SCAM ALERT!!!
RUN…read moreAWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!!!!!
Upon our arrival at 402 Kallman Road the day prior to check-in, there was debris in the yard. (Because we had reached out multiple times via phone and email to confirm our reservations and had not received a reply, we arrived a day early.) Still, the property is vastly different from the property listed on HomeAway.com, listing #7834193, which we paid $1,600.00 to rent from July 16th through July 23, 2019. While the owners have removed the listing, they haven't removed the Facebook listing that shows the resort named at the same (https://www.facebook.com/MichaelWolf998765/).
The advertised "resort" depicted sunsets on the water, natural alcoves in a romantic setting, and a retreat-like atmosphere and included many 5-star "reviews" that sold us on the rental. We arrived to what appeared to be multiple unkempt, personal trailer homes for full-time residents, not a popular tourist destination created for vacation purposes. The buildings were broken down with peeling paint and were surrounded by discarded junk. The yard of this dilapidated property was strewn with broken furniture, a wet mattress, and garbage. We were overcome with anxiety; in person, the location felt dangerous and unsafe, like a place drug addicts and criminals might hang out. This was absolutely NOT what we had paid for and we were horrified, especially because our friends would be arriving and would not have a place to stay during high season on the Olympic Peninsula. Concerned for our safety, we left the premises immediately and scrambled to piece together other arrangements.
After this initial experience, we communicated with the owner, Mike, who appeared to be high on drugs because his eyes were glazed and he rambled on at a fast pace about delusional nonsense. For example, he claimed he owned "the entire riverbed", that the rocks in the river are geodes that contain jade and sapphires. He also claimed that the garden shed was a rentable cottage. We have also been in touch online. At no time has he offered to refund any of the $1,600 he received on 5/17/2019, nor has he done so. Instead, he claimed he'd only rented us the backyard of this property and referred to his egregious, fraudulent misrepresentation as a cancellation on our part. After we made a complaint to the Attorney General Mike sent my friends text messages threatening to have us arrested for slander as well as offering to refund some of our money " I will follow my attorneys advice on a refund" if we would take our reviews of our experience down from google reviews.
Upon closer investigation, we learned that the sellers have multiple identities. Michael Bradham of Northern Approaches LLC is actually Michael Wolf, as noted from his Facebook page, where he lists both his real name AND being the owner of Northern Approaches, the company who scammed us. The same is true for Sharice Paris, who is on the Northern Approaches emails - her real name is also Wolf.
More importantly, we learned that the 5-star reviews that accompanied the beautiful, fake photos, and which had been the deciding factor in our decision to rent the property, were fraudulent as well! Michael and Sharice both wrote separate, exemplary reviews as if they were guests at the resort rather than the owners. Additionally, Dustin Crear, who according to his Facebook page is their employee, also provided a fraudulent, 5-star review. In fact, every review on the property came from the Port Angeles area where they live and Sarah Sullivan, another reviewer, bears an uncanny resemblance to Sharice.
Clearly, we are victims of a scam. Not only were we robbed of money, but also of precious time with our friends.