The Escape at Lake Diane — Local services in Amboy Township

The house was beautiful, however, the owner is a little shady. First of all, she insisted that we do not use VRBO to do any bookings because she has to pay fees to VRBO, so my booking was done completely outside of VRBO. She also insists that her guests purchase an insurance policy, which was fine, and it actually ended up being useful. When we got to the house, she was showing us around and when we got to the kayaks, we talked about a bad review she got because Leslie kept the family's security deposit because they scratched the "brand new" kayaks. She showed us the damage done to them, and yes there were scratches on the bottom of the kayaks, but they looked like normal wear and tear. Immediately after Leslie left us at the house the door handle came loose on the downstairs door. We dealt with it all week, as we determined it was just a bad design as the door is constantly being opened and closed. Everyone except me and my wife left on Friday afternoon, so we could clean and make sure that everything was in order when we left on Saturday morning. Then I get an email from Leslie indicating that she has filed a claim with the insurance company because the door handle was broke, a couch leg was broke(?), sprinkler head was broken and the kayaks were damaged. First of all, yes the door handle did break 5 minutes after she left, but ok, whatever, the couch leg? absolutely not. I swept around the couch, and the leg was not broken. The sprinkler head - ok, maybe one of the kids drove over it. They all said no, but I didn't see it, so ok, whatever. But the kayaks? Absolutely Not! These were already damaged by the previous renters and she even admitted that to us when we got there. I was very cautious with these kayaks and know for a fact that there was no other damage done to these kayaks by my family. She filed and was paid by the insurance company over 1500.00 for the "damage" we caused. We did end up getting our 1500.00 security deposit back but only because she got the insurance money. I feel like Leslie is working the system to make money wherever she can. I really would like to let the insurance company know what she has done, but at this point, I just want to be done with it. I would highly recommend that anyone considering renting this house, be very very cautious when booking with Leslie outside of VRBO. I paid almost 6k to rent this house for a week, I think she can afford to pay any fees associated with VRBO so the renters are protected. I felt like I was duped but there was nothing I could do as I was not protected under VRBO rules...

The house was nice and clean, however; I will NEVER again stay here or stay ANYWHERE that is associated with Leslie. She TOOK the ENTIRE $1500 deposit for knicks on cheap plastic kayaks and a scratch on her dock that she herself rammed the boat into during her “boating school”. She removed all of the crank handles on the windows, so we couldn’t open up the windows while we stayed there. This is by the way, a complete fire hazard not to allow people to exit a home through the windows! We had no way of controlling the thermostat in the house, she controlled it all through wifi and it was at 75 degrees the entire time. She lied and said that there were sensors on all of the doors and if left open too long the air conditioning would turn off. But in reality what she was doing, was just watching the cameras the entire time that we were there, unbelievably creepy! She texted our family member that had made the reservations, several times a day, reminding us of the rules of the house. There were ridiculous signs all throughout the house, telling us not to take baths(waste of water to her), not to be too loud, and not to jump on the beds. We knew she was watching us because the boat was taken out for an evening drive and texted the “no wake hours”. The kayaks were on the beach, and she texted to bring the kayaks up for when the tide comes in. We were on a lake, moronic! When making the reservations she asked not to book through VRBO, which is against the rules! We did not know this at the time. This also left us no recourse in getting our deposit back. She should be completely ashamed of herself. We are a family, that due to work schedules and thousands of miles in distance apart from each other, only take family vacations every two years. We were celebrating my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary. Now all we will remember is all the stress she has caused. Do not make the same mistake we did! DO...

We stayed here to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary. My parents, my family and my brother's family (13 total). We meet yearly at homes in several different states to all get together and have never had issues with the owners or getting our deposits back....until this one. The home is nice and in a nice location, however, the owner was not very welcoming and very picky and controlling. You do not have access to control the temperature of the house and it was uncomfortable to sleep. The window cranks are removed so you cannot open the windows. We had 13 guests and there were very few bath towels which made it difficult, with having to laundry often. We received several text reminders from the owner daily, making us feel watched over. There are several cameras on the property, and we felt as if she was watching us, according to the texts she would send. They asked that kayaks all be cleaned but there is no hose, she directed us to clean them in the lake. Getting sand out of sit in kayaks with lake water is almost impossible, therefore we did not get our deposit back on those. She said they were all dirty and scratched because they were drug through the grass (I don't think grass scratches a kayak, we also didn't use them all, but she claimed they were ALL in that condition). She kept our $500 house refund even though there were no issues with the home. Claiming the pontoon had damage and she was keeping it to cover that expense, even though the pontoon has a separate deposit, and the only so called damage would be normal wear and tear from docking. Having a second kitchen in the basement is handy, but there are NO utensils, pans, dining ware, nothing down there so it makes it kind of pointless. The area is lovely, but I would recommend finding another home on the lake to rent....stay clear of this one and...