Samantha Ford, property manager
Sydney, NSW, Australia
This is the story of how Samantha Ford (SF) of www.boutiquevillasandapartments.com left us with no place to live in Sydney a week before our arrival.
I found SF in September 2008 through www.stayz.com while searching the website for a suitable holiday rental for our month's stay in Sydney. After a few exchanges of emails I gave her a 500 AUD deposit to secure a North Sydney apartment for a 4-week rental period in February 2009. This apartment had everything we were looking for (washer/dryer, unlimited high speed internet, convenience to public transportation, A/C, etc.) for a reasonable price.
While I was in Boston for Christmas I received an email from SF telling us that the apartment we wanted was no longer available for rent, but offered us an "upgrade" to a different apartment in Potts Point, Sydney for the same rental price. Although this apartment did not look as nice in the pictures and did not have A/C we decided that as long as it met our internet requirements we'd just go with it. At this point I re-iterated the importance of internet access to SF and she reassured me that they can accommodate us (at an additional fee, but whatever).
On January 30th 2009 I received an email from SF telling me that they are not able to provide an internet connection at the new apartment, canceled my reservation and refunded my deposit. At this point, I was at the tail end of my South America cruise and was arriving in Sydney on February 8th!
My entire next week in Santiago, Chile was pretty much spent prowling the internet and calling various property management companies for an available apartment in our price range. SF said in her email that she'd help us look for a new place but she NEVER gave us any options or a hint that she was even trying.
In the end we ended up renting an apartment for twice the amount we were originally going to pay AND lost more money when SF returned our 500 AUD deposit. Due to the increasing value of the USD between Sept 2008 and Jan 2009, we lost over 100 USD in this transaction.
Given the situation she left us in I should have unleashed more anger on her. However, I asked J to compose the final email (he's more eloquent than I am) and this is what we sent to her:
Sam,My husband and I leave for Sydney in 36 hours. You really left us in a bind. We booked our accomodations several months ago in order to ensure that we would be able to find a good place at a good price and your last-minute cancellation has left us with few, if any, options. The only places we can find now are $1500+ over our budget and we are seriously considering cutting our trip short. We have not gotten any options from you or any sign that you care about the situation we're in. I realize that some factors were out of your control, but we really expected you to make this right. Needless to say, this has been a horrible experience and will be reflected in our reviews online.
My recommendation: Do not do business with Samantha Ford!
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