We have vacationed on North Captiva three times in the past four years, the first time being at the Lazy Dolphin (North Captiva Island Club unit 121) in 2004, when we had a wonderful time. The house's layout, amenities and proximity to the beach were ideal and we decided we definitely wanted to visit the house again. The next time we came to visit was in 2006; we had tried to book The Lazy Dolphin but it was unavailable. So we rented another house, and though it was nice, we were always comparing it to the superiority of Lazy Dolphin.
In February 2008 we returned to Lazy Dolphin. Compared to our first visit, we were quite disappointed in the condition of the house. Obviously, with a house as popular as Lazy Dolphin, we would expect a degree of wear and tear, but we would also expect a house which rents for several thousand dollars a week to receive better maintenance than was evident. Among the problems we discovered upon our arrival:
· Sugar ant infestation in the kitchen
· Swimming pool cloudy and full of sand upon arrival, and there was no pool cleaning service during the week; twice a week pool cleaning is specified in placard by pool
· Swimming pool heater never heated the pool, despite two service calls to correct
· Sliding glass doors throughout the house were difficult, almost impossible to operate
· Electrical problem in pool bar; we got shocked a few times
· Two smoke detectors in the house were removed from their mounts and found hidden in closet and TV console
· No less than 18 light bulbs throughout the house were burned out, which made the house quite dark at night
· There was impact damage to walls in the mezzanine and in the second master bedroom
· The Play Station was inoperative; one connector was physically broken
· Lid on blanket chest in master bedroom was damaged
· We found dust, dead insects and many places in the house that were not cleaned properly
· One of our children experienced insect bites in bed during our first two nights, this ended when we washed her bed linens
· No balls for foosball table by pool
· No darts for dartboard
· All board games had missing pieces
· Most of the CD's and DVD's were missing; no discs in cases
· Several kitchen area windows were inoperative or damaged
· Direct-TV remote in second bedroom inoperative, even with new
batteries
- Telephones not working because of lack of DSL filters
· Lower floor vacuum didn't have a bag and was clogged
I delivered this list to the North Captiva Island Club office the day after we arrived. from this entire list, we received a can of ant killer spray, six light bulbs, a chlorine tablet was thrown in the pool (but the sand was left) and a technician came out look at the phones (but he was unable to fix them without the proper filters). According to the Island Club personnel, the house was vacant for several days prior to our arrival, which would have been adequate time to inspect, discover and fix most of these problems. Some of these problems were mere inconveniences, while others were serious safety hazards, and still others affected the advertised amenities which any guest would expect to be in working order.
While most Island Club personnel were kind, there was no sense of urgency or accommodation to having the house ready or fixing the problems we discovered, even though we were spending thousands of our hard-earned dollars to rent the house. Almost every problem had an excuse, and few personnel seemed to really care enough to make sure the house was acceptable.
After returning home I contacted the owner to let him know of the disappointing condition we found his house. Knowing that he depends on North Captiva Island Club to maintain his house and keep it in good condition for his customers, I felt obligated to inform him of what had transpired. Only after this were we assured that "almost everything would be fixed," which is fine for future guests, but why couldn't these items be fixed prior to or during our stay? The manager/owner of NCIC, Bryan Brilhart, offered us 20% off our next stay plus an extra golf cart & boat slip, but we would have prefered a partial refund...since he was offering a 20% discount, we asked for a refund of that amount. Sadly, it has been almost 2 weeks and we have not received a reply.
Based on this experience, we're not even sure if we would go back to North Captiva. if we do go back, we would definitely avoid choosing a house operated by North Captiva Island Club. We expect more professionalism, better maintenance, and better service when spending thousands of our dollars.
All this said, I would like to give special recognition for outsanding service to the personnel of Mango's, everyone there was mighty friendly and willing to help out. One young man was very helpful...I had arrived just seconds after the store closed, needing to buy matches for the grill (none in the house) and his manager had just locked up and he couldn't get back into the store, so he just gave me his lighter.
Also, at one point my wife was unwell, so we asked the firemen/medics to come by. They were quite professional, helpful and friendly, and I am glad to say she was feeling better the next day.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Management Response
bryanbril, Manager
(Management representative)
Mar 5, 2008
It would be great if every circumstance was under our control, but in this instance weather was a definite factor. The day of this customer’s arrival a heavy thunder storm caused a power surge creating electrical problems. Before this customers arrival, pool tile was newly installed and with the heavy rains that week, the grout residue kept leaking into the pool. Our pool cleaning personnel was at the home three times that week vacuuming the pool and cleaning the filters at 7:30am. Two of our maintenance personnel were at the home when the guests arrived and fixed the problems brought to their attention. For some reason, this guest chose to correspond directly with the owner and never gave us a fair chance to work things out. After I emailed the guest the owners offer for the problems they had after receiving the guests communications second hand from the owner, the guest a second time chose to email the owner their response directly and chose again to leave us out. I don’t know why this guest felt that was the right thing to do? Little items are important to us. If the home was missing foosballs or darts, we would have been happy to resupply them as we keep them in stock on the island. It is unfortunate the weather was poor that week and if the guest needed things we wish we would have been informed. When managing a home on a remote island, things can go wrong and that is why we are there. If the guest was unsatisfied, and communicated with us directly, we may have been able to work things out to their satisfaction, but we were not given the chance. As an extra precaution, in our welcome kit, I offer the guest to call me directly if there are problems that they are not able to get resolved. I wish I would have gotten a call from them instead of from the owner home a few days after their departure.
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
