We rented Quiet Time through Sandbridge Realty in June 2020 and had a very disappointing experience. The house was pretty much as advertised, though the kitchen had a few cleaning lapses, and there seems to be an erosion issue under the house because it swayed and shook uncomfortably with the wind. Plus there were noisy neighbors across the street in another Sandbridge Realty house who partied until 3:00 a.m. While it's not always easy to control noisy renters, most rental companies I've used have been more vigilant about informing renters of noise ordinances. But an even bigger problem was the 24/7 loud and intrusive construction project on the beach outside "Quiet" Time that kept us awake at night and made being on the beach unpleasant; afterwards I saw that other realtors in Sandbridge let renters know about the beach replenishment ahead of time, but we were never warned about this project that had been going on for months when we booked just 2 weeks before our stay, and Sandbridge Realty did not take any responsibility for not informing us or try to make up for it in any way. Another major problem was leaky living room windows that allowed rain in the house and ruined one of our laptops. Despite several phone calls and follow-up emails and photos with Cindy, the Guest Relations Rep, it was clear that she had no interest in helping us and just kept saying over and over that we had no proof. The owner refused to pay for the repair or even admit that the windows leak. We've rented a lot of vacation houses over the years, and this is definitely the worst experience we've ever had.
UPDATE:
Thanks for saying you're sorry about the problems, but if you were truly sorry, you would actually make amends instead of just refuting what I said. 1st, I did indeed see mention of the beach replenishment on other realty sites; here are 2: sandbridgevacationrentals.com and sandbridgehouses.com. 2nd, I agree that Mother Nature is remarkable, but that's a distraction from the point, which was the house sways and shakes when the wind blows. 3rd, your description of the laptop problem is disingenuous. Here's what happened:
1. There was a big storm on Tuesday, with strong winds and rain all day.
2. My daughter noticed water on her laptop keyboard and wiped it off, but the screen was still working, so she didn't realize anything was wrong.
3. The next morning, I noticed the carpet was wet between the sofa and the living room windows. I checked to make sure the windows were closed, and they were, but there was water on the sills, both above and below where the windows open.
4. I cleaned up the water and didn't think anymore about it because I didn't know about my daughter's laptop.
5. On Thursday, my daughter realized that the keyboard was not working. She left the laptop in a V-position overnight to see if it would dry out.
6. it did not work, but by the time we knew the laptop was broken, it was Friday afternoon, and we were leaving early the next day.
I'm sorry I didn't think to call you on Friday, but I had already been planning to call when I got home to express our disappointment about being woken up and disturbed by the construction, so I planned to tell you about the laptop and the leaky windows at the same time. I guess it's naive, but it never occurred to me that you wouldn't believe me. But even if I had called then, I don't see what you could have done to "remedy immediately." I had already cleaned up the water 2 1/2 days before; you obviously weren't going to repair a broken laptop; and clearly fixing leaky windows is not a quick project.
You say you saw no evidence of water the next week, but that's misleading also. It had been 6 days since the storm, and I cleaned up the water the very next day, so of course you wouldn't see any water. And the problem was rain leaking through windows, not a flood, so why would there be damage under the carpet?
You say there was no leaking during a subsequent storm, but as you point out, the wind does not always come from the same direction, so that proves nothing. There is a simple way to see if the windows leak: take a hose and spray some water on them. Why do you refuse to do that?
I have never had a problem with a vacation rental before. I would not have written a review over the small issues with this house, but I do think guests who are paying $10,000 (and probably more later in the summer) for a week of "Quiet Time" deserve to know if their beach experience is going to be marred by a major construction project going on day and night. It's also reasonable to expect that a house you've rented is watertight and your possessions are not going to be damaged inside the house.
If you really care about the quality of our vacation, as you say you do, then you should pay for the repair of the laptop. Of course, that doesn't address the construction issue, but it would go a long way towards making amends for a very disappointing vacation. read more