We have stayed at many of these VRBO homes across the nation. We treat this home like all the others - with respect. We didn't break anything and kept the home clean and we were not loud at late hours.... all in all a good tenant in my mind. However, Apparently we didn't find the right check out instructions in a book in the house as what my wife read is that all we needed to do was put the used towels in front of the door. We did this and out of good will we also put all the dishes in the dish washer and put most all our trash in the trash cans. We left some cans of soda in the fridge thinking the cleaners might like them. A few other food items were left in the frigde - as we thought we didn't need to clean them out - per the instructions my wife read in the binder.

We left the property and I got an email stating the following from the owner:

Your deposit is not getting refunded due to the following:

1) You didn't take out the trash.

2) You broke into a closet and used towels that are not to be used.

3) You had another family living in the property the whole time.

4) You were noisy and the people living above you were complaining.

I was floored at the above accusations. We may have not found the right check out list and I can take some responsibility for that - even though that should be clearly posted inside the property so there is no confusion.

However, to claim we "broke into a hallway closet and stole towels we weee not supposed to use" is plain lies. There was no lock on that closet door so we naturally thought we could use the towels in there when going to the beach. Also, how would we break into a locked closet? There is also no evidence of damage to anything so why would the owner assume we broke into the closet. They obviously forgot to lock it and blamed us for using the towels in there!

We had another family who had their own place in Indian rocks come to our beach some days and then we went to theirs other days. They also stayed for a BBQ a couple of evenings but were always gone by 9pm. How in the world the owner equated that to this family of 5 also living in this tiny little 2 bedroom condo with my family of five I have no idea. And to say we were too loud when the two evenings we BBQ'd they left at 9pm is ridiculous at best. If anything, the neighbors across the other side of the fence were the noisy ones and they blasted 70s music while we BBQ'd. Truly disappointed and they still have our deposit money :-/