We have used Bill Jones Realty a couple of times and had good experiences; until this year. We rented 3 cabins from August 3 - 10, 2019 in York, Maine. The cabins were a perfect fit for our family. We loved the location. The cabins were cute and had recently been renovated. However, when we arrived, 2 of the cabins were in less than acceptable condition. One cabin was in decent shape as far as cleanliness. The next cabin, the floors were dirty. We had to sweep, vacuum and mop the floors upon arrival. The last cabin was absolutely filthy. They were covered in dog hair and dirt. We had to sweep, vacuum and mop the floors. There was sand on the mattress protectors, hair in the tub, dirty cups in the cabinets, dirty and clogged coffee pot, the grill was not clean and the bathroom door would not latch. We spent hours upon our arrival cleaning, scrubbing and repairing.
We took pictures and emailed Bill about the conditions of 2 of the 3 cabins. He did not believe us and said he had inspected and the cabins were clean ... "we must've dragged in the dirt when we arrived." However, the next day, he did call and apologize. He had not seen the pictures with the dog hair, etc. He did say that it was unacceptable and "what could he do to make us happy."
After some thought, we decided a refund of the cleaning fees was appropriate since we had had to clean everything upon our arrival. After some back and forth, Bill agreed. However, he changed his mind because he said the cleaning fees had already been given to the cleaning company (the "cleaning company" was the owners of the property; not a professional cleaning company). He then stated that he would refund 1/2 the cleaning fees out of his own pocket and the owner would pay the other 1/2 because "vacations are supposed to be stress free."
We told him we would leave the cabins broom cleaned. The last response we received was "I thought you were going to leave them cleaner than they were. I feel like you are taking advantage but it's not worth fighting over."
We definitely left the cabins cleaner than they were! However, the point of the refund was because we had had to spend a great deal of our time cleaning UPON our arrival. We weren't requesting the refund because we would do the cleaning for the next guests! We had to do a major cleaning for our own week.
Unfortunately, Bill did not live up to his agreement. Not only did we NOT receive any refund of our cleaning fees, Bill was rude in his responses to us. The whole situation was unacceptable and created stress for our family during the week. read more
