We rented a home from Cape and Coast on St. George Island in mid-July 2023. Overall, the house was…read morebeautiful and in a great location. But it had some maintenance issues that should have been addressed prior to our arrival, including the central a/c not working in two bedrooms (more on that below), an infestation of carpenter ants in two bedrooms, the hot tub being full of sand on arrival & repeatedly blowing a fuse, electrical issues that prevented the promised a/c replacement, and the scheduling of a contractor to come measure doors that was never mentioned to us prior to arrival and was relayed only about two hours before he showed up.
The biggest issue was the service we received from Cape and Coast. They notified us two days before check in that a portion of the a/c was being replaced during our stay. I specifically inquired about whether the a/c worked. They responded in writing that the a/c was working, had "no issues," and was only being replaced due to age. However, upon arriving, one portable a/c unit was already in one bedroom, and it was evident that the a/c was, in fact, not working in that bedroom and another one. We had to request a second portable unit for the other room. And the first unit started to malfunction, so it had to be serviced during our stay. Then, on the day that the central a/c was supposed to be replaced, we were told that wasn't going to happen because there were electrical issues that had to be resolved first. When I asked why that had not been relayed to us, Cape and Coast admitted that an a/c issue had come up the week before (when the owners were there) and they had to call a repair company to address it. I sent them a screenshot of our convo where they originally told me prior to check in that there were "no issues" and that it was working fine. They responded that they "didn't know the extent of the issues." However, that is still an acknowledgment that there were issues which they originally denied.
Cape and Coast sent one of their maintenance guys to come look at the electrical portion of the a/c, and he forgot to turn the breaker on when he was done. We came back to the house after being gone for the afternoon to find that we had no power on the first floor, our food was half thawed in the first floor refrigerator, and the elevator (which a family member needed due to medical issues) wasn't working. I called the emergency number and was told those issues were not emergencies so we had to run out at 9:30 at night to get ice and put our food in coolers. I was told that someone would be out by 8:30 the next morning to try and get the power restored. However, 8:30 came and went the next morning, and it was only after I called AGAIN that they finally showed up at 10 to locate the correct breaker and get the power restored on the first floor. Instead of relaxing on the beach, four and a half days of our vacation were consumed with phone calls and being available to speak with maintenance and show them the issues as they arose. Cape and Coast brought us a $300 gift certificate to a local restaurant, which we didn't ask for. I explained that wasn't sufficient and asked for additional compensation, such as a partial refund. The general manager agreed that "this was a case that called for additional compensation," and she told me a guest relations employee had already been in contact with the owner and they were "working on a number." She told me that we would hear back no later than the day before check out. When I heard nothing, I called, and the general manager told me they were still working on it and that the owner was conferring with the other owners. We checked out the next day. Two days later, I received an email with a simple message stating, "we are sorry for the inconvenience, but the owner has declined any further compensation for the a/c issue." No mention was made of all the other issues, and when I emailed back, Cape and Coast stopped communicating.
I gave them two stars because they did send maintenance quickly when I called about the issues, and they were always polite when I contacted them. But they misled us about the a/c issue before check-in and then strung us along about additional compensation until after we checked out.
We've been renting homes on the island for 20+ years from all of the major companies, and we've never had this many issues. This was our first time renting through Cape and Coast and despite us being extremely patient, giving them every benefit of the doubt, and giving them a chance to make it right, they failed to do so.