Bear Tootin Cabin — Local services in Pigeon Forge

Before you rent/lease from this company, it would behoove you to take the time to read this review. |My wife and I stayed at one of their cabins to celebrate our tenth anniversary.  We only had two nights due to the limitations of a sitter for our children.  One of our major requirements was having a nice hot tub. |We selected the “Bearly Behaving” cabin and paid a higher rate simply because it had a newer, nicer hot tub.  Upon arrival, the cabin looked good, but I noticed the hot tub cover was half off.  I went by and stuck my hand in the tub and it was not heating properly.  I understand things happen and anything man-made can go out at any given time.  I called maintenance and to my surprise, someone came out pretty quick to take a look. |The gentleman hit some buttons on the control panel and stated he thought he may have gotten it going, and asked for me to call back in an hour if it isn’t heating.  Several hours later, the tub still was not heating, and as directed, I called him back.  He stated he would be unable to come back that night due to being across town at another cabin where the power was out.  No big deal, we conceded night one of two, we would not have the use of the hot tub.  The following day, I called back and to make a long story short, the tub would not be fixed due to the owner saying the tub was under warranty and maintenance was directed not to touch it.  As a result, on night two of two, we would not have use of the hot tub, the main selling feature of the cabin.  Up to this point, I was very understanding, and patient of the situation. |I asked for compensation for the lack of access to the hot tub and was advised despite paying over a grand for two nights, I was offered $50 compensation.  I legit thought the woman was joking.  Fifty bucks doesn’t even feed a family of four at McDonalds anymore much less make up for a main feature of a rental property.  When I spoke to the manager, Carol, things went from bad to a lot worse.  I am in my forties, I have never in my life spoken to someone that had the condescending tone this woman had.  She proceeded to tell me the hot tub was an amenity and amenities are not guaranteed.  She made it sound like the hot tub was a hair dryer. |I attempted to put it into perspective for her by asking if she rented a car on vacation at the beach, and the A/C never worked, and they offered you a $2 refund, how would that sit with her? |After spending several minutes on the merry-go-round of her telling me that was their policy and nothing could be done, I asked who could I speak to over her.  She then got agitated stating that she was the manager and it was her call. |I asked for her name and she hung up on me.  I made attempts to call back which were ignored.  It wasn’t until I left a voicemail mentioning I would be leaving a horrible review and posting a copy of the conversation online that she called me back.  When I answered the phone she stated with a childish attitude, “What did I say at the beginning of the phone call, tell me, what did I say, I said this is Carol with Bear Tootin is what I said”. When we started the conversation at the beginning of the call, had I forecasted the results of the call, I would have taken note of her name?  After returning home, I did some research and found the owners of the company and reached out to them.  Initially, I felt very good about the dialogue I had with Jerry Moses.  He advised he would look into it, and get back to me no later than midweek.  Come Wednesday, I reached out and he advised the following, here are his exact words, “Good morning.  I need to speak with another employee but I believe we can offer you a little more than originally thought.  I’ll contact you this afternoon”.  I did not hear anything back that afternoon but still gave it a few days.  Since Friday, all my attempts to get an update have been ignored.  I was hoping the owner was going to make it right and it appeared as though he was but I was wrong.  Moreover, the company must be having issues because the owner of Bear Tootin mentioned the owner of the cabin I rented dropped them as a management company.  I rarely take the time to write negative reviews about companies but I in good faith would be doing the world a disservice if I don’t share my experiences.  If for any reason the owners of Bear Tootin read this review, and deny any of the validity of my claims, I will post copies of the email and audio of the phone call. |If you want me to remove this review, make it right like you said you were going to do.  Going forward, it would be a good idea before you rent a property from this company to have them go out and ensure everything is in working order.  If you don’t, rent the property and find something wrong they will be more than happy to take your money and feed you a line of crap saying you agreed to rent the property regardless of the condition.  If anyone wants a copy of the email(s) between me and the owners, shoot me a message and I will be more than happy...

