My experience with First Villages Rentals was very unprofessional and I was treated very poorly by this company.
First encounter: My first encounter was when I went to pick up my resident's pass. I had been charged $150 for two passes. One of the passes was issued to my deceased husband and when I informed them of this and requested they refund me for the extra pass, they became very beligerent. I felt it was not worth arguing over, so I accepted this and refused to let it ruin my stay.
My $500 deposit: The rental contract stated it could take up to six weeks to receive my deposit. I left the rental unit on January 25. I called First Village Rentals after the six week period to check on the status of my deposit. I was told it had been sent and they would need to confirm that the check had not been cashed and, if it had not, they would send another one. Another week passed, and still no check. I called again and they said it had been mailed. I finally received the check on March 17. However, I did not receive the entire amount of $500, but instead the check was for only $310. I called again and was told by an extremely rude man that they retained $190 for cleaning and processing. I cleaned the residence thoroughly and there was no damgage at all.
Course of events: I want to chronicle for others just what this company did. First of all, I called for a rental unit in June. They told me that everything was already rented, but for $100 they would put me on their "wish list." This entitled me to have them call me if anyone wanted to rent their property. Two days later (coincidentally, right!) they called saying they found some properties. I should have known this was a scam&there are a lot of properties available in The Villages! There are "For Rent" signs all over the place. I went ahead and sent a check for $2,000 and later a check for $1,357.08. The patio home was very nice, but had only one bedroom and one bathroom.
About a week or so before I was to leave for Florida, I received a call from First Village Rentals and they said I had to send them a check for $175 for my dog. When I first inquired whether the units were dog friendly, I was told there would be an additional charge, so I decided not to take my dog (which I informed them). Now, after already sending them fulll payment, I was being told they would cancel my rental if I didn't send the additional money for my dog, who was never going to accompany me in the first place. I told the lady to do what they had to do, but I refused to send them more money. She said they would have to call me back. Two days later, they called me back saying it had been worked out.
Final insult: The final insult was yesterday when I received the deposit for only $310 and called the rental company. The man was extremely beligerent because I called at 8:00 A.M., which was evidently before their business hours. I apologized and asked about the discrepancy in the amount of my deposit. He rudely stated "Read your contract." I asked what the $190 deduction was for and he said cleaning and processing, which I still have no idea what "processing" included. He went on to inform me (shouting) that I am now "officially blackballed" and they will never rent to me again. I told him they will not be in business very long treating people like this and he hung up on me.
I feel as though I really got into a bad situation when I made the initial call and it became progressively worse. It was a very expensive lesson and I caution others to be careful when dealing with First Village Rentals.
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