Over Thanksgiving my family and I rented a house through Gulfport Vacation Rentals over the internet. We spent a lovely week vacationing in Florida. We enjoyed our trip very much. We liked where we stayed so much that we took pictures of the rooms before we left to show people and so we could remember what the place looked like because we wanted to come back in the future.
We paid for the rental plus $100 security deposit. The morning we left (11/25) we cleaned up the house, took out the trash, swept the floors, etc. Our rental included a $75 cleaning fee but I wanted to make sure that everything was in order before we left.
Two weeks later I get an email from the owner saying they weren't going to refund my security deposit because we had damaged the floor and kitchen table. I was shocked. I have rented many vacation rentals in the past and have never had a problem. I emailed the owner back and asked for a further explanation. She emailed back and said someone had scratched up the table and put big scratches in the floor. I personally swept the floor before we left and there were no scratches on it.
I went back and looked at the pictures that we had taken - nothing in them. I then emailed the owner and asked her to provide pictures of the damage. She responded back that she would have to get pictures because she was in Arizona and the rental was in Florida. She also went on to say that the pictures that I had would not show the damage. It seems that the big scratches had now become dents that you couldn't see unless you were lying on the floor. She also said that no one had been in the house since we left. According to their website they had the house booked at least twice since we have been there. One coming in right after we left.
It is now 12/18 and still no pictures. She was supposed to be going to Florida on the 15th to take pictures.
Now don't get me wrong $100 is not going to break me. It is the principle of the matter. She keeps changing her story to fit whatever mood she is in that day.
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