Buckingham Luxury Vacation Rentals

I am rejecting this response because:Buckingham claims that we ONLY dealt with [redacted] There was a call made to [redacted] , but only AFTER this entire ordeal and after speaking to [redacted] they apologized for our terrible ordeal and how we were treated by Buckingham and issued a refund for the amount they collected in commission [redacted] informed my wife that she was sorry for everything and that all she could give in a refund was approx$(their commission amount) and they did- it was promptly refunded by Aug 2nd The [redacted] manager explained that ONLY the property manager for Buckingham was allowed to issue the other monies to us in the form of a refund and that she was very sorry for the fact that Buckingham was unwilling to issue the refund considering the facts She even went as far as offering to call Buckingham on our behalf to attempt to beseech Buckingham to rethink their decision to not issue a refundMy wife thanked [redacted] , the manager at [redacted] and explained that she had spoken to the property manager of Buckingham, *** directly the next day after leaving the property and expressed her disappointment to learn that the home had no ac only upon arrival The Property managers response was, "Well, you should have known that, most of Lake Tahoe homes don't have ac!" My wife explained that she felt it was the property managers responsibility to disclose this and since they didn't we walked into a home that was degrees with no way to cool it off The property manager said, "Well, we don't issue refunds for weather conditions!" and hung up on my wife [redacted] of [redacted] was disappointed to learn that this is how Buckingham had handled it And now, to see that Buckingham is attempting to place a large part of the responsibility on [redacted] is disappointing, especially considering [redacted] did the right thing by issuing a refund to us of all monies earned by them after all facts were given to themBuckingham also says that we "harassed them" Upon arrival, we thought the ac was broken as there was a thermostat on the wall After turning the ac down and nothing happening we called Buckingham and we were told to, "Just open the doors and windows" when we called to ask how to turn on the ac It was degrees outside and even if this cooled the house, it was unsafe to just leave open doors and windows with a two year old The doors in the house consisted of the front door which was found at the top of approxwooden stairs and the back doors which lead to a wooden deck that our daughter could have very easily fallen off ofNot to mention the fact that Buckingham clearly states in their response that all doors and windows are closed in order to protect the house We quickly learned that "protecting the house" doesn't mean just from burglars or vandals but it means from bears Bears have been known to just wander into peoples homes, (we learned this about days into our trip there from a real estate agentUs not being from Lake Tahoe, we had no idea) Not to mention the bugs there When we were told to open the doors and windows and leave them open at night to cool the house, we said, "First we can’t do that with a child-she would fall to her death and second, even if that were possible we would be a feast for all of the bugs" (this was our only reference at this point as we had no idea of the dangers of bears as well) and we were told to, "Put bug repellent on our daughter" The disappointing fact is that [redacted] at Buckingham was very aware we were bringing a baby, why did she not mention to us then that the home had no ac? Perhaps, the proper thing to do, was to inform us that the home had no ac and that since we were bringing a baby -she knows the house better than us-opening doors and windows would simply be a death trap for our daughter I myself did get on the phone with [redacted] upon arrival and told her this is unacceptable, this should have been disclosed and now we must leave and we have no where to stay [redacted] said she was sorry but that there was nothing she could do I told her that I needed her to search her inventory and find us another home we could stay in ***, reluctantly, said she would look and call us back within minutes After minutes she never called and so we had to call back But the Buckingham office had closed and we got the answering service [redacted] had gone home and left us with no call and no alternative We told the answering the service that we expected a call back from someone as they had our money and we had no where to sleep After approxmore minutes [redacted] called and said she had no rentals available with ac I then demanded a refund and [redacted] said this was not something she could authorizeAt this point we had to strip our daughter of all clothing as she was beat red from the heat within the house because we had been there for over minutes waiting for Buckingham to find alternative arrangements for us We left immediately and literally drove while calling to find lodging because the house was simply unsafe for our daughter Frankly, it was unsafe for all of us, but our daughter was our primary concernBuckingham states the house had fans to cool off the house and they are correct in the house had fans There were in the living which had foot ceilings and the fans were smaller than standard size which means they was no chance they would be able to cool the room much less the entire home There was one other fan was in the far back of the house stuck in a window (picture a $box fan from Walmart) that was simply blowing warm air from outside and bringing it inBuckingham claims that they NEVER spoke to us regarding the property leading up the rental, but this is simply not true My wife called and spoke with [redacted] (at Buckingham) multiple times prior to our arrival date The reason for the telephone calls was to verify if the property had any baby safety gates or did we need to bring or rent them [redacted] was informed that we were bringing our two year old daughter with us and, therefore, certain precautions needed to be taken We would need to protect her in the house [redacted] provided a company name to rent baby gates but ultimately we decided to bring our own Our assistant was present for each of these calls and over heard each one as my wife was on speaker phone In fact, we have attached a copy of the call records for proofBuckingham states in their response that the home has no ac and that we should have known that because it wasn't listed on the website- we should have just known that Lake Tahoe typically doesn't have ac But as I explained to Buckingham upon arrival, "how would I know that the home doesn't have ac if someone doesn't tell me?" I am not from Lake Tahoe, I am visiting from a different area in the US, an area that has ac, running water and electricity I, obviously incorrectly, assumed that all homes have ac, especially if the cost is over $per night We have