HomeAway Lake of the Ozarks Condo Suzanne Romano

Business Reply

Please post my response to a complaint #18052 about renting my condo at Osage Beach, MO:

Complaint #18052 was written by a disgruntled renter from whom I kept her security deposit to pay for extra cleaning from both the cleaning service and the complex association. The guests were quite disrespectful to our condo as well.

First of all they stayed in our 2 year old, upscale condo on the water for 7 nights over their Christmas vacation from Sunday, December 24 (Christmas Eve) to Sunday, December 31 (New Years Eve). The price that was charged was the agreed to amount on the contract, a very-low, reduced winter rate of $599 for the holiday week plus taxes, credit card fee, an $80 cleaning fee (not $160 like the complaint letter stated) and security deposit, totalling $1056.86, of which $300 was a refundable security deposit, provided that the unit is left in satisfactory condition. $756.86 for a week for a party of 10 over 2 holidays is a very fair price and one to which we all agreed.

About the unit being left in satisfactory condition --- it was NOT by any means. I kept their security deposit and here's my response to them:

<start of letter to disgruntled guest>

Hello xxxx,

Here is a piece of the letter I received from my cleaning service...

<start of letter from my cleaning service>

I called you on Sunday 12/31/06 to discuss the condition of your unit after the last renters left. Let me start out by saying this was a large group and it took in excess of 6.5 hours to clean the unit. The unit was trashed. Please find below the problems left by the renters.

1. The front door was left unlocked.

2. The slider door to the deck was left wide open including the screen door. If I had not come to the unit that day, you may have had rain in the unit not to mention an excessive heating bill and potential pipes freezing.

3. They left soiled baby diapers on the carpet in the back master bed room.

4. The bathroom trash cans were full and had many diapers in them. The trash can in the master bath had ants on it.

5. A bag of trash sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor.

6. I had 3 additional trash bags full of trash laying all over the condo.

7. Every shelf and drawer in the refrigerator have to be removed and cleaned.

8. I took 15 minutes just to clean the microwave.

9. The oven had to be cleaned from spills.

10. Dishes in the sink.

11. The dishwasher was full and one pot had burnt food in the bottom and had to be cleaned by hand.

12 Sheets, blankets, towels, and pillows everywhere.

13. Food spills on the floors, I had to sweep the floors twice before I could mop.

14. Counters covered with dried food and spills.

15. Sections of the carpet are soiled by the dining room table.

These people made no effort to respect the property.

They used up all but one hand soap, all the shower soap, all the kleenex, all the laundry soap and most of the dish soap. I replaced toilet paper, paper towels and trash bags in the cleaning fee.

<end of letter from my cleaning service>

In addition, I did state what I expected the condition of the condo to be. I told you in a previous email that "There's a list when you come in the front door of what to do ( i.e. turn on the water, turn on the ice maker, turn on the water heater breaker, adjust the temperature, etc.) and what to do when you leave (remove trash, throw dirty linens/towels in laundry room, etc.)". I've underlined and bolded specifics to our conversation. The list reads as follows:

<start of rules>

Welcome to our condo! We hope you enjoy your stay!

Our condo address is 1210 Lands End Parkway , Unit #C117, Osage Beach, MO 65065. Dock and pool gate code is the same – press 3 and 5 together, than 1, turn knob.

We do have a few courtesies that we ask that you follow while staying with us…

Please do not change the air conditioning thermostat to lower than 75 degrees. If you do change it (up or down), please return it to 78 degrees in the summer (or 65 degrees for the furnace in the winter months).

When no one is here, we turn off the ice maker, so flip the lever on when you arrive to turn it back on.

The association allows 2 parking spaces per unit – one space in front of our unit and one space in front of our garage, #G20, on the tier above our condo.

Absolutely NO SMOKING and NO PETS – no matter how little they are.

No candle burning please.

Take out trash daily. The trash dumpster is located at the entrance of the complex. A $50 fine will be assessed to me by the association for any trash dumped in the complex by our guests. Therefore, a $50 fine will be deducted from your deposit for trash left in the unit, at the docks or outside the unit, and not put in the trash dumpsters provided.

Registered guests only. If security comes and there are people there that are not registered guests, all guests will be escorted off the premise, and you will forfeit your security deposit.

Quiet hours are from 11:00pm to 10:00am. Please be considerate of other owners and guests, keeping noise down , no profanity and vulgarity and picking up your trash when you leave.

We have laundry detergent in order to wash sheets, towels, etc. as well as supplied coffee, tea, dish soap, toilet paper, etc. as a convenience for you. If you choose to wash all your clothes before going home (which I like to do), or use excessive toilet paper and supplies, please replenish what you use.

