Can this trip be saved? My vacation rental was a dump and I want a refund

When Marcella Knight opened the door to her vacation rental property in Rehoboth Beach, Del., a few weeks ago, she saw a dump. Not only was the unit dirty, but it was also in dire need of maintenance, she says.

So Knight did what any self-respecting traveler would do: She complained to the real estate agent who had rented her the condo. The agent tried to find her alternate accommodations, but couldn’t. She offered to have the home cleaned, but that didn’t address all of the issues.

Knight and her family reluctantly stayed in the shoddy rental one night, then checked out and asked the agent for a full refund.

You can probably guess what the agent told her.

Related: In today’s edition of What’s your problem?, I help fix a possessed refrigerator. Hey, Halloween is only a week away!

Knight wants me to pressure the agent to refund the full amount of the rental. So she sent over a few details about her accommodations.

Let’s go over them.

✓ The TVs were in various states of disrepair. Some only received a few channels. Others didn’t have working remotes.

✓ The high-speed wireless service was not working.

✓ The dresser drawers were so dirty that her 12-year-old son wouldn’t put his clothes in it.

✓ There were holes in the walls, knobs that fell off, the slider doors did not latch and had to be closed with a plank. The one of the bottom floor didn’t close at all.

✓ The front porch was “uninhabitable.” The furniture was filthy, the grounds were worn.

✓ There was mold on the ceiling fans in the downstairs bedroom, and the vents were dirty.

✓ The house smelled of urine, there was dog hair everywhere.

✓ The kitchen had crumbs and ants on the counter and toaster.

✓ The ceilings were in need of repair. Sheetrock tape was peeling off the walls in several places.

“I could go on and on,” she told me. “But don’t feel I should have to.”

Here are a few images.

Two more or less unusable lawn chairs. Break out the 409.

Is that a moldy grate? Ewww.

I get the idea. Let’s see how her real estate agent responded to her litany of complaints.

I am in receipt of your email and have discussed the condition of the rental property with the owner and the cleaning company.

The owner has stated that although she is very sorry that the property was not in perfect condition, as this is August and many guests have been in the property, the issues could have been resolved by sending the cleaning company back and a maintenance person over to handle these problems and would not take more than a half hour to address.

The guest survey before your stay and after your stay reported that the property is in very good condition. I went over and looked at the property as well and as your pictures noted there were items that needed to be addressed but nothing that would constitute you walking away from this rental. I am very sorry but no refund will be given.

In other words, no.

I’m really not sure about this one.

On the one hand, the real estate agent had no business offering this property even if it was the middle of a busy summer. Even if Knight is exaggerating about the condition of the condo, it’s clear that it needed cleaning and maintenance. If it were a hotel, the health department would have probably shut it down a long time ago.

But the real estate agent is correct about one thing. Why not give them the opportunity to address the condition of the rental right then and there? Also, Knight and her family stayed in the unit a night, so a full refund is probably asking for too much.

I’m not sure if the agent handled this one right. She could have offered at least an apology (beyond, “I am very sorry but no refund will be given” which isn’t a real apology) and she could have offered Knight a discount or voucher for a future rental. Instead, she essentially told her to take a hike.

That sucks. Although I can’t advocate for a full refund, which is what Knight wants, I still think this could have been handled better. Do I get involved, and if so, what should I ask the agent for? Or, does Knight’s laundry list of complaints add up to nothing, and should she have just stayed at the property?

(Photo: Not a picture of the actual condo by JA Creative/Flickr)

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  • Dave

    I vote yes, but certainly not on behalf of a full refund.  After reading the other comments, and adding in my initial impression, I’m left with a few conclusions:

    1.  The condo certainly approached “dump” standards of cleanliness.

    2.  The renter turned down the offer of cleaning, and therefore takes some responsibility.

    3.  Some of the complaints are exaggerated.

    4.  The owner and agent need to do a better job of monitoring the property.

    I do agree with not faulting the renter for staying the one night; an alternate choice more than likely was NOT available at the last minute.

  • pizo

    But should the OP be responsible for replacing remotes for tvs that are not her’s?  If the unit is advertised as having “5 tvs with cable” then it should have 5 WORKING tvs WITH cable.  Same as the internet.  If it’s advertised then it should be there and working.  What if the OP or her husband needed to do some work while they were at the beach house?  Plently of people work from home or at least check in with work while they are away. 

    One of her complaints is that a door didn’t close.  A door on the bottom floor.  I live in a very safe area but I don’t leave my door unlocked at night.  I sure as heck am not going to leave a door unlocked in an area I’m not familiar with. 

    Pet friendly rentals do not usually mean, it smells bad and has hair all over the place.  The rental should have been cleaned in such a way that there was no urine smell or hair. 

    Mold can be toxic and dangerous especially to those with breathing issues.  My Dad and his siblings are trying to sell my granddad’s house and it’s pretty much impossible.  Why?  Because there is mold present.  You can’t smell the mold but it’s there (an inspector found it) and it’s going to cost thousands to get rid of it. 