hired legal counsel and he said, Buckingham was made perfectly aware on several occasions that we were bringing a baby and it should have been disclosed to us that the home had no ac Of course, opening doors and windows would be an unsafe environment for our daughter and could have literally lead to her death as the entire living area of the home was technically considered the second story of the homeThe attorney also brought up that if they are considering this a "weather issue and beyond their control", wouldn't pipes freezing over also be considered a "weather issue"? And yet, that would make the house uninhabitable No ac in a home that is degrees with a baby also make the home uninhabitable This was not a weather issue; this could have been completely unavoidable had [redacted] just told us that the home had no ac upon her learning of the fact that we were bringing a baby weeks before our arrivalOr to make it even better Buckingham should have to put on the website “NO AC” so no one else falls victim to this lack of disclosure Since Buckingham has mentioned they have over rentals in Lake Tahoe, I believe it should be their responsibility to make full disclosure considering most people renting there are NOT FROM Lake Tahoe It should be the people renting the property to look out for the one renting and not just be in it for themselves to make the money no matter the cost.Buckingham had weeks leading up to our arrival to inform us that there was no ac, I do not believe, since we are not from Lake Tahoe, that it was our responsibility to ask if it had ac I believe that is the property managers responsibilityEspecially considering they knew full well that a baby would be there and that it would be completely unacceptable to "just open the doors and windows" After driving hours to finally arrive at our destination, we had NO CHOICE but to put our daughter back in the car and drive another hours to find lodging at a considerable higher rate (Over $for only two nights, versus the we needed*see attached charge for this) We searched everywhere but because it was the evening of, it was nearly impossible to find lodging at such short notice We would have NEVER been in this position had [redacted] at Buckingham disclosed, especially upon learning we were bringing a baby, that the home had no ac or had it been disclosed on the websiAC- Our attorney has advised that we are well within our right to recover the money paid for a property that was 'legitimately uninhabitable' and that we will also be seeking the higher fee for the second lodging we had to pay due to Buckingham's negligence in making full disclosure of the property having no ac thus requiring us to pay an inflated rate for lodging at such short notice I'm saddened by their statement in saying that it was not their responsibility to disclose the home had no ac, "We should have seen that it wasn’t listed as an amenity on the website" On the website, NO where does it list, "THIS HOME HAS NO AC" Instead the website lists, TV, internet, hot tub, etc as available items the home offersHowever, it does NOT list that the home has running water-but the home does have running waterIt does NOT list that the home has electricity-but the home does have electricity I was under the 'apparent false' impression that ac was a standard item such as water and electricity However, Buckingham says "I should have KNOWN better." Well, to that I say, Buckingham should have DONE better.*I have attached call records proving our calls to Buckingham, before our arrival and afterAs well as, the refund issued back to us by [redacted] after they heard the facts and the charge for $for the second lodging we had to find just so we would have a safe place to sleep I have also attached numerous complaints found on the internet about similar instances with Buckingham Unfortunately, I read the reviews too late But our attorney will be contacting each person directly to join the suit against Buckingham; at some point Buckingham has to be held responsible for their lack of full disclosure and misleading consumers.Please see the attached response I found on Yelp from ***, the same Property manager I spoke with to another person that posted a complaint She mentions a heater not working on a cold day for a family checking in that afternoon would take "Highest Priority" So why is the same respect not offered ,to a family checking in on a hot day with no ac Obviously they can't fix an ac that doesn't exist but shouldn't it be Highest Priority to "tell the family checking in that there is no ac prior to their arrival?" Especially when the welfare of a child is involved and they were very aware of a child coming

I am rejecting this response because:The hot tub is a minor point, but it is, in fact, still listed on the [redacted] website as of now, which was where I made the booking I have nothing to add, at this pointGiven previous interactions, I held out little hope that Buckingham would admit treating us unfairly I simply wanted to alert future renters that their bookings, even for thousands of dollars, might be substituted at the last minute for something they did not want but could not turn down, thereby ruining their vacation

Buckingham Properties Lake Tahoe would like to respond to the complaint submitted on 2/21/with an ID of [redacted] Firstly, I would like to provide the back story on how this issue arose including going in to detail on our process when bringing on a new property and general office operationsSecond to address the specific situation and how it was handled by our officeBack Story A contract was signed with the Owner to bring the property originally reserved by the Guest on board with Buckingham October 20th, I interviewed her at the property, and what was interesting was that the Cleaner she insisted on using was at that interviewThis was highly unusual as assigning a cleaner is the last step in the process, and one that is mutually decided on by myself and the ownerI was not happy with the situationBuckingham went through the steps to bring the new property on board to our programBuckingham arranged for them to receive a vacation rental applicationBuckingham arranged a professional photographerA management agreement was signed and all house details provided [Attachment 7]Five staff members worked on data entry for the owner and the propertyWe entered in all house information to our software, entered and edited the photos, created captions and wrote a lengthy description to market the home[Attachment 1]Some homes in our inventory have specific steps that the reservations have to go through prior to finalizing a reservationFor this particular property, reservationists were required to alert the Cleaner with the following information so that the door code could be setIncluded in the information sent was the Guest Name, Guest Phone Number and Dates of ReservationPrior to January 25, all correspondence followed this protocol and reservations