Do Not Use Sunset Rentals - Hilton Head, South Carolina

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT FIRM

SUNSET RENTALS

12 New Orleans Road

Hilton Head, South Carolina 29938

PROPERTY NAME

122 / 124 Ocean One

11 South Forest Beach Drive

Hilton Head, South Carolina 29928

I have never in my life written a bad review letter form or on line. I always thought it best to go directly to the problem and have it resolved. Unfortunately, when I tried that, I was shot down and crapped upon by Jim West The PRESIDENT of Sunset Rental Properties. Never in my life did I feel more compelled to voice my opinion on line....this is my story.

For our summer holiday my parents, sisters and I thought it would be a fun idea to rent condos in Hilton Head so that the kids could have easy access to the outside, beach and the pool. Three families were coming from the West Coast and one sister was coming from the East Coast so our arrival times were spread out over the course of Saturday and Sunday.

Condo 122

My husband and I and our two sons arrived on Saturday night, August 5th after midnight, we were exhausted and drained from traveling all day. When we arrived my son went to ';his'; bathroom and came out immediately. He said, ';Someone was sick in the bathroom and it%26#39;s not clean.'; My husband went in and sure enough some one had vomited and it was never cleaned. My husband went to the bathroom and cleaned it himself. When I went to use the shower in the bathroom, I found out that they disabled the shower feature and it was only a bathtub. When we finally collapsed into bed, we saw that there were no pillow cases on the pillows! Disgusted, we used our own beach towels as pillows. The next morning I was in the kitchen with my mother and it was awfully dark. I looked up and 7 of the 10 light bulbs were burnt out. In the master bath I found two more light bulbs were burnt out. In the 3 bedroom condo there were two televisions and one did not work. The kitchen which is supposed to be equipped with utensils to cook, was not equipped at all. There wasn%26#39;t even a cutting board.

I went to my sisters unit 124 and although it had a better equipped kitchen her boy%26#39;s bathroom didn%26#39;t flush at all, the tub didn%26#39;t drain, her beds were made up with dirty linens, there was someone else%26#39;s hair all over the bathroom and they also had a light bulb issue. On top of that, the condo was for sale and the Broker was constantly calling to find out what would be the best time to bring people over to see the unit. Unbelievable.

I called Jim West on Monday to voice my concerns and frustrations. Unbelievably, I was met with hostility and accusations. He said, ';Why didn%26#39;t you call when you got in or yesterday (Sunday)!'; I replied, ';Well, we arrived past midnight on Saturday and we thought the office was closed on Sundays.'; Jim said that he could not apologize for something that he did not know to be sure (i.e., he was intimating that I was lying). He said that my complaint was the only one of its kind he had received (i.e., he never had a cleaning complaint before which I highly doubt). He said that the units were always carefully inspected after the cleaning and signed off as having been cleaned. This contradicts what his employee JD Newton had said earlier that day which is that sometimes units are signed off without having actually been inspected because there are so many condos/apts and the inspectors sometimes get to a condo before it has been cleaned and do not have time to return to all the units after they have been cleaned. JD was apologetic and said he wished he could do more but his hands were tied.

List of complaints for units 122 and 124 include:

- numerous missing light bulbs through the condo

- bed was made with dirty linens, pillows were missing pillow cases

- many appliances not working properly (oven, stove, TV)

- dirt and hair and dust everywhere, esp in corners of rooms

- kitchen not stocked properly for cooking… missing cutting board, bowls, cups, utensils

- no toilet paper in several bathrooms

- bathtubs and sinks did not drain well… would take over 15 mns to drain completely. Very disgusting to stand in dirty shower water up to your shins.

- rugs not vacuumed

Even after we called to request these issues to be addressed, they were not. When I called a 3rd time, I was told that they had a power outage and lost all emails. They never did fix the appliances or the plumbing problem. This is a perfect property if you are on Spring Break from college or university and you don%26#39;t care about the conditions you live in for the week. This is how the property is maintained - at the very minimum.

My sister called to ask if she could have their boarding passes faxed to their office so she could pick them up. She was told the power outage blew out their fax. When she called a second time and spoke with JD, he said we were not permitted to use their fax machine and he would get into trouble if he allowed us to do so.

Two days before our arrival, I asked JD if we could gain access to the condo prior to 4pm to put some injections and other medications for our children in the fridge. He said he would see what he could do and would call me at 130pm on the day of our arrival and arrange to meet us at the condo. At 130pm, JD called and said that Jim West found out and basically ripped his face off and chewed him out.

What kind of person is so cold and callous that he won’t apologize for a dirty condo and won’t help parents of children with a chronic illness? My sisters clearly have more patience than I do, my family and I checked out two days early and went to the Westin Golf Resort and Spa in Savannah which was absolutely incredible. Exactly what we needed after 5 days of living in filth.

There are hundreds, probably thousands of condos available for rent in Hilton Head. DO NOT USE SUNSET RENTALS. They are mean spirited, cheap, small and they don’t care about customer service or repeat business.

Sincerely,

L.P. von Essen

San Francisco, CA

Do Not Use Sunset Rentals - Hilton Head, South Carolina

This is horrible! I am not sure which is worse - the condition of the condo or the way you were treated.

According to their website this management company has been rapidly expanding their rental business through aggressive internet marketing. May be they are too over extended to take care of the properties that they list.

