usvi-on-line
Villa Sibella Complaint Resolution-CVR
Villa Sibella Complaint Resolution-CVR
Hey Guys (and Girls),
This is a long one so get ready.
I told you I just can't do short post.
Anthony, I'm requesting credit for 20 posts since this one is so long. Apparently I work in volume, not quantity.
I just wanted to give you an update on our Villa Sibella experience.
We rented Villa Sibella in Virgin Grand Estates this year, April 21-28, through Caribbean Villas and Resorts.
We had several fairly big problems with the villa and experienced a lack of, and then poor response from Caribbean Villas and Resorts. As many of you know, they charge an additional 5% service fee, the purpose of which is to enable them to provide better customer service and response to maintenance/repair issues by having adequate staff on island.
It wasn't a quick process, but CVR has refunded us 20% of our base rental fee (not tax or service fee) for the problems with the villa and their poor handling of the situation.
I asked about the status of the repairs at the villa and was told that they were not currently renting the villa until the issues were fixed.
Another forum member, Arenee, had stayed there the week before we did and experienced the issues first, with no response, and posted about it upon returning home. (Unfortunately, we were on our way already.)
For anyone who cares to read it, below is a copy of the letter I sent to Diane Janelle at CVR, who inquired about our stay about a week after we returned.
I believe her asking may have been prompted by the buzz going on here on our forum. Her message said she wanted to know how our stay was and "was there anything she needed to know about"?
I've known that our forum group is a resource, a network, a support group, a community, and, yes, a family, but I now realize that it is something of a force to be respected.
Things said here can help or hurt a business (or people) and I try to be mindful of that.
I posted my problems about the villa originally to give anyone considering it or already committed to renting it a heads up about the issues so that they could be prepared. We have a duty to look out for each other here. But I weighed it against giving a new villa a bad reputation that it may not recover from, so I tried to be gentle and give them a chance to fix things before doing a full review.
I will repeat that the villa is extremely nice. Being a new villa, it has some unforseen problems.
While I would love to stay there again after the problems are fixed, we probably won't. The only reason being that after we booked this year, the rental rate went up $1000 a week off season. I personally think there are better houses for that level of money, particularly in VGE.
My primary issue was with the rental company and the way they dropped the ball for our group as well as the one before ours.
In fairness to CVR and to share information with my forum family,and everyone who lurks (You know you're family, too
), I wanted to let everyone know that I have received satisfaction from them in this matter. I feel the amount of the refund is fair and adequately reimburses us for the level of inconvenience/aggravation experienced. I am also satisfied that the villa is not being rented by them until it is fixed.
So here's my initial complaint letter.
I hope this helps
Dear Diane,
Thank you for your call regarding our stay at Villa Sibella April 21 through 28.
I apologize for not responding right away, but I have been sick since our trip so catching up has taken longer than usual.
You asked in your message if there was anything you should know regarding our stay at Villa Sibella, and indeed there is.
First, I will say that the villa is very beautiful. We were especially pleased with the kitchen and pool areas. It is a lovely home.
We met Eric at the office and followed him up to the villa. When I asked, he gave us a cell phone, since the villa had no phone service yet.
Saturday was check-in day, and the cleaning staff was just finishing when we arrived. The house smelled like cleaning products, but also very strange. The strange smell increased as the cleaning product smell wore off. Everyone agreed it was sort of nauseating. We opened up everything and were hoping it would go away with airing out. It didn't.
Sunday we were out much of the day and were planning to cook dinner at the villa and grill. The smell was still sickening and we hunted for a source. We found a Glade plug-in oil air freshener in the bedroom to the right of the kitchen. After we removed it, the true nature of the odor became more apparent.
It was definitely a plumbing odor. It had a "sour" smell similar to laundry left in the washer too long. It was concentrated in the laundry area and in the bedroom and bath to the right of the kitchen as you enter, but it affected the whole upstairs level, especially when closed up.
I also turned off the ventilation fan in the small bedroom downstairs, since it seemed to be vented up in the vicinity of the smelly areas upstairs, in case it was pulling up some kind of fumes.
Halfway through grilling dinner, the propane tank ran out. When Eric gave us our tour of the villa, he specifically pointed out our grill "with a full tank of propane". This messed up dinner with a scramble to bring it all indoors and finish it. Not a huge issue but really annoying.