occurred as [Attachment 2] The Cleaner would then add to their schedule to change the door code for each specific guestOn January 25, Buckingham received an email from the Cleaner that the Property was unavailable for Buckingham’s guest [Attachment 3]This was unusualWith many upcoming bookings in the home, Buckingham them made it a priority to confirm availability on every new booking made [Attachment 4]By January 30, the Cleaner had become unresponsive via email, and Buckingham began to become leery of the situation [Attachment 5]At no point, was it said that any future Buckingham reservations were at riskAs Buckingham had a contract with the Owner, this did not concern us as a problemBy February 1, Buckingham reached out personally to the Cleaner and was told that Buckingham no longer represented the home [Attachment 6]This was a complete shock, and as mentioned above a breach of contract between Buckingham and the OwnerThis was two days prior to the Guest’s arrival date [Attachment 11]Within the Management Agreement between Buckingham and the Owner, it states the “owner hereby appoints Manager as exclusive rental and management for the Unit with the sole and exclusive right to execute rental agreements and rent the Unit on Owner’s behalf in accordance with the terms hereinafter set forth.” The Owner’s Cleaner thus had no right to refuse the home to Buckingham’s guestsHowever, Buckingham still needed to take action to make sure all guests had a home to stay inThus the need to move all future reservations in the PropertyThe Management Agreement also states that the Owner can rent their own property on the condition that “the Unit has not been previously reserved or rented by Manager,” and that “Should Owner not honor a reservation, then Owner will be liable for any additional costs to provide suitable replacement accommodations for the guest.” In addition, and Owner is required to give Buckingham days written notice[Attachment 7]This shows the breach to the contract, as Buckingham did not get days’ notice, nor were we expecting a situation of this kind to occurUpon receiving the email when the Cleaner informed me that the “contract was up with Buckingham” I called the Owner [Attachment 6]It was at this time Buckingham was informed that we could not honor any of our future reservations [Attachment and Attachment 9]Buckingham had four paid upcoming reservations to move, include this Guest’sThis was the situation being dealt with by Buckingham prior to this issue with this GuestBuckingham came to the decision that all reservations should be moved, rather than deal with a larger issue on the day of guests arrivalsYes, the Owner and Cleaner breached the contract, however with the close time-frame of some arrivals, Buckingham wanted to provide a suitable alternative to each guestI did not like the Cleaner from the get go (always trust your instincts/gut), and it is my assumption that they probably offered the Owner a screaming deal on commission to take it over the PropertyThe Owner told me many times their only concern was the bottom lineBuckingham’s commission includes brick and mortar, a staff of eight and everything that goes along with that and maintaining a working businessIn conclusion, my feeling is it was their intention all along to get the Buckingham staff to get everything sand for them and then drop us for a lower commissionThey stole all of the photos and the description Buckingham staff worked on, and are still using it to market their home to rentersThe GuestBuckingham contacted all the guests immediately; there were four bookings we had to move [Attachment 8]Buckingham reached out to the Guest on the phone to alert them of the situationAfter the phone call, an email was sent [Attachment 10] offering the alternative home or a full refund to the GuestThe reservation was booked through a channel partner (websites that list homes for a commission), Vaycayhero.com, and they were also alerted of the situationAs stated in the Rental Agreement to guests “Buckingham reserves the right to move Renters confirmed Reservation, should the Property become unavailable due to property damage, property sale, or other unavailabilityRenters will be moved to another property of comparative value, with advance notice given as soon as possible” [Attachment 11]As the Property was no longer available, we moved the ReservationWe found a home to fit the size of the group, at comparable costThis Guest had guests and a dog [Attachment 11]A suitable alternative had to be one that allowed petsThis was difficult as most of our properties are not pet friendly, and it being last minute had limited availabilityAfter apologizing profusely and offering either a full refund or to move them, the Guest became very hostile with Buckingham staff, and the staff at our [redacted] So threatened to complain to the Revdex.com or to reach out to Social Media, direct quote “GIVEN OUR REACH AS AN ORGANIZATION [Attachment 12]This is becoming a nasty trend on review sites such as YelpThe sites are becoming vehicles for blackmail, i.eif you font give me what I want I will write a bad review – which the guest did [Attachment 13]The Guest eventually decided to move into the alternative house rather than accept the full refund [Attachment 12, and Attachment 14]Just to clarify, this was not a dark, dismal, orange shag carpet, green fridge, bats flying out of the door property [Attachment 15]This property is on the water, sq ft; beautiful views, access to a heated swimming pool, a hot tub and a gymThe home they originally rented was only sq ft [Attachment 16]The guest did state that “there was nothing unusually wrong with our rental’ within the Yelp review [Attachment 13]It was stated by the guest in the complaint that they chose the original Property because of a “hot tub on the balcony.” The Property originally booked did not have a hot tub [Attachment 16]We completely understand the emotional decision that goes in to booking a vacation rental, and when that home becomes unavailable, the heartbreak that is felt by guestsIn no way did Buckingham want to ruin a guests vacation, thus offering an alternative homeBuckingham matched the price of the first home to the alternative home, even though the rate was higher [Attachment and Attachment 14]The Guest stated in the “Customer Statement of the Problem” that “the house did not have the value they claimed (otherwise it, too, would have been rented).” To address this, the alternative home was being marked exclusively as a Long Term rental only [Attachment 18]Thus, the home was available in our systemThe Guest was still able to enjoy a trip to South Lake Tahoe, and Buckingham did everything in their power to make it a great stay, including letting the guest have a late departure time of PM rather than the standard 11:AM [Attachment 12]It was not until after the Guests departure that they asked for a full refund for the stayAs Buckingham is in the business of managing homes for owners, both Buckingham and the owners need to make a profitIn addition the cleaner that hot the alternative home ready for the Guest also needs to be paid for their workA full refund was offered to the guest at first contact [Attachment 10]The Guest has peppered all emails and reviews with the saying “bait-and-switch.” It seems to me that in the end the Guest “Bated” us with, yes they wanted to stay in the new property, after their stay they “Switched” to “I want a refund.” I have included as much information as I have in the following AttachmentsIf you need anything else please contact me immediately and we are happy to obligeSincerely, [redacted]

