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Surf or Sound Realty Consumer Reviews - Page 2

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Horrible Customer Service
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

SALVO, NORTH CAROLINA -- I so wish I had searched the internet before I rented from this company. What started out as a great vacation turned into a nightmare!!! Toward the end of our week one of our guest discovered what they thought might be bed bugs and sure enough that's what they were. Pest control showed up Friday morning and found them throughout the top floor of rental (#640 Frolic Inn).

I called Surf or Sound Realty Friday afternoon at 4, expecting to discuss this issue and never received a return phone call. Then when I went to the office the next morning I was treated as if it didn't matter that bed bugs were at our vacation rental and it was no big deal. The one customer service lady even tried to tell me she lost her phone the night before and that is why she could not return my phone call!!! What a Joke!!!! They have no clue what Customer Service is!!!

I will never rent from this company again or recommend them. And if I was the owner of the vacation house, I would choose another company to manage my property, especially one that has better procedures for checking for bed bugs.

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Worst Experience Ever!
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

RODANTHE, NORTH CAROLINA -- We stayed with Surf or Sound Realty the week of October 5, 2019. The week started well. Only a few minor issues with the home, such as not completely clean, and outer doors that would not lock. Our issues began on Thursday when a stalled storm off the East Coast caused coastal flooding and high tides that washed out NC 12, the only route off the island.

On Friday, we contacted the rental office and were told it would be in our best interest to leave that day. However, the road had been closed since Thursday and no one could get on and off the island. Our checkout time was 10:00 am on Saturday. The road was still closed and it was unknown when it would open. The rental company told all tenants to vacate the properties by 10:00 am to avoid being charged additional fees of $100 per hour for each hour past 10:00 am. This resulted in hundreds of tenants sitting in their cars along the highway waiting for the road to open. I will add that Midget Realty allowed tenants to shelter in place until the road opened around 8:00 pm Saturday night.

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Beach Rental Home
StarStarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 2/51

AVON, NC -- We love Avon, NC and have stayed there many years. We have used several rental companies and by far this was the worst experience we have had. The house was excellent! Perfect location and I would love to stay there again! The major problem was the check-in experience and the rudeness of one lady answering the phone, I wish I could remember her name.

We arrived early, so we stopped by the house and I called to see if by chance it was ready. We were told it was not. Some of our party decided to park on the street and just wait. 2 1/2 hours later with no one showing up at the house, I called to check and was still told no but was told we had guaranteed access in 1 1/2 hours. No one ever came by the house and when we went in it was clean and ready. We felt lied to and purposefully made to wait for no reason. I do not feel I will revisit Surf or Sound Realty. We have never had this happen before with any realty company, it was very disappointing.

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Hatteras is Beautiful, but not if you use Surf or Sound
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

SALVO, NORTH CAROLINA -- We rented Sunrise 175 for a week. The day after we arrived we informed them the refrigerator was broken, we spent the better part of 4 days trying to get any help from Surf or Sound, in the end we ended up losing our groceries for 18 people after they told us the refrigerator was repaired (And it wasn't..)..So we lost more of our time grocery shopping and spent more money replacing the groceries. What does Surf or Sound offer us for our troubles? 400$. We spent 100$ in ice for the coolers we were forced to use alone, and easily more than 300$ to replace the food we lost to feed 18 people. I would highly recommend not renting from these people, find literally any other person to rent from. Also the rental agency threw the owners under the bus saying that the owners of Sunrise 175, would only issue 400$ of the refund (We paid $1700 for the week.) The owners are Albert and Elizabeth Zimmerman, so I would highly recommend not renting from these individuals either. Seriously, we read some of the negative reviews on here and ignored them. Don't do what we did.

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Bad Customer Service
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

SALVO, NORTH CAROLINA -- We saved for several months to rent a home in Salvo through Surf or Sound Realty and even though we have rented with them before with no problem we ran into a problem this time as the Hurricane Maria visited us and we had to evacuate. We were not told that we could just go up the road "and wait it out." We were just told that we were under a mandatory evacuation and had to pack up and leave. We were devastated and very upset.