I often stay in cabins when I visit this area and must say that this was truly the worst experience I have had. I reserved their Autumn Mist cabin and prior to the day my family and I were to arrive, I contacted them just to see if it were possible to check in earlier than the 4pm time. They informed me that the cabin was rented out back to back and they could not allow this as they needed that time to be able to clean it for the next renters. I said no problem and that it was understandable. However, at 4 pm we arrived, entered the cabin and it was disgusting. Nothing had been cleaned. Dirty dishes were in the sick, trash filled, what appeared to be dog hair throughout, beds unmade, toilets unflushed, etc. I called and then someone had Karlee, I believe the manager, call me back. Karlee attempted to be accommodating and waived the cleaning fee but it still took over 2 hours for her crew to get to the cabin and finish cleaning. It was somewhere between 6 and 7 when we were finally able to go in and unpack. We, of course, had been traveling several hours and wanted to shower and use the facilities only to discover there was NO WATER. I call Karlee back and she tries to explain the ‘well pump’ situation and that someone had already handled it and it may be on within the hour. Needless to say this was very frustrating. We leave and go out to dinner and return many hours later, and still NO WATER. So I called the main line, as I thought it may be too late to call back Karlee’s cell phone. A very rude and unpleasant woman answers and says maybe it will be on in the morning. MAYBE ?? So we are to go a whole night at the cabin with no water. She sounded as if she could care less and that I was bothering her. I know that it was late but my family and I have paid to stay here and we do not have any water so I was trying to find out what was going on. I’m thinking no one really knows or has any idea about anything. It is all guesses and maybes. At this point I am very upset and this ridiculous woman acts like it is my fault, says something about her daughter and then hangs up on me while I am speaking. I assumed this must be Karlee’s mother. I call back she doesn’t answer. I then just call Karlee. I finally get her and inform her of what happened and that we will be checking out that next morning and to issue me a full refund. She did oblige and state it should take 3-5 days. Although Karlee tried to be helpful, I don’t feel as though our stay truly mattered or not. It was as if a nasty room and being without water was not that big of a deal and that I was making it an issue. Very disappointing.

TO RESPOND TO THE OWNER. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED..Obviously this was not written by Karlee but instead by an ignorant and hateful person. You say I wasnt speaking with intelligence?? and I deserved to be hungup on??? You are a ridiculous, clueless, and poor excuse for a human being. I spoke to Karlee several times and she knows I was extremely calm and collective with her. Frustrated and had concerns ofcourse who wouldnt. But I was not mean in any way to her. It was until after the Donna woman started in with me But ofcourse that wasn't stated. You just say how rude I was but lets be EXTREMELY clear I did not get angry until she initiated it and came at me rude. So be honest..Tell me who would be so fine with coming in to a nasty cabin and no water. You have to put yourself in that person's shoes. TO THE PERSON WHO WROTE THAT How about you all take responsibility and don't blame the guests . YOU ARE HATEFUL. You all think you can treat people any kind of way. I was not yelling nor screaming but trying to understand what we were to do. Such lies you tell. And it was definitely not 2 pm when we left. And no the water was not on when we did leave. How would you know ? Were you there ? So Stop lying and take some responsibility. You are a place of business. I will say this about Karlee..she did try to accommodate as I already stated before. But what an ignorant way to respond to my review...

My family and I rented this cabin from 7-20-19 thru 7-27-19 (reservations were placed almost a year prior). We initially loved the look of The Apple Farm since there are three king bedrooms and three bathrooms and plenty of space. My husband and I along with our two daughters, two sons-in-law and two grandchildren needed room to spread out and not feel cramped. We arrived late on Saturday the 20th. Even so, we did a walk-thru of the cabin. We loved the homey feel of everything, but did note that the hot tub was totally green with algae and had a disgusting sediment on the bottom (pictures are attached). There was also poison ivy growing up through the deck (note. we did not even mention this part to them). We also have a toddler and checked the handrail on the main level for safety and saw that there were 2-3 loose or broken railings which would prevent our allowing a child free access to walk alone while we were all out there. We decided to e-mail the next morning regarding our concerns. We received a response saying that the concern would be turned over to maintenance. Thereafter, nothing..........we e-mailed a couple more times as well as left two exasperated voice messages to no avail. Finally, on Friday the 26th (we were checking out the next morning BTW), we received a voicemail from someone name Shayna stating that maintenance had been to the cabin and reported that there was only one spindle that needed to be replaced and that the deck was safe (liability seems to not be an issue with this company). She also said that since there is iron in the water, the hot tub is supposed to be green and that they noticed nothing wrong. This call was totally insulting. Anyone using that hot tub is in danger of getting something Granny's soap wouldn't be able to wash off!!!! Either the maintenance personnel are blind or never actually went to the property. My family discussed leaving this review since we are reasonable people and understand that sometimes things happen. But to not even get a timely response after numerous inquiries, and then to get insulted by the voicemail...............not to mention the total disregard for the safety of our children..........it was too much. Anything good that we could say about Bear tootin', was completely wiped out by the disrespect. Oh, but they will definitely respond back when you have an inquiry regarding things that make them money (ie. payment on the cabin or pool access)........ We should have booked with Timberwinds like we've done in the past.........live and learn.

The Milton, Hitchcock and Simmerman families.

UPDATE: The response is bogus......don't believe it. We only received one response the day before we were to leave. If maintenance actually went to the property, why not leave a note since we could only communicate with you when we went into town. If you were not trying to insult.........you did a poor job. WARNING TO FUTURE...