So Monday, as I was planning to call the management office about the propane and the odor, the couple staying in the smelly bedroom asked if I would also point out the problems with the water in their bathroom, specifically that the sinks and tub had no hot water, and it had low water pressure in general.
I went to use the villa cell phone and it wouldn't turn on, so I used my personal cell phone with bad reception and roaming charges and called and spoke with Marilyn. She said that she would call the maintenance man and he would come up and change the propane, then he would return in the morning to handle the plumbing and odor issues. Someone came shortly and changed the tank. I was in the shower and did not see him but our friends did.
Tuesday we were out all day and when we returned in the evening, no one had been there for the plumbing issues.
Wednesday, even after charging it up, the cell phone still would not work. I used mine, called again and spoke with a lady, I think her name was Erica. She had no knowledge of anything needing service and said she would have someone come soon. A man named Francis came and we explained the problems. He worked in the bathroom for a while, came out and said, "The water is fixed."
He said he was going downstairs to check out the odor problem.
Our friends arrived back and when the couple staying downstairs went to change, I warned them he was working down there. They came back up and said there was no one down there.
Apparently, he had climbed up the hillside around the outside of the house and left without saying anything to us.
I was surprised by this, but thought maybe he needed to go get something, etc. Not the case. He never came back.
Later that evening, I was told that the water problem was actually not fixed. I checked it out and there was a small but adequate amount of hot water coming from one sink and barely a trickle from the other as well as a trickle from the tub. There was no way to use the Jacuzzi tub in that bathroom.
Coincidentally, when we were getting ready for dinner that night, I was going to take a bath in the other tub, but couldn't because there was no hot water water. I think that was due to three of us taking showers close to the same time, but in a house built to sleep 10 people, that is a very inadequate hot water supply.
Thursday morning there were torrential rains and no cell phone signal was available to call the office again. We were out on a boat in the afternoon but left a note about the water issues in case the maintenance man returned about the other problem he hadn't fixed.
Friday I felt there was no point calling again since we were leaving the next morning and I was very tired of dealing with it.
Another issue we had during the whole trip was that on the downstairs level, water overflows from the pool above down onto the patio. This wouldn't be a problem except that the tile floor is sloped incorrectly toward the house, not away, so water pools and stands there. Lots of it. There were large deep puddles you had to walk through to get to the bedrooms. The furniture on the downstairs veranda was in the puddle so it was never used. Eric was aware of this because we asked about it while he was showing us around. He said it was because of the rain. The amount of water got worse with more rain. and it added a damp basement like smell downstairs.
During our stay, a realtor showed the house. They came, looked around upstairs and then went downstairs. They came back up quickly and seemed very unhappy and concerned about the standing water and left. I'm sure it killed their interest in the house and the realtor said she would inform the rental company about it.
Each time I spoke with the management office, it sounded as though no one had ever heard of these problems with this house.
When I arrived home, I had an email from the woman who had rented Sibella the week before us. She had had these same problems and reported them to the management company. She was told someone (the owner?) would come to fix them, and no one ever did.
Not only were the problems not addressed while she was there, we were not informed of them prior to or upon our arrival. Nor were they addressed or fixed while we were there.
I have had discussions in the past with your company regarding the service fee charged that most other companies do not and was told that it allows your company to have superior maintenance and service response when issues arise. I understand that concept, but I think we can agree that that was not the case here, nor for the renters before us.
This has also not been true in our previous experience with CVR.
Ironically, the only other time we rented a villa (Mar de Amores) from CVR, in November 2004, the Jacuzzi tub in the master bath didn't work and there was no hot water in the master bath. This left us taking showers down the hall. This was also not fixed while we were there, and two and a half years later, I hear it still hasn't been fixed. We would have rented that house on three other trips had it been repaired.
Some other small maintenance issues at Sibella are as follows:
- The toilet in the far bedroom downstairs was missing the tank lid. We took the one from
the twin room to replace it during our stay.
- The roman shades throughout the house are nice but the hardware doesn't work on many
of them. Having the cords stretched across the room tied to the dresser handle or the
sliding door latch is inconvenient and looks bad.
- The air ducts in the ceiling of the twin room have no grilles or covers.