Do Not Use Sunset Rentals - Hilton Head, South Carolina

I have read your message and can say that if that had happened to me then I would be as angry and annoyed as you. Having said that we have used Sunset Rentals everytime we have come to Hilton Head and I have found them very accommodating. Rentals are normally Saturday to Saturday but if the condo/house we want is not being used say the week before then we have in the past done Thursday to Thursday rentals. This year we arrived at 9:00am on Saturday morning and went to their offices to see if we could have an early check in. As the condo hadn%26#39;t been used the week before and it had been cleaned they gave us the key. As you have had a bad experience you probably won%26#39;t use them again in the future but I thought I%26#39;d answer your message. Lee

Crazy4SF,

I can not believe this happened! And given that it happened late in the rental season, there really is no excuse for the rental company%26#39;s behavior. As a long distance property owner who rents her own villa out, I would have been bending over backwards.

That said, there are actually two victims: you and the property owner. The property owner is paying a huge fee to have his property taken care of and rented out. Apparently, the property owner is not getting his money%26#39;s worth either. I would try to find out who owns the condos and let them know how their money is being spent. I won%26#39;t expect to receive anything directly from the owner, but if I owned the property, I%26#39;d want to know how my condo was being taken care of (or not being taken care of!).

I hope this experience does not dissuade you from vacationing in SC.

Eliza

I%26#39;ve never used Sunset Rentals but I have looked at their website and after hearing this I will make a note not to use them in the future!

Thanks for sharing your experience with sunset rentals. I wish we had known about them before we visited HH this year. We actually rented from them the last week of July and had similar experiences.

I had previously cautioned readers about not expecting a million dollar condo even if you paid big money for a beachfront condo, thinking that our experiences were isolated. But here we go: when we arrived there was no bedding provided for the sleep sofa which we needed to utilize for the 8 of us. Like you, we used beach towels until sheets arrived on Monday. Extra blankets provided were old and gross and actually sheets were nothing to brag about. Also,

the bathrooms were not cleaned to my standards. I cleaned them myself. There was dust so thick on the living room shelves that I actually wrote%26#39;';Clean Me'; in the dust! Kitchen equipped? haha!

There was no ice maker, the door of the stove was ready to fall off,

dishes were old and chipped, pots and pans inadequate for cooking for 8. Oh and there wasn%26#39;t even 8 chairs for dining!

We had better accomadations in a Holiday Inn Express that we stayed in on the way home! We had previouysly used Resort Quest rental company and were extremely happy with the condos. After seeing your posting, I felt I had to chime in too! Sunset Rentals definitely needs improvements!

Thank you all so much for responding, I really do appreciate your support and your feedback. This will defnitely not stop us from returning to Hilton Head - It will just stop us from using Sunset Rental Property and telling everyone we know not to use them.

I don%26#39;t know how Jim West can look at himself in the mirror in the morning. Unless he is completely off his rocker, he must know that he is treating renters and rentals like trash.

I beliefve in Karma and the payback is often worse.

Thank you again for your support.

Try renting directly from an owner next time. Usually you will save a little money (you wouldn%26#39;t believe what the mgmt co. charge the owners to ';manage'; and rent their properties); get more personalized service; and see pictures of what your renting before renting it. You can check out vacationrentals.com; vrbo.com; vacationrentals411.com to name a few.

Eliza

We want to set the record straight and give you the facts on this situation.

Fact is the guest writing the original comments has never booked or rented from Sunset Rentals but we assume is part of the party that stayed with us in August at this location.

The guest actually called us Monday two full days after checking in and claimed cleaning issues so we sent the cleaner and a maintenanace tech over to the unit. She had the cleaner there for 3 hours (none of which were part of there departure clean checklist) and asked them to remove comforters and blankets so they could be laundered again. She even placed her linens on top of the cleaners.This property was inspected by housekeeping prior to check in and the guest of record called and left word that she had a family member allergic to cleaning solution and requested no chemicals used in any bathrooms or counters. She then told the cleaners on Monday the counters and bathrooms were dirty and when they went to clean she stopped them and remarked '; I just used special tea leaf spray so do not touch them';

Sunset Rentals Inc. has a company policy against any iems placed in the refridgerators prior to check in since the contract cleaners empty them due to state health depatarment rules .We check in over 3,000 satisfied guest each year and know there are some that can never be satisfied but we tried our best and actually offered free meal coupons and bikes to these guest but they only wanted money and remarked we will ';smear you if we do not get it ';

Jim West President Sunset Rentals Inc.

To Jim West:

What happened with the other renter, from Pittsburgh, with similar experiences? Obviously, there are difficult guests and there are difficult owners; but two situations where guests have to sleep on beach towels to avoid contact with soiled sheets sounds ';over the top.';

Also, I don%26#39;t get the problem with putting the medications in a fridge (any fridge!) prior to 4 pm, after the previous guests have left, and so long as house keeping can get into the unit. Isn%26#39;t it worth trying to accommodate someone with a special need by sending housekeeping to their unit first?

People check into my units early all the time. And my management company will even pre-stock the fridge for guests. All of us know that 4 pm is arbitrary and that some units are ready for occupancy much earlier. Even if the condo has been trashed and you need to fumigate it, you can always give someone a place to stash their luggage, or a cold place to put their medication.

It may be that some demands made by guests are unreasonable. Still, isn%26#39;t it best just to apologize, to try to make things as right as they can be, and then to move on? After all, this is the ';hospitality'; industry. And this is South Carolina.

The original poster stated that there was much more wrong with the condo than the obvious filth....lightbulbs missing, tv%26#39;s not working, toilets not working, etc. My family vacations in Hilton Head yearly and these little things add up to a lousy experience for a family that is spending a lot of money for accommodations on vacation. We expect things to be in good operating order and clean.

Let this be a wake up call for all rental agencies on the island....people like to share their experiences (good and bad) with others on sites like this. I never make a reservation without first checking TA or doing a google search. Please make sure that your accommodations truly are what you represent them to be at the time of booking.