My family visits the Outer Banks every year for vacation. We select a different home each year and look forward to spending the time together in a home that is filled with amenities to help make our stay as comfortable as possible. This was the first year we decided to use Outer Banks Blue Vacation Rentals and we selected a house in Corolla, NC. We could tell from the photos that the house was not as modern as we are used to but the home still looked beautiful and well taken care of from the website. We paid as much for this house as any and were very disappointed to find it in the condition it was. This was our least favorite house and do not think something this old and broken down should be renting for the amount it was rented for. The online photos were deceiving and the price was way too high for the service and lack of amenities we received.
We arrived on August 27th to find the outside of the house was completely covered in spider webs, we should have known there would be a problem then because it was like a scene from the movie "Arachnophobia". These spider webs covered all around the windows and staircases, I do not think anyone had cleaned the outside of this house in a very long time! The great view from the front window would have been a lot better without those! Not to mention the fact that every day we killed numerous large spiders that were hiding out all through the house. There were spider casings on the ceilings of almost every room and I felt like we had moved into their home by the end of the week, they were ready for us to leave! I do not understand why it is so difficult to have someone check for bug issues and spray for them. My husband and I shared the 2nd floor hallways bathroom with tons of carpenter ants! Not sure when the last family stayed in this home!
We noticed the deck was worn and splintery with tons of nails poking out but did not know the full extent of the damage that was done to the deck until mid-week. Apparently the entire left side had lifted from the ground and slats were just hanging there, not attached to anything. We had 3 children and 8 adults using that space all week and if anything had happened we would have had a serious problem on our hands. We actually were worried about the safety of this pool deck. This should never have been an issue. We placed a call about the deck and someone came out and banged around the nails and along the side but I am not sure the issue was completely solved.
We noticed a slightly moldy smell in the house when we arrived and the vents were all covered in what looked like black mold. That is not something we wanted to spend our week breathing in. The maintenance guy came by and then showed up the next day with new vent covers. It looked better but we all knew we were still breathing that in because we were stopped up and had congestion all week. This was not acceptable, that house needs to be inspected properly for black mold issues not just covered up to make it look better.
There was a room on the bottom floor with 3 bunk beds in it. We had all three children wanting to sleep in that room together but only one of the bunk beds had a ladder and a railing. I refused to let my five year old sleep on a top bunk without the railing for her safety but found it weird that only one bed had that option. It was extremely hard to find cartoons on the televisions as they had the most basic cable package installed.
Another huge issue we had was the plumbing, toilets stopping up and overflowing were normal day to day issues. We had to lift the top of the toilet on the top floor across from the kitchen just to reach in and flush it because it would not work and no one ever came to fix it. During the middle of the week the toilet in the Master Bedroom on the top floor overflowed and spilled into the bathroom of the floor below. That was fun to clean up! Then when all the linens were used to clean up that mess we had to call for more. Those did not arrive until two days later.
A big misrepresentation was also that there were no reviews online about this house since 2014, what happened to all the other families staying in this house and how come nothing bad was said. Or, was something posted and the company just removed the reviews so no one else would ever know? Isn't that illegal?
Do not choose Outer Banks Blue Vacation Rentals! I have stayed with pretty much every company thus far and this was definitely the worst. They need to have higher standards of the homes they are willing to rent out and if not then they need to lower their prices significantly! I find it hard to believe that the owner of this home does more than the absolute minimum to keep it running and available for rent.
Me and my family rented this home from September 12, 2015 thru September 19, 2015. We had nothing but trouble as soon as we pulled in. When we arrived and got out of the car there was such a pungent smell coming from the garbage cans. All 3 cans were full with the last tenants trash. Flies everywhere.
I was told by Sarah when I reported the trash cans being full, she told me that I could drag them to the curb on Wednesday to have the trash picked up. Are you kidding me?
Then someone dumped the charcoal grill onto the driveway and never cleaned it up. I walked around the house where I stepped in a huge pile of dog feces. When I went into the house the common areas were "tidy" like the kitchen, bathrooms, and beds were made.