- The roof leaked during heavy rain in the kitchen in front of the microwave.
- There was a big puddle on the far side of the bed in the king bedroom to the right as you
go downstairs, I assume from rain.
- Both king beds upstairs creak and make a lot of noise.
- There are pencil lines and measurements on the tile in the baths and on the kitchen floor
from the installation as well as lines across the bathroom wall from measuring to hang the
towel bars.
- The downstairs bedrooms all have a damp basement-like smell.
- The bamboo rug on the veranda is changing color, curling up and warping from getting
wet.
A couple of other things I will also mention that would improve the house or add to the experience.
- The bedrooms are underfurnished. They feel unfinished or skimped on.
The right master upstairs needs something with drawers for clothes.
The left upstairs bedroom needs a nightstand on both sides of the bed, not just one.
A chair in the corner would help.
The far bedroom downstairs needs a dresser. The small table thing in there does not cut it.
It also needs artwork on the wall.
- The living room does not have enough seating. If you squeeze, you can only fit five.
- Also on the patio, the sofa is not enough upholstered seating. It needs an armchair for
either side of the sofa.
- The grill blocks the best part of the view on the deck. The view is all to the left and it's right
in the middle of it.
- At night, the light above the stairway to the lower level glares right in your eyes when
you're sitting on the veranda. It ruins the view. Moving it so it wasn't facing you, or a
switch to turn it off or dim it would be a huge improvement. We kept hanging a beach
towel over it.
- The CVR tote bag with tortilla chips and salsa was a poor comparison to the welcome
baskets we've always gotten in the past. I understand that this is something generally paid
for by the owner, but you could let him know that this appears very third rate for a first
class villa, which I feel Sibella basically is.
.
I participate on the www.usvi-on-line.com travel forum which has a surprisingly large following. During our most recent trip, more than thirty forum members were on the island at the same time and got together for drinks. There are even more than that on island this week.
It's a valuable resource for getting and sharing information and I'm constantly surprised at how many people read it even if they don't post.
The woman who stayed at Sibella before us posted about the problems and lack of response. I responded and gave information about our stay. I downplayed the true extent of the odor and other problems. I think people should be aware there are problems, but I would like your company and the owner to have the opportunity to fix them before they permanently damage Sibella's rentability.
Sibella is such a lovely home, it is a shame for it to get a reputation so early for being a smelly house with plumbing problems and a management company that won't do anything about it.
Because I organized the trip, selected and rented the villa, everyone came to me with complaints of the problems and looked to me to deal with CVR to get them fixed. This caused me a constant stream of unnecessary stress on a much needed vacation.
I think you would have to admit that your company handled this very badly and it really negatively impacted our trip.
I'd like to know what your company is willing to do to make things right for us.
I would like to be able to work with your company again and be able to recommend you,
and I would love to see Sibella properly repaired to reach it's potential as a first rate vacation home.
If you need any further information regarding the issues I've described, just let me know.
I'm glad to help in any way I can.
Thanks for your time and help with this.
Sincerely,
Kathy Henion
This is a long one so get ready.
I told you I just can't do short post.
Anthony, I'm requesting credit for 20 posts since this one is so long. Apparently I work in volume, not quantity.
I just wanted to give you an update on our Villa Sibella experience.
We rented Villa Sibella in Virgin Grand Estates this year, April 21-28, through Caribbean Villas and Resorts.
We had several fairly big problems with the villa and experienced a lack of, and then poor response from Caribbean Villas and Resorts. As many of you know, they charge an additional 5% service fee, the purpose of which is to enable them to provide better customer service and response to maintenance/repair issues by having adequate staff on island.
It wasn't a quick process, but CVR has refunded us 20% of our base rental fee (not tax or service fee) for the problems with the villa and their poor handling of the situation.
I asked about the status of the repairs at the villa and was told that they were not currently renting the villa until the issues were fixed.
Another forum member, Arenee, had stayed there the week before we did and experienced the issues first, with no response, and posted about it upon returning home. (Unfortunately, we were on our way already.)
For anyone who cares to read it, below is a copy of the letter I sent to Diane Janelle at CVR, who inquired about our stay about a week after we returned.
