4/10 Poor
Tim G., Bedford, Mass.
Aug 8, 2022
Liked: Cleanliness
A disappointment, esp. the property manager
We had a bad experience at Jeffrey Pines—partly on account of the property and partly on account of the property management company. I’ll explain below, but in fairness, let me first echo others' compliments: this is a cute, well-appointed house, and it’s convenient (by car or bike) to Truckee’s main commercial areas. It's also dog friendly, a big bonus. Yes, you can hear traffic on I-80 from the house—we found that noticeable but only bothersome when Harleys roared by.
As for the problems with the property and furnishings, the place is showing wear. The hand/guardrail to the staircase into the house has quite a bit of dry rot. One of the 4x4 posts that prevents the rail from collapsing if you fall into it was loose. One of the stair treads was, too. That matters a lot at this place: the house stands on a steep slope, and the stairway cantilevers out over a big drop. (The parking area is upslope from the house; hence the stairs.) You would not want to fall off these stairs—it’s a long way down. The mattress in the main bedroom was also soft; it seemed overdue for replacement.
As for the management company, I’d term its staffers “faux attentive.” They send lots of texts and emails, saying they’re there to help. But when we had problems—besides the stairway, the wi-fi stopped working—they responded with pleasant nothings. They didn't solve our problems, and we ended up moving to a hotel.
The wi-fi, while not the end of the world, is a good illustration. When we awoke one day, it wasn’t working, so I restarted the router. That didn’t work, so I contacted the management company, saying I’d restarted the router. The response: Did you try restarting the router? We then went for a hike, returning at lunchtime. Still no wi-fi. I texted again, saying, like many people these days, we needed to work remotely and needed wi-fi. The response this time: sorry, wi-fi’s not reliable in that area. That wasn't disclosed in the VRBO listing. What's more, the wi-fi was working fine at my friend’s house nearby. Eventually, they sent a local property manager by, and her solution was ... to restart the router. It didn’t work that time, either.
The management company did offer us a $50 refund on account of the wi-fi. By then, I’d also alerted them to the problems with the stairway, and we’d decided we needed to had to find another place to say--we ended up in Reno, 40 minutes a way.
Tim G.
Stayed 4 nights in Aug 2022