Please try to keep wet towels – and especially chlorinated swimsuits, etc. off the carpet and furniture please. We have placed hampers in each bathroom for your use for wet items.

Only disposable plastic cups, plates, etc outside of condo (i.e . to pool, boat, etc.) Absolutely NO GLASS is allowed in the pool areas…. And don't forget to bring your shower/bathroom house keys to the pool areas if you want to use the bathrooms there. They are locked at all times – to be used only by owners and guests.

Please do NOT take condo towels to pools or on boats, etc. Please use your own beach towels.

We keep pool bathrooms locked at all times to prevent vandalism. When using the pool(s), please take the bathroom keys and pool passes provided to show that you are guests allowed in the pool areas.

We do NOT expect you to vacuum nor clean our unit. However, occasionally, messes happen. We have supplied you w/a vacuum cleaner in the laundry room for these times, to prevent tracking further. We appreciate your help in keeping messes to a minimum.

Check-out time…

Check-out is 11:00 AM at the latest, unless you have made prior arrangements with us.

Our cleaning service has only a 4-hour window in which to clean the entire unit, change bedding and wash all towels, so we ask that you start washing some towels, especially if you have a large number of guests and have dirtied all the towels. This allows the cleaning service to spend more time dusting, wiping down counters, cleaning windows, etc. rather than doing laundry. We would appreciate it if you would empty the hampers onto the laundry room floor and place the clean, dry towels in the hampers for the cleaning service to fold and put them away. Thanks!

Strip the beds and pillows that were used and put used sheets/pillowcases in the laundry room.

Before you leave, please try to return all kitchen items to the kitchen and load and start the dishwasher.

Remove all perishable food before leaving. All canned goods left will be donated to the local food pantry.

Take out the trash. Dumpsters are at the top of the hill near the complex entrance.

Please leave all sets of keys on counter at check-out. Cleaning personnel will return them to me.

We hope you enjoy staying at our condo! Dan and Suzanne Romano

<end of rules>

Furthermore, the association tried to get a hold of me because children from your party were in the parking lot shooting off BB guns. One of the rules clearly states " Please be considerate of other owners and guests, keeping noise down". This again, shows lack of respect of others and poor judgment. If one of those BB's had injured someone or shoot an eye out, I would have been liable. Also, I am fined when my renters abuse our condo properties, bother people, leave trash laying around, etc. Now I have in my permanent file w/the association a note about this incident. If incidents like these continue to happen, I will not be allowed to rent out our unit. Therefore, this is very serious that the association had to deal with my renters.

I am keeping your security deposit for the damages and lack of respect in using my unit and lack of consideration for others who live there.

Sincerely,

Suzanne Romano

<end of letter to disgruntled guest>

<Additional letter responding to disgruntled guest regarding her letter about how she was going to contact a lawyer and sue me, in the meantime, I received a bill from the condo association>

Hello xxxx,

I received your letter in the mail on Friday and also need to let you know that the condo association charged me an additional $111 for 6 hours of cleaning BB's from the parking lot and in the rocks.

I do not intend on returning your deposit.

Sincerely,

Suzanne Romano

<end of letter>

From the bill of cleaning BB's for 6 hours from the parking lot, it was obvious that the guests let their children shoot their guns for quite a while and not just a few times, as they told me when I called them w/the complaint.

Since this situation, I have made my already long contract even longer by adding in the list of rules for my condo and having my guests sign that they will abide by them.

My condo can sleep up to 13, but only 9 adults per fire code (2 children are equivalent to 1 adult per the code), so you can have a large party in my large unit. I have beds to accommodate 13 because we often travel with other families and I would like everyone to have a bed, even the children, and not have to sleep on the floor.

I am very accommodating, letting people check-in early/ check-out late whenever possible. I have refunded reservations in full when parties could not come due to family illnesses, emergencies or even the weather, such as the bad snow storm this past December, which prevented me from going to the condo and decorating it for Christmas. I did let the guests know this and they seemed fine at the time.

To minimize my heating/cooling bills when no one is at the unit, during the winter, we lower the thermostat to 65 degrees and during the summer, we raise the thermostat to 78 degrees. We also are required by the association to turn off the water and water heater if no one will be there for more than a few days.

I do live in the St. Louis area in Illinois, but have a local maintenance person and am reachable by cell phone at all times.

I have researched information from other condos as well as from companies that manage condo rentals for owners, and from that I compiled my list of things to do, and what is expected from me and what is expected of our guests. It is typical that guests strip the beds and take out their trash when they leave. Having large groups of people staying for days w/o taking out trash, could really make the place unsanitary and draw ants/bugs.