I believe her asking may have been prompted by the buzz going on here on our forum. Her message said she wanted to know how our stay was and "was there anything she needed to know about"?
I've known that our forum group is a resource, a network, a support group, a community, and, yes, a family, but I now realize that it is something of a force to be respected.
Things said here can help or hurt a business (or people) and I try to be mindful of that.
I posted my problems about the villa originally to give anyone considering it or already committed to renting it a heads up about the issues so that they could be prepared. We have a duty to look out for each other here. But I weighed it against giving a new villa a bad reputation that it may not recover from, so I tried to be gentle and give them a chance to fix things before doing a full review.
I will repeat that the villa is extremely nice. Being a new villa, it has some unforseen problems.
While I would love to stay there again after the problems are fixed, we probably won't. The only reason being that after we booked this year, the rental rate went up $1000 a week off season. I personally think there are better houses for that level of money, particularly in VGE.
My primary issue was with the rental company and the way they dropped the ball for our group as well as the one before ours.
In fairness to CVR and to share information with my forum family,and everyone who lurks (You know you're family, too
), I wanted to let everyone know that I have received satisfaction from them in this matter. I feel the amount of the refund is fair and adequately reimburses us for the level of inconvenience/aggravation experienced. I am also satisfied that the villa is not being rented by them until it is fixed.So here's my initial complaint letter.
I hope this helps
Dear Diane,
Thank you for your call regarding our stay at Villa Sibella April 21 through 28.
I apologize for not responding right away, but I have been sick since our trip so catching up has taken longer than usual.
You asked in your message if there was anything you should know regarding our stay at Villa Sibella, and indeed there is.
First, I will say that the villa is very beautiful. We were especially pleased with the kitchen and pool areas. It is a lovely home.
We met Eric at the office and followed him up to the villa. When I asked, he gave us a cell phone, since the villa had no phone service yet.
Saturday was check-in day, and the cleaning staff was just finishing when we arrived. The house smelled like cleaning products, but also very strange. The strange smell increased as the cleaning product smell wore off. Everyone agreed it was sort of nauseating. We opened up everything and were hoping it would go away with airing out. It didn't.
Sunday we were out much of the day and were planning to cook dinner at the villa and grill. The smell was still sickening and we hunted for a source. We found a Glade plug-in oil air freshener in the bedroom to the right of the kitchen. After we removed it, the true nature of the odor became more apparent.
It was definitely a plumbing odor. It had a "sour" smell similar to laundry left in the washer too long. It was concentrated in the laundry area and in the bedroom and bath to the right of the kitchen as you enter, but it affected the whole upstairs level, especially when closed up.
I also turned off the ventilation fan in the small bedroom downstairs, since it seemed to be vented up in the vicinity of the smelly areas upstairs, in case it was pulling up some kind of fumes.
Halfway through grilling dinner, the propane tank ran out. When Eric gave us our tour of the villa, he specifically pointed out our grill "with a full tank of propane". This messed up dinner with a scramble to bring it all indoors and finish it. Not a huge issue but really annoying.
So Monday, as I was planning to call the management office about the propane and the odor, the couple staying in the smelly bedroom asked if I would also point out the problems with the water in their bathroom, specifically that the sinks and tub had no hot water, and it had low water pressure in general.
I went to use the villa cell phone and it wouldn't turn on, so I used my personal cell phone with bad reception and roaming charges and called and spoke with Marilyn. She said that she would call the maintenance man and he would come up and change the propane, then he would return in the morning to handle the plumbing and odor issues. Someone came shortly and changed the tank. I was in the shower and did not see him but our friends did.
Tuesday we were out all day and when we returned in the evening, no one had been there for the plumbing issues.
Wednesday, even after charging it up, the cell phone still would not work. I used mine, called again and spoke with a lady, I think her name was Erica. She had no knowledge of anything needing service and said she would have someone come soon. A man named Francis came and we explained the problems. He worked in the bathroom for a while, came out and said, "The water is fixed."
He said he was going downstairs to check out the odor problem.
Our friends arrived back and when the couple staying downstairs went to change, I warned them he was working down there. They came back up and said there was no one down there.
Apparently, he had climbed up the hillside around the outside of the house and left without saying anything to us.
I was surprised by this, but thought maybe he needed to go get something, etc. Not the case. He never came back.
