Topsail Realty Vacations by Carolina Retreats — Local services in Surf City

I have used Topsail Realty for years and never complained about anything. Most of the places I have stayed at were exactly as described. Last year we lost AC and they came and installed a window unit immediately. I was ok with that because we were comfortable. This year we stayed at Song of the Sea. The first thing we noticed when we opened the door was the heat that hit us on that level. I was thinking lets just get all our stuff in and we'll figure out the AC when we are done. The AC was not working on the lower level, mind you we got there on July 4th and the temp. outside was in the nineties. We immediately called and left a message. We went through the house to inspect the rest of it and found a bloody pillow on one of the beds, the television's cable box downstairs in the room that had bunk beds did not work, so you could not watch TV in that room, the television upstairs had hours of delays with a message that said "one moment please, this channel should be available shortly", and this happened whenever we changed the channel. So watching TV upstairs was extremely frustrating. Every pan we pulled out was greasy and disgusting so we had to wash everything before we used it. As you can imagine I got no sleep that night and was pretty exhausted. I started calling first thing in the morning and of course it wanted me to leave voice mail. I just kept calling, over an hour, till I got in touch with someone, probably around 10. I explained all the problems and they seemed concerned and said that they would bring a pillow and someone would be out to check the AC. I waited hours for him, AC guy takes a look and leaves. I then have to call Topsail again, repeat dialing till I got a hold of someone only for her to say it is broke and that they can bring windows units out. I said fine, so I had to wait again for this person to show up. Finally he shows up with 3 for the bedrooms downstairs and only 2 work. So here it is Wednesday, been there since Saturday and still can't use all the bedrooms. They send another floor unit on Wednesday, but that unit kept tripping the circuit breaker all night. So here we are Thursday, the day we are so supposed to get the new unit put. But no AC guy shows up. She told me early in the morning, I told her great, I will leave the downstairs door open, but no one shows up. I call and call and call and she wants to tell me that she told me weather permitting. I know what I heard that was not part of the conversation but she wanted to argue that is what she told me. So finally I blow a lid and tell her this is not except able. My whole vacation has been nothing but stress, I spent it on the phone or with AC maintenance the entire time and it is already Thursday. On Thursday by 9:30 in the evening we finally had AC downstairs. I was able to go to the beach on Friday, what a vacation, I paid all that money for a one day vacation. I spoke to Danny Williams and this was his email to me:

Hi Debbie, The Vacation Rental Agreement that you signed does state that the Tenants shall not be entitled to any refund or rebate due to the malfunctioning of equipment. We did try and make your stay comfortable by supplying portable air conditioning units. We did get the owner to agree to credit you $300, and Topsail Realty will credit you the $265 as agreed. We have just changed software so you are on the list for these credits. Thank you for your patience. Stay well.

I just cried when I saw this, with everything everybody is going through this was below the belt. I felt taken advantage of and my entire vacation was ruined. I am so disappointed in this company. I felt the need to get away, unwind, spend time with family, and support our local community. I feel Topsail and owner are responsible to make sure everything is in order and working when the next family arrives. We paid for all these things and not only was this not what was advertised I have to work and demand for basic needs, the AC in July, when the temps are...

The house was beautiful, location perfect. Well appointed and comfortable. Lighting could be improved with variators as the bedroom and lighting were very bright. Switches were located in odd places (like the hallway for 3 rooms on first floor was located by the front door) and in odd order for the master bathroom. The garbage can is in a weird place that is not really practical for cooking in the kitchen and there was nothing for recycling. Finally, there were no soap dispensers for the bathrooms. We found one large almost empty bottle for refills and that was it. I think we may be expected to provide our own things but this seems like a basic item that would be good to have available given the circumstances. Small things, not a big deal.

The first bedroom on the first floor with 2 single beds did not have sufficient windows coverings. The small window had no curtain, the main window just has a sheer curtain that lets light in early in the morning. So the kids were waking up too early.

Our first impression of the owner was quite off-putting as she had large signs on windows that were not to be open threatening occupants that she lives close by and if she sees them open she will take away the security deposit. There are kinder and more elegant ways (Decor-wise) to get your point across than hanging a large white Laminated paper from the windows. Then we saw the dryer where she actually used a label maker to remind everyone to empty the lint and literally wrote “I cannot believe I need a sign for this” and suggesting we do so at our own homes so we don’t start a fire. THEN, we read the welcome book where she implores guests to keep the doors closed, understandably, but added that it is disrespectful to her and her electric bill to leave them open. She gives the impression that she thinks everyone who rents her place is either an idiot or an ahole or both. It’s just really unprofessional and unwise from a business perspective as that was one of our first impressions coming into the home.