Buckingham Properties Lake Tahoe would like to respond to the complaint on 7/28/with an ID of I would like to address the complaints brought up in the Customer’s Statement of the ProblemBefore I address the specific accusations, I would like to provide background on the booking
process of the GuestI will then provide an account of the conversations between Buckingham and the Guest as it relates to the Customer’s Statement of the ProblemFinally, I will directly address the specific complaints and demands referenced in the Customer’s Statement of the ProblemIncluded with this letter ten Attachments that are referenced throughout the responseReservation Process The Guest booked the home sleeping Bear Lodge (the “Property”), managed by Buckingham Properties Lake Tahoe (“Buckingham”), through an Outside Travel Agency called *** markets a selection of Properties on their own website, including the sleeping Bear Lodge (Attachment 1)*** was responsible for all initial correspondence with the Guest as they inquire on the Property, and collected all payment for the reservation from the Guest*** then sent the Reservation to Buckingham for us to Accept or RejectThis request is sent to us as an email and also an Online Reservation that goes directly into our software as a reservation (Attachment 2)Buckingham is not part of any initial conversation with the Guest regarding in choosing the PropertyBuckingham’s only interaction with Guest was at the conclusion of the reservation process, with the signing of a rental agreement and sending Guest access instruction to the PropertyThe Guest booked Sleeping Bear Lodge through *** on 7/13/(Attachment 2)Buckingham then reached out to the Guest via email with our Rental Agreement for the guest to initial, sign and return back to Buckingham (Attachment 3)The signed contract was received as an email attachment from the Guest’s assistant on 7/15/(Attachment 4)The Property The Property chosen by the Guest, Sleeping Bear Lodge, does not have air conditioningThe home is not marketed as having air conditioning, as is shown clearly in both the Property listing on Buckingham’s websiteand on ***’s website (Attachment 1)The information on the website, was the information that the Guest read prior to reserving the PropertyAll of this information is fed directly through Buckingham’s reservation software, V12.NETAir Conditioning in Tahoe is rare, as it is not common for the area to experience temperature that necessitate having it in a homeIn fact, Buckingham only has six homes out of our total inventory of eighty-two rental units that have air conditioning (Attachment 5)Guest’s Arrival Guests of Buckingham do not cheat Buckingham’s officeRather they go directly to the Property, and access the home with the entry codes providedAs Buckingham does not know the exact timing of our arrivals, the home is left with window down and locked for the safety of the home against wildlifeThe Guest arrived to the Property late afternoon (after 4:00PM) on 7/27/The Guest called the Buckingham office and spoke with one of our Reservation specialistsIn this conversation, the Guest stated that the home was too hot and asked how to turn on the air conditioningThe Reservation Specialist informed the Guest that the home does not have air conditioning, and the best immediate solution was to open the windows and turn on fans to allow the cooling outside air to cool down the PropertySouth Lake Tahoe, at that was experiencing unreasonably hot temperature that are rare in the areaAttachment shows a history of the temperatures between 2:PM on 7/27/through 4:PM on 7/28/Temperatures decrease in the evenings, and can reach the upper forties in the very early hours of the morningOpening windows, and turning fans on will cool a home down as the outside temperatures decreaseUpon learning that the home did not have air conditioning, the Guest demanded to be moved to another homeThe Guest threatened Buckingham’s Reservation Specialist stating that they could “make our lives miserable” and not to “screw with him.” In the conversation with the Reservation Specialist, the Guest said that Buckingham was dishonest for not disclosing that the home did not have air conditioningAs shown in both Buckingham’s property listing and that on ***’s website, the Property does not have air conditioning (Attachment 1)The Property was never advertised as having air conditioningAlthough the Reservation Specialist was uncomfortable with how the Guest was treating her, she continued to assist the GuestThe Guest then demanded that Buckingham move them to another home with air conditioningThe Reservation Specialist looked in the reservation software to find that the homes available did not have air conditioning (Attachment 6)The six homes Buckingham manages that do have air conditioning were booked by other Buckingham guests (Attachment 3)The Guest then began to demand to demand a refund at which time the Reservation recommended they call the next day (7/28/2016) and speak to the Managing Partner of BuckinghamThe Reservation Specialist had closed the office at this timeAll refund requests go through the Managing Partner, and none of our Reservation Specialists can authorize and type of refund without her consentSee Attachment for the statement from Buckingham’s Reservation Specialists regarding the conversation with the GuestDay After Arrival Around noon on 7/28/the Guest called Buckingham and the call was transferred to the Managing PartnerThe guest again threatened Buckingham saying they will “make our lives miserable.” When the guest demanded a full refund due to the weather being too hot, the Managing Partner referenced a Clause in the Rental Agreement that was signed by the guestHold Harmless: Buckingham attempts to properly maintain the PropertyRenters agree to immediately notify Buckingham of any maintenance problem, so that the situation can be remedied as soon as possibleBuckingham is not responsible for an inconvenience that may occur for which Buckingham has no controlThis includes, but is not limited to: power outages, adverse weather conditions, mandatory evacuations, construction, mechanical failure such as pool, hot tubs, television etcNo refunds will be given for occurrences beyond Buckingham’s control, Buckingham shall not