Complaint SoCal Hot Properties/Kauai Hot Properties Affiliate same Owners

Dear Mike & SoCal Hot Properties: I would just like to take some time to respond to your e-mail in regards to our stay at 10 Tribute Court, Newport Beach, California. If I am to forward this to the proper entities I wish for all the facts to be attached and addressed. I will be addressing your comments in the order in which you have presented them. First, I am aware that rental properties are used weekly and that many people come through them. As I indicated we have traveled several places and used homes, condos as well as time share facilities and not one time have we had an issue with a location, until now. So the fact that only 3 complaints are acceptable really speaks volumes. It is though you are proud of that, I think I would be prouder if I had none. Second, you mentioned e-mails and complaints I lodged weeks before our vacation began, untrue. I spoke with you twice and sent one e-mail in regards to the air conditioner units that in an e-mail you promised to have at the condo. I then followed up with you about the air and you told me to tell my husband not to worry, so I will attach the e-mail for clarification. We had no complaints other than the fact that your listing states no need for air, because of the ocean breeze. It wasn't until all monies were paid, in your e-mail that you indicated that the property actually had no air. That is when we first contacted you on July 11, 2010. You did not receive an e-mail until July 25, 2010, confirming that the air conditioner situation was taken care of, and you assured me it was. So let's just say for the sake of making our stay as accommodating as possible, the air conditioners should have been at the condo upon our arrival. Regardless, of the weather, so we could have been comfortable. And it was in the upper 80's, 10 of the 14 days we were there, you can verify that at Underground Weather in the history section. So we needed the air conditioners you promised; but never delivered. As I stated my husband was uncomfortable and irritated over this whole ordeal. And without a breeze the front 2 rooms were hot. Let's not forget this is about customer service. And, apparently that wasn't a big concern. Third, you stated we were looking for ever little thing to be wrong, untrue. It wasn't until the air conditioners, the broken blinds, missing sofa bed, leaking toilet with a bucket under it, moldy bath mat, hand prints all over the mirrors, paper under beds, that is when we began to really look the place over. So if it was cleaned it was poorly done. When we called about the sofa bed in the living room, since it apparently had been in the garage we had our first red flag. So that is when I placed the call to Mike Hermanns, he did not return the call Rene did. That is when the stories began. My husband spoke with Rene, about the sofa bed and the blinds, she said that the blinds and sofa were damaged by young men there for the US Open Competition. And that the blow up mattresses were there and that my daughter could put the mattress behind the undamaged part of the blinds. My husband said what about privacy and the sun shining in. So Rene's attitude is what sparked my husband's anger. It was Rene's flip attitude about the bed situation, the blinds and our daughter that upset my husband, and the comment about punching the wall, was that he was so frustrated that he left to calm down. And since a refund of the 1000.00 was made obviously that didn't take place, it was a figure of speech. And about the sand, that almost sounds to ridiculous, since we came to California to go to the beach, so I'm not even sure how that could have entered a conversation. You also mentioned electric pumps in the garage, when we spoke with Rene she told us about the pumps, we also told her we could not find any. It was until Saturday, August 21, 2010 that I called after one week of waiting, that I received a text stating that pumps should be in the garage, all we found was a bicycle pump laying on the sofa bed, so I relpied back also about the air conditioners, I never received another response. NO RESPONSE! So, for 2 weeks my 13 year old daughter slept in a bed with my husband and I. I have those texts as well. As, you mentioned in this section 7 professional surfers stayed in the condo right before us; however, the Us Open Competition was the week of July 31 to August 8, so they would have checked out two weeks before we arrived not hours before. And when I spoke with Rene myself she indicated that it was 2 renters before us that did all the damage and the blinds had to be ordered. So she is absolutely correct, because they would have rented the week of July 31 to Aug. 7 and the next renters came from Aug. 8th to the 14th. Because it was apparent that the new sofa had been there because it had crumbs in it and the old sofa bed had dust on it in the garage. So what I'm understanding from you is that you had time to purchased new sofa's and dirty them up in the few hours before our arrival: but didn't have time to inform us of the damage? Doesn't make sense does it? So you had more than a few hours to report the damage and let us know that the sleeping arrangements and issue with the blinds had taken place. You had at least a week to notify us. So we could have decided at that point about our options. So the stories