I do not require that our guests wash all the towels before they leave. To keep the cleaning window at 4 hours, so that people can arrive as early as possible on their stay and stay as late in the day as possible and still get our unit clean, I do ask guests of large parties to wash some towels. I provide fluffy, thick towels that take more loads to wash and longer to dry. I also provide many more towels per guest than some places as a convenience for our guests. When large parties have used all beds and used all bath towels, hand towels, wash cloths and kitchen towels, washing and drying them within 4 hours is not possible. The other alternative would be to give the cleaning service a longer window in which to clean and do laundry. However, this just increases the cleaning fee, which in turn is extended to the guests, and shortens the time in which the party can stay. Most guests would prefer to wash a few loads of towels to be able to check in an hour earlier and check-out an hour later.

About supplies.... I supply our unit with much more than most. I provide coffee, stock each bathroom with at least 4 rolls of toilet paper, provide paper plates, napkins, condiments, paper towels and kleenex. I also provide dish soap, dishwasher soap, hand soap and liquid bath soap. Many places expect the guests to supply all of the above listed items. Having a large party of 10 to stay at an upscale place w/3 large bedrooms and 3 full baths for an entire week at a little more than $85/night, I don't think it's too much to expect them to buy extra toilet paper if they use more than the supplies. In addition, I usually have extra paper towels, toilet paper, kleenex, etc. stocked in the utility room.

The hot water heater is a standard sized water heater. Yes, one could run out if they filled the whirlpool tub, then started taking showers in each of the other bathrooms. We've used it numerous times and didn't run out of hot water unless we were running the dishwasher while taking showers and filling the whirlpool tub.

As for many of the other complaints, they are just not true:

Our fireplace is brand new and works properly. You have to turn on the gas to use it, but you also have to turn on the gas for the grill to use it.

The fold out couches and fold-out chair are thick mattresses for fold-outs. Granted, they aren't as plush as our pillowtop mattresses in the bedrooms, but they have to be fold-able, too.

We have plenty of pillows in different softness/firmness and plenty of blankets, extra sheets, pillowcases, etc. to please as many of our guests as we can.

We did not just dream up our rules, guessed at with what to furnish our condo or how much to charge for rent nor for cleaning fees, etc. We have done much research, such as asking guests after their stay for their comments and suggestions as well as researching different cleaning services, rental companies, and other owners who rent as well as our friends and relatives who travel alot. In the years that I have been renting, this is the only time that I have not returned a security deposit. We have done our best to accommodate our guests as much as possible. I think that I have been more than fair, given how they treated our property and incurred additional expenses for us.