Not only were we NOT advised that if we did not purchase travelers insurance we would not get our money back we were mislead about how far we had to travel. We asked about going to Duck but were only told that we were being evacuated. Being from the northern Pennsylvania where we do not have to deal with hurricanes we did not know the ins and outs of how this worked and we're not informed by the employees at the Salvo office of Surf or Sound. I have had contact with the manager and was informed that we would not be getting any money back nor any compensation.

Not only this but the house was dirty, air conditioning vents were filthy and dishes in the drawers were unclean so we had to wash them before we used them. I think maybe we should have called the board of health when we arrived.

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No Vacation, No Rental, No Refund
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

SALVO, NORTH CAROLINA -- Surf or Sound is refusing refunds to all families affected by the OBX Blackout. Even those who purchased travel insurance through them. They have already stated in an email sent to all customers that the travel insurance will NOT be covering this as it was a man-made event. Now Surf or Sound is suddenly changing its tune and begging customers to file a claim with the insurance company for reimbursement because they've apparently realized they will be held accountable for refunds under North Carolina state law G.S.42a-36. It is my strong recommendation to all, vacationers and home owners, do not do business with this company!

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Disappointed with Management Company
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

SALVO, NORTH CAROLINA -- Yes. They are pretty horrible. They have some good houses. But they spend no effort making sure these houses are kept up during the season. Their policy is that they are not responsible for anything outside of the house. So when we arrived, the pool area/tiki-bar/outside grill area were a disaster -- garbage under cabinets; cans and bottles behind the grill; the sink and grill looked like they hadn't been cleaned in about 2 months.

When I called to complain they simply said they were not responsible for outside areas. I told them the inside of the house was disorganized too and that the cleaning service was sub-par; they basically made the beds and emptied the garbage. They swept the floors too. But the house just felt dirty and there were lots of interior maintenance issues too -- leaks in the ceilings when it rained; broken windows; broken sliding doors; broken stairs; no functional pool sticks (which pretty much makes the pool table a big waste of space); broken hot tub... I could go on.

When I told Surf or Sound that I was not happy about having to spend the first day cleaning up and organizing the house, they told me that I did not have to clean up when we left... "for our troubles." Pretty sure that's what they tell everybody when they complain which is why the house is a disaster.

We stayed at the Sundance in Rodanthe. The house has a great location -- right on the beach; 50 yards from the water. But we would not stay there again because of the condition of the home. Sad, because the homeowner pays Surf or Sound to manage their property and they just do a bad job.

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Burnt in the Outer Banks
By -

RODANTHE (OUTER BANKS), NORTH CAROLINA -- I just returned from the Outer Banks from the worst vacation I have ever had. For one year I have planned my first family vacation in ten years. Decided to rent a home for the week in the town of Rodanthe (Hatteras Island Estates) in the Outer Banks of North Carolina through Surf or Sound Realty. After a very crueling drive to the Outer Banks, we were exhausted but excited to start our vacation. The house was gorgeous but not very clean. Master bath on the fourth floor had hair covering the floor, the shower, and curtain. And I mean ALL types of hair. Then I proceeded to the kitchen, clumps of food were in every corner.

Okay, it's not perfect. I go to the living room area and notice something under the couch. Pieces of dried up playdough left by previous tenants and the house was "cleaned" before we got there. Now I'm annoyed. Rental companies advertise that homes in the Outer Banks are cleaner than your own. Because I had a two-year-old in the home and the rental agency was closed I cleaned up the food on the kitchen floor and the playdough. I cleaned my bathroom because it was very nasty and I could not use it with all the hair all over the floor and shower.

Sunday morning I get a call from the realtor stating to me that the house is up for sale and they were bringing prospective buyers through between 11 and 2. They gave me really no choice they pretty much just said "we are coming and that's it." So the owner of the home shows up around 12:30 to show his home to these buyers. My day now is pretty much screwed. We planned to go to the lighthouses in the area but I was very hesitant to leave with my personal items in the house knowing that strangers would be walking through every room. Now I have paid close to $5,000.00 to rent this house for the week.

Surf or Sound Realty gave me the impression that I didn't have a say about any of this. I was just stunned by the way I was being treated by these people. I was at a loss on what to say or do at this point. So I rearranged my vacation to accommodate them... this happened twice during my stay.