Later that evening, I was told that the water problem was actually not fixed. I checked it out and there was a small but adequate amount of hot water coming from one sink and barely a trickle from the other as well as a trickle from the tub. There was no way to use the Jacuzzi tub in that bathroom.
Coincidentally, when we were getting ready for dinner that night, I was going to take a bath in the other tub, but couldn't because there was no hot water water. I think that was due to three of us taking showers close to the same time, but in a house built to sleep 10 people, that is a very inadequate hot water supply.
Thursday morning there were torrential rains and no cell phone signal was available to call the office again. We were out on a boat in the afternoon but left a note about the water issues in case the maintenance man returned about the other problem he hadn't fixed.
Friday I felt there was no point calling again since we were leaving the next morning and I was very tired of dealing with it.
Another issue we had during the whole trip was that on the downstairs level, water overflows from the pool above down onto the patio. This wouldn't be a problem except that the tile floor is sloped incorrectly toward the house, not away, so water pools and stands there. Lots of it. There were large deep puddles you had to walk through to get to the bedrooms. The furniture on the downstairs veranda was in the puddle so it was never used. Eric was aware of this because we asked about it while he was showing us around. He said it was because of the rain. The amount of water got worse with more rain. and it added a damp basement like smell downstairs.
During our stay, a realtor showed the house. They came, looked around upstairs and then went downstairs. They came back up quickly and seemed very unhappy and concerned about the standing water and left. I'm sure it killed their interest in the house and the realtor said she would inform the rental company about it.
Each time I spoke with the management office, it sounded as though no one had ever heard of these problems with this house.
When I arrived home, I had an email from the woman who had rented Sibella the week before us. She had had these same problems and reported them to the management company. She was told someone (the owner?) would come to fix them, and no one ever did.
Not only were the problems not addressed while she was there, we were not informed of them prior to or upon our arrival. Nor were they addressed or fixed while we were there.
I have had discussions in the past with your company regarding the service fee charged that most other companies do not and was told that it allows your company to have superior maintenance and service response when issues arise. I understand that concept, but I think we can agree that that was not the case here, nor for the renters before us.
This has also not been true in our previous experience with CVR.
Ironically, the only other time we rented a villa (Mar de Amores) from CVR, in November 2004, the Jacuzzi tub in the master bath didn't work and there was no hot water in the master bath. This left us taking showers down the hall. This was also not fixed while we were there, and two and a half years later, I hear it still hasn't been fixed. We would have rented that house on three other trips had it been repaired.
Some other small maintenance issues at Sibella are as follows:
- The toilet in the far bedroom downstairs was missing the tank lid. We took the one from
the twin room to replace it during our stay.
- The roman shades throughout the house are nice but the hardware doesn't work on many
of them. Having the cords stretched across the room tied to the dresser handle or the
sliding door latch is inconvenient and looks bad.
- The air ducts in the ceiling of the twin room have no grilles or covers.
- The roof leaked during heavy rain in the kitchen in front of the microwave.
- There was a big puddle on the far side of the bed in the king bedroom to the right as you
go downstairs, I assume from rain.
- Both king beds upstairs creak and make a lot of noise.
- There are pencil lines and measurements on the tile in the baths and on the kitchen floor
from the installation as well as lines across the bathroom wall from measuring to hang the
towel bars.
- The downstairs bedrooms all have a damp basement-like smell.
- The bamboo rug on the veranda is changing color, curling up and warping from getting
wet.
A couple of other things I will also mention that would improve the house or add to the experience.
- The bedrooms are underfurnished. They feel unfinished or skimped on.
The right master upstairs needs something with drawers for clothes.
The left upstairs bedroom needs a nightstand on both sides of the bed, not just one.
A chair in the corner would help.
The far bedroom downstairs needs a dresser. The small table thing in there does not cut it.
It also needs artwork on the wall.
- The living room does not have enough seating. If you squeeze, you can only fit five.
- Also on the patio, the sofa is not enough upholstered seating. It needs an armchair for
either side of the sofa.
- The grill blocks the best part of the view on the deck. The view is all to the left and it's right
in the middle of it.