As we started to bring our things into the house, my daughter informed me that the bathroom in her room the sink wouldn't drain. So at this point, I went around and checked all the bathrooms. 2 sinks wouldn't drain, 1 sink had no hot water, and the other bathroom the vanity was coming off the wall with ants coming out of the crack.
I then proceeded to the third floor living area to find that the baby gates that were there were broken. Also, the kitchen bar stools all had screws coming out of them and the backs were ready to fall off. Then I noticed at this time, there was not one window blind in any of the upstairs windows. Also, the windows were so dirty you couldn't see out of them, so maybe that is why nobody put blinds up cause you couldn't see in them or out of them. The house was pretty much disgusting. My granddaughter crawled on the floor for literally 5 minutes, and her legs were black.
Heading out to the third floor deck, both storm doors were broken and flapping in the wind. We had a 11 month old baby with us and I was afraid she could get her hands caught in them.
I then went downstairs to check out the "jamming stereo system", on the pool deck, and noticed that hey, the stereo system was ripped out of the wall, which one of the reasons i rented this home for the stereo because my kids and family love music.
At this point, I e-mailed Outerbanks Blue with my initial issues stated above. The next day they had a workman come out and he did bring 2 new baby gates, and he fixed one of the storm doors, and the other one couldn't be fixed because it was totally pulled off the frame.
He then went around and snaked the 2 sinks, fixed the hotwater in the downstairs bathroom and put ant traps under the vanity coming of the wall. didn't fix the vanity though.
The workman stated he couldn't do anything about the stereo because there was no stereo. He said he would let the office know and it would be up to the owner and Outer Banks Blue on whether they would replace it. Well that never happened. I was told by Stephanie from Outer Banks Blue, that since OBX is not like other cities where you can find a d**k's sporting goods or a Lowes, that this probably wouldn't have been fixed before we left anyway. But remember to this moment, it is still listed as an ammenity of the home.
Also, on the first night they sent out 2 cleaners that drove an 1 1/2 hours to get there. I spoke with one of the cleaners who actually did the cleaning that morning, and she said the house was a disaster and that her and the other woman spent over 3 hours just trying to get it in the state it was now. I asked what they sent them to clean, and she said whatever will make you happy. I told her to call her boss, Liam, so that I could speak with him. I told him that 2 cleaners and a bottle of windex wasn't going to clean what needed cleaned in the home. At this point, he asked what he could do to make it better, and I basically told him that the house should be condemned and demolished. I told him the windows didn't need windex that would only make it worse like a mud bath. I told him that they needed to get a powerwasher out there to clean the whole outside of the home. The window sills were filled with dust and dirt, there were cob webbs everywhere, which the house was infested with.
On the second day there I had to make more complaints. The gas grill did not work. Went to cook chicken and it wouldn't start but the tank was full. They had to send workman out to fix. I also reported that the pool deck was disgusting and full of leaves from last season all stuck in the corners.
They did send two women out to "clean" up the deck area. Theybasically just swept the leaves under the fence area.
Sarah from Outer Banks Blue called me on Tuesday because I wanted a stereo system brought in. She told me that the speakers probably don't even work anyways due to the salt air? What? If you are saying that then you shouldn't advertise it. She then asked what they could do to make it better and I told her to demolish the house it was disgusting.
By Thursday, I was finished screwing around trying to get everything fixed for the next tenant. I was fed up. I saved over a year and half to take this vacation and I was done.
As the day went on, I was being told that the Jacuzzi wasn't working, it wouldn't heat up. There was only 2 jets that worked on it and the places where there should have been headrests, there was nothing but screws sticking out. My son-in-law got scratched on his neck.
Then I realized there were no stairs to the Jacuzzi. Where the staris should have been the Jacuzzi was rotting away. My sister tried to get into the Jacuzzi for the first time that night, and she almost fell on her replaced knee. I got a wood table and had to make it into a make shift stair. We found the stairs the next day, broken and thrown over the fence.
Also, there were big nails sticking out all around the pool deck fencing. Anybody could have gotten hurt on them.
At this point, I asked the kids why they weren't playing pool, and they told me that the table was lopsided and there were only 2 cue sticks and they were broken. Great, another reason I rented this house for the pool table.
