Lincoln City Beach House Rental Review
Review of Ocean Beach Vacation's 1004 Calypso Rental House
Introduction
The information in this beach rental review is factual. The pictures are taken by me during my families stay at Ocean Beach Vacation's 1004 Calypso beach house rental in Road's End at Lincoln City from September 9th 2007 to September 15th 2007.
Some of the following complaints can be seen as petty. And taken on their own, they are. There are even some complaints we had that I did not include in this review because they were not something I felt I could explain in here, nor show you with a picture. The problem with the listed issues arises when they are combined as a whole. They paint a picture of neglect, lack of attention to upkeep, and poor management. At least, that is the impression I am left with after our experience. The following information also shows property descriptions by Ocean Beach Vacations that are exaggerations as well as some that are complete untruths.
Everyone in our group has stayed in other Oregon coast beach rental homes, including other houses at Road's End in Lincoln City. We do have other experiences to draw our opinions and impressions from. Nobody in our group has used Ocean Beach Vacations rentals in Lincoln City nor anywhere else. The following comments are directed only at Ocean Beach Vacation's 1004 Calypso property.
Here is the link to Ocean Beach Vacation's property information - http://oregonbeachvacations.com/site/Overview/PropertyID__21657/1587/default.aspx
I came across it on Google using the search term - "Lincoln City Road's End Beach House Rental". I know you, like me, might find it interesting to compare the pictures from their site against the pictures here.
Rental House Review
House Keeping
To start with, we were given the wrong key code for the lockbox. When the code they gave us did not work we called to confirm the number. We eventually got in by trying other combinations of the number. The second number the code given to us was incorrect.
Then we notice a knife sitting on the window frame outside the entry-way window.
I used the knife to smash several spiders around the front door and clean off their webs.
Going inside, the house just looks dirty, more spiders, cobwebs, and dead bugs.
We spent as much time away from the house as possible. Didn't like the thought of actually cooking there.
The living room rug looks like it has not been cleaned in a very long time. Crumpled up candy wrappers on the ground next to the couch. More treats, a Lego, and a spider (light brown spider a little the the right and below the red trash) under the couch. Looks like they used to allow pets, though not any more.
Some bit of food below
the legs of the dining room table.
If you're wearing socks in the house, the bottom of them are quickly black from dirt and grime.
Rental House Wood Stove and Windows
Our first day here the weather is just below 90 degrees. The house has no A/C which is not unusual at the coast. But, the house windows do not have any screens. It's too hot in the house to not have windows open and with such nice weather, mosquitoes and other bugs are very active. There are quickly all over the inside of the house.
The rest of the week was cold, we could not use the supplied wood for the wood stove because it was too wet, not yet cured. We tried three times and only succeeded in getting the wood to smolder for a while before going out.
Additional Issues at the Rental House
There are a few things that I want to include that are not explainable with pictures.
- Strong air freshener in downstairs bathroom doesn't quite cover-up the smell of urine. Must be in the grout.
- Have heard mice scratching in the walls at night. After being gone for a few hours during Wednesday, we came back to find mouse poop on my nine month old son's white play blanket. Would have liked to get a picture but had to dispose of it quickly so my wife would not cancel our vacation right then.
- No clocks in the bedrooms
- Beer bottle cap in the clothes dryer
- Coffee maker does not work
- Beds were not made when we arrived. The bottom sheet was too small for the beds and hanging loose.
- Instructions inside the house request we leave the key in the lockbox when we are gone during the day. Previous Oregon coast house rentals have left us feeling very safe, so that was OK with us. On day two my mom had left her digital camera on top of the small living room television. We all remember seeing it there before leaving. We put the key in the lockbox when we left. We returned maybe three hours later and the camera is gone. My mom sometimes forgets things. We searched through the whole house. Cupboards, under cushions, bedrooms, luggage, etc.. The camera is not in the house. Did someone come in and take it? Can't be sure. After returning, we were also aware that the trash bag next to the rental house garage is no longer there. This is after my first email complaint to Oregon Beach Vacations. We assume someone came to clean-up, but see no evidence inside. We kept the house key with us the rest of the trip.
Why did I Rent this House?
After going through all of this, I reviewed the rental property description from Ocean Beach Vacations. I wanted to review why I chose this rental. It did not seem to be the same house. But, it is.
There are a few points that are misleading, and then some that are just untrue.
Oregon Beach Vacations state:
"spacious and comfortable living room with large couches and ocean views."
You can not see the ocean from the living room without standing-up or standing at the head of the stairs.
