I was very disappointed in Sullivan Properties for not honoring their contract for a property I rented recently.
They demonstrated shady practices of off-loading their VRBO fees in a separate charge, even though we had written confirmation from Kelly (Sullivan Properties) that stated ALL fees and taxes were included in our new, negotiated price.
I agreed to rent from Sullivan (even though I had another comparable rental option at a much lower price) because I thought that "ALL fees and taxes included" simply meant what it explicitly stated: ALL means ALL.
But after we booked, we found out Sullivan Properties decided to take advantage of the situation, and separate out the VRBO fee, which was a material amount. At a minimum, Sullivan Properties should have let me know that their definition of "ALL fees and tax included" actually had this significant caveat, but I believe they intentionally and deliberately did not do so.
Had they been an honest merchant, they would have made every effort to resolve this (from a customer-centric, user experience point of view, because how could they assume we would know this additional charge was not included in their illogical definition of "ALL fees and taxes included'?
The process to resolve this was unfortunately more frustrating. I gave them ample opportunities to resolve this, and if they were truly sorry for being deceptive, they would have made a concession of apology, some form of refund, but they just continued to pass the buck to one service agent to another.
I certainly don’t understand their tag-line of a family-run for the past 30 years and "built on a solid reputation of trust and satisfaction with the West Maui community!”
It’s very unfortunate that Sullivan Properties did not honor their word, and how they took advantage of me once they got their money.
