Narragansett Properties — Local services in Narragansett

I traveled to Rhode Island to visit family since I have a large family there. We decided to rent a beach house with some cousins of ours. We were having trouble finding something in the area that we wanted to be in but we used VRBO to find a house to rent. I spoke with the woman, Rhonda, who was very nice and efficient. The house was great, just not as close to the actual beach as we wanted to be. We were told we needed to bring towels with us because there would be none at the house. We also received an email shortly before the trip which stated we would need bed linens because the house would not have them. We were traveling from Florida so it was very hard to fit both a towel and a sheet in our already full luggage but we made it work. When we arrived we stayed with my aunt for the first night because it was very late. She allowed us to borrow 3 towels because we mentioned that the house would not have any. When we checked into the house the next day, the house had lots of towels, a whole closet full. It also had sheets on every bed. That would have been great except that we had gone through the trouble of bringing our own. We still used some of the towels and made sure that on check out day, we cleaned up the house as the paper noted, took all of the bed linens and towels and put them downstairs to be cleaned. We even began washing the towels.

Now here is the upsetting part: A month and a half after we returned from the trip, I get an overdraft notification to my email. I was confused because I absolutely never allow myself to overdraft my account. I knew I had enough there to cover anything pending, and that my direct deposit would be coming over the weekend. I logged into my account to see why it overdrafted and saw the check written to the landlord Phil for the damage deposit. I knew for sure that there was nothing damaged at the house. A MONTH & A HALF LATER?! FOR WHAT?? We are respectful people and treat things as our own, with care. This was Saturday so they asked me to call back on Monday to follow up as to why that would have happened. Apparently, they cashed the $300 check because there were some missing towels and a strap broken on a kayak. Personally, I own a kayak at home. My boyfriend who was with me also owns a kayak and another person who was with us also owns one. Point being, we know how to properly handle a kayak and only used them once, now I see that was a mistake and we should not have bothered with them. The 3 towels that were borrowed from my aunt, were folded & returned to her by my sister, and there is no way that we mixed up the other towels with hers. We also had hardly any room to bring our personal towels, let alone try to take some back home with us.

They could easily be charging us for what other guests have taken/done in the time that has passed. How can I prove after all of this time that it was not us? Why the heck was this deposited a whole month and a half after the trip? And most importantly, why was I not notified, either by phone or email, that the check was going to be deposited and for what reason. I could have avoided the bank fee if someone would have placed a call to me explaining what supposedly happened and why they needed to deposit the check. All I would have needed to do was transfer some money over. So now, not only am I paying $50 for some towels we never took but I was also charged a bank fee. I'm also still waiting for the check to arrive with the difference of the damage deposit amount from the property management company.

If you decide to book with this company for a vacation home or any other type of rental, be careful. Take the time to possibly record and document everything, and make sure that you do not end up in a situation as unprofessional...

While looking for a summer rental in Narragansett, I tried to book a lovely little condo through VRBO. My reservation was released by VRBO when the condo's owner failed to respond to my inquiry within 24 hours.

Later that morning, I was contacted by Nicholas from Narragansett Property Management (NPM). He informed me that NPM does not accept reservations through VRBO (citing fees charged to renters by VRBO).

I was quite suspicious, as we've vacationed in Narragansett for a couple of decades, yet I've never heard of Narragansett Property Management. Additionally, I wondered why NPM would choose to list properties on but not accept reservations through VRBO. I saw deeply divided reviews (some glowing, others very angry) of NPM on Google.

Nicholas assured me that my desired property was available for my chosen dates. He sent me an application (which I completed less than two hours later) and requested an e-mail response once I'd submitted it. I found this odd, as an automatic reply was generated by NPM upon receipt of my application.

Nicholas then e-mailed to inform me that my chosen property had already been booked (in error, by a colleague at NPM) for the last half of my stay. He asked whether my dates were flexible.

I wondered why a shorter stay would be honored rather than my nearly two-week reservation. I advised Nicholas that my dates were not negotiable, and asked whether he had any comparable bookings.

He e-mailed back and told me about a cottage that was available, but "more expensive." He included a zip drive with 29 photographs of this property.

Fortunately, I managed to secure another rental through an agency we've used for many years. This whole experience with NPM felt very much like a bait-and-switch scam.

I'm familiar with vacation bookings in which you submit your dates and any special requests. Typically, an agency's software then shows you properties which match your specifications (or lets you know they don't have any available).

NPM's website is not structured in this way. You may browse their properties, but cannot determine whether their listings are either booked or affordable. All I can say is caveat emptor, and keep your...

DO NOT RENT WITH THEM. Very unprofessional, unresponsive. Took 40 days after end of lease to even hear back about where the security deposit was. After 40 days, with no warning or notification (we were told we would be notified about any damanges or repairs within 20 days of move-out). We were charged upwards of 1,000 for damages unknown to us or already present on the home years before we moved in (Burnt siding on a house, we NEVER grilled once in 2 years). This was on day 40!! after the lease!!!! Most property visits are not in compliance with the lease and they will not provide 72 hours notice. On multiple occasions I had come home to a "handy man" in the driveway with no consent to enter the home and was already inside (4 women lived in this home and a grown man was inside without our knowledge, see the problem) (there also was no emergency, pipe burst, water leak, fire damage). If you are renting for the academic year they will raise the price on the same house, with no improvements the following year.

They also do not notify home owners of any issues that are arising. On multiple occasions when going through NPM we would wait weeks for new appliances (We were without a stove for over 2+ weeks) they refused to provide us with a toaster oven while we waited for the repairs so the household could have a usable baking oven to cook food. We began just reporting problems and maitenance issues directly to the owners instead.

Tom, Evan and the rest of the team are in it for the money. Not ensuring that tenants in the homes are actually taken care of. Evan also has a tendency to scream at tenants and hangup if he feels he is in the right and they are in the wrong. The business is family owned, so no one to really report these types of behaviors...