- At night, the light above the stairway to the lower level glares right in your eyes when
you're sitting on the veranda. It ruins the view. Moving it so it wasn't facing you, or a
switch to turn it off or dim it would be a huge improvement. We kept hanging a beach
towel over it.
- The CVR tote bag with tortilla chips and salsa was a poor comparison to the welcome
baskets we've always gotten in the past. I understand that this is something generally paid
for by the owner, but you could let him know that this appears very third rate for a first
class villa, which I feel Sibella basically is.
.
I participate on the www.usvi-on-line.com travel forum which has a surprisingly large following. During our most recent trip, more than thirty forum members were on the island at the same time and got together for drinks. There are even more than that on island this week.
It's a valuable resource for getting and sharing information and I'm constantly surprised at how many people read it even if they don't post.
The woman who stayed at Sibella before us posted about the problems and lack of response. I responded and gave information about our stay. I downplayed the true extent of the odor and other problems. I think people should be aware there are problems, but I would like your company and the owner to have the opportunity to fix them before they permanently damage Sibella's rentability.
Sibella is such a lovely home, it is a shame for it to get a reputation so early for being a smelly house with plumbing problems and a management company that won't do anything about it.
Because I organized the trip, selected and rented the villa, everyone came to me with complaints of the problems and looked to me to deal with CVR to get them fixed. This caused me a constant stream of unnecessary stress on a much needed vacation.
I think you would have to admit that your company handled this very badly and it really negatively impacted our trip.
I'd like to know what your company is willing to do to make things right for us.
I would like to be able to work with your company again and be able to recommend you,
and I would love to see Sibella properly repaired to reach it's potential as a first rate vacation home.
If you need any further information regarding the issues I've described, just let me know.
I'm glad to help in any way I can.
Thanks for your time and help with this.
Sincerely,
Kathy Henion
Kathy Henion
Kathy,
Thanks so much for your input....your letter to CV is very helpful and informative. I prefer not renting from them because of similar circumstances which we also encountered.
The initial post regarding Villa Sibella proved to be quite helpful for me. My son emailed me from D.C., he wanted to know if I knew anything about a villa named Sibella....an associate at work was planning to rent it for his honeymoon. Fortunately, I had just read about it on this forum that very morning...I forwarded the post and needless to say his friend chose another villa.
I agree with you about not wanting to jeopardize a villa's or an agency's reputation for nit picky reasons...but the issues with Sibella and CV are major and I for one appreciate your willingness to share your experiences regarding both of them...mia
Thanks so much for your input....your letter to CV is very helpful and informative. I prefer not renting from them because of similar circumstances which we also encountered.
The initial post regarding Villa Sibella proved to be quite helpful for me. My son emailed me from D.C., he wanted to know if I knew anything about a villa named Sibella....an associate at work was planning to rent it for his honeymoon. Fortunately, I had just read about it on this forum that very morning...I forwarded the post and needless to say his friend chose another villa.
I agree with you about not wanting to jeopardize a villa's or an agency's reputation for nit picky reasons...but the issues with Sibella and CV are major and I for one appreciate your willingness to share your experiences regarding both of them...mia
It takes both the sun and the rain to make a beautiful rainbow. --Unknown
Maybeth,
Try this link. For me it is bringing up all the pictures but says "propery not found"
Just a couple of days ago it was like normal but the calendar showed no bookings after the beginning of August. http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/sibella/index.html
Try this link. For me it is bringing up all the pictures but says "propery not found"
Just a couple of days ago it was like normal but the calendar showed no bookings after the beginning of August. http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/sibella/index.html
Kathy Henion
Kathy,
I think you have been more than fair with CV and quite frankly they should be refunding you 50% or more instead of 20% -- although you seem satisfied so I guess that's what counts.
Up to now we have rented from CV exclusively when traveling to STJ (for more than a decade) with the exception of our travels with Flip Flop and hubby because she rents thru Destination STJ.
I tend to lean toward CV because of their villa portfolio, prices and the location of those villas. Flip Flop (and others) are morally opposed to the 5% service charge, however when I look at pricing I feel that for the villas we are looking at, CV prices are lower -- even with the 5%.
Your comment about CV lurking in the forum is probably VERY valid. I remember reading some posts about CV and their check-in process and the fact that they were somewhat inconsistent about collecting security deposits with checks or a CC on arrival.
