Surf or Sound Realty — Local services in Avon

We stayed at Nautilus - #954 in Hatteras which is 7 bedrooms -9 bathrooms. First… the house was a 10 out of 10. It was easily the most wonderful home we have ever stayed in. There were ocean views from every level. The kitchen was VERY well appointed — plenty of dishes for our large group, and had every cooking/baking dish/appliance you could dream of. (Although no salt&pepper or coffee filters)

Another major positive of this home was how thoughtfully all seating spaces (both inside and out) had been planned. The outdoor furnishings were exceptionally high quality. The garage was filled with beach chairs, umbrellas, etc which would have been nice to know about so we hadn’t brought stuff we didn’t need to.

There is a little TLC needed in a few spots. Some of the bathrooms badly need to be re-caulked and the indoor jacuzzis could use a deep clean. I also wish there was a soap dish for hand soap in each bathroom (or better yet, that surf of sound could provide those small hand soap bottles for each bathroom).

As for Surf or Sound… we put a pre-reservation down on the house very early so we’re not sent the lease for nearly a year. When I received the lease, we found that the fees (including the mandatory accident insurance, service fee and cleaning fee) amounted to nearly $4k bringing the total rental fee up to over $20,000 for a single week. The cleaning fee alone was over $1,000. I will say the home was mostly very clean and smelled wonderful. But $1,000 clean? No. The one ding I’ll give them is that apparently they didn’t change the sheets on one of the beds in the kids’ room. When my son went to bed the first night there was sand in the sheets and the pillow smelled bad. Luckily we had extra sheets. The rest of the house was spotless. Another disappointment is that we were not able to get into the home until around 6pm. I was thinking we must have been the last house they cleaned and $1,000 doesn’t include priority.

The home has two stand-alone high end ice-makers. They make the kind of ice that makes my heart leap! Clear ice! Cocktail ice! Swoon. Unfortunately, the one in the rec room did not work. The inspection lady said there was already a work order in for it, but it was not fixed during our stay. The freezer in the main kitchen has got problems. The bottom basket slipped out constantly (likely something broken there), but more importantly, the temperature was too warm. It was not keeping food totally frozen. After the first day, we opted not to use it and use the freezers in the rec room/garage… but uh… for 20k a week, we should not have needed to do that. I called twice and sent two text message and nothing was done/fixed. Finally, while the pool deck lights worked, the actual pool light did not. Again, I called twice and sent two text messages, but no one responded to my calls. It was a real bummer because we would have loved to use the pool after dark but couldn’t… because it was dark. ¯(ツ)/¯

On Thursday I received a text asking us to let them know if we’d be checking out early. I replied to let them know we would not be checking out early, but that I had multiple calls in about the freezer and pool light and hadn’t received any response. Someone texted back that they would check with maintenance, but we didn’t hear anything after that. :(

On Saturday morning housekeeping pulled into our driveway some time between 8-9am just waiting for us to leave. I’m guessing the people who stayed after us paid for early checkin or something. Very unlike our arrival when the house wasn’t ready until close to 6

Anyhow, in closing… we had a wonderful vacation in a magnificent home. Spending $20k+ on a single week vacation was a major splurge for us. I suspect Surf & Sound were thinking… we’ve got bigger problems* than a pool light and a malfunctioning freezer in a house that has another two freezers. But for me… this was maybe a once in a lifetime vacation that I wanted to be perfect. I felt ignored/low priority.

*FTR I don’t actually know if they had bigger problems because they never returned...

Our Surf or Sound Service nightmare timeline for Spalsh Mansion, Salvo.

Sunday March 31. $600 for the pool to be heated. The heater was not on, the pool was 56 degrees. Pool was not cleaned as it had a large amount of some black substance on the floor.

Monday, late afternoon, service said the heater was on, threw a few chlorine tablets in the pool and left, pool not cleaned. Heater still showing error code(photo). The grill was left covered with food(photo), who knows how long, and no propane. Surf and sound answer was for us to go exchange the tank ourselves.

Tuesday, kid pool has no water in it (photo) main pool still cold, no response from surf or sound. 10 calls, as well as texts, just to receive standard response we have created a work order, your issue has been escalated and a property manager will call you. Propane tank was delivered and grill somewhat cleaned after refusing to replace the tank myself.

Wednesday still a cold pool. I visit the Salvo Surf or Sound office where I speak with vacation specialist Patti. I am again told there are no property managers around, the issues are escalated and a property manager will call me. I was also asked to forward her an email with the photos that had already been sent via text to escalate again, which I did. Wednesday midafternoon an HVAC pro showed up and is able to correct the heater but the pool day is lost as the heater takes time.

