vrbo 288790

vrbo 288790, 2645 Ocean Front Walk, San Diego, CA Lynn Penner, Shirley Rast Compensation lacking for problem vacation rental San Diego, California

22nd of Jan, 2011 by User183336

2645 Ocean Front Walk, San Diego, CATreated badly - Warning regarding vacation rental, Upscale Duplex, not so much(lower level condo, not penthouse)

Be warned This place is not an upscale duplex. However, you will be charged as if it is. It's nice enough visually. We stayed here for the week leading up to Christmas, which was an unusually stormy week with temperatures from 40-60 degrees. We loved being at the beach regardless. 3 large leaking windows is one thing, but a leaking ceiling light fixture another. On the 4th day of our stay the slider to the porch was finally fixed so we could lock it. But worst by far, the heating unit was broken for 6 full days, despite a workman's best efforts. The owner provided space heaters but they blew the fuses. During our waking hours we were able to run 2 heaters in the living room. They helped but it was never really comfortable. The bathrooms and bedrooms were completely without heat. The workman came back four days, each time for several hours. We made the best of it, but some vacation! He finally got the heater fixed on day 6 of our stay. I'm sure he knows a lot more now about fixing heaters. He learned on our dime.

Still, when we left, we straightened things up and did a couple of loads of sheets and towels as requested. I have photographic evidence of this and issues referred to above. While I believe a successful case for an act of god could be made for all the leaks, the weather was not responsible for a heating system that did not work. The owner sent a note with a tiny refund indicating the heat was fixed on day 3 of our stay. As I said, it was not operational until the evening of day 6. We have been unable to retrieve fair compensation. I'm sure they're counting on the fact that we live in Massachusetts prevents us from taking our complaint to the legal system, and they're right. The rental was expensive and we did not get the basics we paid for.

You've been warned.

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Comments

4760 days ago by Lynn Penner

We are glad to hear that the surroundings were visually attractive. The furniture was purchased from Lawrence Furniture with the couch costing $4200 and the dining area furniture costing more than $4000. There are also expensive oriental rugs on the floor, a set of Johnson and Johnson porcelain for tenant’s use, and towels and sheets from the Hotel Collection. The view is spectacular.
While we are sorry that the heating system failed on Saturday evening, we brought space heaters there on Saturday evening. A handy man arrived early on Sunday morning. He did restore the heat, although the furnace had to be turned on and off manually. As soon as possible, Jackson and Foster Heating Company came and the parts arrived and were installed by Jackson and Foster on Thursday morning. Last week, almost one year later, we had a new furnace installed in order to avoid any future issues although we have had no subsequent complaints. We attend to maintenance issues in what most landlords would view as an extravagant manner.
As for the leaks, we do regret that they occurred. We have the building windows re-caulked every September. There was an exceptional storm during this guest’s stay which was billed as the storm of the century. Winds in excess of 60 mile per hour winds blew directly at our ocean front building for several days. We could not get a workman to repair the caulking immediately because of the danger to him in falling off a ladder buffeted by extreme winds. The leak came from the penthouse window caulking failure. The dribbling from the lighting fixture was not serious because the lighting fixture is enclosed: the tenants were in no actual danger from a small leak. We corrected all the complaints as quickly as we could and we kindly gave them a substantial sum of their rental payment back. My notes indicate that we returned almost half their rental fee.
To advertise a bit for San Diego, I have checked accuweather.com and the low for the period was 50 degrees with a high well over 67. With the sun and the solar heating provided by the large glass windows, the temperature inside the apartment was warm when the handyman and I stopped by.
We have had no previous complaints, nor any succeeding ones. The storm was billed as the worst in many years and we took care of all the complaints as quickly as we could.
In evaluating the guest’s review, it is important to note that they asked to extend their stay. Would they have done that if they were still dissatisfied?