Meyer Vacation Rentals by Vacasa — Local services in Gulf Shores

(Edited to add: Notice that Meyer apologized four months after my stay. This apology was not accompanied by any form of compensation.)

I stayed with my two daughters in Beach Club 1109C from Sunday, June 14th to Thursday, June 18th. This was to celebrate my older daughter's graduation from high school after all the disappointments surrounding COVID-19. Unfortunately, this condo added to the disappointment. This review was originally written as an email to give Meyer Vacation Rentals the opportunity to make things right, since we have used Meyer in the past and were completely satisfied. They sent a brief apology email and did not offer any kind of compensation for our poor experience.

After driving 8 hours, we had to stand in the heat with all our luggage for over 45 minutes because the door code wouldn't work.

Sometime during the first night, we realized the air conditioning didn't work. The next morning, I tried to call and report this but my cell phone didn't work. I found two cordless phones in the unit and plugged them in, waiting an hour for them to charge. But after charging (and dialing 8 for an outside line, as instructed), the phones did not work. We decided to change our evening plans and drive back in to Gulf Shores to eat dinner so that I could go inside the Meyer check-in building and let someone know. The lady put in a service ticket and said they would dispatch someone right away, so we went straight back to the condo to wait on the repair men. They arrived at 9:30 pm but didn't have the part, so we spent another night in the humidity and heat. Then the next morning we had to wait on them to come back and repair the air conditioning before we could go to the beach.

The second big issue was the Wifi. We had no Wifi the entire time we were there. I understand that Meyer does not manage the Wifi, but the runaround on this was incredibly time-wasting. To start with, I knew I couldn't call the provided 1-800 number from my room, because I had no phone. So first I tried rebooting and checking the modem and router myself. When I was sure they were both working properly, I went to the main lobby building and asked to use their phone. After some time on hold, the lady wanted me to troubleshoot the Wifi. I told her I wasn't in the condo. So she said someone would be out within 24 hours. She even told me that they may leave equipment outside my door and call me to walk me through the replacement! Two days later, I got an automated call that someone was on their way to repair the Wifi. However, we were in Gulf Shores. So I have no idea what happened there, but when we returned, the Wifi was still down. And although someone at Meyer told me that it was down for many in Fort Meyer, I checked with several condo neighbors and they all had access.

The final big issue was the washing machine. The night before we were to leave, I started a load of laundry. When the cycle stopped, the lid remained locked. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get it to open. So we stayed up until almost midnight Googling how to get the lid open. We finally used the magnet on one of our Yeti tumbler lids to trigger the magnetic lock. I realize we could have walked down to the main lobby, used the phone, and called Meyer again, but at this point I was so exasperated that I just wanted it to be over.

Several other smaller problems: All the light bulbs were burned out in the bedroom. The toilet isn't secured to the floor and moves when you sit down; you can hear the toilet grinding against the tile. There is something, probably glass, in the garbage disposal. And the outlet beside the bed has a short in it, so if you plug your cell phone there and go to sleep, your phone will not be charged in the morning.

I would conservatively estimate that I spent a total of 8 hours of my vacation dealing with condo problems. I asked Meyer to make this right. It was a huge disappointment, especially to my daughter. I know Meyer has a better reputation than what we experienced this week, but they did nothing to compensate. We will not book...