Thursday, went to Ocracoke for the day only to return at 830pm to see that the main pool is warm but had lost almost 3 inches of water from the valves adjusted to get the kid pool functioning(photo). The kitchen sink faucet broke that night and was never repaired(photo). More emails and texts, never to hear a response again. A noxious gas like smell also filled the lower level leaving the area (hot tub grill outdoor shower) unusable. At this time it was brought to my attention that for several days the septic tank had been overflowing (photo) from the tank puddling at our back stairwell. This was of particular safety and sanitary concern due the area being a grassy area where children were playing on previous days as well as it being part of the trail to the beach.

Friday. Maintenance for septic showed in the evening but did not correct as the septic would continue to overflow for the remainder of the week as well as the noxious smell remained. Filled pool ourselves due to water below skimmer.

Saturday I made a second trip to the Salvo office where I was told contact is usually made after the trip. After no resolution, Patti was again brought out to speak with me. Patti again explained the company line, that all my issues were escalated and the property managers were out in the field and could not be contacted. There was nothing further she could do as she only worked for reservations. Other groups were in line having the same problem, reporting issues with no remedy, no update or contact from Surf or Sound. It was also quite insulting to see the fleet of pool vehicles and surf or sound trucks go from house to house all day for the Saturday check out/check in but none had time to stop at our house. That night I typed another email to Patti of all the issues that had not been corrected as documentation proof for further action. This would include the pool which also had never received the midweek cleaning/service as stated in the contract, lack of use of pool due the heater down for almost 5 days, septic, noxious smell on bottom level, and kitchen sink.

Friday April 12, still no communication. Messages left, none returned. Sad that reservations employees have to deal with every issue as they are the only ones answering phones, guessing cause that brings in money which is all the company cares about. It is a shame that a company with such terrible management has a monopoly on such a large section of Hatteras Island. I realize that Surf or Sound does not care to remedy any of these issues and will have to look for other avenues to get a proper remedy. I have reached out to a few lawyers to see what course...

I am writing to share our experience at Atlantic Dreams, #865.

Dates of stay: 8/12/23-8/19/33

My mother rented the home, and spent $16,000.00, so her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren could have a wonderful week together. There were so many issues, all of which we contacted you about multiple times during our stay, that the experience in the home was negatively impacted. We contacted your company 3 or 4 times on the date of check-in, sharing concerns and were told we would get calls back and we never did. My mother and daughter went in person to your rental office on Sunday morning and were told everything would be taken care of within 24-48 hours, only the elevator was fixed and that was not until Thursday. We called again on Tuesday, the same promises were made, zero contact from anyone. Safety Issues in the home: The elevator was not functional, we were told on Sunday that elevators are a priority. The repair person came on Thursday and stated he was only notified Wednesday about the issue. one guest was actually stuck in the elevator for about 45 minutes on Sunday until we managed to get him out. The renter (Wendy Dowling) is 78 years old and specifically rented the home so she could comfortably move between the floors without walking up and down the steps and she only had that available starting on Thursday. We also had a pregnant guest that struggled walking up and down the steps. This is an accessibility issue. In the master bathroom on the top floor, ocean front, there was a vent that was hanging down several inches, dripped water on anyone who was standing at the sink and had black mold around the opening. Mold, especially the black mold that was there, is hazardous to health, as I am sure you are aware. The person staying in that bedroom is 78 years old and more sensitive to respiratory issues There was a 1 year old who is asthmatic and during his stay in the home he had symptoms that needed to be treated with his inhaler, within an hour of leaving the home his symptoms were gone There was broken glass around the pool, we called twice about that and no one came. We discovered this when a shard of glass was stuck in someone's foot. There were young children that should be able to be around the pool and not step on pieces of glass. There were raised bolts around the pool that the pool maintenance gentleman said were for the pool cover but should not be sticking up like that. He covered them with white tape and said that his supervisor would be out the next day with a tool to remove them, he never did. We had young children at the home that could have been very hurt. A hinge on a bedroom door (3rd floor, oceanfront) was rusted out and therefore the door slammed shut with extreme force. A railing on a top bunk in the double bunk room was completely loose with a screw exposed. No one could sleep on that bunk without the risk of falling off while sleeping. General Maintenance Issues: toilets in most of the bathroom continually ran catering supplies left near the bar space light bulbs out in several rooms and bathrooms the trash can drawer in the second set of cabinets was broken, making that unusable. right side of stove burners did not work at all, leaving two burners functional there was not enough silverware or glassware for everyone to have what they need for a meal doors to the washing room closet completely fell off, the bottom hinge was broken when we arrived and the doors fell off as we opened them. Cleanliness: the house was filthy with crazy amounts of dog hair all over it there were used solo cups laying around that we had to pick up all four trash cans were completely full when we got there with flies all around and no where for us to put our trash when prior guests leave the home in the state that the prior guests left it, you need to send more people to help clean. One person cannot clean the mess that was left. She did not finish until after 6:30 and...