    Dust, dirt, spider webs, crumbs, ants, dog hair, holes in the wall, dirty funiture….ALL of that should have been taken care of BEFORE the OP and her family arrived.  That is what a rental agency is supposed to do, ensure that one renter leaves the house is good shape, it’s cleaned properly, and the next renter gets it in just as good a shape.  Just because you’re renting towards the end of the season doesn’t mean you should be getting a beat up, dirty house. 

  • Kyle D.

    There’s a pretty major inconsistency between the list of complaints and the photo descriptions.  The list says the mold was confined to the ceiling fans and the vents were simply “dirty” (which is what they appear to be in the photo) yet in the photo captions they’re called “mold filled.”  Which was it?

    If you show me a place with that much mold on vents and I’m out the door because that’s a huge gross factor and a potential health hazard. And if I compile a list of problems, the mold is the first thing mentioned. It does not come after trivial items like missing TV remotes and the lack of an internet connection.  Really, the entire list suffers from that problem. Ants everywhere and reeking of pet urine are far bigger issues than the grounds “being worn” whatever that means. No doubt they weren’t happy with the place, but I suspect it wasn’t nearly as bad as they claim.

  • Guest42

    She’s entitled to a refund for the fact alone that they did not provide her with amenties that were promised (assuming of course, working TVs and internet were items that were listed as amenties).  Also people seem to be overlooking the fact that a door on the bottom floor didn’t close.  Does everyone leave their doors unlocked at home?  I don’t.  Are working tvs important?  Maybe on a beautiful summer’s day they aren’t but on a rainy day when you can’t go to the beach?  Might want to watch something. 

    Internet?  Maybe mom or dad needed to work from home.  I do lots of work from home, internet is a must have for me. 

    And above all safety.  Doors have to close and lock.  The planks of wood as locks I’m ok with, I see them as safer than flimsy sliding door locks, but a door that won’t close at all?  NO WAY am I having my family sleep in a place where anyone can just walk in. 

  • http://twitter.com/travelingiraffe Crissy

    I voted yes, but I don’t think she should get a full refund.  

    I think some of the complaints are laundry list complaints.  No, peeling drywall take isn’t going to get fixed by a cleaning crew, but that doesn’t mean it’s uninhabitable. 

    But other complaints are real complaints, like doors not locking properly.  

    I do think she should have allowed a cleaning crew into unit, then she would have a better argument that the unit wasn’t fit for use even after giving a second chance.  It also wasn’t so bad that she stayed a night.  I know it’s tough to walk away and find a new place same day, but if you want to say the place is so gross and uninhabitable and you deserve a full refund then you kind of need to do that. 

  • http://www.allaboutcabo.com Cabo

    I think the whole problem could of been avoided had she used a reputable broker. Paying a little more for a rental is worth it so you have someone you can contact if you were not happy. I agree with you that once she stayed in the house she had established that it was acceptable and the whole rental amount should not be given.

  • Kate

    For those of you claiming that there was no evidence of mold…that urine smell is most likely from mold.  That is what a full blown mold infestation smells like.  If I’m correct, then the place was absolutely not inhabitable and is in fact a health hazard.  Cleaning crews cannot fix mold.

  • Anonymous

    The pictures of that vent are of a return air grille.  That’s dust, not mold.  This is what return air grills look like when they are due for a vacuuming.  It’s also what ceiling fans look like when they need cleaning.

    If this is near the kitchen or if cleaning staff uses soap on the floor, the dust will be kind of sticky due to aerosolized grease or soap residue, but it still isn’t harmful.

  • Charles B

    Pic 1 is cheap plastic chairs that haven’t been used recently. A hose and a rag will clean those up like new in 1 minute.

    Pic 2 is a dusty air return. Replace the filter and vacuum the cobwebs, 2 more minutes. Dust does not equal mold.

    All of the really bad complaints have no pics. Peeling drywall tape? That’s an easy picture to get. Grungy drawers too dirty for a kid to use? Another easy pic. Nothing I’ve seen here justifies a full refund. Should have taken the cleaning that it clearly needed. Or taken better pictures to justify the case.

  • Michael K

    Are MikeZ and I the only ones whose monitors show GREEN “dust” in the vent grate picture?  I guess it could be from green carpetting, but that wouldn’t be my first guess…

  • Anonymous

    Seriously, take the kid out for supper while the cleaners are there if he’s so ill he can’t be around cleaning solutions.

    Some people are just babies.

  • Anonymous

    she is paying the owner and the real estate agent for a serviceable vacation rental. This means the place should be clean and functional. I’m sure you would love to pay good money for a vacation rental and then spend a good portion of your vacation cleaning. Get real.

    The aggrieved party should sue. There is a good chance they would prevail.

    As previous posters have mentioned, several of the items on the list are impossible to fix properly in a “quick” 1 hour cleaning.

  • Gloria

    Read their list. Even they only called the vents dirty.  The mold line came later when they sent the picture. (That or Chris wrote the caption and misread the original list.)

  • http://www.cuponismo.com Geordie Wardman

    I think James in PP hit it. Furthermore, did not the OP stay a night anyways? If the conditions were really that bad, she could have left. Now, after the fact, she wants a refund? Dubious, especially since she turned away the cleaning company.