I have to admit at this time, I did not report it because I was so fed up that I had to deal with this on vacation, I told everybody to write down what was wrong with the house, and when we got back to PA, I would contact Outer Banks Blue and let them know.
When we got back to PA, I contacted Outer Banks Blue to get the Managers name, and they gave me Stephanie who assistant Manager and then a Bill who is the manager.
I initially e-mailed both parties, but Bill was out of town for a couple of days. I let them know how unsatisfied I was with the house and how dirty it was, and that I don't even live like that at home and I save my hard earned money for over year to get a piece of dirt house. Stephanie told me because I didn't report some of the items, that it makes all my other complaints pretty much null and void. Then she told me the Stereo system and the pool table probably wouldn't have been fixed by the time we left the house, so what is the big deal that I waited then to let them know?? She told me that she felt the house was "habitable". She also said that she was looking at the pics on the internet as we spoke and it clearly shows no blinds on the windows. Now come on, when looking a vacation rental are you looking for what kind of blinds are hung? No, your looking at the ammentities like pool table, working Jacuzzi, etc.
It is hard for me to believe that nobody has reported any of these issues before me. She was trying to tell me that they do have inspectors that come in after the cleaners and check the house. I told her then she better fire her inspectors at least the ones on this house, because they definately do their job. She told me that I got what I paid for and that they do not agree with my complaints and pretty much they were done with me.
So I waited until Bill returned to work and spoke with him through e-mail and he told me he totally agrees with Stephanie and that my opinion and their opinion of "habitable" were totally different and that we weren't goint to come to an agreement so pretty much he was done with me.
I even pointed out in another e-mail that they are going against their contract, and their pledge for customer service, and her pretty much said in no uncertain terms I was getting a refund.
I originally asked for a full refund but then I thought to make it fair I would only ask for the money back for the days I had to have workman in my home fixing items that should have been fixed along time ago. Bill e-mailed me back and said have a nice day, we are not paying you anything.
Outer Banks Blue Vacation Rentals Reviews
My family visits the Outer Banks every year for vacation. We select a different home each year and look forward to spending the time together in a home that is filled with amenities to help make our stay as comfortable as possible. This was the first year we decided to use Outer Banks Blue Vacation Rentals and we selected a house in Corolla, NC. We could tell from the photos that the house was not as modern as we are used to but the home still looked beautiful and well taken care of from the website. We paid as much for this house as any and were very disappointed to find it in the condition it was. This was our least favorite house and do not think something this old and broken down should be renting for the amount it was rented for. The online photos were deceiving and the price was way too high for the service and lack of amenities we received.
We arrived on August 27th to find the outside of the house was completely covered in spider webs, we should have known there would be a problem then because it was like a scene from the movie "Arachnophobia". These spider webs covered all around the windows and staircases, I do not think anyone had cleaned the outside of this house in a very long time! The great view from the front window would have been a lot better without those! Not to mention the fact that every day we killed numerous large spiders that were hiding out all through the house. There were spider casings on the ceilings of almost every room and I felt like we had moved into their home by the end of the week, they were ready for us to leave! I do not understand why it is so difficult to have someone check for bug issues and spray for them. My husband and I shared the 2nd floor hallways bathroom with tons of carpenter ants! Not sure when the last family stayed in this home!
We noticed the deck was worn and splintery with tons of nails poking out but did not know the full extent of the damage that was done to the deck until mid-week. Apparently the entire left side had lifted from the ground and slats were just hanging there, not attached to anything. We had 3 children and 8 adults using that space all week and if anything had happened we would have had a serious problem on our hands. We actually were worried about the safety of this pool deck. This should never have been an issue. We placed a call about the deck and someone came out and banged around the nails and along the side but I am not sure the issue was completely solved.
We noticed a slightly moldy smell in the house when we arrived and the vents were all covered in what looked like black mold. That is not something we wanted to spend our week breathing in. The maintenance guy came by and then showed up the next day with new vent covers. It looked better but we all knew we were still breathing that in because we were stopped up and had congestion all week. This was not acceptable, that house needs to be inspected properly for black mold issues not just covered up to make it look better.
