Crystal Bay Getaway/Lakefront in High Rock Lake

A very poor vacation experience

jeepcrazy (Front Royal, VA)
Review submitted: August 10, 2011   Date of arrival: July 23, 2011

We spent the last hour of our 5 hour drive in a panic trying to get in touch with the homeowner in order to gain access to the property. Took 30 minutes after we got there to get in.
The house was filthy. There was black dog hair on everything, paw prints on the deck, etc. The house trash cans were full, there was trash outside in the back of their “mule” and a rotting tomato on the counter. There was food in the cupboards, in the fridge and freezer, and clothes in the drawers and closets! The toilet in the master bathroom was stopped up, too. I thought this was a rental, this house looked lived in? The grill in the garage is disgusting and unsafe for use. It hasn’t been cleaned, maybe ever.
We were not happy, but pretty soon "Sherry" showed up and we were told they were very sorry but they didn’t know we were coming, they thought we were coming the following week. Curious, we’d sent them two checks with the week in the memo and booked our vacation using this site and numerous emails confirming the trip.
"Sherry" threw all the towels and sheets in the washer (together…bad for whites?) and raced around the house “straightening up.” Nothing was done about the dog hair, the smell, the tomato, the food, etc. She was there 10 min tops.
The lawn for this property hasn’t been mowed in QUITE some time. The grass was over a foot long in some places. My 7 year old got a huge splinter in his foot and my daughter hurt her foot on a nail sticking out of the dock within 30 minutes. The dock is in a state of disrepair. All of the nails are protruding and need to be renailed in. I had to drive to Lexington to buy a hammer and nail their dock back together. The nails on the side destroyed the rubrails on my bass boat. Don't dock your boat here.
By 9pm nothing we had placed in the refrigerator was cold, but it was improving. The kids found ROACHES in the basement. I didn’t believe them until I found one myself. We had to toss our dry food. I’m not bringing bugs back to our house!
We cleaned up everything, and left everything in a dramatically cleaner condition than it was presented to us. I even made the kids go down and organize the floats in the basement that were all over the place when we arrived. Trash was in bags and in the mule.
I’ve rented several houses and never had an experience remotely like this and have never been denied my deposit. I can’t encourage potential renters strongly enough. AVOID this property!

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