Monday morning we were awakened around 8 am by this intense construction noise. Nail guns, construction cranes, pile drivers, generators, pumps, trucks pulling in and out of my driveway... trailers hauling pieces of these houses... and where is all this going on... not 10 feet from my house. Not only are they building 1 house, they are building 3, right next to me and all are on a deadline to be finished by July 1st. And because the builder who was also the owner of our home had no temporary electric service for his construction site, they tapped into our electric.

They were constantly blowing our breakers and had to come in the gameroom to where the breaker box was located. Or he had generators running. So to be able to go out and RELAX by the pool was impossible. The noise from the generators was so loud you had to scream to person sitting next to you to be heard. The entire house at times vibrated from all the machinery being run outside.

My daughter and I both cleaned the gameroom before we left and saw no damage to anything, and believe me with the way I was treated by the parties involved I paid very close attention and making sure that the gameroom and the rest of the house was perfect so they could not come back and say we did something. But they did anyway. I'm being charged for damage done to a pole in the gameroom for the amount of $200.00. Even though numerous people not in MY party were in and out continuously. As we were packing to leave, the workers were waiting with bated breath for us to get out so they could come into the home.

So, who really did the damage to the gameroom? If it had been my party I would have been honest and upfront with them just like I was with the rail outside. My driveway was blocked by all the construction vehicles we could not freely come and go. And when we did we had to go through the grass next to the driveway which was next to these houses being built to get out and needless to say 2 of our vehicles had to have tires repaired due to nails being in them. Can I definitely say this is where the nails came from, NO, but any intelligent person can draw their own conclusion.

Not only were they blocking our access to the house they were also blocking emergency vehicles from reaching us if we needed them because the whole street was blocked by vehicles numerous times and for long periods of time.
My family and I tried very hard to make the best out of this very bad situation that we were put into by no fault of our own. In my opinion, the parties involved should have had more respect for me and my family and told us that construction was going on and give us the choice of staying at this house after all the facts were disclosed, or offering us a refund, or another house at a different location.

We work very hard for our money. When I enter an agreement with someone I expect people to be upfront and honest with me. In my opinion, the parties involved were not. I was with them. I had a pirates of the caribbean party for the kids. I placed a banner of pirate flags on a rail by the pool. With the weather, part of the banner damaged the paint. I immediately called and reported this. Took full responsibility. The owner came by surveyed the damage and stated that it would take $300.00 to repaint the rail. But for all our "inconvenience" he would not charge us to have the rail repainted.

In my opinion, this in no way compensated us for any of our "inconveniences". It was like spitting in the ocean. In all my experience with rental agencies, Surf or Sound Realty has been the worst rental agency that I have ever dealt with. They never offered an apology. In my opinion, they treated my family and myself like dirt. I will never use Surf or Sound Realty again and I will not recommend anyone that would ask me to use them either. In my opinion, Surf or Sound and the owner of Hatteras Island Estates owe me a full and complete refund with an apology for ruining our vacation.

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Horrible Check-in Procedures
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

RODANTHE, NORTH CAROLINA -- Check in at 6pm and check out at 10am, swindles you out of a full day although you are paying for 7. It's gotten worse since they added the option of paying for 'early check-in'; now, don't plan on getting in early since they'll lose leverage in marketing the fee. It would be better for Surf or Sound to try harder to accommodate their guests; a little empathy for people who have driven many hours with children to visit the island maybe? I'm sure they've lost business to other rental companies due to this, and the homeowners should know.

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Worst Service Ever
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

WAVES NC -- This company only wants your money. They could care less about customer service. We were supposed to get in our home by 6pm, but got in at 6:45pm and only the top floor because they are not finished cleaning. Someone crapped all over the bathroom and they told us, "Oh I'm sorry, someone will come out tomorrow." Really? Be careful people... they have totally disgusted me.

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Surf or Sound Realty Rating:
Star Empty star Empty star Empty star Empty star
1.1 out of 5, based on 20 ratings and
21 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
Surf or Sound Realty
40974 NC Highway 12
Avon, NC 27915
1-800-237-1138 (ph)
www.surforsound.com
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