There was a room on the bottom floor with 3 bunk beds in it. We had all three children wanting to sleep in that room together but only one of the bunk beds had a ladder and a railing. I refused to let my five year old sleep on a top bunk without the railing for her safety but found it weird that only one bed had that option. It was extremely hard to find cartoons on the televisions as they had the most basic cable package installed.
Another huge issue we had was the plumbing, toilets stopping up and overflowing were normal day to day issues. We had to lift the top of the toilet on the top floor across from the kitchen just to reach in and flush it because it would not work and no one ever came to fix it. During the middle of the week the toilet in the Master Bedroom on the top floor overflowed and spilled into the bathroom of the floor below. That was fun to clean up! Then when all the linens were used to clean up that mess we had to call for more. Those did not arrive until two days later.
A big misrepresentation was also that there were no reviews online about this house since 2014, what happened to all the other families staying in this house and how come nothing bad was said. Or, was something posted and the company just removed the reviews so no one else would ever know? Isn't that illegal?
Do not choose Outer Banks Blue Vacation Rentals! I have stayed with pretty much every company thus far and this was definitely the worst. They need to have higher standards of the homes they are willing to rent out and if not then they need to lower their prices significantly! I find it hard to believe that the owner of this home does more than the absolute minimum to keep it running and available for rent.
Me and my family rented this home from September 12, 2015 thru September 19, 2015. We had nothing but trouble as soon as we pulled in. When we arrived and got out of the car there was such a pungent smell coming from the garbage cans. All 3 cans were full with the last tenants trash. Flies everywhere.
I was told by Sarah when I reported the trash cans being full, she told me that I could drag them to the curb on Wednesday to have the trash picked up. Are you kidding me?
Then someone dumped the charcoal grill onto the driveway and never cleaned it up. I walked around the house where I stepped in a huge pile of dog feces. When I went into the house the common areas were "tidy" like the kitchen, bathrooms, and beds were made.
As we started to bring our things into the house, my daughter informed me that the bathroom in her room the sink wouldn't drain. So at this point, I went around and checked all the bathrooms. 2 sinks wouldn't drain, 1 sink had no hot water, and the other bathroom the vanity was coming off the wall with ants coming out of the crack.
I then proceeded to the third floor living area to find that the baby gates that were there were broken. Also, the kitchen bar stools all had screws coming out of them and the backs were ready to fall off. Then I noticed at this time, there was not one window blind in any of the upstairs windows. Also, the windows were so dirty you couldn't see out of them, so maybe that is why nobody put blinds up cause you couldn't see in them or out of them. The house was pretty much disgusting. My granddaughter crawled on the floor for literally 5 minutes, and her legs were black.
Heading out to the third floor deck, both storm doors were broken and flapping in the wind. We had a 11 month old baby with us and I was afraid she could get her hands caught in them.
I then went downstairs to check out the "jamming stereo system", on the pool deck, and noticed that hey, the stereo system was ripped out of the wall, which one of the reasons i rented this home for the stereo because my kids and family love music.
At this point, I e-mailed Outerbanks Blue with my initial issues stated above. The next day they had a workman come out and he did bring 2 new baby gates, and he fixed one of the storm doors, and the other one couldn't be fixed because it was totally pulled off the frame.
He then went around and snaked the 2 sinks, fixed the hotwater in the downstairs bathroom and put ant traps under the vanity coming of the wall. didn't fix the vanity though.
The workman stated he couldn't do anything about the stereo because there was no stereo. He said he would let the office know and it would be up to the owner and Outer Banks Blue on whether they would replace it. Well that never happened. I was told by Stephanie from Outer Banks Blue, that since OBX is not like other cities where you can find a d**k's sporting goods or a Lowes, that this probably wouldn't have been fixed before we left anyway. But remember to this moment, it is still listed as an ammenity of the home.