and timeline do not match at all. Wouldn't you say? Fourth, our check in. Once again the facts are not accurate. Our first call was at 3:15, to Mike Hermanns cell phone. Then at 3:36 a voice mail was on my phone and at 3:37 my husband spoke with Rene. And at 3:51 I placed another call the Mike Hermanns who never once returned a call to us for the entire two weeks. So we did not check in at 2, it was 45 minutes to 4:00 and we spent the majority of that time on the phone with Rene or leaving messages before we brought one thing in to the condo. The last call was at 4:09 to Rene about the bed, air conditioners and toilet. I will supply the phone records as proof. Fifth, the charge for 1000.00 has since been refunded since we left the condo cleaner and all things were done according to the contract. So we as renters abided by your requests, it's too bad that as the landlord you did not uphold your promises. Sixth, yes the toilet was fixed. But according to Rene the leak was already an issue because a Rubbermaid rectangular container had been placed behind the toilet for the leak. The leak wasn't from the tank it was from the base, so on Saturday, Sunday and Monday until the toilet was repaired I placed towels around the base to keep it from leaking through the ceiling or floor. So that is the only action taken in two weeks. The only concern was to protect the property not to address any of our issues or concerns. You did nothing in the way of customer service, you never called or checked to see how things were you never returned a call. You did not bring the air conditioners or make sure the pumps were there you did nothing! So your lack of attention demonstrated your real interest in having return renters or recommendations. Lastly, you are unsure what we are asking well common courtesy and consideration would have been nice during our stay. Also, since Mike Hermanns set us up with the whole place it would have been nice to hear from him directly since he is who we called, not have it pushed onto others and being told what we wanted to hear and nothing being done for us. When my husband spoke with Rene he did mention staying some place else; but where you going to refund us our 5,371.00? We never spoke with you to see if that would have been an option, and since you had our money for our family vacation what should we have done? So, if that would have been an option to get our money and stay some place else we would have done so in a heartbeat. But that never became an option presented to us. As, you stated we chose to stay and enjoy our vacation we had no choice, you had our accommodations money in your rental, and even though we called and complained upon our arrival nothing was done to easy our situation. You have offered us 25% off a future stay, at this point I wouldn't let my dogs rent from you. You mentioned your many homes we actually wanted to rent a property in Huntington Beach and Mike Hermanns told us this place was better, maybe not! So what you are offering is nice but what you can do is offer to give us back 25% of our 5371.00 that would be 1342.75, and we can move on from here. I think that is fair, since you are offering that and this matter will go no further. I will let you think about this until Sunday, September 19, 2010, at that point I will file my complaints with the State, the Better Business Bureau and all rental entities. So you let me know what you would like to do. Hope to hear from you soon. Sincerely, Christine Scarpulla In a message dated 9/13/2010 4:03:40 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, vacation@socalhotproperties.com writes: Dear Christina, We thank you for your email in regards to your vacation rental in Newport Beach. We fully understand the concerns you put forth in your email, however, this is a vacation rental. We have a turnover every 1 to 2 weeks, year round, for the past several years. We like to think that with that many people coming through our vacation rentals and having only 3 (using your stats) complaints, is impressive. It is hard to please all of the many people, to whom we rent our homes. We also have the emails and complaints that you lodged weeks before your vacation was to begin. We assured you, that if the need arose, we would have the air conditioner brought to you. I believe the highest temperature during your stay was 84 degrees, no humidity, and that was one day. The rest of your vacation was 75 degrees or less. I am sure the locals told you that the weather during your stay was below normal for the time of year. The home was cleaned before your arrival. As you said, because it wasn't the way you envisioned, you and your husband were going to find every little thing wrong in the condo. The bath mat that was in the tub had no mold on it, possible underneath the mat, as it is used by everyone that rents the condo. We do have electric pumps for the air beds. I am sure you were told they were in the garage, where there are today. We have had several families in there since you were there and they have used them. Your husband was also angry there was sand in the garage, being that it is a beach condo, sand is something that will be ever present. The group before you was 7 professional surfers, for the U.S. Open, and yes they did cause minor damage to the condo, burning the bed and breaking the blind cords. They checked out at 10:00am. When