4/10 Poor
Maria D.
3 Jan 2022
Liked: Communication, location
Disliked: Cleanliness, listing accuracy
Booby-trapped condo, false advertising
In all our prior rentals, we only contacted the host to say hello and goodbye. Our family was at a Harcourts Avanti managed property from 12/22 to 12/31/2021. We had to contact them numerous times.
DAY 1, there was no heat in three rooms. We didn’t notice in the dark, there were windows left open, which exacerbated the cold. We had a very uncomfortable night. Also, there were no towels. Two bags of towels were dropped off next morning. By phone/text next day, Brandon, covering for Ashley, informed us that HVAC would come.
DAY 2, a screen that was hanging off its hinge, kept banging as it was very windy, making for another difficult night. Further, the sliding doors would not lock.
DAY 3, Vic, the handyman, removed the screen. HVAC man came, but could not fix the problem. He said might have been due to a circuit breaker. We could not locate the box. Brandon delivered two space heaters.
DAY 6, Ashley sent a refund for two heat-less nights via Venmo THROUGHOUT this time, we wondered why we only had 1.5 bathrooms, instead of 2.5 as advertised. We chose to overlook this because frankly, we were just tired of complaining and thought the only remedy for this would be to move us to another unit which would have presented us with more aggravation. We felt we would just make the best of the situation.
However, on DAY 7, the showerhead FELL while one of us was taking a shower, hitting him on the back, luckily not his head.
DAY 8, Vic came to change the showerhead. Upon our return to the condo, we were shocked to find another full bathroom, which had been locked our entire stay. AND, there was a linen closet full of clean towels AS WELL as the circuit breaker box in this bathroom. In other vacation rentals, there would be locked doors, so we had not thought this unusual. We requested a full refund for Harcourts' false advertising. DAY 9, Ashley said no refund would be issued and to feel free to contact VRBO. BTW, the picture shown in ad is NOT the one in our rental. We have pics.
Another detail is an unmarked step down to the living/dining room and the small bedroom, which is dangerous. Renters should be warned of this.
They did allow us 1.5 hr late checkout. We forgot to remove from the refrigerator a can of beer, an open carton of almond milk, and a half-consumed platter of fruit. We apologize for this. We also could not lock the faulty sliders. We otherwise followed all other check-out directives.
Harcourts failed the renters and the condo owners.
Maria D.
Stayed 9 nights in Dec 2021