be held liable for any injuries that may occur to Renters or their guests as a result of the acts of said Renters and their guestsBuckingham is not responsible for any theft or damage to Renters belongings during their stay at the Property (Attachment 4)Unreasonable warm temperatures fall into the realm of “occurrences beyond Buckingham’s control,” specifically as “adverse weather.” The Managing Partner reiterated what was told to the Guest by the Reservation specialist that the home was not advertised as having air conditioning and the best solution was to open windowsThe Guest continued demanding a refundIt should be noted that during the conversations with the Managing Partner, the Guest was extremely hostile to the point the Managing Partner, the Guest was extremely hostile to the point the Managing Partner considered filing a police reportPlease see attachment for the written Statement from Buckingham’s Managing Partner on the conversation with the GuestConclusion I would like to specifically address the statements in the Customer’s Statement of the Problem: There was no instance of fraud throughout any time in the booking processIt was suggested to the Guest that they open the windows of the Property to all the temperature to decreaseIn the Customer’s Statement of the Problem they state there were “windows without screens.” The Property does have screens on all of the windows (Attachment 10)The Guest stated that “They told us to put bug spray on the kids.” Bug spray was never mentioned in any conversation between the Guest and the Managing PartnerThe Guest stated that the Managing Partner was being “rude” and “hung up on us.” This is coming from a Guest who verbally threatened multiple Buckingham employees, and during conversations would not let the Buckingham employee get a word inThe Guest is stating that the “house was degrees.” The temperature is a weather condition that was completely beyond the control of BuckinghamThe house was shup up (shades down, windows locked) and this does help with keeping the temperature downBuckingham provided solutions in our control (looked for other homes available in our inventory, and to open the windows) but it was the choice of the Guest to drive to Northeast California ResortIt was stated that we “don’t issue refunds.” Buckingham does issue refunds, however in this case we do not issue refunds due to weather related issuesThe guest signed the contract with the information in itThe final statement of the Guest was that there were “no assurances of what you might end up with.” The Guest was provided with all the information on the Property prior to payment and signing a Rental AgreementIn conclusion, we did everything in our power to provide solutions to the Guest when we learned of the problemAll of Tahoe, South Lake Tahoe included, was experiencing unreasonably warm temperatures at the time of the reservationThe Property was never falsely advertised as having air conditioning, as is shown in two property listings of the propertyBuckingham is denying the request of the Guest for a refund of $5,Included are Attachments with as much information as we haveIf you need anything else, or further explanation of anything mentioned in this response, I am happy to oblige Sincerely, *** ** ***, Director of Communications

I am rejecting this response because:The summary of the long response from Buckingham is that they had a property on file which they were not comfortable with from the beginning, they knew there were potential problems as early as January 25, and yet, could only notify me with less than hours notice that the property was no longer available Meanwhile, they told me that this was due to an "emergency" in which the "owners had to suddenly move back into the home." Apparently, a complete fabrication I did, in fact, ask ***, with whom I dealt, if Buckingham would financially compensate me with at least a discount on the new property Property values are, of course, subjective and this seemed reasonable to me since I was not getting a property I valued as highly She spoke with her manager, who apparently summarily dismissed the suggestion I told her at the time, that I was disappointed and suspected it was because they knew I had no other options but to take what they offered.Here is why the "bait and switch" is actually apt to my experience (as opposed to theirs) As I understand it, the tactic is employed whereby a customer is lured in on the promise of one product, and is then told that product is no longer available, but an "equivalent" one is The customer has sunk costs in terms of time and commitment and immediate need, and has to weigh that into the decision to purchase If I had had more than two days notice, I definitely would have asked for a full refund and gone elsewhere The fact is, I had guests coming from different places and simply did not have enough time to start a new booking somewhere else I even said as much to ***, who reiterated that she wished they had a better home to offer me (and my 5, not 7, guests).To me, this is a tale of poor business practices from start to finish The fact that the property manager was suspicious from the start, but went along anyway, is not inspiring The fact that the owner is under legal obligation to compensate Buckingham (and, hopefully, the prospective tenants), but has chosen not to exercise that option is equally uninspiring The fact that I was cornered into paying the same amount of money for a property that did not meet my any of my desired criteria is unacceptable (fyi, there was, in fact, a hot tub listed on the booking website h*** even if qualified by the fine print of their rental agreement

When I signed up the property (October 2015) the hot tub was on order. The contractor built a wooden deck for the hot tub, the footings for the deck moved considerably rendering the deck unsafe. The hot tub was not delivered. We were told they could not do repairs/rebuild the deck until spring. We took the hot tub off our website the same day. To the best of my recollection that was around the end of November. Please let me know if you need anything else.

I am rejecting this response because:The hot tub is a minor point, but it is, in fact, still listed on the [redacted] website as of now, which was where I made the booking.   I have nothing to add, at this point. Given previous interactions, I held out little hope that Buckingham would admit treating us unfairly.  I simply wanted to alert future renters that their bookings, even for thousands of dollars, might be substituted at the last minute for something they did not want but could not turn down, thereby ruining their vacation.

Buckingham Properties Lake Tahoe would like to respond to the complaint submitted on 2/21/2016 with an ID of [redacted]
 Firstly, I would like to provide the back story on how this issue arose including going in to detail on our process when bringing on a new property and general office...