should we have called you to report the damage, when you were checking in a few hours later? I believe in the check-in instructions you received from us, you might have noticed that the check in time was 4:00pm. Your calls began to So Cal Hot Properties after 2:00pm, which means you did check in early, and we did not charge you for it. The $1000.00 security deposit charge is added to every reservation, in the case of damage to the property, it is usually refunded. You told Rene, that your husband was so angry, that he wanted to put a hole in the wall. We held the deposit until after your stay, it has since been refunded. The day after your call regarding the toilet, the plumber was sent. It was fixed. If there were any other issues regarding the toilet, we heard nothing from you. We are unsure of what it is you are asking for. You stayed in the condo for the entire 2 weeks, if it was as uninhabitable as you describe, I would expect that you would have left. You chose to stay and enjoy the vacation. We appreciate very much the way you left the condo, your apparent displeasure aside, and would like to extend an offer of 25% off another stay with us. We have many homes in the area. Regards So Cal Hot Properties On Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 7:36 PM, wrote: To So Call Hot Properties/ Mike Hermanns: This will be a lengthy complaint due to the nature of our issues. Our vacation was scheduled from 8/14/2010 to 8/28/2010, at a cost of $5,371.00. We arrived to find a number of things and before actually bringing in our things into the home we placed a call to Mike Hermanns, I left a detailed message about our concerns; but he did not return my call. A few moments later he had Renee(Pennae) call us concerning our issues. When we first arrived with 7 people and the property stated that it would sleep 10, it now states it sleeps 8, we only had sleeping arrangements for 6. Because the pull out sofa in the living room that would have slept 2 was in the garage with a burn hole in it. Next, the room that the sofa/bed was located the blinds did not close, had no cord to pull in order to accomplish that and some were missing and the cord was hanging from the top. We then proceeded upstairs to the hall bath to find a moldy bath mat in the shower with mold on the floor of the tub. The master bath had a container under the toilet because they had some sort of leak. The rug adjacent to the bathroom was wet and smelled like cat pee. Last but not least, when we booked the rental the detailed information said no need for A/C due to the ocean breeze. When we paid our final deposit in the e-mail Mike Hermanns stated 3 lines from the close that the home does not have air conditioning. That very day I called and e-mailed and have e-mail confirmation that Mike had purchased air conditioners for the rental. When we arrived they were not there. Overall, the place in general was filthy and considering the cleaning fee is 200.00, I would have expected more. So once we placed our call and a return call was made by Renee(Pennae), my husband spoke with her and addressed our concerns. He was told that there were blow up mattresses in the cabinet in place of the sofa/bed. However, we had no way to blow them up. The next thing was the blind situation in the living room that was where my 13 year daughter was sleeping. Renee's(Pennae's) idea was to pull the mattress behind the part of the blinds that closed, not the fact that she would have no privacy and the sun would shine right in the room. That was her solution. At this my husband was furious! So he decided to go get food and supplies. When he was out we had him pick up bathroom cleaner, so that the bathroom could be cleaned and the mold and soap scum could be removed. He also got window cleaner because all the bathroom mirrors were spotted and hand prints were everywhere. So while he was gone I placed another call to Renee(Pennae), telling her we had no pumps for the mattresses, and that they had some sort of container under the master bathroom toilet; but that they still had water on the floor and that the carpet was wet. She told me that the leak they knew about that was the reason for the container; however, no water was in it so I placed towels around the toilet to soak up the water. She said someone would be in touch with us to take care of that, I told her it would be a problem if it continued to leak it may damage the ceiling below. I then asked about the 2 air conditioners that Mike told us he had for the unit. She stated there was only 1 air conditioner. So then we continued our conversation about the blinds and sofa/bed which she explained 2 tenants before our stay during the US Open Surfing Competition had burned the sofa/bed and damaged the blinds and that the blinds had to be ordered and the couch replaced the sofa/bed. I then asked if you all knew this why didn't you inform us so that we could make other accommodations for our stay. Really no answer was given. So, this all took place on Saturday, August 14th. I later placed a call to Mike Hermanns leaving a very upsetting message and still he did not have the decency to return our call. So Sunday came and went, nothing. On Monday, a man by the name of Steve Redugo came out to fix the toilet leak. I left him a note about the carpet and dripping sink. He took the note and the container from under the toilet