Terrible experience that almost ruined the San Diego portion of our vacation. Total nightmare of a rental management company.
Smaller issues first: between this unit and the beach, there were never fewer than 5-10 homeless people sleeping and hanging out. I am not saying they don't have the right to be there, and I wish the city would do more to help them - we gave them food several times during our stay, and did not 'wish they'd leave' as they have human rights, HOWEVER - if you are ready to pay top dollar for the amazing ocean view, as I did, you should be aware of what will be constantly obstructing that view. There was also a party with loud music well into the night on our first night - far from peaceful. If you're on the balcony, you'll be smelling weed 90+% of the time.
Wifi is weak and inconsistent.
The hot water will run out almost immediately if more than one person is showering at once, even if no one has used hot water the whole day. It does renew quickly (tankless), but no one can shower at the same time - ridiculous when who would spend the money to get a place with three bathrooms just to have to take showers one at a time?
When we arrived, no garage code had been given to us in any email, only the gate and unit codes. It took close to an hour to resolve this.
Moving on to the massive issue of the heat. We quickly realized the heat wasn't working when we arrived (after having lost an hour dealing with the garage). We called right away and were told someone would get right back to us, we waited and waited. Finally, we were told how to get the heat to work, but what we were told to do did not work. We tried everything. By this time, our young kids needed to get to bed. We debated leaving and moving to a hotel despite all the fuss involved in packing back up, and told someone at Vacasa we'd leave right then if they could guarantee our money back, but she was unable to guarantee that. Given the thought of losing the thousands we'd paid and the last minute prices of other hotel options during spring break, we told them we hoped to stay but at least needed space heaters by 8:30 pm. We'd heard nothing about anyone coming, and so my husband went to buy space heaters himself, and while he was gone, someone arrived with space heaters (and more were later found in a closet, suggesting this is not the first time the heat has been an issue).
The next day, I called to follow up about a better solution than space heaters - I also mentioned that we were not getting what we paid for at ALL at this point and told them that if we were going to be relying on space heaters in a home with no heat, I wanted a steep discount (generous of me, since I have since researched and could sue them for ALL of my money back for renting a place with no heat). The supervisor told me she would get back to me with an update - at no time did anyone tell me that someone would be coming to fix the heat, or at what time - we would have left the San Diego zoo early to meet that person if we had been told, but instead, I simply got a call from that person announcing that he was there.
Since we had exactly zero faith in this company at this point and could be held liable if something broke, I told him that we would need to be there for him to come in, which is my right as a renter, and told him I was sorry the management company had wasted his time. I called them back to ask if we could ARRANGE an appointment to fix the heat, as I had not even been told that someone MIGHT come. I never heard anything else about anyone coming to fix the heat, and it was never fixed. The supervisor told me that since we had "refused to let him in" (we were not there and were never even told that he might come), they were essentially done helping - no more effort was made to fix the heat during the stay. I complained again and was finally offered 15% off of what I paid via a voicemail, plus a refund of the booking fee (drop in the bucket) - it has now been two weeks and I still have not seen any refund at this time. I have since spoken with a lawyer acquaintance who is quite sure I could sue for 100% of my money back if I chose to.
I have never complained about an Airbnb or hotel before. I do not even send back cold soup. But it is simply unacceptable the way this was handled - and that we were without heat for the entire stay. I would give this place negative stars if I could.