operations. Second to address the specific situation and how it was handled by our office. Back Story A contract was signed with the Owner to bring the property originally reserved by the Guest on board with Buckingham October 20th, 2015. I interviewed her at the property, and what was interesting was that the Cleaner she insisted on using was at that interview. This was highly unusual as assigning a cleaner is the last step in the process, and one that is mutually decided on by myself and the owner. I was not happy with the situation. Buckingham went through the steps to bring the new property on board to our program. Buckingham arranged for them to receive a vacation rental application. Buckingham arranged a professional photographer. A management agreement was signed and all house details provided [Attachment 7]. Five staff members worked on data entry for the owner and the property. We entered in all house information to our software, entered and edited the photos, created captions and wrote a lengthy description to market the home. [Attachment 1]. Some homes in our inventory have specific steps that the reservations have to go through prior to finalizing a reservation. For this particular property, reservationists were required to alert the Cleaner with the following information so that the door code could be set. Included in the information sent was the Guest Name, Guest Phone Number and Dates of Reservation. Prior to January 25, 2016 all correspondence followed this protocol and reservations occurred as normal [Attachment 2].  The Cleaner would then add to their schedule to change the door code for each specific guest. On January 25, 2016 Buckingham received an email from the Cleaner that the Property was unavailable for Buckingham’s guest [Attachment 3]. This was unusual. With many upcoming bookings in the home, Buckingham them made it a priority to confirm availability on every new booking made [Attachment 4]. By January 30, 2016 the Cleaner had become unresponsive via email, and Buckingham began to become leery of the situation [Attachment 5]. At no point, was it said that any future Buckingham reservations were at risk. As Buckingham had a contract with the Owner, this did not concern us as a problem. By February 1, 2016 Buckingham reached out personally to the Cleaner and was told that Buckingham no longer represented the home [Attachment 6]. This was a complete shock, and as mentioned above a breach of contract between Buckingham and the Owner. This was two days prior to the Guest’s arrival date [Attachment 11]. Within the Management Agreement between Buckingham and the Owner, it states the “owner hereby appoints Manager as exclusive rental and management for the Unit with the sole and exclusive right to execute rental agreements and rent the Unit on Owner’s behalf in accordance with the terms hereinafter set forth.” The Owner’s Cleaner thus had no right to refuse the home to Buckingham’s guests. However, Buckingham still needed to take action to make sure all guests had a home to stay in. Thus the need to move all future reservations in the Property. The Management Agreement also states that the Owner can rent their own property on the condition that “the Unit has not been previously reserved or rented by Manager,” and that “Should Owner not honor a reservation, then Owner will be liable for any additional costs to provide suitable replacement accommodations for the guest.” In addition, and Owner is required to give Buckingham 30 days written notice. [Attachment 7]. This shows the breach to the contract, as Buckingham did not get 30 days’ notice, nor were we expecting a situation of this kind to occur. Upon receiving the email when the Cleaner informed me that the “contract was up with Buckingham” I called the Owner [Attachment 6]. It was at this time Buckingham was informed that we could not honor any of our future reservations [Attachment 8 and Attachment 9]. Buckingham had four paid upcoming reservations to move, include this Guest’s. This was the situation being dealt with by Buckingham prior to this issue with this Guest. Buckingham came to the decision that all reservations should be moved, rather than deal with a larger issue on the day of guests arrivals. Yes, the Owner and Cleaner breached the contract, however with the close time-frame of some arrivals, Buckingham wanted to provide a suitable alternative to each guest. I did not like the Cleaner from the get go (always trust your instincts/gut), and it is my assumption that they probably offered the Owner a screaming deal on commission to take it over the Property. The Owner told me many times their only concern was the bottom line. Buckingham’s commission includes brick and mortar, a staff of eight and everything that goes along with that and maintaining a working business. In conclusion, my feeling is it was their intention all along to get the Buckingham staff to get everything set-up and for them and then drop us for a lower commission. They stole all of the photos and the description Buckingham staff worked on, and are still using it to market their home to renters. The GuestBuckingham contacted all the guests immediately; there were four bookings we had to move [Attachment 8]. Buckingham reached out to the Guest on the phone to alert them of the situation. After the phone call, an email was sent [Attachment 10] offering the alternative home or a full refund to the Guest. The reservation was booked through a channel partner (websites that list homes for a commission), Vaycayhero.com, and they were also alerted of the situation. As stated in the Rental Agreement to guests “Buckingham reserves the right to move Renters confirmed Reservation, should the Property become unavailable due to property damage, property sale, or other unavailability. Renters will be moved to another property of comparative value, with advance notice given as soon as possible” [Attachment 11]. As the Property was no longer available, we moved the Reservation. We found a home to fit the size of the group, at comparable cost. This Guest had 8 guests and a dog [Attachment 11]. A suitable alternative had to be one that allowed pets. This was difficult as most of our properties are not pet friendly, and it being last minute had limited availability. After apologizing profusely and offering either a full refund or to move them, the Guest became very hostile with Buckingham staff, and the staff at our [redacted] So threatened to complain to the Revdex.com or to reach out to Social Media, direct quote “GIVEN OUR REACH AS AN ORGANIZATION [Attachment 12]. This is becoming a nasty trend on review sites such as Yelp. The sites are becoming vehicles for blackmail, i.e. if you font give me what I want I will write a bad review – which the guest did [Attachment 13]. The Guest eventually decided to move into the alternative house rather than accept the full refund [Attachment 12, and Attachment 14]. Just to clarify, this was not a dark, dismal, orange shag carpet, green fridge, bats flying out of the door property [Attachment 15]. This