--

Suzanne Romano

Email User

cell - 618-975-3912

http://www.cyberrentals.com/122122

HomeAway has a listing for Osage Beach, Lake of the Ozarks. It's a 3 bedroom condo that is owned by Suzanne Romano. My family recently had the worst vacation experience of our life when we rented this condo for a week at Christmas. It started with being charged more than the posted rate. The next thing was that there is a framed notice once you get in the door that lists things the owner wants you to do. This is a total surprise and is not in the contract yet if you don't do the things, she keeps your $300 deposit. In our case, even if you do the things, she keeps your deposit and not in a legal way either. She just keeps it. This condo is listed as sleeping ten so the woman obviously is expecting that many, plus we told her there would be that many. My adult children along with their babies and my shrinking family met there for Christmas 2006. The owner had promised that we would have a decorated Christmas tree and other holiday decorations. There were none. When we called about that, she didn't care. The condo was cold upon arrival and we had to turn the heat on and huddle around until it warmed up. The water was not working and we were frantically trying to reach her (she's out of state) until we figured out on our own how to turn the water on. Some of the things the surprise list by the door require are washing all the towels before you leave, stripping the beds, taking out the trash. These are listed as if they were a choice but in reality they are not. I indeed did all of those things and more but our deposit was still taken. The owner complained that we used all the toilet paper. There was one package. In fact, we bought our own also as this is not enough for ten people for a week. She complained that we used all the soap. There was a tiny bit in the bottom of a pump dispenser and we did have to buy more. (That reminds me, there is not enough hot water - I think the hot water heater may be going out or it's too small - one shower and then you have to wait.) We also had to buy spices (which she lists as being supplied), paper towels (not enough supplied), detergent (to wash her towels - not enough supplied), pot scrubber since there was none, trash bags (there were only a few under the sink in a pile), normal things like sugar which she claimed to have there already. Her list of complaints (yelled at my daughter over the phone) were that we left trash - I had in fact hauled trash down the road through the construction to the dumpster but did leave one partially full bag on the kitchen floor for the maid. She said we didn't clean the frig, the oven or the microwave. Actually I did clean the frig and microwave but not the oven. Since we had paid a $160 non-refundable cleaning fee, I didn't think I had to thoroughly clean everything. In fact the surprise note by the door says we are not expected to clean. Here is what I (the vacationer) did before I left the condo to catch my flight (I did these things believing this woman would be likely to try to keep my deposit because of that crazy note by the door): I vacuumed, I washed the towels, I stripped the beds, I wiped out the frig and dumped its contents, I wiped down the countertops, I washed all of the dishes except for a few glasses that wouldn't fit in the dishwasher (by the way, the dishwasher doesn't work properly and things must be hand-washed to truly come clean), I put everything back where it belonged, I stacked the used pillows and blankets on the sofa for the maid. Here is what she expected according to her keeping of the deposit screaming tirade: Scour the oven, wipe the counters more, take out every bit of trash, mop the floors, wash the blankets and pillows and put them away in the closet in order according to some taped labels, clean the carpeting if there are any spills around the table (which is in a carpeted area - and I don't think there were any but she claims otherwise), wash the sheets and remake the beds, wash every dish, re-supply all items such as toilet paper, paper towels, soap, shampoo, dish soap, detergent, fabric softener, trash bags. We had Christmas in this condo and we had trash from wrapping, packaging, etc. that we had to put in our car and haul to a dumpster down the road. It made me angry that she said we left trash when we had gone to so much trouble to be helpful and follow the surprise instructions. The pull out beds are very uncomfortable even for children and I bought mattress pads to make them acceptable. We had to repair the fireplace as it didn't light. Fortunately my son knew how to do that. The neighbors there are ornery. It is a very quiet place and they do not appear to enjoy children. However, there are teenagers there that leaned out over their balconies and yelled at us in the night. The owner claimed that the maid had to clean for 4 hours. I don't find that to be an unreasonable amount of time to clean a condo that was inhabited by ten people for a week. Besides, I had paid a cleaning fee already. This woman was unreasonable, unkind and had high expectations that I don't know if anyone could meet. She appears to have bought this condo for her family - she calls it her "home" - and maybe she wants to make the mortgage payment by renting it out. However, she needs to realize that this is then a business and she is catering to people on vacation. We were there at Christmas thank goodness - if we were there in the summer with children swimming and dragging sand into the house, I don't know if the owner would've survived. She is pretty high-strung. In conclusion, a quiet, older couple could probably enjoy a week at this condo and not incur the rath of the owner. Anyone else should beware.

GranmaTraveler

Comment On This

We purchased this unit brand new 3 years ago, and after renting for 3 years around the year, we have only had to keep 2 parties' security deposits. This party was one of them. Upon telling her that we were not returning her deposit, we supplied her w/not only the information from additional charges we incurred, but the list of complaints from the cleaning service as well as the condominium association complaint and bill. Therefore, she was fully aware of the reason for keeping her $300 security deposit, although she was still unreasonable and irate.

First of all, to address some of her comments ...

1. The unit's heat was NOT turned off, but down to 55-degrees, like I do at home when I am leaving the house in wintertime.

2. The condo association requires vacation home owners to turn off water and water heater when left vacant for days at a time. We did, and in the instructions, we tell the renters when they arrive to immediately turn on the breakers, water, and icemaker.

3. The weekly rate was very cheap -- $599 (not $700 like the renter stated in her complaint) -- and for a holiday week (12/24-12/31/2006) at that! This condo is a large, new, upscale condominium that is rented out at $300/night during the summer season, so $599 for a 3 bedroom/3 full bath 1735 sq. ft new condo, completely furnished is a real deal, even in the winter time.

4. The original cleaning fee charged was the normal cleaning rate of $80 (not the $160 charge she said). That is the minimum amount our cleaning service charges to come out and clean a 3BR/3BA unit, whether 2 people stay or 13. She had a party of at least 2 families consisting of 8 adults and 2 children. We normally charge large parties (7 or more guests) $100 for cleaning.

5. Our cleaning services does NOT supply our towels. We supply our own thick, nice white towels - over 30 bath towels, 50 washcloths, and 30 hand towels in our unit, plus kitchen washcloths and towels. We do not require our guests to wash their towels and linens. However, in the summer, when we have lots of back-to-back reservations, we do ask large parties who have soiled every towel in the place, to wash and dry a few loads as they pack, so that the cleaning service can get in and out w/in the 4-hour window. For this particular party, in the wintertime, they were not required to wash linens nor towels -- and they didn't.

