Linda S.
My rental was cancelled, I wasn't notified, and I got no help
I wrote a review yesterday that never posted, so I'll write it again. We paid deposits for two cabins in Duck Creek last August for our July 2025 family reunion. We rented one through another platform, and rented a small cabin on the same property through Family Time Vacation Rentals since we needed more bedrooms than the large cabin provided. It was extremely important that the two cabins were within walking distance of each other. Last week I realized I had never gotten an email reminding me to pay the balance of the rental on the small cabin, so I reached out to Family Time Vacation Rentals to make sure our reservation was still good. This is when they told me that the owners had decided not to rent their cabin, and we and others were out of luck, even though we had paid a deposit. When were they planning to let me know? What if we had shown up next week to find we had no cabin? Their office won't call you, so you have to wait several hours for email responses to your questions. They said they could recommend we rent another of their properties. It was comparably priced, but over a seven minute drive away. I said again how important it was to be close together, without a couple of families being several miles away, which would effectively ruin our reunion. I repeatedly told them how important it was to have a closer cabin. They said they understood, they were so sorry, it wasn't their fault, it was out of their hands, etc. There was just nothing closer available, they said. So I got online and found five or six properties with Airbnb, all the same price or less, and all within easy walking distance of the large cabin. They made it sound like there were no rentals available, when what they meant was there were no rentals they managed that would make them money. My frustration is two-fold. They knew about the cancellation but did nothing to alert me. That might not have been their fault, but failing to give me adequate warning was. And they misled me into thinking my only options were their three offerings seven minutes away by car. I shouldn't have had to scramble ten days before our reunion to find another place. There WAS more they could have done, but it wouldn't have made them money. There were several places close by - just none that they manage. The responsible thing to do was to refund my deposit and tell me about the other much closer options. I found five within walking distance and the one we chose is on the same property as the large cabin, about fifty feet away. This experience was time-consuming and stressful. And they never took responsibility. They hid behind empty apologies, but they didn't do anything to fix this problem not of our making. When I asked about my deposit, they said they were holding it to apply to another place, but I had told them several times those places wouldn't work for us. They should have been upfront and told me there were other rentals available besides their three or four listings that were unsuitable because of distance. They cared more about making a sale than about helping a customer salvage their vacation. Zero stars.