Honestly, with the exception of our first visit I never had the rep ask for a deposit of any kind.
Well, just after reading that post (maybe two weeks later) I got this letter dated June 11 from CV saying that they are "Changing how we handle security deposits." They enclosed a new "Arrival Document" which requests a MC or Visa CC# and will process the security deposit authorization 1-2 days prior to arrival. While I don't really care about the money, it's the principle of the thing. Why are they putting a hold on part of the credit line of my CC BEFORE I even arrive???!
They warn at the bottom of the letter that they "must receive your security deposit prior to arrival" or "you will not be checked into your villa."
In the past I have recommended CV to friends and family and to many others on this board (old board and new board) for more than five years. I will continue with my CV rental later this year and will keep my fingers crossed that things go well with the property we have secured.
But I have to be honest and say that I will probably look to another rental company to rent from for our next visit.
I'm tired of being nickel and dimed by CV.
I can just hear Flip Flop now saying "Hallelujah!"
I think you have been more than fair with CV and quite frankly they should be refunding you 50% or more instead of 20% -- although you seem satisfied so I guess that's what counts.
Up to now we have rented from CV exclusively when traveling to STJ (for more than a decade) with the exception of our travels with Flip Flop and hubby because she rents thru Destination STJ.
I tend to lean toward CV because of their villa portfolio, prices and the location of those villas. Flip Flop (and others) are morally opposed to the 5% service charge, however when I look at pricing I feel that for the villas we are looking at, CV prices are lower -- even with the 5%.
Your comment about CV lurking in the forum is probably VERY valid. I remember reading some posts about CV and their check-in process and the fact that they were somewhat inconsistent about collecting security deposits with checks or a CC on arrival.
Honestly, with the exception of our first visit I never had the rep ask for a deposit of any kind.
Well, just after reading that post (maybe two weeks later) I got this letter dated June 11 from CV saying that they are "Changing how we handle security deposits." They enclosed a new "Arrival Document" which requests a MC or Visa CC# and will process the security deposit authorization 1-2 days prior to arrival. While I don't really care about the money, it's the principle of the thing. Why are they putting a hold on part of the credit line of my CC BEFORE I even arrive???!
They warn at the bottom of the letter that they "must receive your security deposit prior to arrival" or "you will not be checked into your villa."
In the past I have recommended CV to friends and family and to many others on this board (old board and new board) for more than five years. I will continue with my CV rental later this year and will keep my fingers crossed that things go well with the property we have secured.
But I have to be honest and say that I will probably look to another rental company to rent from for our next visit.
I'm tired of being nickel and dimed by CV.
I can just hear Flip Flop now saying "Hallelujah!"
*Another fine scatterbrained production
Wow,I almost rented that villa for last month.Changed my mind at the last minute.Sorry for your experience,if your like me, the villa experience is half of what we go for.Our only stay with CV was not we are used to.
Thanks for posting this,because on line all the villas look great in pictures but!!!
Thanks for posting this,because on line all the villas look great in pictures but!!!
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snorkelqueen
- Posts: 432
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2007 12:33 pm
- Location: california
We have chosen not to rent from CV for 08 for many of the same reasons. (We have rented from them yearly since 2003) They did offer us a small discount on a future rental because of the awful condition of Dream Catcher this year and the TOTAL lack of service from the local office after numerous phone calls. We normallly don't complain about anything we just try to take things in stride but this year was a bit ridiculous. We ended up having to buy things like laundry soap and use bath towels as beach towels because no one would respond to our requests. I'm also REALLY mad when I hear that some people haven't been required to pay that 500.00 upon arrival. After 5 years of renting you'd think they knew we weren't going to damage anything. Maybe they've just grown too big. I miss the welcome baskets too that have gone away the last two years.
Kathy,
Very interesting!
We toured the villa two weeks ago with our Realtor. We thought the great room was nice and airy with the open kitchen right there next to it. We thought this was going to be a nice villa! After that, the villa fails to impress. The upstairs bedrooms are too close to the living area and underfurnished. The pool is small. Going down the outside stairs to the downstairs bedrooms, there is a strange unused area under the pool. No furniture was present, as there was no view to speak of from down there. Just an empty deck. The downstairs bedrooms open onto this strange deck area. Opening the downstairs bedroom brought a surprise. A very, very strong coconut/Hawaiin Trop scent. Kinda like if you put 20 plug in air fresheners in the same room! Now I know it was done to cover up the smell you speak of! The downstairs bedrooms were dungeon-like anyway. I wouldn't want the draw of either one of them.