Here's the ocean view from Master Bedroom.
What I see looking North, standing on the couch, camera zoomed.
They state Guest Room 1 has: "vaulted ceiling, queen size bed and single bed with partial ocean views"
Guest room 1 faces East, a hill maybe 20 feet from the window (the first picture). One small window facing North, a tree and house (second picture). Of course the ocean is on the west and is not at all visible from any of the windows.
Next is a picture looking the opposite direction.
They state "Extra long private drive way to house" & "extra off street parking" With our small car in the driveway, I don't see how they think anything besides bicycles can park there. There is no room in the driveway to turnaround if there's more than one car, so you'll end up backing-up to the street.
They state "Oversized Garage". Here is our compact Mazda 6 inside of it.
Some of it is the type of exaggeration you see in other Oregon coast beach house rental advertisements. But, to me, there are too many complete untruths to ignore. I am upset with Oregon Beach Vacations for offering this sort of rental. I don't know if it is more common than I think or not. We've had good experiences with past rentals. Even when they are not luxury rentals, they meet our expectations in relation to what the web site and sales material portray.
This property is over-priced when compared to other Lincoln City, Road's end beach house rentals. Maybe if it were beachfront or even had real ocean view it would be worth more, but it does not. This beach house is around a 750 feet walk to the beach. There are comparable beachfront rentals here in Lincoln City that charge as much. Ocean view house rentals are less. This "beach" house is only a "beach" house geographically. You can only view the ocean if you stand-up next to a few of the front upstairs windows. Or, on top of the couch. An "ocean view" is technically different than a "beach view".
Rental House Oddities
This next picture is included just because it's so....... cheesy. A rental house on the coast is expected to have ocean art.. but.. this is something printed from a website, framed and hung on the wall. You can even see the links and page number.
And more oddness. The next picture of a cabinet door on the wall above the ground floor toilet (the one that smells like urine behind the deodorizer smells).
And here's a look at the color television in the master bedroom. It's the small black thing near the center of picture. "Calypso features 4 color TVs"
There are several pictures on this site taken from the same perspective as those on the Oregon Beach Vacations site. But, they show you quite different scenes. It does appear Oregon Beach Vacations has updated a couple of their rental house pictures for this property. And, I know they've updated and removed some of the more obviously untrue captions for this beach house since I have put up this site. I did not save a copy of the original Oregon Beach Vacations site information as reference.
Update on Rental House Complaints : 11/01/07
I sent three complaint emails to Oregon Beach Vacations before receiving a response. The first two emails I do not have record of because they were sent using the email from on Oregon Beach Vacation's web site. I received an email response from Oregon Beach Vacations after the one week after the third email. I was told they would look into the issue. After six weeks I emailed again to see what they had found at the rental and if anything was done. The response from David McElveen, the President of River City Travel & Oregon Beach Vacations was "What type of compensation would you like?"
I had to think for a minute before responding. If compensation was an option now, was it just to get me to shut-up and leave him alone? Take down my review site? (I don't think the site has a huge impact, but does get visitors spending several minutes reading my blabbering) Was it a sincere offer to "compensate" for our trashy vacation house? I'm sure Mr. McElveen makes every attempt to run a reputable business.
I turned down the offer of compensation for my experience at the Calypso house, as it did not feel like a sincere offering. I had spent too much time being the squeaky wheel. Also, it could be seen as possibly illegal to compensate me in order to remove this review.
I asked if problems had been found and what was done about them. He told me "Your complaint has been investigated and the housekeeper terminated.". He then apologized for the delay in getting back to me.
Good enough.
If you had a complaint from an Oregon Beach Vacation rental house, be persistent with your contact and you should also have the option of compensation.
The Next Beach House Rental
For our next beach vacation, we've made reservations at a beach front house, also in Lincoln City, not far from the Road's End area.
This rental house has a very thorough website with a great looking house. One of our group has had a chance to walkthrough the house and says that it's even cleaner and nicer than the pictures show. We're looking forward to this trip.
Other Beach House Reviews
I think I might post that review too. While the bad experience with Oregon Beach Vacations prompted me to start this site, I like the idea of adding to it. Good reviews would be a nice counter-point.
If you have an Oregon coast rental house experience you would like to share, I would like to add it to this site. If you have valid complaints, pictures would be a good thing. If you have a great house rental experience you want to share, pictures help describe and explain your praise.
If we can add more reviews, I will dedicate more time to dressing-up the site, making it .... more professional looking.