Also, on the first night they sent out 2 cleaners that drove an 1 1/2 hours to get there. I spoke with one of the cleaners who actually did the cleaning that morning, and she said the house was a disaster and that her and the other woman spent over 3 hours just trying to get it in the state it was now. I asked what they sent them to clean, and she said whatever will make you happy. I told her to call her boss, Liam, so that I could speak with him. I told him that 2 cleaners and a bottle of windex wasn't going to clean what needed cleaned in the home. At this point, he asked what he could do to make it better, and I basically told him that the house should be condemned and demolished. I told him the windows didn't need windex that would only make it worse like a mud bath. I told him that they needed to get a powerwasher out there to clean the whole outside of the home. The window sills were filled with dust and dirt, there were cob webbs everywhere, which the house was infested with.
On the second day there I had to make more complaints. The gas grill did not work. Went to cook chicken and it wouldn't start but the tank was full. They had to send workman out to fix. I also reported that the pool deck was disgusting and full of leaves from last season all stuck in the corners.
They did send two women out to "clean" up the deck area. Theybasically just swept the leaves under the fence area.
Sarah from Outer Banks Blue called me on Tuesday because I wanted a stereo system brought in. She told me that the speakers probably don't even work anyways due to the salt air? What? If you are saying that then you shouldn't advertise it. She then asked what they could do to make it better and I told her to demolish the house it was disgusting.
By Thursday, I was finished screwing around trying to get everything fixed for the next tenant. I was fed up. I saved over a year and half to take this vacation and I was done.
As the day went on, I was being told that the Jacuzzi wasn't working, it wouldn't heat up. There was only 2 jets that worked on it and the places where there should have been headrests, there was nothing but screws sticking out. My son-in-law got scratched on his neck.
Then I realized there were no stairs to the Jacuzzi. Where the staris should have been the Jacuzzi was rotting away. My sister tried to get into the Jacuzzi for the first time that night, and she almost fell on her replaced knee. I got a wood table and had to make it into a make shift stair. We found the stairs the next day, broken and thrown over the fence.
Also, there were big nails sticking out all around the pool deck fencing. Anybody could have gotten hurt on them.
At this point, I asked the kids why they weren't playing pool, and they told me that the table was lopsided and there were only 2 cue sticks and they were broken. Great, another reason I rented this house for the pool table.
I have to admit at this time, I did not report it because I was so fed up that I had to deal with this on vacation, I told everybody to write down what was wrong with the house, and when we got back to PA, I would contact Outer Banks Blue and let them know.
When we got back to PA, I contacted Outer Banks Blue to get the Managers name, and they gave me Stephanie who assistant Manager and then a Bill who is the manager.
I initially e-mailed both parties, but Bill was out of town for a couple of days. I let them know how unsatisfied I was with the house and how dirty it was, and that I don't even live like that at home and I save my hard earned money for over year to get a piece of dirt house. Stephanie told me because I didn't report some of the items, that it makes all my other complaints pretty much null and void. Then she told me the Stereo system and the pool table probably wouldn't have been fixed by the time we left the house, so what is the big deal that I waited then to let them know?? She told me that she felt the house was "habitable". She also said that she was looking at the pics on the internet as we spoke and it clearly shows no blinds on the windows. Now come on, when looking a vacation rental are you looking for what kind of blinds are hung? No, your looking at the ammentities like pool table, working Jacuzzi, etc.
It is hard for me to believe that nobody has reported any of these issues before me. She was trying to tell me that they do have inspectors that come in after the cleaners and check the house. I told her then she better fire her inspectors at least the ones on this house, because they definately do their job. She told me that I got what I paid for and that they do not agree with my complaints and pretty much they were done with me.
So I waited until Bill returned to work and spoke with him through e-mail and he told me he totally agrees with Stephanie and that my opinion and their opinion of "habitable" were totally different and that we weren't goint to come to an agreement so pretty much he was done with me.
I even pointed out in another e-mail that they are going against their contract, and their pledge for customer service, and her pretty much said in no uncertain terms I was getting a refund.
I originally asked for a full refund but then I thought to make it fair I would only ask for the money back for the days I had to have workman in my home fixing items that should have been fixed along time ago. Bill e-mailed me back and said have a nice day, we are not paying you anything.