  • Anonymous

    I see the cobwebs, but it’s hard to tell if it’s just dust or if there’s mildew.  I think it very well could be some mold/mildew.  I see spots, and dust typically doesn’t collect in spots, which suggests it may be mold or mildew.

  • Anonymous

    I remember renting a condo in Kona for a single night.  Pretty nice, but they had a serious issue with cockroaches EVERYWHERE.  I asked the desk clerk (the condos had on-site management for rentals) and she just said that cockroaches are a way of life in Kona.  I sort of accepted that one should be careful about food storage.

    This was very different than a typical vacation house rental.  With the on-site management, they had housekeeping go through each unit before it was rented out, and each unit was in pretty good shape.  The only problem I had was that there was one piece of furniture that had been heavily damaged.  All furniture was provided by the owner, so the management couldn’t just replace them like they would replace towels.

  • Anonymous

    What about price?  I know accomodations should be inhabitable, but on what basis did Marcella choose this vacation rental?

    Most of this seems to be routine maintenance.  How could a porch be “uninhabitable” because of two dirty chairs?  How much did the renter end up paying somewhere else?

    I wonder if the renter thought she got a bargain and then ended up seeing that she got what she paid for, cheap for cheap.  But we don’t know until we know the price she paid and the market price for peak season. 

  • FTL Vacation Rental

    You probably know this now, but in the future, you really need to check out the place.  Google maps, as for other photos, ask for references.  Or, use a “company” rather than a person.  Look for a smaller company that can offer personalized service.  For example, we at FTL Vacation Rental rental in Fort Lauderdale own all our properties and take care of them all personally.  We always do our best to take care of our guests!  Check our website at http://FTLVacationRental.com

  • Clare

    Assuming that the OP has pictures of the holes in the walls, the doorknobs that fell off, the ants/crumbs, etc. etc., her real estate agent has some explaining to do about this belittling response that all these problems “would not take more than a half hour to address.”  That reply tells me a lot right there!  It’s one thing to offer to have the cleaning people come “back” (even though they very obviously hadn’t been there to begin with); it’s another to assert that they would have very little to do!

    To me, the most serious issue was the sliding door on the first floor that wouldn’t close at all.  That sounds like a first-class SAFETY ISSUE that is absolutely non-negotiable: if you can’t even secure the property, you can’t expect me to stay there overnight, and you CERTAINLY can’t keep my money.  Is the renter really supposed to be okay with that?  Does the owner/real estate agent really want to assume responsibility for what might happen, if some thug enters the property at night through that door?  Rehobeth in the summer is full of all kinds, not just tourist-families!

    I’m trying to remember which famous country/western singer it was, who years back was raped in a hotel room by a man who got in through a faulty sliding door. She rightly sued the hotel straight to hell–but I’ve no doubt she would have preferred that it hadn’t been necessary. 

  • Kathy

    That was a mistake not letting them clean.  She also should have had maintenence come and fix everything and then asked for a nice discount for her inconvienence.   Or was this a case of Renters Remorse where she would not have liked the place even it was clean? 

  • Kathy

    I changed my mind.  She should get a full refund from the rental agency.  Isn’t that why you use a rental agency?  It gives you some recourse if the place turns out to be a dump.  It’s the rental agencies responsibility to make sure the properties it rents are as described.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_HMW3OTJSBDWWRKIEKEKWWM7BEA bc

    hyperbolic much?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_HMW3OTJSBDWWRKIEKEKWWM7BEA bc

    What about the property owner? Mrs Knight did NOT give them a chance to “make it right”, these are items that could have been dealt with in a simple cleaning. I believe Mrs Knight was upset about not having cable TV for a week and decided to make a big fuss. 

  • Kate

    I did read their list:  ✓ There was mold on the ceiling fans in the downstairs bedroom, and the vents were dirty.

    Chris did label the picture incorrectly.  However, they claimed there was mold on the ceiling fans.

    Moreover, a house that is full of mold (and it doesn’t have to be visible to be there) will smell like urine.

  • Jim Zakany

    You’re judging color from what looks like a cell phone picture?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_VASDMFYUQS65NHE4YH2U22HH4A Frost

    If it was that bad, you wouldn’t have stayed there even one night.  You find another hotel room, or stay in the car.

    Seriously.  Been there.  I left.

  • Althea

    Nancy,

    You get it, I get it, but many who post here are really cynical.  Urine smells, holes in walls, falling door handles, defective TVs, these are not going to be fixed by a cleaning crew!  This is a creepy ‘slumlord’ rental masquerading as a vacation property.  Pay with a credit card & dispute the charge, if possible.  Otherwise, the renter  has little recurse that does not cost more time and money…

  • Somewoman99

    Clare, you’re thinking of Connie Francis. 

  • kathy

    I’ve been there.  After traveling all day with a baby and arriving late it’s hard to think about finding a new place.  I also dealt with it the next day.

  • simondelao

    If those are the only two photos she submits as “evidence”, tell her to hit the road. 

  • simondelao

    Oh great – now she’s trotting out the “I have a disabled kid” line of BS. Tell her to take off. She’s lucky she found a rental that would accept her dog in the first place.

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