After searching VRBO for the perfect home to rent for my boyfriend’s birthday weekend, I settled on the Madrona Waterfront Splendor located in Brinnon, WA on Hoods Canal.
Upon arrival we began preparing dinner and I realized after a few hours of running the hot water on and off there was no hot water. We checked the hot water heater and it appeared to be shut off. There was a button we turned on and it started running, still no hot after two more hours . No showers Thursday night in the spectator double head tile shower. Friday morning, I phoned the management group and left a message. After no response for an hour and half I phoned again and Andres, the officer manager picked up. Andres came to the home and could not determine why the water heater was not functioning. We told him it was the element that appeared to be out. Andres let us know if he could not get it fixed, he could offer us one of their other rental properties to shower and he would refund us for our down time with no hot water, perfect.
We were then told there are no available properties for us to shower, and they could offer us a one-star hotel in Quilcene or shower tokens for the State Park. Quilcene is a 35-mile round trip and the only hotel I am familiar with is $65 a night and nothing remotely comparable to the five-star property we rented.
Saturday morning a plumber showed up and changed out the element. By the time the water finally heated it is 2:00 pm Saturday, dirty dishes are stacked up with no clean dishes left to use and still no hot showers up until this point. Two out of three days of our vacation is gone waiting for property management and plumbers to fix the problem.
I understand these things happen and we were extremely patient through the entire process knowing we would be refunded for our time without hot water.
We were only refunded one night stay out of the two nights without hot water and this is what I have an issue with. Why one night and not two when we were out hot water for two full days? We were unable to leave the home to do our planned activities Friday and most of Saturday, big disappointment. Maybe in the future they can send out a maintenance technician who knows what the issue is, I believe this could have been rectified Friday.
I will not rent from Brinnon Windermere again due to the way they managed communication and refunding us for the time spent dealing with this issue and no hot water.