Do NOT rent from Meyer Realty – we will not again! The Enclave Unit 402. After spending 2 hours to go 5 miles, check in took less than one minute, because it was a piece of paper with a 5 digit code? They wouldn't text or email it? So we lost 2 hours on the beach and had lots of extra frustration. We walked in to Meyer’s “CleanShield” professional cleaning only to find that our master bathroom had not been swept. So our next “job” was to re-sweep the master bathroom floor. We quickly realized that the freezer and ice maker were not working. There was not one piece of ice. We called the Meyer Realty office to report this. We were told that someone would be out to fix it the next day (Sunday). On Sunday no one came. On Monday we again called the Meyer Realty office and were told they had found out the appliance repair was not open on Sundays, but no one had ever contacted us to let us know this. Finally on Monday a repairman came to look at the freezer and ice maker and told us that he needed to order a part, but that he had to have the owners OK before he could do so. He would try to come back on Tuesday to fix the problem – he did not show up on Tuesday, or ALL week. We continued to call the Meyer Realty office daily for updates with no response and had to continue to go to the store to buy bags of ice. The freezer would not even keep anything frozen that was supposed to be frozen. On Thursday evening my adult son was closing the shower door in the one bathroom and the whole shower door, top frame and all, fell on him. He somehow managed to catch it so it did not shatter, but it landed on his toes and split his one big toe nail all the way across and caused a couple other small cuts. He walked out with blood all over his foot and had Mom not been a nurse we would have definitely been finding an Emergency Room to take him to. A week later as I write this review, he is still dealing with pain and will likely have up to 6 months before the toenail grows out (if he doesn’t lose it all together). Of course, we immediately called the Meyer Realty office and were told that an injury report would be emailed to us. On Friday morning we had no incident report so we called the Meyer Realty office again. They did send a repairman out, but he “fixed” it by lifting it back up and setting it on the side frames “to keep it from breaking” and never attached it or caulked it back up. I truly hope that there was not a small child or elderly person in the bathtub the next time the shower door fell because the outcome could certainly be much worse. While the repairman was there, my husband mentioned that the toilet in that same bathroom had been leaking and asked him to look at it. He said that he needed a part and that he would go to his truck to see if he had one. If he did not have the part, he would go to the hardware store to get one and be back later in the day. We never saw the repairman again before we left for the shower door or the toilet (or the ice maker). Friday night we received a text from the Meyer Realty office asking us to let them know if we intended to leave earlier that the 1000 check out time and requesting that we text “checked out” when we left so that they could start on cleaning units. So on Saturday morning when we left the unit we texted “checked out” and mentioned that we had still not received the injury report. We received a text back that they were unaware that a call was made about an injury and asking when and what time we called so they could track down who took the call. Again as I write this review one week later, we still have not received the injury report and no one has called to check on my son. The beach was beautiful! The time with our family was wonderful! However, I would NOT recommend that you rent from Meyer Realty – we rented this unit from Meyer Realty instead of finding a unit on VRBO thinking that if we had any concerns they would be addressed more quickly through a realty office –...

--The below is a recap of my response to the survey which Meyer Vacation Rentals provided after we checked out.-- My families first impression when we walked in the Seaside Beach & Racquet Club room 1111 under reservation number 2118963 was this place is filthy dirty like it had not been cleaned in months! The floors were absolutely horrible, sticky with sand all over. Within an hour, we left and went to Walmart to purchase all cleaning supplies and rather than enjoying ourselves, WE CLEANED. Once the floors were done and cleaned by my wife & I, I went to take a shower. The shower curtain had mold at the bottom. Mostly all of the eye holes for the rings at the top were broken. As soon as I opened the shower curtain, it fell (two pieces) on to my head. I looked and the broken shower curtain rod was held together using electrical tape. The tub was so filthy feeling that every shower I took, I left shower shoes on. After the shower, I walked to look out of the back sliding doors. The curtains were so dirty, there was what appeared to be black mold. FILTHY! When I slid the curtain, to my surprise, this curtain rod was also broken and held together using electrical tape. When closing the sliding doors, I looked on the ground and there was nothing but ants all over the floor. I had to leave and go back to the store for bug spray to handle the now another problem, ANTS. The following morning we attempted to make breakfast. Every single dish, fork, knife, spoon, utensil was dirty like it was not cleaned in weeks. My wife washed everything in the "condo". By this time, we went to use the coffee pot. Low and behold, old coffee grinds with actual mold growing in the coffee pot. This "condo" should be condemned or at the very least it should be better managed and cleaned. My wife, myself and 2 kids have had enough and did not even want to stay any longer in such a horribly maintained glorified apartment. I called to Meyer Vacation rentals on 7/27 at approximately 1330 and complained about everything listed above. I spoke with a representative by the name of Brittany. She seemed to be concerned for my complaints and promised to have someone come straight away to correct all deficiencies listed. Including replacing the coffee pot. NOT ONE PERSON FROM MEYER VACATION RENTALS CALLED AS A FOLLOW UP NOR SHOWED UP TO THE "CONDO" AS AGREED. In conversation with Brittany, it was also discussed that a refund of at least all cleaning fee's / dues and possibly further reimbursement / compensation for our families horrible stay. It was so bad that when our friends came to visit us, their first initial response was, "This place is a dump and cannot believe you are staying here!" If you are the property "management" and a customer complains with legitimate concern especially when those complaints are also regarding health and welfare of tenants, those complaints should be taken seriously and actions should be taken! There is absolutely NOTHING about Seaside Beach & Racquet Club room 1111 that we liked or enjoyed. I would not recommend this unit being rented out until a complete over-haul / renovation and especially CLEANING takes place. As the paying customer, WE should not tell the property manager &/or Owner how they should run, operate or manage their property. You can refer to my initial comments as to what my suggestions are for improvements. We were contacted about the room being available the day prior and offered it to us at a discounted rate. After walking into this disgrace and filthy place, I would have rather never agreed to the extra night. I would not have considered even staying at the Seaside Beach & Racquet Club room 1111!! I would have gladly spent my money at the Days Inn or Motel 6! $1,600++ later, Me and my family are beyond frustrated, disappointed and feel like we were robbed of what was supposed to be a great...