Miss Kitty's Fishing Getaways

Mr. [redacted] notified our office on his first night at The Boathouse that he had seen 2 live roaches that night.  The office promptly responded to him that morning and offered to send out pest control.  Mr. [redacted] declined that service because he said he had only seen 2 roaches and did not want...

to smell the pest control fumes.  On the 2nd night of his stay, he emailed our office around 3am stating that when they turned on the lights in the bathroom, there were more live roaches and that they were leaving the property.  Mr. [redacted]'s checked out on Sunday, Aug. 5.  While I did not speak to him until Aug. 7th, he did speak with and file his complaint with the receptionist in the office and she that his complaint would be looked into and that someone would get back with him.  I spoke with Mr. [redacted] with regards to his complaints, reviewed his emails and looked at the time he spent at the home.  I also explained to him that all of our homes are on quarterly pest control, but if there are problems sooner, then we send pest control back out for additional treatments.  Over the last couple of weeks, we have had higher than normal reports of roaches at some of the homes we manage.  We manage close to 100 homes all over the Rockport area, and being on the coast, we do constantly fight bugs.  However, we not expect that our guests have to deal with live roaches.  In response to Mr. [redacted]s complaint and in review of his situation, I refunded him 100% of his 2nds nights stay and I took 20% off his first nights stay.  I also refunded his pet fee.  The home that he rented is a nice water front home with a lighted pier, boat ramp, and boat dock.  The home was clean and nicely furnished.  Photos of this home can be seen at the following link:  http://[redacted].  Mr. [redacted] used this nice property for the first night and day and only left 8 hours before his scheduled check out time.  He did not have any other complaints other than the roaches that he saw.  I feel that the compensation I provided to him was more than adequate given the situation, and I feel like he is taking advantage of the situation by requesting 100% of his money back.  He has threatened to file complaints all over the internet and to sue me and my company over this situation.  He has even contact my attorney threatening to sue me.  However, I stand by the decision I made because I feel it is a fair compensation given the situation.Sincerely,[redacted]

I am very sorry that Mr. [redacted] and his wife saw roaches during their stay at The Boathouse.  I would love for all of our homes to be completely pest free; however, given our coastal environment, bugs can sometimes be a problem.  Because of this, all of our homes, The Boathouse included, are on routine quarterly pest control with more frequent treatments as needed.  The Boathouse has been rented by 23 different customers over the last 8 months and was booked 55 of the 60 days prior to his check in.  We did not have any complaints of bugs reported to our office during that time.   I did not have any reason to think that The Boathouse was infested with roaches nor did I ever state to Mr. [redacted] that the home was infested.  Our vacation homes are cleaned and inspected prior to each reservation to make sure everything is ready for our guests checking in.  We want our guests to have a positive experience at our vacation homes, and if something does go wrong, we do our best to remedy the situation quickly and with out disruption to the guest. The Boathouse is equipped with an electronic door lock, and our records show that Mr. [redacted] checked into the home on Friday night, left early Saturday morning, and returned again Saturday at 2pm.  These records also indicate that he left and entered this home several times over the next few hours before finally locking the door for the evening.  It also shows him leaving a final time around 3am Sunday morning.  Mr. [redacted] reported seeing two roaches on the first night, and he declined our offer to treat the home the next day.  I respect his reasons for not wanting the home treated, and we did not expect that the problem would get any worse than it was the first night.  The facilities at The Boathouse include a private lighted fishing pier, a boat ramp and dock, and an upper deck overlooking the water.  The majority of the rental income that guests pay goes to the home owner for use of the home and its amenities.  After reviewing the time that Mr. [redacted] spent at the home and taking his complaint into account as well as his early departure, I believe that I fairly compensated him by refunding 1 full night’s rental rate as well as taking 20% off the other night’s rate.   I believe that Mr. [redacted]’s request of a 100% refund is unreasonable and does not take into account that he used the property virtually problem free for the majority of his stay.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:Ms. [redacted] rented me a unit infested with roaches. Her proposed solution (to refund less than 1/2 of the money I paid her) is unreasonable and unfair.Ms. [redacted]'s proposal is based on the erroneous assumption that the house was not infested with roaches until the 2nd night.  This is obviously not true.  I noticed 2 live roaches (and a dead roach) on the 1st day, but we went to bed very early to get up at 5AM and go fishing.  The fact that I (luckily) did not see the awful extent of the problem does not forgive the fact that the place was literally infested with roaches, which we were horrified to discover the following night.  There were so many that going back to sleep was not an option.  The fact that a person in the office offered to have someone come out and spray does not relieve Ms. [redacted] of responsibility for the roach problem.  The woman said:  "If we spray, it may draw them out."  That warning combined with the prospect of inhaling poisonous fumes made the suggestion unfeasible.  I suppose that we could have left immediately upon noticing the roaches on the first day.  But, my wife and I wanted to be reasonable and give them the benefit of the doubt (that there were a few strays that snuck in rather than an infestation).  So, according to Ms. [redacted], my lesson is to leave immediately upon seeing a roach or else pay?We did no "check out" as claimed by Ms. [redacted].  We were forced to evacuate in the middle of the night.  And, no one responded to my e-mail at 3AM Saturday night/Sunday until Tuesday.  The lady I spoke to at the office saidMs. [redacted] was on a call, but that she would pass the message along immediately.  However, when I never heard from anyone for an additional 30 hours, I called again and demanded to speak to Ms. [redacted].Ms. [redacted]'s claim that "over the last couple of weeks, we have had higher than normal reports of roaches at some of the homes we manage" is not a defense.  It is an admission.  If I had known what she is now disclosing, I can assure you that I would have never booked the place.Ms. [redacted] says "The home was clean" yet admits that the house was full of roaches.  She told that to me on the phone too.  That is absurd.  There was a nearly dead roach on its back on the floor when my wife and I arrived.  I sent her the photos of examples of the many roaches, and I would be more than happy to send them to you too.   Ms. [redacted] complains that I told her I would post reviews and take measures to let others know what a dreadful experience I had if this was not resolved to my satisfaction.  She says it like it's a bad thing.  She probably thinks that people should just keep quiet and not use valuable resources like the Revdex.com.  Her Revdex.com rating is not reflective of my experience there.  That is one of the reasons I raised this complaint.When a business doesn't do the right thing, the only recourse a consumer has is to try to resolve it (which I am trying to do) or to file suit (which is a last resort, but not out of the question).  I was a past customer of Ms. [redacted], yet she treated me poorly anyway.  She should have been more respectful and at least pretended to care.    For these reasons, Ms. [redacted]'s proposed resolution to charge me more than $250 is unacceptable.  She should do what any decent business owner would do and give me a refund.
Regards,
[redacted]