....is it that cut throat down there that you would have to go this far?

if this has really happened; I feel for the the family involved and being in the middle of such a thing.

we have used viva in the past and have been very happy...along with Catered to and carefree...this year we did book through the owner and saved a lot of money. hum? now i know why all of you were questioning this earlier....i'm slow!

samholtz wrote:what? are you serious they're saying this post is not true? i'm so confused....is it that cut throat down there that you would have to go this far?

I am saying no such thing. What I am saying is that it will be hard to tell what truly happened. The renter has her version and the owner is completely denying that any of it happened.

The whole situation is terrible and at the same time very confusing.

Wouldnt it be nice to hear Viva's side of it. I dont know...but for me personally...I would go with my gut feeling. I cant help but think how bad it would be to get there and not enjoy yourself. We had a bad villa experience our 1st stay on the Island.. maybe because we didnt listen to that little nagging in the back of my mind.. but live and learn I guess...good luck with whatever you decide...

im sorry xilandgirl i didn't mean your post in particular...just the whole post in general. I guess it would be nice to hear from Viva; assuming that will never happen; this is sad.

The woman who wrote the review mentions that the villa owners offered to put them up at the Westin instead. Has she said why they didn't take them up on the offer? I'd rather be at a villa, but not under the circumstances they went through. If it was so awful, I wonder why they didn't move? (Maybe it was full or they thought it was too much of a hassle - I'm not blaming them, just curious.)

The villa owner has been very informative and kind to me via e-mails and I have trouble believing this review. I could be wrong but I'm going with my gut instinct. They come across as good people and there are lots of great reviews on TA, a guy from Tampa has posted pics of the villa and says the owners were great, so who knows? It was never my intent to make anyone uncomfortable but when you have a vested interest in a villa you try to get all the facts and make an educated decision.

greyhoundmom wrote:The villa owner has been very informative and kind to me via e-mails and I have trouble believing this review. I could be wrong but I'm going with my gut instinct. They come across as good people and there are lots of great reviews on TA, a guy from Tampa has posted pics of the villa and says the owners were great, so who knows? It was never my intent to make anyone uncomfortable but when you have a vested interest in a villa you try to get all the facts and make an educated decision.

I forget what that old saying is but it's something like...he said/she said and it's something in the middle. If half of what happened is true, then it's not good.

Does anybody really think that the poster would just make up the fight she heard??? That was really bad and it was also bad (if it happened) that the owner of the villa just said she wanted them the F*** out?? I don't know, but if the review is wrong and I was the owner of the Villa and it's plastered all over the internet, I'd take some legal action.

IF it is true what happened, I would want some of my money back as happened to us when we had a bad experience on STT. It's just the right thing to do.

I don't think it matters that the owners, if they did, offered to put them in the Westin. The Westin is completely different then having your own Villa. Also, who wants to move all that stuff you have with you to another place. It's just a big hassle. Why not call Viva and have them moved to another Villa instead?

The best thing to do for the owners of the Villa would be to just change the name of it so everybody on the net doesn't see these posts.

It is very hard when two sides are giving opposite stories.
I can't imagine the owner would ever admit to anyone that asks that it did not happen. It is her business & I would imagine she would do and say ANYTHING to cover this up.
On the other side, if this ever happened to me I would insist immediately a different rental. I would never stay a night if this happened to my child, and to keep returning each day when you know someone is coming in and trying to make you leave. That seems very odd to me.
So who do you believe? It is sad if someone is doing this to ruin someones business. I would think owners switch companies all the time and that would be the nature of the business not something to go to such extremes about.

I guess a copy of the police report would be the only evidence.

Greyhound, sorry this is happening to you.

Sorry for all involved .

I am so emotionally spent at the end of this day. Want to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I am still going to sleep on it. I never thought my wonderful dream of next summer on STJ would be so crazy. It is hard to think you have picked the perfect place and then hear that maybe you haven't. I am done for this evening. Thank you, everyone, for all of your input, pm's and research on my behalf. In the five years since we've been on-island, never, ever had such a strange twist. I can only say that I've e-mailed owner again today and seems there is a new happening with her current guests who are TA employees. Seems they have given her the name of a contact on TA to try and get to the root this whole thing. Again, she seems so wonderful in her e-mails and perhaps I am hoping all is well. Tomorrow, I will suggest that again she post something on either forum to tell her side of the story. Rest well, my forum friends! Jan

Check the tradewinds for that time and see if the police were called