kevinapex's blog

a bad vacation experience

 abuse

I originally wrote this as a response to Bill Leslie’s blog on bad vacation experiences.  Being the long winded writer that I am I exceeded the 1000 character comment limit quickly so I decided to post it in my blog instead.

As vacation nightmares go this experience is fairly tame but my wife and I still grimace when we recall this trip which should not happen with vacation memories.

Being a single income family on a State Employee salary several years back we decided to try to take a vacation within our limited budget. Following the advice of my father in law we searched the newspaper adds for private rentals and found an ocean front beach condo within our allotted budget. The add classified it as “very nice” and when we called the number, a warm and friendly woman who owned it with her husband convinced us it was a good choice for a young family.

When we first arrived we were immediately dismayed. Rather then “very nice” the more appropriate description should have been “barely tolerable”. It was old, musty and a touch dingy and while it was ocean front, you could not see the ocean from it because of a sand dune that made it stay dark inside. We had paid up front but my initial reaction was to leave and demand a refund. However, we pondered it a bit and because our more tolerant daughter was so excited about being at the beach we reconsidered. We also chastised ourselves for being so arrogant that we could not stay someplace less than first class. Aside from the sink being a little dirty it appeared to be clean and the beach was nice so we decided to stay.

We had cleaned the sink but when we returned from a visit to the beach we were surprised to find it dirty again. It had moisture and food particles in it as if someone had just washed the dishes. We quickly learned why. A clog somewhere in the plumbing for the building was causing everyone else’s dishwater to back up in our sink before eventually seeping out. The next time a back up occurred we saw it before it drained and I was ready to walk out the door again. It was late and my wife suggested we give the owners a chance to correct it. The owner’s apologetic and sincere concern calmed my agitation a bit and they assured me that the issue would be addressed first thing next day. One plus of the whole trip was that we made friends with the people upstairs whom we met explaining our dilemma and asking them to go easy on the dishes.

That evening another disturbing issue came to light. The toilet appeared to struggle with each flush and acted like it was ready to burst in the wrong direction. Another call to the owner drew more apologies and assurances but my patience had run out and I again wanted to just leave.   My wife and daughter calmed my nerves once more.

I spent most of the morning of my first full day vacation waiting on and dealing with the plumber. He fixed the sink problem but said the toilet issue was in the septic system which he could not fix. He also said that without action a back up at some point was imminent but thought it was OK for while we were there. I was hardly reassured and my call to the owner this time brought a vaguer plan of action. I made it absolutely clear that at the first sign of any septic back up we were out the door no matter what time it was.

Thank God the toilet never did back up during our visit but the tone was set such that I could never relax and enjoy myself. Our other misadventures for the week included losing the key and so making it necessary for me to climb in and out the window to lock and unlock the door. By the end of the week I couldn’t wait to get home and we ended up leaving a day early. My wife and I had at best an unpleasant time but my little girl on the other hand had the time of her life so that salvaged something from the experience.

I had thought maybe the owners would offer some kind of relief for our misery but none was forthcoming. I don’t believe they were bad people, I think they were just trying to gain some income from their beach place and admittedly the price we paid was modest for ocean front.  Maybe we got what we paid for but in any case I will never pay up front again for a place I have never seen.