Finally, I had not seen the passage in the binder about what to do if the grill was out of propane. So I had texted the number I was given to text for help, first letting them know the situation, that we were hoping to grill for dinner that evening. No response. I tried the next day, asking when they could replace it, never got a single response. It turns out we were supposed to replace it ourselves and then get reimbursed at the office. This is not really an acceptable fix anyway, as it inconveniences the renters who don’t find out until it’s too late, as was our case. Plus, it requires us to go out (during a pandemic) to buy something extra AND have to drive to the rental office to get reimbursement (this house has a keycode which allowed us to avoid having to go through Saturday morning checkout traffic to the office before leaving).

I was also under the impression from the description that the linen service would put the sheets on the beds and they did not. So I spent our first night going through 2 full bags of sheets and towels, figuring out which sheets fit which bed, unwrapping them from their shrink wrap, and organizing them etc.

Cleanliness was OK except for the fact that we are in a pandemic and had the impression that the place would be sufficiently cleaned with the current health risk in mind. However, I was alarmed to find kitchen cabinets where ppl touch to be visibly dirty, which tells me that the cleaners did not take the time to wipe down surfaces properly. I had to go around with disinfectant and wipe down all the handles and drawer pulls. This was especially upsetting because to some extent people are trusting this business with their health and assuming some basic precautions are being taken but if the high touch surfaces aren’t even being wiped, then one can assume that no other precautions were...

Cameras on inside and outside of property, Sea for Miles, 132 Topsail Beach Road. We learned a valuable lesson and that is to ask about cameras before you rent. We chose the uncomfortable option of staying as no refund was given, no offer to move to another rental was given, and we were hours from home. The cameras were NOT in any of the rental pictures or listed as a feature in the description on the company's website.

Well, we've rented from this company for the last 5-6 years and have enjoyed every property/company experience in the past. However, our most recent rental at 132 Topsail Beach Road (Sea for Miles) was wired with cameras on the outside of home with multiple porch, hot tub, and beach access views, all with listening capabilities. There was also a camera INSIDE the main living area with views of the living room, kitchen, and upper deck. It's important to know that these outdoor and indoor cameras also have sound and while you can cover up all but one of the outside cameras, you, your children, and loved ones can still be eavesdropped on through the audio capabilities of the cameras. Again, none of these cameras, inside or out, were in the rental pictures or disclosed in the property description.

We contacted the manager the morning after our arrival and despite us being calm, cordial and honest about our concerns, she hung up the phone when we refuted her claims of the cameras not being active, which is of course unprofessional on her part but also, dang. Before being hung up on we were told that the living room is a common area so they were allowed and that none of the cameras were actively recording, which naturally did not make us feel any better and of course was not true. We were told that Topsail Realty does not have access to the cameras, only the homeowner (and in actuality whoever has their password to access the cameras). As the manager did not come out to see the cameras for herself there was literally no way she could guarantee that the cameras were either on or recording. Anyone who has cameras, as we do, understands when they are on and recording. We manually disabled the camera within reach in the living room/kitchen/porch area on the inside (we did not see or detect others but there may be more). To the mangers credit, she offered to have someone come out and disable the system, which we agreed to but essentially meant just unplugging the CPI wifi, something we could have done but did not want to do without permission. This was of course the bare minimum.

So that's it, no refund, full or partial for not disclosing the presence of cameras, and we were not offered a move to another rental, which despite the rental being nice otherwise, is what we really wanted. We ended up staying but still felt like we were being watched the entire time. We took time off to be at Topsail and NEEDED a vacation but we could not get our money back so we stayed. We've reported the camera issue to VRBO as it is also listed on that service and in violation of their terms of service (no cameras allowed inside and any use of security cameras must me listed in description of rental). Topsail Realty will likely continue to rent the house given their treatment of the issue as no big deal. If the owner is concerned with security then an alarm system will suffice but cameras in public areas inside and out leads one to believe a darker voyeuristic element is at play with this rental.

Best of luck in the future and please learn from our mistake. Always ask when renting from Topsail Realty if there are any known cameras on the inside or outside of home and get it in writing (email) if possible because who wants to be watched while...