property is on the water, 2600 sq ft; beautiful views, access to a heated swimming pool, a hot tub and a gym. The home they originally rented was only 1400 sq ft [Attachment 16]. The guest did state that “there was nothing unusually wrong with our rental’ within the Yelp review [Attachment 13]. It was stated by the guest in the complaint that they chose the original Property because of a “hot tub on the balcony.” The Property originally booked did not have a hot tub [Attachment 16]. We completely understand the emotional decision that goes in to booking a vacation rental, and when that home becomes unavailable, the heartbreak that is felt by guests. In no way did Buckingham want to ruin a guests vacation, thus offering an alternative home. Buckingham matched the price of the first home to the alternative home, even though the rate was higher [Attachment 17 and Attachment 14]. The Guest stated in the “Customer Statement of the Problem” that “the house did not have the value they claimed (otherwise it, too, would have been rented).” To address this, the alternative home was being marked exclusively as a Long Term rental only [Attachment 18]. Thus, the home was available in our system. The Guest was still able to enjoy a trip to South Lake Tahoe, and Buckingham did everything in their power to make it a great stay, including letting the guest have a late departure time of 3.00 PM rather than the standard 11:00 AM [Attachment 12]. It was not until after the Guests departure that they asked for a full refund for the stay. As Buckingham is in the business of managing homes for owners, both Buckingham and the owners need to make a profit. In addition the cleaner that hot the alternative home ready for the Guest also needs to be paid for their work. A full refund was offered to the guest at first contact [Attachment 10]. The Guest has peppered all emails and reviews with the saying “bait-and-switch.” It seems to me that in the end the Guest “Bated” us with, yes they wanted to stay in the new property, after their stay they “Switched” to “I want a refund.” I have included as much information as I have in the following Attachments. If you need anything else please contact me immediately and we are happy to oblige. Sincerely,[redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:1. Buckingham claims that we ONLY dealt with [redacted].  There was a call made to [redacted], but only AFTER this entire ordeal and after speaking to [redacted] they apologized for our terrible ordeal and how we were treated by Buckingham and issued a refund for the amount they collected in commission. [redacted] informed my wife that she was sorry for everything and that all she could give in a refund was approx. $726.10 (their commission amount) and they did- it was promptly refunded by Aug 2nd 2016.  The [redacted] manager explained that ONLY the property manager for Buckingham was allowed to issue the other monies to us in the form of a refund and that she was very sorry for the fact that Buckingham was unwilling to issue the refund considering the facts.  She even went as far as offering to call Buckingham on our behalf to attempt to beseech Buckingham to rethink their decision to not issue a refund. My wife thanked [redacted], the manager at [redacted] and explained that she had spoken to the property manager of Buckingham, [redacted] directly the next day after leaving the property and expressed her disappointment to learn that the home had no ac only upon arrival.  The Property managers response was, "Well, you should have known that, most of Lake Tahoe homes don't have ac!"  My wife explained that she felt it was the property managers responsibility to disclose this and since they didn't we walked into a home that was 90 degrees with no way to cool it off.  The property manager said, "Well, we don't issue refunds for weather conditions!" and hung up on my wife.  [redacted] of [redacted] was disappointed to learn that this is how Buckingham had handled it.  And now, to see that Buckingham is attempting to place a large part of the responsibility on [redacted] is disappointing, especially considering [redacted] did the right thing by issuing a refund to us of all monies earned by them after all facts were given to them.2. Buckingham also says that we "harassed them".  Upon arrival, we thought the ac was broken as there was a thermostat on the wall.  After turning the ac down and nothing happening we called Buckingham and  we were told to, "Just open the doors and windows" when we called to ask how to turn on the ac.  It was 90 degrees outside and even if this cooled the house, it was unsafe to just leave open doors and windows with a two year old.  The doors in the house consisted of the front door which was found at the top of approx. 15 wooden stairs and the back doors which lead to a wooden deck that our daughter could have very easily fallen off of. Not to mention the fact that Buckingham clearly states in their response that all doors and windows are closed in order to protect the house.  We quickly learned that "protecting the house" doesn't mean just from burglars or vandals but it means from bears.   Bears have been known to just wander into peoples homes, (we learned this about 4 days into our trip there from a real estate agent. Us not being from Lake Tahoe, we had no idea) Not to mention the bugs there.  When we were told to open the doors and windows and leave them open at night to cool the house, we said, "First we can’t do that with a child-she would fall to her death and second, even if that were possible we would be a feast for all of the bugs" (this was our only reference at this point as we had no idea of the dangers of bears as well) and we were told to, "Put bug repellent on our daughter".  The disappointing fact is that [redacted] at Buckingham was very aware we were bringing a baby, why did she not mention to us then that the home had no ac? Perhaps, the proper thing to do, was to inform us that the home had no ac and that since we were bringing a baby -she knows the house better than us-opening doors and windows would simply be a death trap for our daughter.  I myself did get on the phone with [redacted] upon arrival and told her this is unacceptable, this should have been disclosed and now we must leave and we have no where to stay.  [redacted] said she was sorry but that there was nothing she could do.  I told her that I needed her to search her inventory and find us another home we could stay in.  [redacted], reluctantly, said she would look and call us back within 15 minutes.  After 30 minutes she never called and so we had to call back.  But the Buckingham office had closed and we got the answering service.  [redacted] had gone home and left us with no call and no alternative.  We told the answering the service that we expected a call back from someone as they had our money and we had no where to sleep.  After approx. 20 more minutes [redacted] called and said she had no rentals available with ac.  