Take this house and professionally decorate it and figure out what to do with that lower deck and then you would have a top notch house. Short of that, I would pass and stay at another one.
Very interesting!
We toured the villa two weeks ago with our Realtor. We thought the great room was nice and airy with the open kitchen right there next to it. We thought this was going to be a nice villa! After that, the villa fails to impress. The upstairs bedrooms are too close to the living area and underfurnished. The pool is small. Going down the outside stairs to the downstairs bedrooms, there is a strange unused area under the pool. No furniture was present, as there was no view to speak of from down there. Just an empty deck. The downstairs bedrooms open onto this strange deck area. Opening the downstairs bedroom brought a surprise. A very, very strong coconut/Hawaiin Trop scent. Kinda like if you put 20 plug in air fresheners in the same room! Now I know it was done to cover up the smell you speak of! The downstairs bedrooms were dungeon-like anyway. I wouldn't want the draw of either one of them.
Take this house and professionally decorate it and figure out what to do with that lower deck and then you would have a top notch house. Short of that, I would pass and stay at another one.
Thanks for the info - I will certainly keep that in mind next time we book a trip. My husband and I stayed at Mar De Amores last June for our honeymoon. CV was the property manager but we dealt directly with the owners. I didn't have any real problems with them but one thing I did notice was that they were ready to take a deposit from us (had the credit card swiper and all) when we got there. I had a bit of going back and forth with the gentleman telling him that I gave my deposit to the owners. I wasn't taken seriously at first but when I told him that I had their cell phone number programed into my cell phone and that I would be more than happy to call he dropped the issue. Thanks again though - its good to know!
As an aside - the hot water in the back bathroom of Mar De Amores did work when we were there last June - however, you cannot use the tub because the hot water heater is TINY - it fits under the bathroom sink. We weren't told until we got there that we couldn't use it....kinda wished we had known prior...oh well.
As an aside - the hot water in the back bathroom of Mar De Amores did work when we were there last June - however, you cannot use the tub because the hot water heater is TINY - it fits under the bathroom sink. We weren't told until we got there that we couldn't use it....kinda wished we had known prior...oh well.
Wow, you are a lot more patient than me! I would have completely flipped out if I had to deal with issues like you did. I am glad that they refunded you part of the money you paid for a disappointing villa rental experience.
I have to say that CV is the only rental company that I consistently read about people having issues with. Maybe it is because of the number of properties they represent, I don't know.
Plug for another rental company: We've rented from Lisa Durgin at Vacaton Vistas for the past three years, and each experience has been pretty much flawless. The houses we've rented have all been in terrific condition, and she is very responsive when you contact her.
http://www.vacationvistas.com
I have to say that CV is the only rental company that I consistently read about people having issues with. Maybe it is because of the number of properties they represent, I don't know.
Plug for another rental company: We've rented from Lisa Durgin at Vacaton Vistas for the past three years, and each experience has been pretty much flawless. The houses we've rented have all been in terrific condition, and she is very responsive when you contact her.
http://www.vacationvistas.com
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
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Robin in NC
- Posts: 332
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 7:19 pm
- Location: Kernersville, NC
I have to agree with Gromit that 20% wasn't adequate to reimburse you for all you went through. They should have started by refunding that ridiculous 5% they add on top, then given you an additional 50%. I understand to villa companies it's just one weekly rental out of hundreds they do each year, but to us it's our one or two weeks of restoration. These villas cost a lot of money, and we agonize over the choices before making our decision. For them to fail to address problems - particularly longstanding ones like this smell - is totally unacceptable business behavior.
It's especially a shame because CV does represent some outstanding properties, and their Web site is easily the best for STJ. However, there's no amount of money that would entice me to rent with them after all I've read about their "customer service."
Robin
It's especially a shame because CV does represent some outstanding properties, and their Web site is easily the best for STJ. However, there's no amount of money that would entice me to rent with them after all I've read about their "customer service."
Robin