6. We also supply 2 sets of sheets for every bed (in case someone has an accident and needs to change sheets in the middle of the night) and 2 pillows for each guest. We do ask guests to strip the beds and put all towels in hampers provided for in each bathroom, and put bed linens on floor of laundry room. This is a courtesy for our cleaning service who clean for as few as 2 guests up to 13 guests. We do NOT want them to strip beds that have not been used, wasting their time and my money, nor do we want couches folded-up with soiled sheets for the next guest. After this party left and our cleaning service arrived, all fold-out chair/couches (3) were not only strip (nor were the beds), they were still opened w/cushions lying all about the living room.

7. The front door was left unlocked! It was a good thing that the cleaning service came in that day and not later, like they sometimes do in the slower months, or we could have had our place robbed or vandalized.

8. The patio door was left wide open -- in winter time of December!!!

9. There were dishes left all over the unit. (We ask that all dirty dishes be brought to the kitchen). The cleaning service manager was called in, and he stated that it looked like they did no attempt to clean/pick-up after themselves the entire time of their weeklong stay.

10. He said it took over 1/2 hour just to scrub out the microwave which had numerous spills that were baked on.

11. There was a dirty diaper left lying on the floor in the master bedroom.

12. We ask that each party takes out trash daily in order to keep the unit clean and sanitary (keeping down bugs in the summer, rodents in the winter -- for which the unit is also professionally sprayed on a regular basis by our association). Not only does it state to take out trash daily in our contract, it is also stated in the unit. Not only was the main trash not taken out, all of the bedroom and bathroom wastepaper baskets were full and overflowing w/kleenex, dirty diapers, etc.

13. We do NOT supply cribs, baby beds, etc. and make no implication that we do. They are too difficult to keep clean from one guest to another and can be a liability risk. We ask guests to provide their own.

14. The children received BB guns for Christmas with which they shot off in our parking lot! Can you imagine the liability if they had hurt someone! They finally quit (rather moved to someone else's area) after someone complained to the association about it and they came out. When I asked the renters, they said they only did it for a few minutes. However, I was charged by the association for several hours of cleaning up BB's in the parking lots and rocks.

15. We supply each bathroom w/hand soap and some facial tissue and bathroom tissue. We tell large parties that they will probably have to purchase more.

16. We went to great length -- and expense -- to protect our pillows and mattresses from germs as much as possible. Each mattress has a plastic protector on it and all pillows have pillow zippered protectors as well as pillowcases, with extra pillowcases available in the master bedroom closet. The beds also have extra blankets and mattress pads to make the beds even more comfortable (and so that you don't have to lay the sheet directly on the plastic protector -- which my husband hates!)

17. As for the Christmas tree, we only had 2 parties staying over the month of December. The first party cancelled due to being snowed-in in Oklahoma (for which we refunded 100% of their reservation amount). Due to the nasty weather that year, we asked if they needed it decorated, planning on making a trip sometime before they arrived to our condo to decorate. They said it would not be necessary. Later, during their stay, when I called to check in on them, they expressed that they just put lights on a huge tree in our living room, putting their presents around it and used that as their Christmas tree. They were not upset at all at that point.

Not only did we think that this party totally disrespected our unit, but our cleaning service and other condo owners with whom we discussed this ordeal. It is true we rent out our unit, and the income from the rentals do help with the payments, but what does this have to do with disrespecting people's property. This is our home -- our vacation home.

We rent usually to families and have had many return guests, totally happy with the condo, view, location and its amenities as well as how we handle our guests.

We choose to NOT return this parties' deposit because, as you have read, they ran up several additional, substantial bills for us and did NOT even attempt to leave our unit in satisfactory condition -- as stated in the signed contract of the condition on which the deposit would be returned.

We also now have a complaint in our file with our condo association! The above items were only a partial complaint list of what the cleaning service left me (and what I provided to this party). They are fully aware of why they did not receive their $300 security deposit back, and shouldn't have expected it as well. I do NOT want to ever rent to this party again, and hope that other renters do not have the same experience with them as we did.

The woman who signed the contract is trying her best to bash our rental on the internet. She has written numerous complaints on many website, sometimes more than one complaint per site under different names/email addresses. We are, however, not frightened by her lies and will continue to rent our condo whenever we are not using it. We have had great success with our rental guests (Thank you!) and last year alone rented to 29 different parties who were quite happy with our accommodations, pricing, location, etc., and hope that the next years prove to be just as successful!

Thank you.

Dan and Suzanne Romano, owners

http://www.cyberrentals.com/122122