I then demanded a refund and [redacted] said this was not something she could authorize. At this point we had to strip our daughter of all clothing as she was beat red from the heat within the house because we had been there for over 45 minutes waiting for Buckingham to find alternative arrangements for us.  We left immediately and literally drove while calling to find lodging because the house was simply unsafe for our daughter.  Frankly, it was unsafe for all of us, but our daughter was our primary concern.3. Buckingham states the house had fans to cool off the house and they are correct in the house had fans.  There were 2 in the living which had 20 foot ceilings and the fans were smaller than standard size which means they was no chance they would be able to cool the room much less the entire home.  There was one other fan was in the far back of the house stuck in a window (picture a $10.00 box fan from Walmart) that was simply blowing warm air from outside and bringing it in. 4. Buckingham claims that they NEVER spoke to us regarding the property leading up the rental, but this is simply not true.  My wife called and spoke with [redacted] (at Buckingham) multiple times prior to our arrival date.  The reason for the telephone calls was to verify if the property had any baby safety gates or did we need to bring or rent them.  [redacted] was informed that we were bringing our two year old daughter with us and, therefore, certain precautions needed to be taken.  We would need to protect her in the house.  [redacted] provided a company name to rent baby gates but ultimately we decided to bring our own.    Our assistant was present for each of these calls and over heard each one as my wife was on speaker phone.  In fact, we have attached a copy of the call records for proof. Buckingham states in their response that the home has no ac and that we should have known that because it wasn't listed on the website- we should have just known that Lake Tahoe typically doesn't have ac.  But as I explained to Buckingham upon arrival, "how would I know that the home doesn't have ac if someone doesn't tell me?"  I am not from Lake Tahoe, I am visiting from a different area in the US, an area that has ac, running water and electricity.  I, obviously incorrectly, assumed that all homes have ac, especially if the cost is over $400.00 per night.  We have hired legal counsel and he said, Buckingham was made perfectly aware on several occasions that we were bringing a baby and it should have been disclosed to us that the home had no ac.  Of course, opening doors and windows would be an unsafe environment for our daughter and could have literally lead to her death as the entire living area of the home was technically considered the second story of the home. The attorney also brought up that if they are considering this a "weather issue and beyond their control", wouldn't pipes freezing over also be considered a "weather issue"? And yet, that would make the house uninhabitable.  No ac in a home that is 90 degrees with a baby also make the home uninhabitable.  This was not a weather issue; this could have been completely unavoidable had [redacted] just told us that the home had no ac upon her learning of the fact that we were bringing a baby weeks before our arrival. Or to make it even better Buckingham should have to put on the website “NO AC” so no one else falls victim to this lack of disclosure.  Since Buckingham has mentioned they have over 100 rentals in Lake Tahoe, I believe it should be their responsibility to make full disclosure considering most people renting there are NOT FROM Lake Tahoe.  It should be the people renting the property to look out for the one renting and not just be in it for themselves to make the money no matter the cost.Buckingham had weeks leading up to our arrival to inform us that there was no ac, I do not believe, since we are not from Lake Tahoe, that it was our responsibility to ask if it had ac.  I believe that is the property managers responsibility. Especially considering they knew full well that a baby would be there and that it would be completely unacceptable to "just open the doors and windows".  After driving 10.5 hours to finally arrive at our destination, we had NO CHOICE but to put our daughter back in the car and drive another 1.5 hours to find lodging at a considerable higher rate (Over $1900.00 for only two nights, versus the 6 we needed*see attached charge for this).  We searched everywhere but because it was the evening of, it was nearly impossible to find lodging at such short notice.  We would have NEVER been in this position had [redacted] at Buckingham disclosed, especially upon learning we were bringing a baby, that the home had no ac or had it been disclosed on the website-NO AC-.  Our attorney has advised that we are well within our right to recover the money paid for a property that was 'legitimately uninhabitable' and that we will also be seeking the higher fee for the second lodging we had to pay due to Buckingham's negligence in making full disclosure of the property having no ac thus requiring us to pay an inflated rate for lodging at such short notice.  I'm saddened by their statement in saying that it was not their responsibility to disclose the home had no ac, "We should have seen that it wasn’t listed as an amenity on the website" On the website, NO where does it list, "THIS HOME HAS NO AC".  Instead the website lists, TV, internet, hot tub, etc as available items the home offers. However, it does NOT list that the home has running water-but the home does have running water. It does NOT list that the home has electricity-but the home does have electricity.  I was under the 'apparent false' impression that ac was a standard item such as water and electricity.  However, Buckingham says "I should have KNOWN better."  Well, to that I say, Buckingham should have DONE better.*I have attached call records proving our calls to Buckingham, before our arrival and after. As well as, the refund issued back to us by [redacted] after they heard the facts and the charge for $1900.00 for the second lodging we had to find just so we would have a safe place to sleep.  I have also attached numerous complaints found on the internet about similar instances with Buckingham .    Unfortunately, I read the reviews too late.  But our attorney will be contacting each person directly to join the suit against Buckingham; at some point Buckingham has to be held responsible for their lack of full disclosure and misleading consumers.Please see the attached response I found on Yelp from [redacted], the same Property manager I spoke with to another person that posted a complaint.  She mentions a heater not working on a cold day for a family checking in that afternoon would take "Highest Priority" So why is the same respect not offered ,to a family checking in on a hot day with no ac.  Obviously they can't fix an ac that doesn't exist but shouldn't it be Highest Priority to "tell the family checking in that there is no ac prior to their arrival?"  Especially when the welfare of a child is involved and they were very aware of a child coming.