along with the towel we had around the base. Which basically protected the property from any damage, that we made it a point to protect by placing a dry towel around the bottom everyday to ensure that it did not travel. This went on for 3 days. From that day forward we heard nothing, received nothing from anyone. NO PUMP OR BED FOR MY DAUGHTER, NO AIR CONDITIONERS AS INDICATED BY MIKE HERMANNS. It wasn't until 8/16/2010 that we noticed a $1000.00 charge had been placed on my husbands credit card. I immediately called the number I had fro Renee(Pennae) and someone named Kristina answered. I told her and she asked if we had checked in early, I indicated no and she said once she got into the office she would check and call me back. No call. Again asked about the bed and air conditioners nothing. We are now into our second week at this property and I call and leave a message about the money and the bed for my daughter. I get a text message that says hello, we got your message about the pre-authorization that the software does on its own to every guest. It will be reversed when you check out and the unit is inspected and cleaned. If you can't find the pumps for the air mattress that were in the garage we can drop off a new air mattress on Sunday. Regards So cal. I text back are you referring to the bicycle pump on the couch in the garage? Anything about the air conditioner unit? We heard nothing back for the entire rest of our trip. So needless to say my daughter had to sleep with my husband and I for 14 day and more than 10 of those days we had no ocean breeze and my husband complained everyday about it being hot. So according to the no air conditioners needed is not true if no breeze is blowing, of if you lock up when you are gone then it's really hot. And after talking to the locals the 2 weeks we were in Newport Beach the sun was out everyday and the temps were warmer because all they had was cloudy weather up until that point. So being from New Jersey and the temps in the 90's, we needed the air. Which in your e-mail I quote - we have purchased 2 units that can cool the entire house. One for upstairs and one for downstairs, so please tell your husband not to worry!! Your exact words. Which we have in writing. So the only thing that concerned So Cal is that the toilet was not leaking not the fact that we were unhappy and things were not as you had indicated or was depicted in your vacation rental ad. We started looking for a property to rent in April for our family vacation. We liked a few different ones from So Cal and a few from other vacation property sites and when my husband spoke with Mike Hermanns he told my husband that this one was much better. Come to find out that Mike and his wife Kristina Hermanns own this particular property. She's probably the Kristina I spoke with about the credit card charge, and bed and air conditioner that never returned my call on August 16. So to bring the letter to a conclusion, we would like for you to make this right. I have already looked at the Better Business Bureau file in California and see you have at least 3 complaints(1 for not making a refund and 2 for not adjusting the terms of the agreement). I also, checked you Kauai Hot Properties in Hawaii and see you have a complaint there as well. I will give you some time to make amends, if that is not something you are inclined to do I will forward this letter along with all the pictures to the Better Business Bureau's. And we will then contact all travel entities, travel sites and blogs and have them share this with travelers who may be looking for a property in California and Hawaii as well. So it's up to you, you should have done the right thing during our stay. California was beautiful and I would visit that area again; but I will never use your properties again. And this is not the first time we have used rental properties, we have used 2 in Florida, 1 in Vermont , 1 in South Carolina and we own a Time Share. Last year we took a trip to Italy and had the best Travel Agent make all the arrangements, now he cared about customer satisfaction and we had the perfect never to forget trip. All of these places more than met our expectations and if we had an issue they handled it right away putting us first. They were outstanding and the people who owned the properties actually cared, because I'm sure they would like us to come again or recommend their place to others. So now it's up to you. I will proceed, I may even go as far as contacting a friend that lives there and see if he has an Attorney that may like to be part of this, since a paper trail (e-mails and phone records), text trail and photos are more than enough to show a conflict of interest not to mention a breach of contract since you promised things and never delivered on any of them. So in closing, I hope that you give this a great deal of thought just as we have considering we were expecting a pleasant and relaxing vacation. But due to your negligence and utter disrespect for my family and our guests you caused nothing but disappointment and anguish that we placed our trust in So Cal and Mike Hermanns only to be betrayed and lied too. Sincerely, Christine Scarpulla -- So Cal Hot Properties LLC 714-362-9860 www.socalhotproperties.com Mike Cell 808-652-7809 Kristina Cell 626-827-3089 William Garrett Cell 310-941-5116 Fax 949-313-0935 vacation@socalhotproperties.com