Beach house bargain hunt: Is that deal too good to be true?
BETHANY, Del. (WJLA) -- When the weather turns warm, millions flock to the beach for sun, sand, and a lot of rest and relaxation. That’s what Kirsten Lockhart wanted when she decided to throw a bit of romance into a weekend getaway celebration for her husband at Bethany Beach in Delaware. She rented a townhouse advertised by the owner on an online rental site.
“It was a bring-your-own-linens facility,” Lockhart said. “I had gone to another room to get a pillow, my husband was making the bed in the master bedroom and we both looked down at the same moment to see bugs.”
Her husband being a member of the military had seen them before on a previous deployment. They were bedbugs crawling all over the bed.
“Everything went back in the trunk in plastic bags and three hours back home,” Lockhart said.
The Lockharts contacted the online site where they found the beach home and then the property owner. Lockhart said the owner promised to hire a pest control company to look into their claim.
“They didn't find anything in the inspection,” Lockart was told and the owner she says “had no intention of refunding our two night stay or our security deposit.” So the couple was out more than $500.
Beach rental horror stories like this it turns out are quite common. The Better Business Bureau reports it received nearly 400 complaints last year about vacation rentals and so far this year they are on pace for even more.
There are two takeaways, two big tips to follow, according to the BBB, before renting a beach home found online.
Number one: Get everything in writing. Try to draw up a written contract with the property owner.
Number two: Never pay up front with cash or by check. Use a credit card or pay pal account so you later have the option to dispute the charge. That’s exactly what Lockhart and her husband are doing. A lesson learned.
“We had no reason to expect that we would encounter that early in the season in a place that looked good online,” she said.
