I was waiting to get my deposits back before posting about this horror show. So this has been simmering on low for over two months.
We are a group of 10 adult friends who travel together to Italy every year. We have never had a landlord complaint. This year we rented, from Kit Burns at Doorways, Palazzo Benincasa, a charming faded-elegant huge floor of a true Palazzo, in the city of Orvieto. We were there a week, then moved to another location, this one (also rented from Kit) a large villa 10 minutes outside of Lucca.
We had a lovely time in Orvieto, but when we arrived in Lucca, we were confronted ("greeted" is simply not the word) by the villa's owner, who peered at us suspiciously, as if we were axe murderers. He proceeded to shadow us day and night, walking INTO the villa unannounced, lurking in the corridors, eyes following us like the spooky oil painting in the haunted house. (Wait. None of this was his fault. Intrigued? Read on.)
When I called Kit Burns to complain, she admitted that there had been "some problems with checkout" at the Orvieto place, and she had felt an obligation to report them to our new landlord, so naturally he was concerned about his property. I was labbergasted. "What problems?" She then proceeded to e-mail me the report. I then read the most scurrilous, vile, and completely untrue set of accusations... we were insane drunken revelers, we had damaged things -- here's where it gets good -- we had left puddles of vomitin corners... obviously some huge, hideous Baccalante (sp?) had taken place. What? WHAT?! This was the post-rental report for Aerosmith, not us!
Let's not even discuss how flabbergasted we were, or how these accusations came to be. But I don't know how long I have, space-wise, so tune in for... my B.F.N.R -- part two!
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Okay. So what does Kit Burns do? Does she call me, and discuss the supposed condition of the apartment? No. She immediately calls my next landlord, to give him a heads up on my awfulness -- without ever giving me a chance to respond to these accusations -- and goes the further step of calling ANOTHER rental agent with whom I have worked in Tuscany, just to warn her off me and my alcoholic entourage for the future!!! (This was a particular irony, because this second agent had, four days earlier, been a dinner guest at the supposedly trashed apartment, and had eaten, if I do say so, a lovely dinner, and watched us scrupulously do all the dishes.)
So, my reputation now trashed all over Tuscany, I arrived to my next landlord, who was justifiably quivering with paranoia!
Then Kit finally admitted what she had done (not before the first week of our second rental was horribly impacted), and it was patently clear, in our conversation, that she completely believed, despite only the word of a cleaning lady, that we had left the first apartment in a shambles. --And that is how I figured it out: after hours of Sherlock-like deduction, it was simple: THE MAID DID IT. The maid, who was an unhappy woman, sobbing a tale of woe to anyone who would listen -- husband abandoned her, hard to make ends meet with a teenaged son, blah, blah -- had concocted a story of a gigantic mess, in order to charge her employers extra money for having to clean it up! (The owners were in Boston, and never eyeballed the apartment themselves. The woman simply saw an opportunity. When all was said and done...? All she wanted was an extra 50 bucks.)
And this, after we tipped her 100 Euros!
Moral: always get someone in power to do a walk-through with you at check-out.
Meanwhile, Kit ultimately did apologize, and forwarded some kind of vague apology from the Orvieto owners, but we will never get that ruined week back (for which we paid through the nose), nor was any effort ever made to make it up to us.
Ultimately, my ally in all this turned out to be the Lucca owner, who, after getting to know me, completely understood that we were not capable of throwing a nightly rave at his house. He actually laughed, looking at Kit's fax. "Vomit?" he said, about the maid's story. Anyone can see, she goes too far with that one."
I am so looking forward to all your comments.
R.G. {originally two posts - merged to one by Pauline}
[This message was edited by Pauline on 09 November 2003 at 01:42 PM.]
Posts: 326 | Location: @##$@!! Los Angeles | Registered: 19 March 2002
Sounds like this Kit person needs to learn "customer service" skills. Maybe a heads up from you to all her other potential renters in the form of a SlowTrav review is in order.
Deborah Horn
In a previous life I was an Umbrian sunflower farmer. I'd like to do a past life regression and stay there. ----------------------------------- www.petsburg.com
Posts: 4997 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: 04 September 2001
Ugh! What a nightmare to deal with that in the middle of a vacation. (And after - two months to get resolved?!)
All for something that should have been investigated diplomatically and discreetly by the agent. As Deborah noted, immediate customer service lessons are in order for Kit!!
Posts: 14209 | Location: The Beautiful San Francisco Bay Area | Registered: 06 August 2001
R.G. post the review for Kit's services (sticking to the facts) and forward it to her (or is Kit a man?)...anyway...that leads me to wonder - is the rental agent your representative or the owner's? Who does the renter get to turn to in a time of discord?
R.G. sent me copies of the emails between her and Doorways over this incident and Steve and I reviewed them. This is the fault of the agency for two reasons: 1) they assume the owner is correct and do not talk to the renter before sending out an email warning the next villa owner 2) they have no onsite person in Tuscany/Umbria who can check out the situation
Because of this, I have removed Doorways from our SlowTrav Favorites list. I have emailed Kit (the Doorways owner) about this.
I am going to copy these two threads to our FAQ forum so we do not lose them.
Topic Closed
