Appalling customer service and filthy property.
Despite multiple efforts to contact the property manager, Melissa Parks, and requesting return calls, we never spoke directly with Melissa about our concerns and received basic and sporadic emails. Upon arrival at the assigned check in time (2pm), we found the cleaner in the property and at that time had only stripped and changed two beds. She advised me that the front room blind was broken and that she would let the office know and was limited to the time she could spend cleaning the property. We were required to wait in our car until just after 3pm before we could enter the house. Upon entering, we found only two of the bedrooms mopped, the third room had a film of dust across the floorboards and the ceiling fan in that room was caked in dust and appeared to have not been wiped over in months! Moving through the house, we noted large stains on the sofas, foot stool and heavy stains on the rug. There was also a sticky residue on the TV cabinet which had a number of dead insects in it. The spa was also full of grit and hadn't been turned on so it could not be used until the next day (after I cleaned it) . The worst of it was in what would be a lovely bathroom, except that there was remnants of the previous tenant's toothpaste still in the sink and the plug and surrounds of the sink had black mould over it. I immediately called the property manager Melissa, only to be advised that I would receive a call back and in the meantime I sent a number of photos via email to the company. I never received a call back but a short email stating that they will address my concerns and that they would not reimburse me the night's rate that I requested, however would provide us a voucher to use while we were staying there as compensation for the late check in because of the cleaner. I insisted on at least a night's compensation for the state of the property however was advised that they would only offer 1/2 a night and the voucher would be the additional compensation. NOTE that this 'boutique stay' is charged at $500 a night so expectation would be to at least be clean and we NEVER received the promised voucher during our stay.
The next morning a lovely gentleman arrived to service the spa and asked me what I thought of the property. I advised him that it would have been lovely had it been clean and when he prompted me to advise him of the concerns, was quite upset as it turns out he was the owner and had had similar cleaning issues prior to this and advised me that I should be compensated given how much we had spent on the five-night family stay. He also said he was going to take these concerns back to Melissa.
Given that Melissa had not returned my call, I again called a number of times to determine when we would receive the voucher thinking it may cover a meal or something and knowing the Easter public holiday was the next day, wanted to get the matter resolved. Melissa NEVER returned any of my calls and sent an email late in the day stating that she had sent a request for the voucher and it was out of her hands. Needless to say, we never received our voucher during our stay and never received a phone call to discuss the matter.
After leaving the property on Easter Monday, I sent another email to enquire about a full night's fee compensation due to not receiving the voucher however the company advised me that a $50 voucher has been sent to us (little use to us now!) and given we refused to pay the pet fee (which we felt was not fair given Melissa would not return our call and we had not resolved the matter of the mould) that this matter was now resolved. Filthy furnishings and black mould (a real health concern) does not equate to a $50 voucher which still has not appeared in our email and it is now four days since we left the property. I have made countless requests for proof it was sent however we still have not received it.
I feel for the owner who has depended on this company to represent him and his property. The property itself, if clean, would be a lovely accommodation as it is close to everything, however the lack of customer service and continued handballing of legitimate concerns completely ruined the experience.
We will NEVER stay at any accommodation represented by Boutique Stays again and will be pursuing this matter with Consumer Affairs Vic.